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Henry Kissinger, consummate diplomat and statesman, examines the strategies of six great twentieth-century figures and brings to life a unifying theory of leadership and diplomacy "Leaders," writes Henry Kissinger in this compelling book, "think and act at the intersection of two axes: the first, between the past and the future; the second, between the abiding values and aspirations of those they lead. They must balance what they know, which is necessarily drawn from the past, with what they intuit about the future, which is inherently conjectural and uncertain. It is this intuitive grasp of direction that enables leaders to set objectives and lay down a strategy." In Leadership, Kissinger analyses the lives of six extraordinary leaders through the distinctive strategies of statecraft, which he believes they embodied. After the Second World War, Konrad Adenauer brought defeated and morally bankrupt Germany back into the community of nations by what Kissinger calls "the strategy of humility." Charles de Gaulle set France beside the victorious Allies and renewed its historic grandeur by "the strategy of will." During the Cold War, Richard Nixon gave geostrategic advantage to the United States by "the strategy of equilibrium." After twenty-five years of conflict, Anwar Sadat brought a vision of peace to the Middle East by a "strategy of transcendence." Against the odds, Lee Kuan Yew created a powerhouse city-state, Singapore, by "the strategy of excellence." And, though Britain was known as "the sick man of Europe" when Margaret Thatcher came to power, she renewed her country's morale and international position by "the strategy of conviction." To each of these studies, Kissinger brings historical perception, public experience and—because he knew each of the subjects and participated in many of the events he describes—personal knowledge. Leadership is enriched by insights and judgements that only Kissinger could make and concludes with his reflections on world order and the indispensability of leadership today.

Introduction -- The continental statesman -- The insular statesman -- Metternich and the definition of the political equilibrium -- The formation of the coalition -- The testing of the alliance -- The crisis of the coalition -- The treaty of chaumont and the nature of peace -- The Congress of Vienna -- The holy alliance and the nature of security -- Metternich and the conservative dilemma -- The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle and the organization of the peace -- The Karlsbad decrees and the domination of central Europe -- The Congress of Troppau and the organization of Europe -- The Congress of Laibach and the government of Europe -- The Greek insurrection -- The nature of statesmanship

Intro -- Dedication -- List of Illustrations -- List of Maps -- Foreword -- Part One: Beginnings -- I. An Invitation -- Nelson Rockefeller -- The Phone Call -- Meeting Richard Nixon -- Encounters at the Pierre Hotel -- II. Period of Innocence: The Transition -- Getting Acquainted -- The Uneasy Team -- Getting Organized -- Turning to Substance -- III. The Convictions of An Apprentice Statesman -- An Historian's Perspective -- The American Experience -- Problems of a New Equilibrium -- Part Two: 1969: The Start of the Journey -- IV. European Journey -- Nixon Visits Europe -- Malaise of the Western Alliance -- London and the "Special Relationship," -- Bonn and Berlin and the Enigma of Germany -- Rome Interlude -- The Colossus of de Gaulle -- V. Opening Moves with Moscow -- Introduction to Anatoly Dobrynin -- The Enduring Philosophical Problem of US-Soviet Relations -- Reflections during the Transition Period -- Public and Congressional Attitudes: A Spring Flurry -- The Channel -- Preparing for SALT -- East-West Trade -- Eastern Europe: Nixon's Visit to Romania -- Conclusion -- VI. First Steps toward China -- First Signals -- The Ussuri River Clashes -- Rumors of War -- Triangular Politics -- VII. Defense Policy and Strategy -- Defense and the Strategic Balance -- The Defense Debate -- Antiballistic Missiles (ABM) -- Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRV) -- The Attack on the Defense Budget -- Strategic Doctrine -- Tactical Nuclear Weapons -- One and a Half Wars -- The Nixon Doctrine -- VIII. The Agony of Vietnam -- My Exposure to the Quagmire -- What We Found -- North Vietnamese Attacks and Cambodian Bombing -- Diplomacy for a Peace Settlement -- The Vance Mission -- Return to the Treadmill -- The Beginning of Troop Withdrawals -- A Secret Meeting with Xuan Thuy -- Another Reassessment -- The Unpacifiable Doves.

1. The New World Order -- 2. The Hinge: Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson -- 3. From Universality to Equilibrium: Richelieu, William of Orange, and Pitt -- 4. The Concert of Europe: Great Britain, Austria, and Russia -- 5. Two Revolutionaries: Napoleon III and Bismarck -- 6. Realpolitik Turns on Itself -- 7. A Political Doomsday Machine: European Diplomacy Before the First World War -- 8. Into the Vortex: The Military Doomsday Machine -- 9. The New Face of Diplomacy: Wilson and the Treaty of Versailles -- 10. The Dilemmas of the Victors -- 11. Stresemann and the Re-emergence of the Vanquished -- 12. The End of Illusion: Hitler and the Destruction of Versailles -- 13. Stalin's Bazaar -- 14. The Nazi-Soviet Pact -- 15. America Re-enters the Arena: Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- 16. Three Approaches to Peace: Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill in World War II -- 17. The Beginning of the Cold War -- 18. The Success and the Pain of Containment -- 19. The Dilemma of Containment: The Korean War -- 20. Negotiating with the Communists: Adenauer, Churchill, and Eisenhower -- 21. Leapfrogging Containment: The Suez Crisis -- 22. Hungary: Upheaval in the Empire -- 23. Krushchev's Ultimatum: The Berlin Crisis -- 24. Concepts of Western Unity: Macmillan, de Gaulle, Eisenhower, and Kennedy -- 25. Vietnam: Entry into the Morass; Truman and Eisenhower -- 26. Vietnam: On the Road to Despair; Kennedy, and Johnson -- 27. Vietnam: The Extrication; Nixon -- 28. Foreign Policy as Geopolitics: Nixon's Triangular Diplomacy -- 29. Detente and Its Discontents -- 30. The End of the Cold War: Reagan and Gorbachev -- 31. The New World Order Reconsidered.