(7 of 7)
At some point, however, the President will have to place the prestige of his office directly behind the machinery. Sooner or later, the Pay Board and the Price Commission will have to issue rulings that will be hotly disputed. Nixon will be asked if he supports them. If he dodges, public support will wither. The owner of a corner grocery may obey a ruling backed by the President, but not one on which the President is noncommittal.
The administrative machinery is cumbersome, and the different bodies could find themselves working at cross purposes. The Pay Board, for example, could approve wage increases that would force price boosts larger than the Price Commission wants to allow. The Health Services Committee could advise allowing rises in medical-care costs that would wipe out any gains achieved by holding industrial prices down. Making sure that all parts of this machinery move in unison is the job of, above all, that enigmatic, smiling, charming, menacing, tough Texan—John C. Connally. It is a task to tax even his vaulting ambitions.