Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was off on a new round of shuttle diplomacy last week. The distances covered on this peacemaking mission were unusually short: the two miles between the State Department Building in Foggy Bottom and the Capitol across Washington, D.C. But the gap between the two institutions was enormous, and the task as delicate as on many of his overseas travels. Kissinger was determined to establish some kind of détente with the U.S. Congress and thus preserve his effectiveness as the architect of American foreign policy.
There was little time to lose. Rumors were floating round...