The only US Secretary of the State I have heard or read about before I came to the US was Kissinger. He was one of 4-5 American politicians mentioned in our history textbooks, and the others : MacArthur, Wilson, FDR, Lincoln and Washington, as far as I remember. Kissinger was the only US politician cast with a bad light, and every Taiwanese my age or older knows he betrayed us with his secret visit to China. Every one who wanted to go to high school needed to memorize all the facts and names in the textbooks, so Kissinger = betrayal is in our collective memory. I actually knew nothing else of the man until this week. I wonder how good his reputation is in the rest of the world.
The truth is so much of our history textbooks were political propaganda from our government, it is hard to tell what is real and what is made up based on such education. I am glad to hear from you guys that he really wasn't a good man. At least that is one impression i don't need to change.