STURBRIDGETIMESMAGAZINE

MARCH, 2015THE

THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE AREA LIVING

7THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

From the 1970s there was a joke that went as fol-lows; Four men are passengers in a plane; a

hippie, an old priest, Gerald Ford and HenryKissinger. Suddenly the pilot announces, “Theplane is going down and the co-pilot and I are bail-ing out. There are three parachutes for passengers.Good luck.”

Gerald Ford takes one and says as he jumps, “Aspresident, I am entitled to a chute.”

Kissinger grabs another and with Teutonic in-tonation states as he exits, “I am der smartest per-son in der vurld, so dis ist mein.”

The priest says to the hippie, “I am an old manand have lived a long life. I am ready to meet mymaker. You take the third parachute.”

The hippie replies, “Not to worry, padre. Thesmartest man in the world just bailed out with myknapsack.”

Henry Kissinger did not evoke neutral emotions.He was either reviled or admired. He served underpresidents Nixon and Ford, first as National Secu-rity adviser and then as Secretary of State. Fewholders of those officers ever seemed as dominantfrom the rapprochement with China to the Parisnegotiations ending the Vietnam War.

Kissinger was a departure from previous Secre-

taries of State. The office up until his appoint-ment had been the preserve of members of theEastern Establishment. We had never had animmigrant, let alone a refugee hold the position.The Kissinger family had to flee Germany dueto National Socialist persecution of Jews.

He saw service in and after World War II.Among other duties, while only a private, theyoung soldier was placed in charge of a city. Onleaving the military, Kissinger attended Har-vard, eventually earning a doctorate.

After teaching at his alma mater he went onto government service. Leaving State, he wouldfound Kissinger and Associates along with an-other policy insider, Brent Scowcroft. It is aprosperous and influential enterprise. Few turndown a phone call from Henry.

Kissinger could have written an interestingautobiography. World Order is none of that.The author was wise not to use the word “New”in the title. It is a sober record of our nation’sinteraction with other countries. In many waysit is similar to Angelo Codevilla’s To Make andKeep Peace Among Ourselves and with All Nations, re-viewed in this magazine’s October 2014 issue.

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BOOKREVIEW REVIEWED BY RICHARD MORCHOE

World OrderBy Henry KissingerPenguin Press HC, 2014Hardcover, 432 pages

Henry Kissinger’s take on World Order

Continued on following page

19THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

any better? Other than a trip toFlorida, of course.

There is much to whine about fairor not. Politicians and bureaucratsmake great targets. Deval Patrickshould be glad he vacated the corneroffice before the recurring deluges.Charlie Baker is new enough that hegets a small pass. That has not kepthim from being the chief complainer,which is a cute way of blaming hispredecessor. It is the smart strategy.

Charlie wondered why we arespending 25 million on commuter railto Foxboro when we haven’t donemuch in the way of maintaining whatwe have. Who could it have been thatdid not keep up the equipment other

than the recently departed adminis-tration?

It goes without saying that noth-ing was mentioned about a potentialcommuter rail connection to our re-gion.

Fortunately for local cynics, thereis a scapegoat who appears to havebeen sent direct from central casting.Dr. Beverly Scott may or may not bedoing a good job running theMBTA. That is irrelevant as herpress conference was a debacle.

It was normal agency speak untilone of the audience asked if she wasgoing to resign. At that point thelady went on a defensive rant thateventually led a commenter from theradio station to break in and notethat we were listening to BeverlyScott’s final press conference. Itturned out to be an easy prophecy.

It is obvious she is not a Massachu-setts native and has never heard themaxim of the legendary Boston wardboss Martin Lomasney; “Never writewhen you can speak, never speak whenyou can nod.” Volubility is not the bu-reaucrat’s friend.

So we’ve had the diversion of politi-cal theater. Fun maybe, but it removesno snow. Still, there has been one com-pensation. As this issue goes to press,we have not lost power. I am supersti-tious enough to worry mentioning it hasjinxed us.

Pour moi, global warming holds noterrors. ■

From page 13

SunSet Cityand Motocross

Kissinger

MorchoeLong Hill

From previous pagescheduled to go into executive ses-sion “to discuss strategy with respectto potential litigation” regarding theproject.

BOS Chair Mary Blanchard saidmembers are keeping in the infor-mation loop. “Some Sturbridge res-idents have concerns and we are anabutting community, so we are try-ing to keep abreast of the plan anddevelopments,” Blanchard said.“Right now, we are looking out forthe interests of the residents of Stur-bridge by staying informed.”

Jennings said he “wanted apeaceable process on the project dis-cussion” and has talked to Charetteon several occasions. “No one wantsanything in their backyard. Rightnow it is a 500-acre nature preservewhere people camp, hunt, four-wheel, horseback ride and walk. Wewant to continue all those uses in thefuture, but regulate it so there is anincome stream to preserve the prop-erty. This is a plan with big hopesand dreams for the future and weare taking it one step at a time,” saidJennings, who has plans to build ahome near the project.

But for some residents, it is aboutthe change of rural life that the mo-tocross aspect of the project maybring. “We don’t oppose the sport it-self – many of us have family mem-bers that ride either dirt bikes orATV’s,” said Sturbridge residentAnne Geyer, who lives within a mileof the site. “The bottom line is I amconcerned about the quality of lifefor me…and my neighbors. If rac-ing were just on the weekend, Imight go and watch. But this is acommercial business that needs tomake money and there will be train-ing during the week and events onweekends. Motocross is a noisy sportand this is a residential area…if youdo the research, there is lots of strifewhen the two cohabitate. Noise is aconsistent problem.” ■

mess if we let it. Leaving and for-getting it would be a better plan. Ig-norance may not be bliss, but in thiscase, it could be good strategy.

The tone of the book is all toomuch, we have to do things, becausewe have to. He does a good job oflaying out the situation, but does notprovide a compelling reason for in-tervention.

When Kissinger was the domi-nant foreign policy player, his mostimportant task was to extricate thecountry from Vietnam. It wouldhave been nice if we could haveachieved “Peace with honor” asNixon put it, but the big thing wasleaving. We were as LBJ put it, hun-kering “down like a jackass in a hail-storm.” We couldn’t stay foreverand knew we had to go.

Kissinger accomplished the mis-sion and, yes the South fell. All thepredictions of the end of the worldfor us, however, did not come to pass.

Maybe that’s the lesson aboutWorld Order that needs to belearned. ■

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