Former U.S. Secretary of State and national security advisor Henry Kissinger, arguably one of the most influential and also controversial foreign policy figures of our time, died Nov. 29 at the age of 100.

His policies and strategies under former Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford brought widespread attention, both positive and negative, that changed the course of American history.

Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to arrange the end of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War, and is credited with secret diplomacy that helped Nixon open communist China to the U.S. and the West. But he was also reviled by many over the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War and accused by critics of needlessly expanding the conflict.

Kissinger escaped Nazi Germany in his youth and came to the U.S. in 1938 before ultimately cementing his legacy in foreign policy in the 1970s.