page_title: Bert Lance
section_title: Carter administration
hierarchical_section_title: Bert Lance / Carter administration
context_page_description: Thomas Bertram "Bert" Lance was an American businessman who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter in 1977. He is known mainly for resigning from the Carter administration because of a scandal during his first year in office. However, he was later cleared of all charges.
context_section_description: Lance became acquainted with Jimmy Carter during the latter's time as Governor of Georgia and served as State Highway Director during his administration. Lance ran to succeed Carter in 1974 but lost a bid for the Democratic nomination, finishing third in the first primary behind Lester Maddox and the eventual winner, George Busbee. During the campaign, Lance accrued campaign debts of nearly $600,000.
  Lance was an adviser to Carter during his successful 1976 presidential campaign. After Carter's victory over President Gerald Ford, Lance was named Director of the Office of Management and the Budget (OMB). According to former OMB officials, it was well known in the department that Bert Lance and President Carter prayed together every morning.
  Within six months, questions were raised by the press and Congress about mismanagement and corruption when Lance was chairman of the board of Calhoun First National Bank of Georgia. William Safire's article written during this time, Carter's Broken Lance, earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1978.
  It was an embarrassment for Carter's administration, particularly as it took place soon after President Nixon's Watergate scandal and President Ford's pardon of Nixon just before he could be tried for any crimes. To ensure there was no hint of similar impropriety in the Carter administration, Lance resigned his position. Later, after a well-publicized trial in 1980, a jury acquitted Lance on nine charges, and did not decide two others.
  In 1981, Lance returned to the Calhoun First National Bank as chairman; he left in 1986. He then made something of a political comeback in 1982 when he was elected Chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party. In 1984, Walter Mondale – who was the Democratic candidate for U.S. President at the time – sought to name Lance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, but was forced to withdraw his name after opposition from Democratic party members. Lance's appointment as general manager of the 1984 campaign lasted only a few weeks.
  Lance was an advisor to Jesse Jackson during Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign.
caption: Lance (center) with National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Defense Secretary Harold Brown
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