"White House Years" Restarted

I restarted “White House Years” by Henry A. Kissinger some weeks ago when I finished “Words and Rules” by Steven Pinker. In July, 1971, Kissinger, as Nixon’s national security adviser and with great help from Pakistan, made a secret trip to the People’s Republic of China, the first visit by any US government official, which led to Richard Nixon’s visit there in February the following year. In the meantime, Kissinger dealt with the war between India and its ally, Pakistan, which was to lose its Eastern part. After North Vietnam began its major offensive and the US started bombings on the North, Kissinger visited Moscow secretly in April, 1972, to meet General Secretary Brezhnev to prepare a summit meeting, to advance the SALT talks and to engage the Soviet Union in US effort to solve the war in Vietnam. These cases of back channel diplomacy were necessary because of infighting between the White House and government departments, especially State and its Secretary Rogers and to avoid information leaks. Kissinger says that he is not an advocate of secret channels.