THE guests sat comfortably in the big leather chairs of the White House Roosevelt Room until the President jolted them with a question: "Is there anybody here who will defend the status quo? Please stand." None of the 28 Washington lobbyists from such powerful industries as oil, coal and trucking did; optimistic presidential aides interpreted the silence as an indication that Richard Nixon had scored a few more points in his own intense lobbying for his domestic reforms.
The meeting last week was only one of a series in Nixon's campaign to get Congress to enact his reform programs for revenue sharing,...
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