Presidential Biographies | Carter Administration - Carter Becomes President

The Jimmy Carter Administration

Jimmy Carter campaigned as a Washington outsider and Americans, disillusioned by Watergate and the other scandals of previous years, heeded his message. As president, however, Carter's unwillingness to play politics made for poor relations with Congress, the press, and American voters. Carter spoke of limits and lowered expectations to voters seeking reassurance, not candor, and Americans came to see his idealism as arrogant naiveté, his honesty as weakness.

Carter Becomes President

The Campaign of 1976

The 1976 election was a unique opportunity for the Democratic Party to recapture the presidency. Many Americans were still voting against the permissiveness and turmoil of the Democratic 1960s, but by 1976 voters were even more shaken by the...