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Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2003084951
Collection material in English, with Polish, Russian, French, and other languages
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Zbigniew Brzezinski, foreign policy advisor, political scientist, educator, and author, were deposited in the Library of Congress by Brzezinski in 2003. Additional material was deposited by him between 2005 and 2013.
Part I of the Zbigniew Brzezinski Papers was arranged and described in 2004 by Laura J. Kells with the assistance of Donna Ellis, Nan Thompson Ernst, Dan Oleksiw, Jewel Parker, and Chanté R. Wilson. Additional material received between 2005 and 2009 was processed as Part II in 2009 by Margaret McAleer with the assistance of Tracey Barton, Thomas Bigley, Maria Farmer, Regina Frackowiak, Nicholas Newlin, Kimberly Owens, and Carolyn Ray. Material received in 2012 and 2013 was processed as Part III in 2014 by Connie L. Cartledge with the assistance of Sherralyn McCoy.
Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. Sound and video recordings have been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, where they are described in a finding aid at https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsrs/eadmbrs.rs009003. A map of Wroclaw, Poland, dated 1947, was transferred to the Geography and Map Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Zbigniew Brzezinski Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Zbigniew Brzezinski in these papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is reserved. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for further information.
Restrictions apply governing the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for information concerning these restrictions. In addition, many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Government regulations control the use of security classified items in this collection. Manuscript Division staff can furnish information concerning access to and use of classified material.
Digital files were received as part of the papers of Zbigniew Brzezinski. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for more information.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Roman numeral designating the Part followed by a colon and container number, Zbigniew Brzezinski Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski (1928-2017) span the years 1798-2012, with the bulk of the material dating from 1952 to 2011. They focus on Brzezinski's professional life and public service in the field of foreign policy, including his tenure as Jimmy Carter's national security advisor from 1977 to 1981. The papers are arranged in three parts described below. The collection is in English, with Polish, Russian, French, and other foreign-language material.
Part I of the Brzezinski Papers spans the years 1941-2002, with the bulk of material dating from 1952 to 2002. Five decades of Brzezinski's professional life are covered in Part I, including his activities as national security advisor. The preponderance of material, however, relates to Brzezinski's career prior to joining the Carter White House in January 1977. Part I is arranged in nine series: General Correspondence, Carter Administration, Speeches and Events, Writings, Subject File, Classified, Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information, and Oversize .
The General Correspondence file consists of letters sent and received by Brzezinski from 1952 until 1977 and covers his career at Harvard University, Columbia University, the Department of State, and the Trilateral Commission. Correspondents include academic colleagues, political figures, government officials, business leaders, journalists, and students from around the world. Frequent correspondents include Jerzy Giedroyc, William E. Griffith, Hubert H. Humphrey, Henry Kissinger, Jan Nowak, and Henry Owen.
The Carter Administration series begins with material related to Brzezinski's service as principal foreign policy advisor to Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign and continues through his service as assistant to the president for national security affairs. The files are grouped in sections on the 1976 campaign, the transitional period prior to Carter's inauguration, and the National Security Council (NSC). Campaign files include internal memoranda from Brzezinski to Carter on foreign policy issues, correspondence with foreign policy advisors who prepared briefing papers, Brzezinski's work on speeches and policy papers, briefing books for presidential debates, and press clippings. Transition files contain congratulatory correspondence, letters from job seekers, memoranda, and press clippings.
Since most of the files relating to Brzezinski's work with the National Security Council are located at the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, Georgia, material contained in the National Security Council section of Brzezinski's own papers consists mainly of personal correspondence and press files. Press files contain media coverage of Brzezinski and transcripts of interviews with Carter and Brzezinski. These files reflect the work of Jerrold L. Schecter and Alfred Friendly (1938- ), who served as NSC press spokesman from 1977 to 1980 and 1980 to 1981 respectively. Additional press clippings for this period can be found in personal press files contained in the Subject File . Information about Brzezinski's service as national security adviser is also recorded in the appointment books in the Subject File.
The Speeches and Events file documents Brzezinski's speaking engagements, attendance at conferences and meetings relating to international affairs, trips throughout the world, and other activities prior to his appointment to the Carter administration. During speaking engagements, Brzezinski usually spoke from brief notes, although texts of speeches were occasionally prepared after the event. Speech notes and texts are placed at the front of files relating to an engagement. Topics of Brzezinski's lectures included United States-Soviet relations, Sino-Soviet relations, the Communist states of Eastern Europe, the dynamics of the Cold War, the trilateral relationship, and America's role in world affairs. Other material in these files includes correspondence, notes on meetings and impressions of countries visited, and conference papers.
