BRZEZINSKI, ZBIGNIEW. (1928-2017). President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor. TLS. (“Zbig”). 1p. Large 8vo. Washington, December 14, 1977. Written on White House stationery to New York Senator DANIEL PATRICK “PAT” MOYNIHAN (1927-2003).

“The President has given me your letter of December 1, 1977 on the position of Somalia on the notorious ‘Zionism-racism’ resolution which the UN General Assembly adopted on November 10, 1975. I share your scorn for this resolution and agree that there may be a chance to persuade the Somalis to reconsider their support for this initiative now that they have broken with the Soviet Union.

I am sending your letter to Cy Vance with the suggestion that he have his people make plans to raise this issue at forthcoming international conferences. Meanwhile, I am also suggesting to him that we raise your idea with the Somalis. I will keep you posted on any progress. Sincerely…”

The son of a Polish diplomat, Brzezinski studied political science at Harvard where he served on the faculty before moving on to Columbia (where one of his students was future Secretary of State Madeleine Albright) and Johns Hopkins. As an academic, Brzezinski focused on the concept of totalitarianism and was critical of the Soviet Union. In 1960, he functioned as an advisor to John F. Kennedy, served on Lyndon B. Johnson’s Policy Planning Council, and was foreign policy advisor to Vice President Hubert Humphrey. In 1973, Brzezinski founded the Trilateral Commission to foster relations between the world’s most industrially developed nations and, in 1974, he invited Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter to join the NGO. Brzezinski, an outspoken critic of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger subsequently became presidential candidate Carter’s foreign policy advisor and joined him as national security advisor after Carter won the White House.

President Kennedy appointed Cyrus Vance, Sr. (1917-2002) Secretary of the Army after which he became President Johnson’s Deputy Secretary of Defense, later resigning over his opposition to the war in Vietnam. For his part in the Paris Peace Accords, which attempted to end the conflict, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Carter reluctantly appointed Vance his Secretary of State, though he was instrumental in helping Israel and Egypt work out the Camp David Accords. Vance later came into conflict with Carter and Brzezinski over the failed rescue of the American hostages held in Iran. Vance resigned in protest on April 21, 1980, calling Brzezinski “evil,” (“The Lives They Lived; Out of the Loop,” The New York Times, Brinkley). Moynihan served the Kennedy and Johnson administrations as assistant secretary of labor until 1965. Following a failed bid for election to the New York City Council, Moynihan became director of the Harvard–MIT Joint Center for Urban Studies. Despite being a Democrat, President Richard Nixon selected him to be his counselor on urban affairs, and in 1973, he was appointed U.S. ambassador to India, the world’s largest democracy, to smooth over the countries’ sometimes uneasy relationship. Moynihan served as President Ford’s ambassador to the United Nations, speaking out against the 1975 U.N. resolution declaring Zionism a form of racism, the subject of our letter and a controversy that lasted until the resolution’s repeal in 1991. While representing New York in the Senate, a position he held from January 1977 to 2001, Moynihan continued his support of Israel and opposition to U.N. Resolution 3379.

Brzezinski has crossed out the salutation “Dear Senator Moynihan” and written in “Pat” awhile also underlining several words in ink. Folded with light “magic” tape remnants at the top and bottom of the sheet and a red sticker in the upper right corner. Docketed with a file number and in the lower margin. Written in pencil are the words “priority DPM / For relations/mideast-anti” in an unidentified hand. In fine condition and uncommon.