The Truth of the Matter

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Lance, the political strategist who guided Jimmy Carter's successful 1976 presidential campaign, was forced to resign as budget director a year later due to accusations of irregular banking practices when he headed the National Bank of Georgia. In this informal memoir written with former Wash ing ton Post reporter Gilbert, Lance offers his version of his ordeal as the most investigated citizen in the history of the United States (the Justice Department's file on the case contains more than 400,000 pages), describing his appearances before congressional committees and his eventual exoneration by a jury in 1980. He claims that the campaign to drive him out of Washington was sparked by fears that he might be appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Lance also defends longtime friend Carter against charges that his presidential performance was characterized by weakness and indecision. His matter-of-fact attitude about his difficulties is admirable, even inspiring, but his long absence from the public eye makes it unlikely that the book will have wide appeal. (Nov.)

Library Journal

Lance's memoirs are similar in tone and focus to those of the late John Tower ( Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir , LJ 2/1/91). Like Tower, Lance believes that he was unfairly hounded out of Washington. He places much of the blame for this on what he calls the ``Washington establishment,'' which includes elements of the news media and the federal bureaucracy. The author, former head of the Office of Management and Budget under President Carter, does not describe the charges against him with sufficient specificity to allow the general reader to determine if Lance or his critics have the best case. Readers unfamiliar with Lance's troubles will have difficulty discerning just what charges Lance is attempting to rebut. Still, recent news stories about Carter administration figures and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) affair may stimulate interest in Lance's defense of his career in politics.-- Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette