ABSTRACT
The presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were periods of popular reaction against the "imperial presidency" of Vietnam and Watergate. Both presidents deliberately downplayed the elaborate trappings of office in favor of plainspoken, informal leadership. Ford and Carter were caught in a transition between the Democratic era and a Republican era to come. Both Ford and Carter sought to get budget deficits down as an antidote to inflation, but neither was willing to cut government spending in a radical way. Ford's domestic policy leadership consisted almost entirely of vetoes against congressional spending. The political problem of Ford's economic policies was that they were too moderate for effective presidential politics. Gerald Ford was the least effective of the presidents in this study in terms of policy achievement. Carter had good support in the South, as a "born again" Baptist, among evangelicals. Carter's strength was among white Protestants, better-educated workers, and rural and small-town voters.
