It wasn’t what Kennedy said, however, that demands our attention now: It was what his administration did next. Determined not to let the price increases damage the economy, and determined to prevent JFK being seen as a weak president, the Administration enlisted the full power of the federal government in the battle. (The full account of this story can be found in Richard Reeves’ superb book: “President Kennedy; Profile in Power.”)
Some of the tactics were bare-knuckles politics, but aboveboard: Defense Department contracts were shifted to companies that had not raised prices; Congressional allies of Kennedy promised antitrust investigations.
Others, however, did not simply walk up to the line between use and abuse of power, but jumped headlong over it.
For instance: in an effort to find out whether a steel executive at a shareholders’ meeting had publicly rejected the idea of a price increase, Attorney General Robert Kennedy dispatched FBI agents to quiz reporters about just what the executive had said. In an excess of zeal, some of the agents rousted reporters out of bed in the middle of the night.
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