210. Editorial Note

On November 2, 1976, President Gerald R. Ford was defeated in his bid for re-election by the Democratic candidate, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. Three days later, on November 5, White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen announced that Ford had appointed Counselor John O. Marsh as his chief representative in the transition process, to be assisted by James Connor and Michael Raoul-Duval. When asked by a member of the press who would be in charge of coordinating the transition in the National Security Council, Nessen could not confirm whether anyone had been appointed. (Press Briefing, November 5, 1976; Ford Library, Ron Nessen Files, Box 22, Press Secretary’s Press Briefing Transcripts, 9/9/76–11/16/76) Material on the transition process, related largely to domestic concerns, is ibid., John O. Marsh Files, Boxes 33–41, General Subject File.

Unlike the record of the transition at the Department of State, little documentation on the transition process in the NSC has been found. (For more on the transition process in the Department of State, see Documents 211225.) President-elect Carter named foreign policy adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski his Assistant for National Security Affairs on December 10. No record of any meeting between Scowcroft and Brzezinski or other members of the incoming administration has been found. In his memoirs, Kissinger noted that he provided a briefing to Brzezinski on African policy. (Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, page 1063) An undated briefing and organization paper, presumably prepared by the NSC Staff for the incoming Carter administration, including a com[Page 702]plete listing of Ford administration NSC personnel as well as a description of the basic functions of the NSC’s constituent bodies, is in the Ford Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 85, IFG (Institutional Files—Secretariat), Davis, Jeanne W., Personal File, NSC Organization and Administration (8).