7 Jimmy Carter 7Jimmy Carter. Courtesy of Jimmy Carter Library
ambitious programs for social, administrative, and eco-
nomic reform. Most of those programs, however, met with
opposition in Congress despite the Democratic majorities
in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Carter’s diffi culties with Congress undermined the suc-
cess of his administration, and by 1978 his initial popularity
had dissipated in the face of his inability to convert his
ideas into legislative realities.
Two scandals also damaged Carter’s credibility. In
summer 1977 Bert Lance , the director of the Offi ce of
Management and Budget and one of Carter’s closest
friends, was accused of fi nancial improprieties as a Georgia