The cancellation of a landmark return to Cambridge last week by controversial statesman Henry A. Kissinger ’50 has critics crying foul.

Kissinger, a former secretary of state and national security adviser, bowed out of the Harvard Book Store event only days before he was supposed to discuss his new book, “Does America Need a Foreign Policy? Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century.” He was to field questions from an overflow audience of 300.

The event would have been Kissinger’s first public appearance in Harvard Square since the former professor left over four decades ago to join the Nixon administration. Harvard’s prodigal son is said to have held a grudge against Harvard ever since his former colleagues turned into vocal critics of Nixon’s Vietnam policies.

According to Tracy Guest, Simon and Schuster’s Assistant Director of Publicity, the event was canceled when Kissinger told the publisher that he had a scheduling conflict. The book store was notified just under a week before the event.

Kissinger was unavailable for comment, according to Simon and Schuster.

But as seems true of everything Kissinger does, the appearance was itself enveloped in controversy—from internal controversy to a planned face-off and protests by Amnesty International.

From the beginning Kissinger’s talk drew internal criticism at the book store, as some staffers, including Assistant Manager Mark Lamphier, argued that Kissinger’s appearance was inconsistent with the store’s mission—a disagreement that turned public in dueling columns published in the book store’s monthly newsletter.

“An exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of a bookstore, and it should be anathema for us to sponsor an appearance by a man who…has sought to deny freedom of expression to others,” Lamphier wrote.