Heads rolled. Following a politically disastrous summer filled with oil shortages, energy summits, and falling poll numbers, at the end of July 1979 President Jimmy Carter did the unexpected. He dished out blame, requesting the resignations of thirty-four Cabinet officers and top aides and firing those he deemed disloyal or ineffective. Gone were Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph A. Califano, Jr.; Secretary of the Treasury Michael Blumenthal; Secretary of Energy James Schlesinger; Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams; and Attorney General Griffin Bell. The purge was sudden and heavy-handed. Newly elevated Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan submitted a probing and humiliating thirty-question evaluation form to facilitate subcabinet ousters. The suddenness of the mass firing was reminiscent of the 1972 mass resignation of Richard Nixon's staff— a comparison Carter officials were loath to embrace, although public reaction to both the purges was similar. Gold surged...