He was approached by one of the most powerful names in America, Nelson Rockefeller.
At the time, Rockefeller was serving as an adviser to President Eisenhower, tasked with countering Soviet influence in psychological warfare and beyond.
Rockefeller's job was to counter this, and he formed his own expert panel to strategize for the president.
This was Kissinger's first collaboration with Rockefeller, but far from his last.
Two years later, he would serve as the director for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Special Studies Project, a panel on US International Security Objectives and strategy that included Edward Teller.
Kissinger's role in Nelson Rockefeller Special Studies project further cemented his position.
Rockefeller and Eisenhower advisor led US efforts to counter Soviet influence through strategic initiatives.
We must assume that Rockefeller had some connection to MJ-12 by this point too.
In fact, Detlev Brank, who is the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, was named as one of the Majestic-12.
This shift would implicate Kissinger throughout his close ties to Rockefeller, both in think tanks and on his presidential campaigns.
Yet much of its classified output remains locked in Rockefeller's archive center.
Some argue that he was bought by the Rockefeller's early on, particularly through a grant he received while earning his PhD, and that his Harvard career was merely a cover for deeper intelligence work advising MJ-12 through a specialized think tank known as PI-40.
Kennedy's administration was filled with elite thinkers from different political and industry backgrounds, including several who had worked on Rockefeller's Special Studies project like Kissinger.
Despite working on Rockefeller's presidential run, writing speeches and giving advice, he had been approached by the Kennedy team in 1958 to discuss long-range problems and weapons evaluation.
Officially, he was consulting the White House on nuclear weapons in Germany, but he remained close to Rockefeller, seeing him as a future presidential contender.
At the end of the 1960s with Kennedy gone, the Johnson administration having run its course, Rockefeller had again run for president.