Thomas Bertram "Bert" Lance (June 3, 1931 – August 15, 2013) was an American businessman who served as director of the
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
under President
Jimmy Carter in 1977. He is known mainly for resigning from the
Carter administration because of a scandal during his first year in office. However, he was later cleared of all charges.
Early life
Lance was born in
Gainesville, Georgia. His father, Thomas Jackson Lance, had served as president of
Young Harris College, in northeastern Georgia, and in 1941, the family relocated to
Calhoun,
Gordon County, when Lance's father became superintendent of Calhoun schools.
After graduating from Calhoun High School in 1948, Lance attended
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
for two years before he transferred to the
University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
. In 1950, he married LaBelle David, whose family owned the Calhoun First National Bank; they had four sons. Under pressure to support his wife and their first son, Lance dropped out of the University of Georgia, where he had been a member of
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more t ...
, before graduating.
He became a teller at the bank and, within a decade ascended to its presidency after he had acquired a controlling stake with a consortium of investors in 1958. Meanwhile, he completed
American Bankers Association
The American Bankers Association (ABA) is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association for the U.S. banking industry, founded in 1875. They lobby for banks of all sizes and charters, including community banks, regional and money center banks, sav ...
-accredited
executive education programs at
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
's School of Banking of the South (1952–1954) and the Stonier School of Banking at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
(1961–1963). He later served as president of the
National Bank of Georgia in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
from 1975 to 1977.
Carter administration
Lance became acquainted with
Jimmy Carter during the latter's time as Governor of Georgia and served as
State Highway Director during his administration. Lance ran to succeed Carter in 1974 but lost a bid for the Democratic nomination, finishing third in the first primary behind
Lester Maddox
Lester Garfield Maddox Sr. (September 30, 1915 – June 25, 2003) was an American politician who served as the 75th governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971. A populist Democrat, Maddox came to prominence as a staunch segregatio ...
and the eventual winner,
George Busbee. During the campaign, Lance accrued campaign debts of nearly $600,000.
Lance was an adviser to Carter during his successful
1976 presidential campaign. After Carter's victory over President
Gerald Ford, Lance was named Director of the
Office of Management and the Budget (OMB). According to former OMB officials, it was well known in the department that Bert Lance and President Carter prayed together every morning.
Within six months, questions were raised by the press and
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
about mismanagement and corruption when Lance was
chairman of the board of Calhoun First National Bank of Georgia.
William Safire's article written during this time, ''Carter's Broken Lance'', earned a
Pulitzer Prize in 1978.
It was an embarrassment for Carter's administration, particularly as it took place soon after President Nixon's
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...
and President Ford's
pardon of Nixon
Proclamation 4311 was a presidential proclamation
A presidential proclamation is a statement issued by a US president on an issue of public policy and is a type of presidential directive.
Details
A presidential proclamation is an instrument ...
just before he could be tried for any crimes. To ensure there was no hint of similar impropriety in the Carter administration, Lance resigned his position. Later, after a well-publicized trial in 1980, a jury acquitted Lance on nine charges, and did not decide two others.
In 1981, Lance returned to the Calhoun First National Bank as chairman; he left in 1986. He then made something of a political comeback in 1982 when he was elected Chairman of the
Georgia Democratic Party. In 1984,
Walter Mondale – who was the Democratic candidate for U.S. President at the time – sought to name Lance chairman of the
Democratic National Committee, but was forced to withdraw his name after opposition from Democratic party members. Lance's appointment as general manager of the 1984 campaign lasted only a few weeks.
Lance was an advisor to
Jesse Jackson during Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Lance is credited with popularizing the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", which he was quoted as saying in the May 1977 issue of the magazine ''
Nation's Business''. The expression became widespread, and
William Safire wrote that it "has become a source of inspiration to anti-activists."
