"Few people expected that Jimmy Carter would turn out to be one of the most unsucessful presidents in recent American history. As a campaigner, Carter had displayed extraordinary skill. Running as an outsider who promised to change the way Washington worked, he had won support from millions of Americans who found this message attractive, and he entered the White House with his party in control of both houses of Congress. As president, however, Carter failed to translate his skills and popular appeal into political strength. What went wrong? The answer can be found in the tremendous difficulties Carter faced as he shifted from the politics of campaigning to the politics of governing. When a series of crises struck in 1979 and 1980, and he came under attack from a growing conservative movement, Carter found himself an isolated political figure without a strong base of support."---Julian E. Zelizer on Jimmy Carter<BR><BR>A peanut farmer from Georgia, Jimmy Carter rose to national power through mastering the strategy of the maverick politician. As the face of the "New South," Carter found that his strongest support emanated from his ability to communicate directly to voters who were disaffected by corruption in politics. In the aftermath of the disillusioning crises of Watergate and Vietnam, Americans were looking for a president untainted by the ways of Washington; they found him in Jimmy Carter.<BR><BR>But running as an outsider was easier than governing as one, as Princeton historian Julian E. Zelizer shows in this provocative examination of Carter's presidency. Once in power, Carter found himself unable to sustain a strong political coaltition in Congress, as he focused on policies that often antagonized many of the key Democrats whose support he desperately needed. And despite some signal achievements in the middle of his term---most notably the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel---by 1980 Carter stood alone in the Oval Office as he confronted a battered economy, soaring oil prices, American hostages in Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.<BR><BR>Carter's unpopularity enabled Ronald Reagan to achieve a landslide victory, ushering in a conservative revolution. But during Carter's postpresidential career, he has emerged as an important, though controversial, voice for international diplomacy and negotiation, remaking his image as a statesman for our time.