127. Editorial Note
On April 4, 1978, National Security Council Staff member Robert Pastor sent Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Zbigniew Brzezinski a memorandum referencing the Humphrey Scholarships proposal (see Document 119). Pastor indicated that he had received “an urgent phone call” from a member of Senator Muriel Humphrey’s (DFL-Minnesota) staff “asking what this Humphrey scholarship idea was all about.” He commented that he had provided additional information to Humphrey’s staffer, stating that the National Security Council Staff would follow up on the proposal once President Jimmy Carter returned to Washington, D.C., from Lagos and Monrovia. He reminded Brzezinski that Carter had mentioned to Pastor “on the plane” that the President wanted to call Humphrey “to brief her on the idea and to solicit her views.” Pastor recommended that Brzezinski sign an attached memorandum from Brzezinski to the President, dated April 4, which would remind the President both of the proposal and his remark regarding the telephone call. A notation in an unknown hand on Pastor’s memorandum indicates that Brzezinski signed the attached memorandum on April 4. On the attached April 4 memorandum, the President wrote: “Zbig Fritz will take care of this. He’s working w Bob Pastor & only informing Muriel now. I want to keep tight control until we define program clearly. JC.” The President also indicated that a copy of Brzezinski’s May 4 memorandum be sent to Vice President Walter Mondale. (Carter Library, White House Central Files, Subject File, Foreign Affairs, Information-Exchange Activities-Educational, Executive, Box FO–35, FO 5–1 1/20/77–5/31/78)
[Page 377]In an April 7 memorandum, Brzezinski instructed Pastor to “proceed as directed by the President, while keeping me fully informed.” (Ibid.) In response, Pastor indicated in an April 14 memorandum to Brzezinski that he had, based on the directions contained in Brzezinski’s April 7 memorandum, “drafted a short proposal which includes three options for the Humphrey Scholarship Program.” Pastor also stated that he had prepared an attached memorandum for Brzezinski to send to Mondale, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Director of the Office of Management and Budget James McIntyre, and Director of the International Communication Agency John Reinhardt regarding the Humphrey Scholarship Program. He explained, “I felt that a memo from you at this stage would be helpful in pushing the discussion forward and in attracting the attention of the heads of each of these agencies. I have been in touch informally with the staff people in each of these agencies, except OMB, and expect to be able to work from my proposal and prepare a paper for the President by May 1.” (Ibid.) Brzezinski’s signed letter to the agency heads is printed as Document 128.