The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan — Six: A LIBERTARIAN FOR NIXON

1. 1. In 1967, Pat Buchanan introduced Alan Greenspan to Richard Nixon as a level-headed economist who could advise on the urban riots.
2. 2. Greenspan argued that the Newark riots were caused not by poverty but by government handouts degrading black individuals and inflating expectations.
3. 3. Nixon's speechwriter Ray Price rejected Greenspan's libertarian memo as dogmatic, arguing freedom includes freedom from want and fear.
4. 4. Greenspan proposed an article attacking the Great Society as degenerative and a vote-buying scheme, but Nixon ignored the proposal.
5. 5. Greenspan's anti-subsidy farm policy memo angered South Dakota Senator Karl Mundt, forcing Buchanan to write a pro-subsidy statement.
6. 6. Greenspan refused a salary in the Nixon campaign, working unpaid to maintain independence, and used his firm's IBM 1130 computer for polling analysis.
7. 7. After Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Greenspan accused Robert F. Kennedy of cashing in on the tragedy by fostering white guilt.
8. 8. Nixon adopted Greenspan's 'black capitalism' idea, promoting tax breaks for inner-city businesses instead of handouts.
9. 9. Greenspan was appointed director of domestic policy research for Nixon's campaign after Buchanan lobbied for him over a liberal academic.
10. 10. At a Montauk meeting, Nixon's racist outburst and foul language shocked Greenspan, who later claimed it decided him against joining the administration.
11. 11. Greenspan's polling after the 1968 Democratic convention predicted Nixon would win 461 electoral votes to Humphrey's 11.
12. 12. After the election, Greenspan declined most government jobs, secretly aspiring to be Treasury Secretary, but Nixon did not fully trust him.