The series devoted to Brzezinski's writings contains articles, book reviews, book files, columns he wrote for
The Subject File highlights Brzezinski's public policy activities and issues of concern to him. Included are files pertaining to his pursuits in the years following the Carter Administration. The “Trips and Conversations with Heads of State” file focuses on Brzezinski's travels, mostly to former and current communist countries, from 1989 to 2002, to attend conferences and meet with heads of state and other government officials. In the 1990s Brzezinski served as an unofficial envoy of the Clinton administration at meetings in China focusing on political conditions, human rights, trade status, and diplomatic relations. He also met with leaders in the former Soviet states looking to the United States for assistance and support. Included in this material are trip diaries, memoranda, notes on meetings, correspondence, background information, press clippings, and photographs. Files on the Ukraine are the most extensive and provide an account of Brzezinski's work as head of the American-Ukrainian Advisory Committee. Also dating from the post-Carter Administration period are copies of correspondence with American presidents and other heads of state. Letters between Brzezinski and George Bush, Bill Clinton, and Richard M. Nixon contain substantive discussion of foreign policy issues.
Other material in the Subject File pertains to Brzezinski's service as a foreign policy advisor to presidential candidates and details his analysis of issues and strategies for Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968, several Democratic candidates in 1972, and George Bush in 1988. Together with the campaign files in the Carter Administration series, this material highlights three decades of United States foreign policy priorities and concerns. Trilateral Commission files focus on Brzezinski's work with this group of business, academic, and political leaders formed to promote cooperation between North America, Western Europe, and Japan. The subject file entitled “Reactions to Brzezinski” consists of commentary on his opinions and writings in the foreign press and journals. Much of this material is in Russian. Press files, appointment books, and curriculum vitae also include information related to topics appearing throughout the collection.
Part II spans the years 1798-2009, with the bulk of material dating from 1960 to 2007. Part II focuses largely on Brzezinski's role as national security advisor and on his professional life following the Carter presidency, with a small amount of material pertaining to his pre-White House career. Also featured are family papers that chronicle the diplomatic career of Tadeusz Brzezinski, Brzezinski's father. Part II follows the arrangement of Part I and is organized in eleven series: General Correspondence ; Carter Administration ; Speeches, Testimony, and Travel ; Writings ; Subject File ; Family Papers ; Restricted ; Classified ; Top Secret ; Oversize ; and Digital Files .
The General Correspondence series contains letters sent and received by Brzezinski between 1981 and 2005. Correspondence for the year 1984 is missing from the series. Brzezinski's correspondence reflects the range of his activities and associations during this period and includes exchanges with former and current United States government officials, foreign statesmen, diplomats, scholars, journalists, editors, publishers, directors of organizations and foundations, business executives, former students, family, and friends. Letters from prominent correspondents are interspersed throughout this and other series. Included in the collection are letters from Kenneth L. Adelman, Madeleine Korbel Albright, Richard V. Allen, Les Aspin, Samuel R. Berger, C. Fred Bergsten, Harold Brown (1927-2019), George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Warren Christopher, Richard C. Holbrooke, Samuel P. Huntington, Henry Kissinger, Anthony Lake, Richard M. Nixon, David Rockefeller, William Safire, Brent Scowcroft, George Pratt Shultz, Margaret Thatcher, and Cyrus R. Vance.
The Carter Administration series chronicles Brzezinski's activities as national security advisor. Included are files documenting United States relations with China, Europe, Iran, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and the Soviet Union during the Carter presidency. The files contain memoranda and notes on conversations and meetings, excerpts from Brzezinski's journal, memoranda and notes exchanged between Brzezinski and Carter, copies of presidential letters to foreign heads of state, and transcribed excerpts from memoranda and reports by administration officials. Among the topics discussed are the Iranian hostage crisis, normalization of relations with China, Middle East peace negotiations, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II. Material dated after the end of the Carter administration consists of correspondence with former White House colleagues and notes and other material written or assembled by Brzezinski while writing his memoirs,
The Speeches, Testimony, and Travel series encompasses Brzezinski's congressional testimony, domestic and foreign speaking engagements, and foreign travel from 1981 to 2008. During this period, Brzezinski testified frequently before congressional committees on foreign policy and national security matters, spoke often before American audiences, and traveled extensively to western and eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and its post-dissolution component parts, East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Canada, and South America. Correspondence, trip reports, memoranda of conversations, itineraries and arrangements, programs, publicity, interviews, photographs, and news clippings document many of these events. Brzezinski's speeches consist of notes and outlines, typed transcripts prepared by event sponsors, occasional advance copies made available at the time of the event, and published texts. They are located in folders labeled “speeches and remarks” under domestic speaking engagements and in the foreign travel files. The series also includes a file of Brzezinski's early speeches from 1962 to 1976. Speeches delivered as national security advisor are located in the Carter Administration series. Some published speeches are filed among articles in the Writings series.
