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During last fall and winter Anderson stuck close to his job, laying the groundwork for the personal relationships both on Capitol Hill and downtown that were to be the basis for his later operations. As the recession deepened he shrugged off Democratic attempts to make it a big political issue. But when Republicans Nixon and Mitchell broke ranks with a half-promise of a Republican-sponsored tax cut, Anderson moved fast. As he saw it, such party competition for political credit at that uncertain moment could bring huge slashes in tax revenues, in the face of a mounting deficit.
Anderson quickly flew back from a speaking date in Nashville, Tenn., made the rounds of Capitol Hill, touching base with Rayburn, Ways & Means Chairman Wilbur Mills, Republican Leader Joe Martin, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. Minority Leader Bill Knowland and others. His message: "Let's avoid making a tax-cut race for political credit." All agreed, and thus was ratified the "Treaty of the Rio Grande," so called because its success rested upon Texans Rayburn, Johnson and Anderson. At the same time, President Eisenhower issued a rebuke to Nixon and Mitchell (TIME, March 24), and Bob Anderson came out front as the Administration's economic spokesman.
His wait-and-see policy was bolstered when Congressmen found little public interest in a tax cut during Easter recess. Then, as the time came for excise taxes to expire, Anderson had trouble getting the President to speak up solidly for no tax cuts. So Anderson got from Rayburn a warning to Eisenhower: if the Administration did not soon make up its mind on a tax bill, the Democratic leadership would end the Treaty of the Rio Grande by bringing out a bill on its own. The White House responded in last week's tax letter to Congress, which put Anderson, the economy and the U.S. itself just about where Bob Anderson wanted it to be all the time.