Narrator: From the peanut fields of Georgia, all the way to the White House, Jimmy Carter had accomplished one of the greatest triumphs in American political history.

Betty Glad, Political Scientist: He'd pulled off a miracle. In the fall of 1975, he was barely visible as a candidate, six months later he has the Democratic presidential nomination, now that is a miracle.

Douglas Brinkley, Biographer: He offered a biography of what we wanted to hear; farmer, Main Street values, Plains -- it was the right message at the right time

Narrator: He had promised the nation a new beginning: to heal the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam; a government as good and decent and compassionate as the American people.

Hendrik Hertzberg, Carter Speechwriter: What he had was a moral ideology. And the issues where he proved successful, the Panama Canal treaties, the Human Rights crusades, Peace in the Middle East, those were issues where is moral ideology guided him.

Walter F. Mondale, Vice President: The one argument that I would find would ruin a person's case is when he'd say, "This is good for you politically." He didn't want to hear that. He wanted to know what's right.

Narrator: But the man who had pledged to restore honesty and trust to government would find his own integrity attacked when his friend and budget chief Bert Lance was accused of financial improprieties.

Pat Caddell, Pollster: Until that moment, we had been driving the agenda. Everyone danced to our tune. After that, we danced to everybody else's tune. And that hurt us with the public, because now Jimmy Carter is not in charge.

Elizabeth Drew, Journalist: He's a very, very smart man, and very well intentioned. But feel, feel is very, very important in politics, especially in a president. And Carter just didn't have very much of it.

Narrator: Only nine months in office, Jimmy Carter was a president in trouble: the economy spinning out of control; a growing energy crisis; his agenda stalled in Congress. But Carter's greatest test was yet to come, half a world away, in Iran, when 53 Americans were taken hostage by Muslim fundamentalists.

Roger Wilkins, Journalist: The whole world saw these people stomping on images of Carter, burning American flags, and the most rancid sort of disrespect and hatred of the United States, on television, around the world, all the time.

Rosalynn Carter, First Lady No one can know how much pressure there was on Jimmy. And I would say, "Why don't you do something?" And he said, "What would you want me to do?" I said, "Mine the harbors." He said, "Okay, suppose I mine the harbors, and they decide to take one hostage out every day and kill him. What am I going to do then?"

Jody Powell, Press Secretary: To react in a way that was strong and powerful would have set us off down a road that no man could say where it might lead.

Elizabeth Drew: Fairly or not, it came to symbolize the question of whether Carter was a leader, whether he was competent, whether he was strong.