University of Virginia Library

Pay Off For Nixon

(AFS)-In the past six months
dairy farmers have secretly
contributed at least $250,000 to
Washington D.C. front groups
pledged to finance Nixon's 1972
campaign. The size and timing of
the donations strongly suggest that
they are a pay off for Nixon's
decision to raise government price
supports for milk.

'Milk Money'

The sequence of events that led
to the flow of "milk money" to
Nixon campaign coffers was
described in the September 27 Wall
Street Journal. On March 11, 1971
Secretary of Agriculture Hardin,
with the approval of the President's
Council of Economic Advisors and
the Office of Budget and
Management, declined to raise
government price supports for
"manufacturing" milk, used to
make butter and cheese. Dairy
farmers had requested such an
increase because it would enable
them to get higher prices for their
products.

Appealed

Hardin's decision was quickly
appealed by the dairymen, who
went straight to the top, meeting
with Nixon on March 23. Two days
later, Harden reversed his earlier
decision and the milk price
"supports were raised. The following
day-March 26-one dairy farmer
association gave $25,000 to a
Republican committee, and, shortly
thereafter, the D.C. front groups
were set up to conceal the size and
source of future donations by the
dairymen to Nixon.