# Nixon era Kissinger says - "Jews Are ‘Self-Serving Bastards’ " - will his reputation pay a price? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407 "2011-11-19T01:49:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/1 "2011-11-19T01:49:42Z")
Per [this article](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063191/Nixon-adviser-Kissinger-branded-Jewish-self-serving-b-----new-documents-reveal.html?ito=feeds-newsxml)is this going to change the way we look at the historical Kissinger? > [@](#): > > A White House official, Leonard Garment, himself flooded with letters and phone calls with Jewish appeals, asked Mr Kissinger for help and guidance. > > According to transcripts released by the State Department, Mr Kissinger - deputy national security adviser at the time - said to Mr Garment: ‘Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community?’ > Mr Garment replied: ‘None in the world.’ > The exchange was all the more remarkable because both Mr Kissinger and Mr Garment were Jewish. > But Mr Kissinger continued, saying: ‘What the hell do they think they are accomplishing? You can’t even tell bastards anything in confidence because they’ll leak it.’ > Despite his outburst, Mr Kissinger said he would take up the issue with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin and also meet again with Jewish leaders. > > But he finished with: ‘They ought to remember what this administration has done.’ ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/2 "2011-11-19T01:59:26Z")
I can’t see how this will affect his reputation. I don’t think anybody is going to believe that Kissinger or Leonard Garment for that matter were anti-Semites. They were dealing with a particular diplomatic problem with a particular group of Jews, and because they are Jewish themselves, felt comfortable calling them out on an ethnic basis. I think the general use of this type of language was pretty typcial for both the 1970’s and especially the Nixon administration. Kissinger’s reputation is already controversial enough – this is pretty minor in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/3 "2011-11-19T02:03:02Z")
You know Kissinger is Jewish, right? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/4 "2011-11-19T02:08:07Z")
1. It isn’t like he has a reputation that is super high up there. He is respected for his intelligence and for his knowledge, but many many think little of his ethics or morality. 2. Members of minority groups dis and bitch about their own group to others of their group all the time … in terms of his reputation among Jews this is no big deal. His role in escalating Viet Nam, that we have more of a problem with. 3. We already know he said [this](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/nyregion/17nyc.html), and after that the current quote is of little surprise. > [@](#): > > Mr. Kissinger is heard telling Nixon in 1973 that helping Soviet Jews emigrate and thus escape oppression by a totalitarian regime — a huge issue at the time — was “not an objective of American foreign policy.” > > “And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union,” he added, “it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” This is not a reputation that your cited comment is capable of lowering further. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/5 "2011-11-19T02:17:15Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > You know Kissinger is Jewish, right? Yes I did. So That makes it OK for him to insult and disrespect Jews? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/6 "2011-11-19T02:28:37Z")
Herman Cain wants him in his government if elected. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/7 "2011-11-19T03:25:08Z")
Kissinger was an Austrian who took his political ambitions to America. You know who else was Austrian and took his political ambitions abroad, don’t you? Yeah, that’s right, Schwarzenegger. And that guy that looked like Charlie Chaplin. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/8 "2011-11-20T16:53:24Z")
It won’t suffer by me. There is no room at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/9 "2011-11-20T16:57:25Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Yes I did. So That makes it OK for him to insult and disrespect Jews? Yes. You can insult and disrespect your own. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/10 "2011-11-20T17:12:15Z")
If you’re Jewish, it’s practically mandatory. ---
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/11 "2011-11-20T17:15:09Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Yes I did. So That makes it OK for him to insult and disrespect Jews? There’s a slightly different implication when you’re part of the group in question. He’s not a good person, but him being Jewish makes those specific comments shrug-worthy in comparison to everything else. ---
**Author:** ![eman77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f04885/32.png) [@eman77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eman77)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/12 "2011-11-20T18:49:27Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Yes I did. So That makes it OK for him to insult and disrespect Jews? It makes it not a big deal. Anything that comes out of the mouth of diplomats should be taken with a grain of salt. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/13 "2011-11-20T20:22:01Z")
If anything, it makes me respect Kissinger more. It shows he was not just pushing every Jewish Community/Israeli demand through, simply because he too was Jewish. I’m Gay and there have been many times I will complain about those “other queens” and disagree loudly about what a particular group is doing or saying. My guess is there are many blacks who don’t tow the line with everything the NAACP has to say. I know Republicans who think the Tea Party is a bunch of idiots. I know Democrats who think Obama is too wimpish and needs to kick more butt. There are tons of Catholics who think many of the church polices are ridiculous and don’t mind vocalizing the fact. Maybe I am naive, but it seems to me that to disagree with and complain about a group you are a part of is not only normal, but necessary. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/14 "2011-11-20T22:28:35Z")
Don’t you think there is a difference between disagreeing with a political party or group, and saying something like “Jews are self-serving bastards”? I didn’t have much of a high regard for Kissinger anyway. But I find it interesting that Cain wants to have him for SoS. Really? The guy has got to be eleventy-billion years old, right? I’m not hating on the old folks, but come on. There have to be lots of people who are just as well-versed in the world of international affairs while also having the advantage of not being in the market for a “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” alert bracelet. The choice demonstrates a certain unfamiliarity with the wider world of expertise. It’s like Cain just came up with the first name he could think of–an easy choice because that’s the only name he CAN think of. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/15 "2011-11-20T22:49:20Z")
Cain’s candidacy is toast, Kissinger is 88, and even if you ignore both of those issues, there are at least a few countries out there who have made noises about arresting Kissinger for war crimes. That would be a _minor_ impediment for the Secretary of State- and someone in that circumstance would’t be nominated anyway. All of that aside: it doesn’t affect my opinion of Kissinger. But I guess we can add him to the list of Nixon officials who said nasty things about Jews in private. It’s kind of a long list. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-era-kissinger-says-jews-are-self-serving-bastards-will-his-reputation-pay-a-price/603407/16 "2011-11-21T17:35:44Z")
Kissinger is one of my least favorite people due to his conscious involvement in the assassination of Salvador Allende and the consequences that entailed (fascist rule in Chile by Pinochet.) So really there’s not much that could further tarnish his reputation in my eyes.