Brzezinski, Zbigniew Kazimierz, << breh ZIHN skih, zuh BIHG nehf kah ZHEE myehz >> (1928-2017), was a key aide of United States President Jimmy Carter. He served as assistant to the president for national security affairs from 1977 to 1981. Brzezinski acted as Carter’s chief adviser on defense and as head of the National Security Council, the highest defense planning group in the government. In 1978, he helped establish diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
Brzezinski was born on March 28, 1928, in Warsaw, Poland, and moved to Canada with his family in 1938. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees from McGill University and, in 1953, earned a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University.
From 1953 until 1960, Brzezinski taught political science at Harvard. During that time, he wrote extensively on Soviet Communism. In 1960, Brzezinski joined the faculty of Columbia University. From 1973 to 1976, Brzezinski served as director of the Trilateral Commission, a private group that promotes cooperation between the United States, Japan, and the countries of Western Europe. Brzezinski died on May 26, 2017.
