Sources

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, Volume XIII, China

The Carter Library is the best source of high-level decision making documentation for U.S. policy toward China from 1977 to 1980. The richest collection of documents on Sino-American relations is in the National Security Affairs files, Brzezinski Material, most notably the Country File, the Staff Material files (Far East File, particularly the materials relating to Oksenberg, Platt, and Sullivan), and the NSC Institutional Files. Also of great value within the Brzezinski Material are the Agency File (particularly for the Departments of Defense, State, and the Treasury), the President’s Correspondence With Foreign Leaders File, the Subject File, the Trip File, the VIP Visit File, and the Staff Material files (for Global Issues and for Office, Meetings). Other materials on China in the Carter Library are in the Plains File, Subject File (especially the State Department Evening Reports). Important documents are also in the donated collections of both Zbigniew Brzezinski and Walter Mondale. Jimmy Carter’s handwriting files in the Records of the Office of the Staff Secretary, Presidential File, provided additional material.

The National Archives and Records Administration facility in College Park, Maryland (Archives II), is home to a wealth of material on the Carter administration’s policy toward China. The Department of State’s Central Foreign Policy File is crucial for following the day-to-day flow of diplomatic cables. Relevant documents are also in the Department of State Lot Files at Archives II, including lot files from the American Embassy in Beijing, and for specific individuals, especially Cyrus Vance, Philip Habib, Nicholas Platt, and Edmund Muskie. A useful source of information on economic relations is RG 364, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Department of Defense records in RG 330 provide an important perspective on Sino-American relations during the Carter administration. This volume used Office of the Secretary of Defense files before they had reached the National Archives, most notably FRC 330–80–0035 (Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1977), FRC 330–81–0202 (Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1978), FRC 330–82–0205 (Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1979), and FRC 330–82–0217 (Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1980)

This volume used Central Intelligence Agency documents. Most helpful were the National Intelligence Estimate Master File at the [Page XVIII] Center for the Study of Intelligence and the records of the Office of Current Intelligence, Jobs 78T02549A and 80T00942A.

Unpublished Sources

Carter Library
- Brzezinski Donated Material
- Carter Presidential Papers, Staff Secretary
- Mondale Donated Material
- National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material
  - Agency File (Defense Department, State, Treasury Department)
  - Country File
  - President’s Correspondence With Foreign Leaders File
  - Subject File
  - Trip File
  - VIP Visit File
- National Security Affairs, Staff Material
  - Far East File (Oksenberg, Platt, and Sullivan files)
  - Global Issues
  - Office, Meetings File
- NSC Institutional Files
- Plains File, Subject File (State Department Evening Reports)
Central Intelligence Agency
- Center for the Study of Intelligence, NIE Master File
- Office of Current Intelligence
  - Job 78T02549A
  - Job 80T00942A
Department of State
- Files of Nicholas Platt, DOD 1980–1981
- Lot 81 D 5, Papers of Philip C. Habib
- Lot 81 F 197, American Embassy Beijing, Subject Files for 1978
- Lot 82 F 82, American Embassy Beijing, Subject Files for 1979
- Lot 84 D 241, Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance Lot File
Ford Library
- National Security Adviser, Kissinger–Scowcroft West Wing Office Files
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
- Manuscript Division, Papers of Henry A. Kissinger
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
- RG 59, General Records of the Department of State
  - Central Foreign Policy File
  - Lot Files
    - Lot 82 D 298, Policy Planning Staff, Office of the Director, Records of Anthony Lake, 1977–1981
    - Lot 32 D 66, Subject Files of Edmund S. Muskie, 1963–1981
- RG 364, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
  - 364–80–4, STR Subject Files
Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
- RG 330, Records of the Department of Defense
  - OSD Files: FRC 330–80–0035
    - Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1977
  - OSD Files: FRC 330–81–0202
    - Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1978
  - OSD Files: FRC 330–82–0205
    - Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1979
  - OSD Files: FRC 330–82–0217
    - Secret Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1980

Published Sources

Brzezinski, Zbigniew. Power and Principle: Memoirs of the National Security Adviser, 1977–1981. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1983.
Carter, Jimmy. Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1982.
Congressional Quarterly. Congress and the Nation, 1977–1980. vol. V. Washington D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Service, 1981.
Kissinger, Henry. Years of Renewal. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
———. White House Years. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979.
Lilley, James with Jeffrey Lilley. China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia. New York: Public Affairs, 2004.
United States Department of State. American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1977–1980. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983.
———. Bulletin, 1977–1980.
United States National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents: Jimmy Carter, 1977–1980. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977–1981.
———. Public Papers of the Presidents: Richard Nixon, 1972. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974.
Vance, Cyrus. Hard Choices: Critical Years in America’s Foreign Policy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XIII, China

Sources