The death of Secretary of State Kissinger takes, at the age of 100, one of the most remarkable figures in American history. We didn’t know him well, but we covered him glancingly through much of his storied career. We were, in the Cold War, invested on the same side in the same struggle and came to admire him for his appreciation of Vietnam and Israel, for all their own merits but also as parts of an even larger story. On occasion, we glimpsed, his brilliance as a teacher.

We first encountered him in the late 1960s, when we were an undergraduate and covering a parley at Boston. When Kissinger emerged from one session, we approached him and introduced ourselves as being with the undergraduate daily. Kissinger wheeled on us and hissed, “I do not talk to zeeee Harrrrvard Crrrrimson.” Then he stalked away to join, shortly, the Nixon administration as the National Security Adviser.