In the spring semester of 1972, I was a college sophomore who had just changed my major to accounting. As part of that change, I took my first economics course. The subject was macroeconomics, which is the study of the overall economy.

The course covered the role of the Fed in setting economic policy, including the interaction between President Richard Nixon and Fed Chief Arthur Burns. We learned that the Fed was supposed to be independent of political bias, but Nixon had pressured Burns to lower interest rates to stimulate the economy to enhance Nixon’s re-election chances in 1972.

When Nixon took office, he inherited an economy that was experiencing increased inflation. To combat inflationary pressures, during 1969, the Fed increased interest rates and Congress passed a massive tax bill that modestly increased taxes. Not surprisingly, because of those contractionary economic policies, the U.S. economy was in a recession by the end of 1969.

When Arthur Burns became Fed chair in early 1970, The Fed Funds Overnight Rate was nearly 9%. (By comparison, the Fed Funds Overnight Rate is currently 4.33%.) The Nixon tapes document that both Nixon and Office of Management and Budget Director George Schultz pressured Burns to reduce interest........

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