The 56th Secretary

Approved by the Senate 78-7 last week, Henry A. Kissinger was sworn in as the nation's 56th Secretary of State--and the first naturalized U.S. citizen to hold that post. With his proud mother Paula, 73, holding the Bible, Kissinger took the oath of office from Chief Justice Warren Burger while his father Louis, 87, son David, 12, and daughter Elizabeth, 14, looked on. A beaming Nixon introduced the new top diplomat as a man of "poise, strength, and character."

Kissinger, who with his German-Jewish family fled the Nazi regime in 1938, responded by noting: "There is no country in the world where it is conceivable that a man of my origin could be standing here next to the President of the United States. And if my origin can contribute anything to the formulation of our policy, it is that at an early age I have seen what can happen to a society that is based on hatred and strength and distrust... America has never been true to itself unless it meant something beyond itself. As we work for a world at peace with justice, compassion and humanity, we know that America, in fulfilling man's deepest aspirations, fulfills what is best within it."

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