ABSTRACT
In 1972 the Richard Nixon administration was concerned with the upcoming presidential election. When Chairman Herbert Stein reviewed the nation’s economic prospects in the spring of that year there was much criticism of his predictions of 2–3 percent inflation and 5 percent unemployment before the end of the year, a development Nixon’s political advisers hoped for bat few economic observers expected. Once the election was out of the way and Nixon returned to the White House for a second term, the administration began to make plans to dismantle the controls program. In the summer of 1974, Nixon struggled with Watergate; he also tried to restore his credibility on economic policy, holding well-publicized meetings with top economic aides. Herbert Stein had already made plans to leave the CEA that fall to join the University of Virginia faculty, so with the new president also came a new CEA Chairman to deal with the mounting economic problems.