The Writings series consists of articles, books, introductions, forewords, and a column written by Brzezinski for a Japanese newspaper. Located in the article file are major works featured in
The bulk of the Subject File series pertains to Brzezinski's professional life following his departure from the White House in 1981. The series documents his teaching at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University, his long association with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and his participation in and involvement with numerous commissions and organizations, among them AmeriCares, Balkan Action Council, Chemical Warfare Review Commission, Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy, Council on Foreign Relations, CSIS's American-Ukranian Advisory Committee, Freedom House, Jamestown Foundation, National Endowment for Democracy, and Trilateral Commission. Topical files chronicle Brzezinski's activities relating to Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Kosovo, the Middle East, Soviet Union, and Ukraine, and his support for the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A file regarding the War on Terrorism and Iraq War includes correspondence between Brzezinski and administration officials, statements by him, and notes from meetings. Brzezinski's involvement with his native Poland is well documented in the series. Of particular note are files concerning Brzezinski's work in behalf of the Polish-American Enterprise Fund, support for a Brzezinski presidential candidacy in Poland, and his role in facilitating a meeting between Polish officials and Colonel Ryszard Jerzy Kukliński, a Polish military officer who was helpful to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Featured in the Subject File is a presidential correspondence file consisting of letters between Brzezinski and United States presidents as well as foreign heads of state and public officials in Eastern Europe, former Soviet republics, and elsewhere. A large memoranda of conversations file details conversations and meetings between Brzezinski and United States officials and world leaders, among them Madeleine Korbel Albright, Yasir Arafat, Samuel R. Berger, George Bush, Deng Xiaoping, Mikhail Gorbachev, Richard M. Nixon, Condoleezza Rice, Brent Scowcroft, George Pratt Shultz, and Lech Wałęsa. Other memoranda of conversations can be found in this series under the topics to which they relate and in the Speeches, Testimony, and Travel series.
Other material located in the Subject File includes appointment calendars dated 1977-2003, oral history interviews, a large press file of clippings and interviews, a telephone message file, and honors and awards. A small amount of material concerns Brzezinski's professional activities before joining the Carter White House. Included is material relating to his academic careers at Harvard and Columbia universities and his membership on the Department of State's Policy Planning Council. Testimonial and commendation letters, memorabilia, and a file labeled “reactions to Brzezinski,” composed largely of news clippings, trace the spread of his influence and reputation nationally and internationally prior to 1977.
The Family Papers series documents the diplomatic career of Tadeusz Brzezinski, Zbigniew Brzezinski's father. Included is correspondence relating to his Polish consular service in Lille, France (1921-1931), Leipzig, Germany (1931-1935), Kharkiv, Soviet Union (1936-1937), and Montreal, Canada (1938-1945). Material dated after Tadeusz Brzezinski's arrival in Montreal is more extensive and documents his wartime service as consul-general and his leadership in Polish-Canadian affairs. Brzezinski and his wife, Leonia, remained in Canada until their respective deaths in 1990 and 1985. Tadeusz Brzezinski's papers also contain autobiographical writings, academic and military records, and honors and awards. Featured as well in the series is an album presented by W. Jaruzelski to Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1985 containing original letters and documents written by or about Tadeusz Brzezinski and other members of the Brzezinski family that had been acquired by the Polish communist secret police. Other material in the series includes correspondence and writings by Leonia Brzezinska; a watercolor sketch by Zbigniew Brzezinski's grandfather Kazimierz Brzezinski; World War II letters and journal by Jerzy Zylinski, Zbigniew Brzezinski's stepbrother; and correspondence, notes, and copies of documents relating to the Brzezinski and Roman family histories and genealogies. The bulk of the Family Papers is in Polish.
