In his famous book The Presidential Character (Prentice-Hall, $10), Duke University Political Scientist James David Barber classifies Chief Executives starting with William Howard Toft according to the energy they put into the job (passive or active) and their feelings about their presidential experience (negative or positive). Based on that, according to Barber, they fit into one of four categories: passive-negative (Coolidge, Eisenhower); passive-positive (Harding, Taft); active-negative (Wilson, Hoover, Johnson, Nixon); and active-positive (F.D.R., Truman, Kennedy, Ford). TIME asked Barber, who has closely and critically studied Jimmy Carter for three years, to analyze the character of the President-elect. His report:
Mr. Carter comes...
