President Carter: The White House Years

Eizenstat (Imperfect Justice), chief domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924), brings an invaluable insider's perspective to a study of the 39th U.S. president based on information from the author's own notes, declassified documents, and interviews with members of both political parties. Historians are most likely to use this book, but general readers willing to take up the challenge of this substantive tome will also benefit. Eizenstat details Carter's efforts, at the time relatively new for a democratic president, to deregulate industries (air passenger travel, fossil fuel production, and mass communications) and promote a more competitive economy. He shows how Carter was sidelined by squabbles within his own party and shifts in partisan loyalties, along with the Iran Hostage Crisis. By the end of his single term, Carter unwittingly came to symbolize establishment inaction. While professing the worthiness of his own goals, Eizenstat refreshingly admits to past errors in tactics and judgement.