39.A) Jimmy Carter, the outsider, an interview with Jonathan Alter

When Jimmy Carter won the presidency, his Democratic party held a 61-37 majority in the Senate and a 292-143 majority in the House. Why then, with such a clear governing majority, were his relations with Congress so poor, and his agenda so challenged?

Jonathan Alter, a long-time journalist and author of numerous books on the presidency, including His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life,  discusses how Carter's outsider status and a healthy heaping of luck swept him to the presidency, but betrayed him in the White House. 

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