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In contrast, Peterson has warned businessmen that they are highly unpopular with many people who view them as, in his words, "fat cats." Despite strong pressure from the sleepwear industry, he stiffened Government regulations against the use of flammable materials in pajamas and mattresses. Even when he defends an industry under criticism, Peterson finds a noncombative method; after nature lovers attacked the tuna industry for killing porpoises, Peterson flew to Los Angeles to pose for pictures with Flipper at Marineland and announce that the Government was financing research into new kinds of fishing nets that would not sweep up porpoises along with the tuna.
Peterson comes from Kearney, Neb., where his father, an emigrant from Greece, ran a restaurant. A summa cum laude graduate of Northwestern, he became a vice president of the McCann-Erickson ad agency while still in his twenties. One of his accounts was Bell & Howell, the boss of which, Charles Percy, lured him aboard and eventually, after winning a Senate seat, backed Peterson for the Bell & Howell presidency. From that post, Peterson was sponsored for his first Administration job by another old Chicago friend, George Shultz.
With his adman's knack for selling projects and a ready ear at the White House, Peterson seems destined for an even greater role in the second Nixon Administration. He is helping to draft a new federal program aimed at alleviating the nation's energy shortage; one idea is to import billions of dollars worth of Soviet oil and gas in exchange for U.S. machines. Nixon may talk about the program in his State of the Union message in January and later submit a special message on the subject to Congress. Referring to the energy program, Peterson recently told oilmen in Chicago that "there is no new presidential initiative coming in 1973 that is more important." Moreover, if Nixon succeeds in reorganizing the Cabinet to combine parts of several departments—including Commerce, Labor, Agriculture and Transportation—under a single Secretary of Economic Development, Peterson could well land the job.