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Playing politics on their own, Democrats in Congress started drawing up bills to boost supports to at least 85% of parity. Lobbyists for the cooperatives urged Administration officials to raise the price supports, and the dairymen got an appointment to plead their case before Nixon on March 23.
Nixon took the precaution of taping the late-morning meeting. At one point he joked: "Matter of fact, the room is not tapped, [laughter] Forgot to do that [laughter]." The President said he was "very grateful" for the support the dairymen had given him—"and I don't have to spell it out." But nothing was said at this key meeting about the $2 million pledge or any deal. Nixon praised the virtues of the rural life, lauded the sleep-inducing properties of milk, gave each man presidential cufflinks and prudently refrained from even hinting at whether or not he would accede to the dairymen's request to raise parity.
Then Treasury Secretary John Connally swung into action, dominating a strategy session on the problem that was attended by the President and his top aides.
According to a transcript of the meeting, Connally urged Nixon to raise the parity to 85%. He noted that during the 1972 election, "you're going to have to be strong in rural America." He pointed out that the cooperatives were "amassing an enormous amount of money that they're going to put into political activities, very frankly." He argued persuasively that the Democratic Congress was going to take all the credit by giving the dairymen 85% of parity in a bill that the President could not possibly veto. "If you do," said Connally, "you've cost yourself the money—you've lost your political advantage. You, you're infinitely worse off." Later, Connally advised Nixon: "You're in this thing for everything, you, you can get out of it."
The President agreed that he could not veto a bill that raised parity. "Not because they're milkers, but because they're farmers," he said. "And it would be just turning down the whole damn Middle America. Uh, where, uh, we, uh, where we, uh, need support. And under the circumstances, I think the best thing to do is just, uh, relax and enjoy it." Minutes later Nixon said he would boost support prices—without saying just how high.
Then John Ehrlichman, the President's top domestic adviser, who knew all about the cooperatives' campaign offer, told Connally that he thought the new policy should not be revealed "till you get the green light." Connally quickly agreed, and the President interjected: "You, you're now thinking of the political offer?" The President was apparently referring to the campaign-contribution offer. The other participants in the conversation seem to have been thinking along the same lines. They agreed to hold up the announcement for two days until the White House had marked out final details and was convinced that the cooperatives would make good on their original pledges. Late in the 38-minute conversation, Nixon specified that the parity rise would be to 85%.
The dairymen immediately