Zbigniew Brzezinski

Zbigniew Brzezinski was born in Warsaw, Poland, on March 28, 1928. His father, Tadeusz Brzezinski, was a diplomat of the Polish Republic who was appointed Polish consul-general in Montreal in 1938, and the family moved with him to Canada.⁠[1][2]

In 1945 Soviet-backed communists took control of the Polish government, leaving the family stranded in Canada; BritannicaEncyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopedia first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768; the name also refers to its publisher, Chicago-based Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (which presents itself as The Britannica Group). The print edition ended in 2012, and the company’s main businesses since then have been the online encyclopedia Britannica.com, digital education products for schools and libraries, and Merriam-Webster dictionaries.Open the full entry judges that the experience gave him a deep opposition to communism and the Soviet Union.⁠[3]

He received a B.A. in 1949 and an M.A. in 1950 from McGill University in Montreal, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1953.⁠[1][2]

From 1953 to 1956 he was an instructor and research fellow at Harvard University’s Russian Research Center, and from 1956 to 1960 an assistant professor of government and research associate. In 1956 he published The Permanent Purge and, with Carl J. Friedrich, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy. In 1958 he became a naturalized U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry citizen.⁠[1]

He was associate professor of public law and government at Columbia University from 1960 to 1962 and professor from 1962 to 1977, serving as the first director of its Research Institute on Communist Affairs, later the Research Institute on International Change. In the 1960s he was a foreign-affairs adviser to John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy (1917–1963) was an American politician who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 to 1963. The youngest person elected president and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office, he was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963.Open the full entry and Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) was an American politician who served Texas as a U.S. representative and senator and led the Senate Democrats, became vice president in 1961 and succeeded to the presidency on the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, serving as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. His administration enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other “Great Society” legislation while expanding the U.S. military commitment in the Vietnam War.Open the full entry.⁠[1][3]

From 1966 to 1968 he served on the State Department’s Policy Planning Council, where he helped shape Lyndon B. Johnson’s policy of “bridge-building” toward Eastern Europe. In 1968 he was foreign-policy adviser to Hubert H. Humphrey’s presidential campaign.⁠[2][1]

He cofounded the Trilateral Commission with David RockefellerDavid RockefellerDavid Rockefeller (1915–2017) was an American banker and philanthropist and the youngest son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. He worked at Chase Manhattan Bank for 35 years, serving as chairman and chief executive officer from 1969 to 1981; he led institutions including The Rockefeller University and the Council on Foreign Relations for many years and co-founded the Trilateral Commission in 1973.Open the full entry and was its first director from 1973 to 1976. In 1975–1976 he was principal foreign-policy adviser to Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign.⁠[2][1][3]

From 1977 to 1981 he was assistant to the president for national security affairs, on the National Security Council. He took part in the SALT II negotiations and helped renegotiate the Panama Canal treaty, which was ratified in 1978. Under his guidance the United States opened its first official embassy in Beijing since the communists took power in 1949.⁠[1][3]

Britannica records that friction between him and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance began during the SALT II talks, when Vance was not informed of a key offer in advance and was publicly embarrassed when the Soviets initially rejected it.⁠[3]

During the 1979 Iranian Revolution he advocated firm support for the Shah and persuaded Jimmy Carter to reject the revolutionaries’ demands; the resulting lack of contact with Iran’s new religious leaders limited diplomatic options during the hostage crisis of 1979–1981. Britannica calls his support for the Shah his “greatest mistake” and judges that the perception that Carter mishandled the hostage crisis contributed strongly to Carter’s defeat in the 1980 presidential election.⁠[3]

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Jimmy Carter withdrew the SALT II treaty from Senate consideration.⁠[3]

In 1981 he became a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and returned to Columbia University as a professor and research institute director until 1989. In 1983 he published Power and Principle, his memoir of his years as national security adviser.⁠[1]

During the Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Reagan (1911–2004) was an American politician and actor who worked as a radio sports announcer and film actor before serving as governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989.Open the full entry administration he served on the Chemical Warfare Commission, the NSC–Defense Department Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy and the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. In 1987 he joined the CSIS Board of Trustees.⁠[2]

In 1989 he became Robert E. Osgood Professor of American Foreign Policy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. In 1995 he became cochair of the CSIS Advisory Board.⁠[1][2]

His later books included The Grand Chessboard (1997), The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership (2004), Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower (2007), America and the World (2008), written with Brent Scowcroft and David Ignatius, and Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power (2012), a New York Times best seller.⁠[1][4][2]

He died in Falls Church, VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, on May 26, 2017. CSIS President and CEO John J. Hamre said that his intellectual contributions and influence at CSIS “cannot be overstated.”⁠[1][2]

In 1955 he married Emilie Anna Benes. He was survived by his wife, Emilie, his children Ian, Mika and Mark, and five grandchildren.⁠[2][1]

His books from 1960 to 1993 included The Soviet Bloc: Unity and Conflict (1960), Ideology and Power in Soviet Politics (1962), Political Power: USA/USSR (1964), written with Samuel P. Huntington, Alternative to Partition (1965), Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era (1970), The Fragile Blossom (1972), Game Plan (1986), The Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century (1989) and Out of Control (1993).⁠[1][3]

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which CSIS describes as recognizing his role in the normalization of U.S.-Chinese relations and his contributions to U.S. human rights and national security policies. He also received the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest civilian decoration, the Centennial Medal of Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the American Political Science Association’s Hubert Humphrey Award for Public Service and the David Rockefeller International Leadership Award, and in 2011 the de Tocqueville Prize.⁠[4][2]

Center for Strategic and International Studies: Official website: https://www.csis.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]