Office of the Historian

57. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to the President’s Assistant for Domestic Affairs and Policy (Eizenstat)1

Washington, June 10, 1977

SUBJECT

  • The Genocide Treaty

I understand that the Genocide Treaty is in pretty serious trouble on the Hill, and will not be ratified without strong help from the White House. Moreover, the human rights groups are watching what we do very carefully to see whether the Administration will push hard for this, or whether we will simply send it up and allow it to die, as has happened so many times before. Therefore, if the vote fails, the Administration will get a lot of criticism on this score, and the President will be accused again of “backing off” on human rights. Accordingly, I urge that ratification of the Genocide Treaty be accorded a high spot on our list of legislative priorities.2

  1. Source: Carter Library, White House Central Files, Subject File, Human Rights, Box HU–18, HU–3—Executive, 1/20/77–12/31/78. No classification marking.↩
  2. On May 23, the President sent a message to the Senate concerning the Genocide Convention; see footnote 16, Document 53. In a June 10 memorandum to Hansell, Baker, and Derian, Atwood indicated that he had “put in motion” an effort to ascertain a “credible vote count” on the Genocide Treaty. (Department of State, Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, 1979 Human Rights Subject Files, Lot 82D102, Genocide—Action File) According to a June 13 note from Eizenstat to Brzezinski, ratification of the Genocide Treaty had been placed on the legislative priorities list. (Carter Library, White House Central Files, Subject File, Human Rights, Box HU–18, HU–3—Executive, 1/20/77–12/31/78)↩