Here, by the author of some of the most controversial books of our times, is a criticalanalysis of the extraordinary rise of James Earl Carter, Jr.—better known as"Jimmy"—to the Presidency of the United States. It is an analysis which confirms suspicions that the man who sermonized his way into the White House with those remarkable phrases—"I willnever lie to you," "a government as good as itspeople," and "Why not the best?"—rarely practiced what he preached.For several years before WatergateJimmy Carter presided over a gubernatorial campaign in Georgia that provided a startling preview ofthe kind of political excesses which later helped to destroy Richard Nixon. Yet, as Victor Lasky notes, Carter came to power largely because the nation was waiting forsomeone who was palpably not Richard Nixon, andJimmy Carter insisted he was  not. In fact,he disliked the idea of Washington so much that he proposed to live there. And the scam worked.