The managerial moralist : the domestic policy of Jimmy Carter, 1977-1981

Elected President on 2 November 1976, Jimmy Carter, was little known outside Georgia and was the first politician from the deep South to be elected since the Civil War and with the briefest record of public service since Woodrow Wilson. He presented himself as an outsider, not part of the Washington establishment, who would bring back an ethical, competent government. However, his devastating electoral defeat to Ronald Reagan in 1980, the worst for an incumbent since 1932, set the seal on what was widely regarded as a failed presidency. Carter's much praised humanitarian record since he left office in 1981 has not prompted any serious re-evaluation by historians. This study dissects Carter's domestic policies, re-evaluating the unresolved questions relating to Carter's character and ideology and to put his presidency in the proper historic context. I will begin by reviewing the relevant historiography, the important issues of the decade and his early political life, including his triumph in 1976. I will then seek to address Carter's leadership by analysing how his administration was organised, and exploring the key domestic policy issues, principally the economy, energy, health, welfare, labour and his approach to the social changes that dominated America in the 1970's. I will conclude with his failed attempt to be re-elected in 1980. In conclusion I will comment on Carter's overall effectiveness as a leader and how he should be ranked against other modern Presidents. This thesis is based on a wide range of sources including extensive use of collections from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Papers of the Presidents of the United States, oral history transcripts, published papers and numerous other primary and secondary sources covering political, economic and social issues.