Nation: The Difficult Year Ahead

Carter's agenda—and a sense of his priorities for 1979

The problems that land on a President's desk are often so pressing and immediate—rioting in Iran or a threat from Moscow—that he is in danger of losing his perspective on the long-run effects of his policy. In an effort to remedy that, Jimmy Carter asked National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski to outline the global problems and prospects for the coming year, and late in December Brzezinski provided him with a thick black dossier. Brzezinski declines to discuss the specifics of that report, of course, saying...