Going beyond superficial comparisons of Kissinger and Brzezinski, this study, by comparing their views on world politics and on strategy and tactics for achieving national goals and examining the consistency of their beliefs and actions while in and out of office, finds that, despite Brzezinski's attacks on Kissinger, he shared many of his views and copied many of his actions while in office and that their policy-making behaviour was, indeed, strongly influenced by their shared beliefs.