In 1976, former Georgia governor James Earl 'Jimmy' Carter defeats incumbent Gerald R. Ford in the U.S. presidential election.

A major factor is his status as a political 'outsider' in a year in which, with the Cuban and Vietnamese conflicts still taking American lives and Watergate a vivid recent memory, the Washington establishment, of which President Ford is a longstanding member, is widely seen as corrupt. Carter?s campaign pledge, "I'll never lie to you", has been a conscious effort to play off of that sentiment.