Brzezinski, Zbigniew (1928–)

Under President Jimmy Carter, national security advisor who played key roles in the negotiations for the SALT II treaty and efforts to sustain the shah in Iran. Zbigniew Brzezinski was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1928. His father was a prominent member of the Polish government who was appointed ambassador to Canada in 1938. When Soviet-backed communists overtook the Polish government in 1945, the family was stranded in Canada. After this event, Zbigniew Brzezinski harbored a deep opposition to communism and the Soviet Union.

The younger Brzezinski solidified his reputation as an anticommunist as a foreign affairs adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1970, he published his most recognized work, Between the Ages, in which he opined that the United States and the Soviet Union would eventually confront one another in the third world in a battle over [Page 94]natural resources. After the book's publication, Brzezinski formed the Trilateral Commission, an organization that encouraged the United States, Japan, and the Western European nations to increase economic support for resource-rich third-world nations to secure their allegiance.

While working at the Trilateral Commission, Brzezinski met Jimmy Carter, then the governor of Georgia. Brzezinski served as Carter's foreign affairs adviser during the 1976 presidential campaign. When Carter won the election, he appointed Brzezinski as his national security advisor.

The Carter foreign policy team achieved several major successes. With Carter's approval, Brzezinski advocated a broad expansion of the SALT treaty with the Soviet Union, although the Senate ultimately refused to ratify it when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In 1978, Brzezinski helped Carter renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty and prepare for the eventual transfer of authority over the canal to Panama. Brzezinski also worked assiduously on improving the United States' relationship with China. Under his guidance, the United States opened its first official embassy in the Chinese capital since the communists had assumed power.

Brzezinski's tenure as national security advisor, however, is best remembered for his public disputes with the State Department and for one memorable miscalculation. Friction between Brzezinski and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance began during the negotiations over the SALT II treaty. Both Carter and Brzezinski envisioned a radically enlarged treaty in which the Soviet Union would drastically limit its intercontinental ballistic missiles and the United Sates would limit its cruise missiles. However, Vance was not informed of this offer until he reached the negotiations. When the Soviets initially refused, Vance was publicly embarrassed.

In 1980, the split between Brzezinski and Vance became irreparable. Brzezinski argued that the threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD) did not deter the Soviet Union and that the United States had to intimidate the Soviets by targeting weapons solely on the Russian population instead of the entire Soviet Union. Vance vehemently objected and when Carter agreed to this strategic revision, he resigned.

In 1979, Brzezinski made his greatest mistake when he steadfastly supported the shah of Iran. Even though American intelligence suggested the inevitability of an Iranian revolution and questioned if the shah could weather it, Brzezinski convinced Carter to reject the insurgents' demands and uphold the shah. Consequently, when the Iranian revolution succeeded, the United States had no contact with Iran's new religious leaders. This lack of diplomacy led directly to the Iranian hostage crisis, which strongly contributed to Carter's defeat in the 1980 presidential election. Brzezinski's fatal miscalculation made the United States appear vulnerable and constituted the lowest point in his service as national security advisor.

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