Part III of the Brzezinski papers spans the years 1866-2012 with the bulk of the material dating from 1957 to 2011. This installment complements papers received in Parts I and II. The majority of the files in Part III relates to Brzezinski’s professional activities after his service as national security adviser in the Carter administration, and they also contain files relating to the Carter Administration and a few family papers. Part III is organized into the following series: Correspondence , Carter Administration , Speeches and Testimony , Writings , Subject File , Travel , Family Papers , Classified , and Digital Files .
The Correspondence series chronicles Brzezinski’s activities and interests primarily between 2005 and 2011 and include incoming and outgoing correspondence with former and current United States government officials, foreign statesmen, diplomats, scholars, journalists, directors of organizations and foundations, business executives, and friends. Correspondents include Madeline Korbel Albright, Howard H. Baker (1924-2014), Joseph R. Biden, Jimmy Carter, Chuck Hagel, John Hamre, Richard Lugar, William E. Odom, Nancy Pelosi, Jody Powell, and George Pratt Schultz, Robert S. Strauss, Desmond Tutu, and Lech Walęsa.
The Carter Administration series consists mainly of weekly reports, photocopied from the Jimmy Carter Library, that Brzezinski made to President Jimmy Carter while Brzezinski served as national security advisor. Also included in the series is material chronicling Brzezinski’s meeting with Deng Xiaoping in 1978 about the normalization of relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China and files relating to Carter’s presidential campaigns.
The Speeches and Testimony series pertains to Brzezinski’s speeches and congressional testimony chiefly about foreign policy and national security matters. Topics include the Middle East, United States and European relations, the War on Terrorism and Iraq War. A few speeches are also filed in the Travel series.
The Writings are comprised mainly of journal and magazine articles, op-ed pieces, letters to editors, and files documenting Brzezinski’s collective articles for the Global Viewpoint, a Los Angles Times syndicate. Most of the book files supplement previous material received in Parts I and II. Also included in the Writings is a draft of Brzezinski’s unpublished book, “Global Populism and American Policy.”
The Subject File relates primarily to Brzezinski’s professional endeavors after leaving the Carter administration in 1981. The files document his work with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Trilateral Commission, the Polish-American Enterprise Fund, the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, and his service with other organizations, foundations, and committees. Topical files treated are Chechnya, Poland, and the War on Terrorism and Iraq War. Also included in the Subject File are a file of memoranda of conversations documenting Brzezinski’s meetings and conversations with United States officials and international leaders pertaining to Chechnya, Ukraine, China, North Korea, the Middle East, the European Union, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Subject File also includes appointment books, calendars, press correspondence, and a large file of interviews.
The Travel series consists chiefly of correspondence and memoranda about travel arrangements, travel itineraries and schedules, notes and background material. The bulk of the travel pertains to domestic engagements but also chronicled are Brzezinski’s trips to Poland and other countries in eastern Europe. Included in this series are two folders relating to Brzezinski’s trip to the Soviet Union in the fall of 1989. During that trip he was the lead spokesman for United States and Soviet Union discussions about Central European problems.
The Family Papers are comprised mainly of condolence letters pertaining to the deaths of Brzezinski’s parents. This series also includes a small amount of family correspondence and genealogical material.
The collection is arranged in three parts composed of twenty-nine series:
Part I:
Part II:
Part III:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2003084951
Correspondence with related attachments between Brzezinski and colleagues, public figures, and friends relating primarily to professional activities.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization and therein chronologically.
Correspondence, memoranda, notes, briefing books, policy papers, speeches, interview transcripts, press clippings, and other material related to Brzezinski's role in Jimmy Carter's campaign for the presidency and as national security advisor in the Carter Administration.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, name of person, or type of material.
Correspondence, memoranda, speech notes, drafts, and transcripts relating to speaking engagements, trips, conferences, and other events.
Arranged chronologically by event or occasion and therein in reverse chronological order.
Articles, book drafts, book reviews, research material, speech notes and texts, a master's thesis, related correspondence, and material about reprint rights, sales figures, and royalties.
Arranged alphabetically by book title and type of material and therein chronologically.
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, notes, press clippings, transcripts, appointment books, résumés, itineraries, photographs, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by topic and therein chronologically.
Government security classified correspondence, memoranda, a speech transcript, and a recording of a speech.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
A Top Secret memorandum.
