Business review; Nixon's style of operations
- Transcript
From the national educational radio network here is a Business Review ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ROSS Wilhelm of the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration Brzezinski's abuse and commons of business and economic activity. Very few news releases or public announcements of come out of Mr Nixon's visit to the heads of the European governments Mr Nixon's trip has exhibited the same style of operation as he's followed in his domestic policies. No attempt to take rapid dramatic steps. No attempt to remake the world overnight. No attempt to upset existing applecart rather cautious feeling out and careful gathering of the sources of power before he moves. It's interesting that Mr Pierre Trudeau the prime minister of Canada an individual with complete control over his legislature which Mr Nixon does not have and with a totally different personality from Mr. Nixon's has shown almost exactly the same style of operation in his first few months in office. Indeed as we look over the world scene it's striking that very at a very high proportion of the heads of state seem to be moving very slowly and cautiously and it almost seems as if the entire world is in a period of digestion and consolidation rather than a period of flashy clothes and history
history of histrionic government. These observations raise interesting questions as to whether the style of the leader of government is determined by his wishes desires and personality or whether the style is determined by the temple of the times and the reality of the world. If the latter is the case and I suspect it is it's rather pointless to make invidious comparisons between say the style of a Roosevelt and that of an Eisenhower or any other leaders. We don't know how they would have behaved had the times been different. Further if we take our list of dramatic and exciting presidents we find that most lived during periods of war or high unemployment it's much easier of course to take dramatic exciting measures when a nation has to be rallied or when we have to stand together and during a period when you're delicately negotiating a peace or you're trying to steal an inflation without causing unemployment. Perhaps the only exception to the generalization the dramatic presidents come during periods of war depression is John Kennedy. And yet while Mr. Kennedy had a dramatic style it's also clear from the record that his legislative and political accomplishments while in office were quite modest at the best it may be that history's final judgment will be that
Mr. Kennedy's style was inappropriate to the temper of the times. Let's look at our major economic and business problems here in the United States today. When you consider the problem of inflation and unemployment the balance of payments problem poverty the problem of high taxes financing the city or states or any of the other pressing problems there is no clear cut decisive course of action which must be taken into which most would agree. We have problems to be sure but our theory as to how to solve the problems does not extend to the same ranges or limits as do the problems themselves consider the balance of payments. The logic of Economic Analysis does point to a single dramatic step which could be taken to cut this Gordian knot. But the United States Treasury stopped buying and selling gold. Let us move to our free floating exchange rate. But if we were to do this it would cause many of our allies to become very angry with us and further since the invasion of Czechoslovakia. It looks as if the Russians are returning to a much more authoritarian line. If this is the case it doesn't seem like the time to be weakening our military alliances by measures to solve a balance of payments problem
or consider the problem of poverty during the Johnson administration with an orgy of spending to sell the poverty problem. We undertook literally hundreds of programs. But today we have to clean up after the party. We know the programs were dismal failures by every test the social sciences and scientists of America been discredited to an appalling degree. The poor are little better off and the strong odor of corruption dominates the field. This obviously is a time for re-evaluation indigestion and not Wendel tilting. I think it's romantically naive to think that a leader style of operation is determined by anything other than the realities he faces. Our dramatic presidents would have been either dull or ineffective had they lived in dull periods. That was Associate Professor Ross Wilhelm of the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration. With his views and comments on business and economic activity Business Review is recorded by the University of Michigan Broadcasting Service. This is the national educational
radio network.
- Series
- Business review
- Episode
- Nixon's style of operations
- Producing Organization
- University of Michigan
- National Association of Educational Broadcasters
- Contributing Organization
- University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/500-dj58hx48
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/500-dj58hx48).
- Description
- Episode Description
- In program number 404, Ross Wilhelm talks about President Richard Nixon's style of operation during his first few months in office.
- Series Description
- This series, hosted by Ross Wilhelm, focuses on current news stories that relate to business and economic activity.
- Broadcast Date
- 1969-03-19
- Topics
- Business
- Media type
- Sound
- Duration
- 00:04:29
- Credits
-
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Producing Organization: University of Michigan
Producing Organization: National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Speaker: Wilhelm, Ross, 1920-1983
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
University of Maryland
Identifier: 61-35c-404 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:04:17
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Business review; Nixon's style of operations,” 1969-03-19, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed December 7, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-dj58hx48.
- MLA: “Business review; Nixon's style of operations.” 1969-03-19. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. December 7, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-dj58hx48>.
- APA: Business review; Nixon's style of operations. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-dj58hx48