For subscribers
Henry Kissinger, Lee Kuan Yew and a friendship that influenced the world
Both men were realists who spoke frankly, and global leaders listened to them. They also shared a close bond.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Henry Kissinger at the US-Asean Business Council’s 25th anniversary gala dinner on Oct 27, 2009.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Shashi Jayakumar
Follow topic:
There is a delicious anecdote about a meeting in November 1968 at Harvard University, at what later became the Kennedy School of Government. Some professors were railing against the war in Vietnam and then US President Lyndon Johnson.
Singapore’s then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in Harvard for a sabbatical of five weeks, on being invited to give a response, said tersely, “You make me sick”, before proceeding to give a clear and concise summary of why America had to stay the course and provide security against the communists bent on undermining South-east Asian nations.
