Land of the Free

President Willmoore Wheeler did not reflect on the irony of being returned to office to clean up the economic mess left by his supposedly conservative predecessor. It had been twenty years since Willmoore Wheeler had written the man off as a mere politician. Consequently he had paid little attention to his predecessor’s denials and denials and denials of any intention of imposing wage and price controls. It was obvious by early August of 1971 that the controls were on the way. In mid-August 1971 a “voluntary” wage price freeze was imposed. In September the Administration was promising “tough” controls after the “freeze” was “lifted”—and nobody noticed the demise of the English language (dead of a disease first clinically observed by Orwell in 1949).

By the end of 1971 the Congress had stitched up a forward-looking Program for Economic Equality (the PEE), which became the law of the land. The phrase, “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” was at this time impossible to enunciate without an ironical smile at the side of the mouth. The New York Times flooded the newsstands with PEE—issued in 26 volumes at $1.98 per.

WR

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William F. Rickenbacker

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President Willmoore Wheeler did not reflect on the irony of being returned to office to clean up the economic mess left by his supposedly conservative predecessor. It had been twenty years since Willmoore Wheeler had written the man off as a mere politician. Consequently he had paid little attention to his predecessor’s denials and denials and denials of any intention of imposing wage and price controls. It was obvious by early August of 1971 that the controls were on the way. In mid-August 1971 a “voluntary” wage price freeze was imposed. In September the Administration was promising “tough” controls after the “freeze” was “lifted”—and nobody noticed the demise of the English language (dead of a disease first clinically observed by Orwell in 1949).

By the end of 1971 the Congress had stitched up a forward-looking Program for Economic Equality (the PEE), which became the law of the land. The phrase, “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” was at this time impossible to enunciate without an ironical smile at the side of the mouth. The New York Times flooded the newsstands with PEE—issued in 26 volumes at $1.98 per.