ABSTRACT
In the post-Watergate era, Jimmy Carter (served 1977-1981) assumed office seeking to end the ceremonial trappings and power abuses of the “imperial presidency” while promising the nation a presidency “as good as its people.” Yet despite his promises of positive new directions, his four years in the White House were a continuing struggle. In 1981 Carter reflected sadly on an election he had lost by 10 percentage points, thereby relinquishing control of the White House to Ronald Reagan, the most conservative Republican president since the 1920s.
