Proceed and Be Bold'

THE TRANSITION

Jimmy Carter made unprecedented preparations to assume the presidency. As early as last May, he picked one of his closest aides, Jack Watson, to draw up a sweeping transition plan. TIME National Political Correspondent Robert Ajemian spent the week before the election with Watson and was allowed to study some of the documents that were prepared for Carter's reading. His report:

One of the first persons to confer with President-elect Jimmy Carter was Jack Watson, a wiry 38-year-old former Marine whom few had even heard about in the campaign just ended. Yet...

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