Kissinger made the news recently because he achieved 100 years of age. And then again when he died in November 2024. A far more unique achievement was that he advised (to some degree) all of the US presidents from Nixon through to Trump. Even people who didn’t follow politics knew of him.
While most people would just assume that his advice was sought because the advice was good, he stands out to me as someone who had out-sized influence, in the same vein as how the Saudis get treated with out-sized reverence.
There is nothing in his known family history to suggest that it is meaningful. But his schooling is a different matter. After his (Jewish) parents wisely fled with him to the US prior to WW2, Kissinger studied at Harvard, where he excelled. And he became a protege of Professor William Yandell Elliott, who curiously was a political advisor to six US presidents, ending with Lyndon Johnson. Which means that Kissinger became the new Elliot and carried on the same role. Between them they advised 90 years of US presidents.
Elliot was a Rhodes Scholar, which we will find is meaningful in our explorations of who runs the world today.
At Harvard, people who attended the courses of Elliot and Kissinger became leaders of Israel, Japan and Canada.
From his name, and looking at his Wikipedia entry, Elliot does not appear to be Jewish, and Kissinger’s race/religion does not seem to be relevant here.
As a Rhodes Scholar, Elliot attended Balliol College (the oldest house of Oxford University), where five British prime ministers studied. It is a very old school, founded in 1263 by John I de Balliol, who was the father of a Scottish king (John I), and ancestor of Mary, Queen of Scots. So it has the connections and feel of a place where special influence may sit.
So, my deduction is that Balliol College is a place where the “powers that be” recruit smart people to help them run the world, that Elliot was one of those, and Kissinger was his replacement. And following in the footsteps of Kissinger is not one person but a secretive business, Kissinger Associates.