"Not since Napoleon has Europe not looked over their shoulder at dread"
Henry Kissinger called Joe Biden from his deathbed. But what exactly did he tell him?
In a new interview with Time, Joe Biden explains his second term foreign policy goals:
I got a call from [Henry] Kissinger about 10 days before he died. And he used the following comment. He said that not since Napoleon has Europe not looked over their shoulder at dread with what Europe—what Russia may do, until now. Until now, you can’t let that change. The point is that we have an opportunity to have the decisions we make in the last couple of years, in the next four years, are going to determine the future of Europe for a long time to come.
I’m not the only person who found the Kissinger bit confusing. While investigating whether Kissinger had ever committed any of this to print, I found that Biden has told versions of the story roughly once a month since Kissinger’s (tragically overdue) death on November 29, 2023.
On December 12, addressing a campaign reception at Salamander DC (“a luxury Postmodernist-style hotel” overlooking the Tidal Basin), Biden said:
When Dr. Kissinger — three weeks before he died, we — he and I had our real differences when he was active Secretary of State and I was a senator — but he called to tell me — he said — he asked me to call him, and I did. He said that — he wanted me to know two things. One, not since Napoleon has Europe not looked at Russia with a — with fear in its eyes about what Russia would do, until now. Well, guess what? They are fearful of what we may do.
On January 19, 2024, Biden addressed the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the White House:
But now — think about it — if we’re able to maintain support for Ukraine so they don’t fall, as Henry Kissin- — Henry Kissinger called me — asked me to call him about three weeks before he died. And I was a young senator when he was the Secretary of State, so we had our run-ins and our agreements and disagreements. And he said, in one part of the conversation was — when I called, he said, “You know, not since Napoleon — not says Napoleon in France has Europe looked at Russia without fear until now.”
By February 9, before a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Biden was referring to it as if it was already familiar quotation:
Kissinger was right when he said: Not since Napoleon has Europe not looked over its shoulder and worried about Russia — until now.
On February 21, at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Biden said:
Well, guess what we did? Before Kissinger died, I got a phone call — about 10 days before he passed away: Would I call? And I called him. And here’s what he said, Jer.1 He said, “Not since Napoleon has Europe not looked over its shoulder at Russia and worried about its prospects until you guys came along. You united NATO. You expanded NATO. And it’s changed the world. It’s changed the world.”
March 19, at a a fundraiser in Reno:
One of the things that Dr. Kissinger said — Henry Kissinger said before — he called about 10 days before he died, and — and asked if I — I would speak to him. And so, I — I cal- — he didn’t call. He asked if I’d call him and I did. And he said — you know, he said, “Not since — not since the time of — way back when” —
(A toddler in the audience babbles.)
Are you really? (Laughter.) No, I’m ki- —
“For the longest time, Europe looked over its shoulder at Russia with some dread.” And he said, “Not since Napoleon have they not looked over their shoulder, until we came along.” He said, “You’ve strengthened NATO like it’s never been strengthened before. You’ve united Europe in a way. You’ve increased NATO and the border of NATO from bringing in Sweden and Norway.” And he says, “It’s — it’s changed the world.”
April 8, in Chicago:
I’ve never been more optimistic about our future. And I have to remember who we are. We’re the United States of America.
I told a couple of you in the past that, before Dr. Kissinger died, 10 days before, I got a phone call: Would I talk to him? So, I called him, and he said something fascinating to me. And I knew him because I was a young senator when — during the Vietnam War, when he was Secretary of State and we used to argue like hell.
And he said, you know — he said, “Not since Napoleon — not since Napoleon has Europe not looked over their shoulder at Russia with dread and fear and concern, until you guys came along.” And he said, “What you’re done, you’ve strengthened NATO, you’ve expanded NATO, you’ve set into motion where the next six decades can be de- — decades of peace in Europe, not insecurity, because of what you’ve done.”
From these other versions, it is easier to imagine what Biden meant. Rephrased without double negatives: Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine means that, for the first time in 200 years, Europeans do not fear Russia. It’s still a little confusing, since Napoleon famously did not conquer Russia, but maybe Kissinger meant that “Europe” (excluding Napoleon?)2 did not have to worry about Russia because Europe and Russia were allies in the anti-Napoleonic crusade? Or something? But if that’s it, wasn’t World War II a more recent moment when “Europe” (Hitler excluded) did not have to worry about Russia, which was once more part of a grand alliance?
I’m also thrown off by the claim that Europeans today don’t worry about Russia. It seems to me that the administration’s foreign policy is premised on the idea that Europeans are worried about Putin and should worry more. Indeed, on one of the occasions when he told the Kissinger/Napoleon story, Biden himself sounded concerned: “The failure of the United States Congress, if it occurs, not to support Ukraine is close to criminal neglect. It is outrageous.” But maybe the point of the story is just that Kissinger called Biden to tell him he was doing a good job.
Further research is needed to determine if Napoleon ever told his troops: “Don’t fight uphill, me boys.” Now and forever, the last word on Kissinger and the Congress of Vienna belongs to the novelist Joseph Heller: Kissinger should not “not be recalled in history as a Bismarck, Metternich or Castlereagh but as an odious schlump who made war gladly.”
Correction: the original version of this post closed with the line: “Heller spoke from an experience that both Kissinger and Biden lacked: he had actually fought in a war.” In fact, Kissinger fought in the US Army during World War II. We regret the mistake.
The president is presumably addressing Jerry Brown here. Also in attendance were Nancy Pelosi, John D. Goldman, and fundraiser co-chair George Marcus. Biden spoke at an unidentified private residence in Pacific Heights, before heading a few blocks over to a $100,000-a-plate dinner hosted by Gordon Getty. At the intersection of Baker and Pacific streets, at least a hundred protestors called on Biden to call for a ceasefire and cease unconditional military support for Israel; “police donning riot gear stood by to keep activists away from the fundraiser.”
As Kissinger himself once supposedly quipped, “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?”