BCCI scandal
Lance was implicated in the
Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal of the 1980s and early 1990s. He was involved in deals with notable BCCI luminaries
Agha Hasan Abedi
Agha Hasan Abedi ( ur, ), (14 May 1922 – 5 August 1995) was a Pakistani banker and convicted felon who founded Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) and saw its collapse after one of the biggest banking fraud scandals in history ...
,
Mochtar Riady
Mochtar Riady, (; born 12 May 1929) also known as Lie Mon Tie, is an Indonesian financial magnate and the founder and chairman emeritus of Lippo Group. He was born in Malang to a Chinese Indonesian family. At five months old, his parents took ...
, and
Ghaith Pharaon and with BCCI's largest borrower, Ponnapula Sanjeeva Prasad, and joined with
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
-based power investor
Jackson Stephens in facilitating BCCI's takeover of Financial General Bankshares. Lance and Stephens made millions in the wake of BCCI's collapse. During Carter's run for office, Lance had helped him secure funding by using stored peanuts at Carter's peanut business. It was alleged that there were no peanuts in the storage facilities.
In January 1978, Lance sold his stock in National Bank of Georgia to Pharaon, and on the same day, BCCI founder Abedi paid off Lance's $3.5 million loan at the First National Bank of Chicago. Meanwhile, the Chicago bank was making huge loans to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
with open
lines of credit
A line of credit is a Credit (finance), credit facility extended by a bank or other financial institution to a government, business or Personal finance, individual customer that enables the customer to draw on the facility when the customer nee ...
. The next month, Lance helped BCCI's hostile bid for Financial General Bankshares of Washington. The attempt failed, but three years later, BCCI secretly acquired the bank and renamed it First American Bankshares by using 15 Arab investors as nominees. The next year, Lance introduced Carter to Abedi. In 1987, First American Bankshares acquired National Bank of Georgia from Pharaon. BCCI was terminated in 1991, and it was subsequently revealed that the bank had engaged in many illegal activities, including secretly controlling several US banks, in violation of federal banking statutes.
In popular culture
On ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...
'', September 24, 1977, the day Lance resigned from the Carter administration,
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his c ...
(playing Lance) and
Dan Aykroyd (playing Carter) appeared in an advertising parody of an
American Express credit card commercial.
In a Season 5 episode of ''
Good Times'' (1977),
JJ references Bert Lance while offering to make out a check for the family budget, knowing they have no money.
In "Making Out", a 1979 episode of the sitcom ''
What's Happening!'', Rerun (played by
Fred Berry
Fred Allen Berry (March 19, 1951 – October 21, 2003) was an American actor and street dancer. He was best known for his role as Freddie "Rerun" Stubbs on the 1970s television show '' What's Happening!!''
Career
Berry was born on March 19, 195 ...
) confuses Bert Lance with
Cyrus Vance while trying to impress a date who is a political science major.
A stretch of
Interstate 75 in Georgia has been named for Lance.
Death
Lance died on August 15, 2013, at his home in
northwest Georgia at age 82. He had been in
hospice care due to recent declining health, caused by
aging.
Works
*
References
Further reading
*Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 13: September 1982 – August 1984. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1984.
*Who's Who in America. 46th edition, 1990–1991. Wilmette: Marquis Who's Who, 1990.
*Who's Who in Finance and Industry. 24th edition, 1985–1986. Wilmette: Marquis Who's Who, 1985.
*Who's Who in Government. Third edition, 1977. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1977.
*Who's Who in the South and Southwest. 15th edition, 1976–1977. Wilmette: Marquis Who's Who, 1976.
*Who's Who in America. 48th edition, 1994. New Providence: Marquis Who's Who, 1993.
*Who's Who in American Politics(R)
arquis(TM) 17th edition, 1999–2000. New Providence: Marquis Who's Who, 1999. Use the Index to locate biographies.
* Biography in Context.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lance, Bert
1931 births
2013 deaths
Carter administration cabinet members
Directors of the Office of Management and Budget
Georgia (U.S. state) Democrats
People from Gainesville, Georgia
State political party chairs of Georgia (U.S. state)
Young Harris College alumni