Arranged and described according to the series, container, and folder from which the item was removed.
A memorandum containing Sensitive Compartmented Information.
Arranged and described according to the series, container, and folder from which the item was removed.
Charts, maps, matted photographs, a booklet, and a scrapbook of press clippings.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Correspondence between Brzezinski and former and current United States government officials, foreign statesmen, diplomats, scholars, journalists, editors, publishers, directors of organizations and foundations, business executives, former students, and friends, primarily relating to professional activities.
Arranged chronologically by year and therein alphabetically by name of correspondent.
Correspondence, memoranda, meeting notes, journal excerpts, chronologies, speeches and speech notes, interview transcripts, press briefings, news clippings, scheduling files, travel authorizations and vouchers, and other material related to Brzezinski's tenure as national security advisor and his earlier role as foreign policy advisor to the Carter presidential campaign and transition team.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, name of person, or type of material.
Speeches, congressional testimony, correspondence, travel itineraries and arrangements, programs, agenda, trip reports, memoranda of conversations, interviews, publicity, photographs, and news clippings concerning Brzezinski's congressional testimony, domestic and foreign speaking engagements, and travel.
Arranged chronologically by year and therein alphabetically by type of material or event.
Correspondence, drafts, proofs, reviews, and publicity files relating to articles, books, introductions and forewords, and a column by Brzezinski.
Arranged alphabetically by type of publication. Books are arranged alphabetically by title and therein alphabetically by type of material. Articles, the column, and introductions and forewords are arranged chronologically.
Correspondence, memoranda, lectures, reports, minutes, agenda, proposals, notes, press clippings, oral history interviews, appointment books, telephone messages, honors and awards, itineraries, photographs, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, name of person or organization, or type of material and therein chronologically.
Correspondence, biographical information, birth and baptismal records, academic and military records, albums, a journal, poetry and other writings, honors and awards, certificates, identification cards and a passport, wills, obituaries, photographs, a watercolor sketch, a prayer book, genealogical research, and printed matter pertaining to the Brzezinski family.
Arranged alphabetically by name of family member or type of material.
Excerpts from Brzezinski's journal during the Carter administration concerning Iran and the Middle East and correspondence, memoranda of conversations, notes, journal excerpts, and photographs concerning his correspondence and meetings with Pope John Paul II.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Correspondence, memoranda, cables, notes, reports, chronologies, schedules, and speech drafts.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Notes and a memorandum.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Posters, honors and awards, certificates, correspondence, genealogical notes, a photograph, children's drawings, and a medallion design.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Computer files consisting largely of speeches, lectures, and writings.
Currently not accessible.
Correspondence between Brzezinski and former and current United States government officials, foreign statesmen, diplomats, scholars, journalists, editors, publishers, directors of organizations and foundations, business executives, and friends, relating mainly to professional activities.
Arranged alphabetically by type of correspondence and therein either alphabetically or chronologically.
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, briefing material, notes, press clippings and articles, and other material documenting his service as national security advisor and the Carter presidential campaign.
Arranged alphabetically by topic or type of material.
Speeches, congressional testimony, transcripts of remarks, notes, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and speech material.
Arranged into three groups: chronological file, correspondence, and speech material and therein either alphabetically or chronologically.
Correspondence, drafts, reviews, and publicity files relating to articles, books, testimonials, and a column by Brzezinski. Arranged in two categories: writings by Brzezinski and writings by others about Brzezinski.
Writings by Brzezinski are arranged alphabetically by type and therein alphabetically. Writings by others about Brzezinski are organized alphabetically by author.
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, agenda, proposals, notes, interviews, appointment books, calendars, telephone logs and notes, honors and awards, photographs, press clippings, printed matter, and other material.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, name of person or organization, or type of material and therein chronologically.
Correspondence, memoranda, speeches, notes, reports, programs, background material, travel itineraries, clippings, and printed matter.
Arranged chronologically by date of event.
Correspondence, biographical information, birth and baptismal records, academic and military records, albums, a journal, poetry and other writings, honors and awards, certificates, identification cards and a passport, wills, obituaries, photographs, a watercolor sketch, a prayer book, genealogical research, and printed matter pertaining to the Brzezinski family.
Arranged alphabetically by name of family member or type of material.
Correspondence.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Computer files consisting largely of writings and photographs.
Currently not accessible.