Some parting words.
Some parting words
‘D iplomacy is the art of hope.” Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger quoted Pope Benedict XVI in what must have been the final public address he made, just weeks before his death. It was at the iconic — to use an overused word, but because it’s true in this case — Al Smith Dinner for charity in New York. It wasn’t the first time Kissinger was in attendance — he spoke in 1974 and attended most of the dinners ever since. For myriad reasons, it’s important that Kissinger was the keynote speaker, and we should not forget.
Kissinger spoke that night and then shortly thereafter died, at 100. Just across the border from New York in Canada, Medical Aid in Dying is the medical culture that encourages assisted suicide for those suffering from old age — and also for people battling depression or homelessness. One’s life doesn’t have more value because one is “high-performing,” but if you watch the Al Smith Dinner remarks, you can see that Kissinger clearly wasn’t in his prime — and it was late at night — but he was amazing. I thought of the late John Paul II, showing the world the vitality of his life even as he was dying.
Perhaps even more powerful was the witness of Mary Callahan Erdoes, who is the chief executive officer of J.P. Morgan. She was emcee for the night and sat next to Kissinger, helping to adjust his light and holding his paper. At moments, you would have thought she was his nurse, she was so tender. The noble humility she displayed was the feminine genius that John Paul write about during his papacy. Their interaction — and her reverence for his life and dignity — could never have been scripted.
Kissinger titled his speech “The Leadership of Reconciliation.” He paid tribute to the dinner’s namesake, Al Smith, the former governor of New York who was the first Catholic nominated by a major party for the presidency. About Smith, Kissinger said:
The Happy Warrior embodied civic virtue, harmonizing the personal politics of the 19th century and the practical imperatives of the 20th. Al Smith was an utterly pragmatic politician who understood the virtues of compromise because he believed in the virtues of America. He knew the difference between giving a speech and making life better for ordinary Americans. Al Smith got things done — he reformed the civil service, established the first state park system, and improved the lots of women, children, and minorities. His was a city and a nation of endeavor, which transcended the divisions of the Old World in a new land of achievement.
Talking about civility is always a worthy cause. But Kissinger was a Jew born in Germany, and his family fled Nazi Germany. Members of his family were exterminated in the Holocaust. Talk about the value of human life. Agree or disagree with his politics, Kissinger made an impact with his life. Shortly before the death of former New York City mayor Ed Koch, who was also Jewish, I stood in a cab line with him after the Al Smith dinner. It seemed that everyone stopped to talk with him, and knew and loved him. Kissinger may not have been mayor, but he was so ubiquitous in New York City that I imagine something similar may have been possible. Though I hope that someone provided him a ride to avoid him, at 100, having to wait in a taxi line!
More seriously though, the speaker before Kissinger, Rob Speyer, the CEO of the real estate company Tishman Speyer, spoke with the utmost gratitude not only for being honored with the Happy Warrior Award in honor of Al Smith but for the fellowship with Catholics. “It feels incredibly vulnerable to be a Jew right now, but the Al Smith dinner has always been a secure and safe home filled with love and laughter,” he said. In the weeks since the October 7 attack on Israel, I know way too many Jewish families in the New York metropolitan area who feel that they must take security precautions they would never have previously considered. It was quite the unplanned statement to have Kissinger and Speyer as the honorees at a Catholic event. Again, it could never quite have been planned as beautifully as it was so naturally executed.
Kissinger implored:
National renewal in our time requires leaders who can channel the crosscurrents of America as Al Smith did. In that spirit, let me say a few words about leadership. Leadership lifts people from where they are to where they have never been. On that quest, the leader must harmonize society’s past and its future, its experiences and its aspirations.
The first stage on that journey is for the leader to seek to fulfill a society’s best sense of itself. No people can remain great that concentrates on impugning its own historical self-image. Smith’s was not a policy of grievance but of achievement and prospect.
Real gratitude goes a long way.
Kissinger talked about Russia and China and the war in Israel. And he also talked about artificial intelligence. He warned:
Just as the printing press spawned the Enlightenment that enabled universal literacy, AI upends analytical reasoning by providing instantaneous answers to questions in search of explanation. But while AI promises many benefits, its application to advanced weapons creates a dangerous disjunction between the power of modern arms and the purposes of nations. Our technology has outrun our understanding.
Don’t wait, he said. He urged leaders to make technology more human: “Statesmen must emerge to reconcile AI and its fruits to ourselves, our societies. . . . Transformational times require statesmen with the vision to build toward a better future. . . . I remain hopeful. Thank you.” These were the final public words in the statesman’s life, and they are worth heeding, whatever your role in reverencing life in your own sphere or on the national or international stage.
This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.