Nixon conspired with milk industry to raise prices.

[Kid Berwyn]

10 Crimes of the Nixon Administration

Larry Holzwarth - March 27, 2018

Excerpt…

Nixon Colluded with Milk Producers to Increase the Price of Milk

The Associated Milk Producers Inc, was a consortium of milk producers who wanted an increase in milk subsidies, artificially increasing the cost of milk to the consumer. In 1971 Nixon met with the AMPI and negotiated a deal through which the milk subsidies would be increased by $100 million dollars, in return for a $2 million dollar campaign contribution, broken up and routed to the campaign coffers through the creation of several political action committees or individual donors. Nixon met with officials of the AMPI personally, and the agreement was negotiated for the most part by John Ehrlichman.

Former Nixon aide Murray Chotiner left the White House in 1971 to return to the practice of law. He was retained by the AMPI to improve the group’s access to the White House, since Chotiner had an over twenty-year association with the President. Before the donations for subsidies the AMPI twice delivered cash to Herbert Kalmbach, the President’s longtime friend and private attorney, as contributions to Operation Townhouse. The lobbying through the use of illegal donations and personal relationships got the AMPI access to the President in March, 1971.

During the meeting in the White House the President warned the AMPI representatives not to discuss donations while he was in the room. Nixon tried to make small talk with the AMPI representatives, suggesting that they market milk as a mild sedative, a safe alternative to a sleeping pill. When the AMPI representatives tried to return to the subject of the money Nixon responded, “Don’t say that while I’m sitting here. Matter of fact, the room’s not tapped. Forgot to do that.” When the meeting was over Nixon’s aides, led by Ehrlichman, finalized the deal. Ehrlichman suggested they celebrate with a glass of milk, while it was still relatively cheap.

After the meeting, Harold Nelson, president of the AMPI, and Chotiner transferred the $2 million to Kalmbach. When the deal was exposed Nelson was convicted and went to jail, as did another AMPI official, David Parr. Nixon was not prosecuted for his involvement in the affair as the pardon he received from his successor, Gerald Ford, covered all of his high crimes and misdemeanors. The $100 million to the AMPI was absorbed by milk consumers and the taxpayers. AMPI as a corporate entity was found guilty of violating campaign donation laws and fined $35,000, equivalent to about $145,000 in 2018.

Source: https://historycollection.com/10-crimes-of-the-nixon-administration/6/

You don’t suppose the GOP would do something like that with another industry, say, over the years?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Nixon was pre-Trump.

[Kid Berwyn]

4. Three crooked links: Roy Cohn, Paul Manafort & Roger Stone

Link to tweet

[doc03]

2. When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s there were probably hundreds of dairy

farms in this county. In the 70s the government bought up all the dairy farms in this area. The farms that still exist
all raise beef now and /or just sit back and collect royalty checks for gas. As I remember I had heard that the
government paid about $2000 for each cow, which would be about $10000 today according to the inflation calculator.

[Kid Berwyn]

5. Same here in Michigan...from lots to few to fewer.

‘There are ghosts in the land’: how US mega-dairies are killing off small farms

A collapse in the number of dairy farmers in states such as Minnesota is destroying livelihoods and hollowing out rural life

Debbie Weingarten
The Guardian, 1 June 2021

Excerpt…

Across the US, dairy farmers have struggled beneath the weight of an industry-wide economic crisis. T​he cause ​is the massive overproduction of milk by large dairy operations, which has​ ​saturated the market, ​driving prices ​down well below the cost of production.

Proponents of mega-dairies cite efficiency and economies of scale, arguing that the model is simply the next logical step in dairying. But opponents, including Levins, say such operations do incalculable damage to the environment and rural communities, and capture bigger slices of a finite milk and cheese market – to the detriment of smaller dairies barely hanging on.

Snip…

Modern US agriculture is hugely influenced by the vision of Earl Butz, secretary of agriculture under Presidents Nixon and Ford, who championed corporate farming, encouraging farmers to ​plant “fencerow to fencerow” and “​get big or get out”.

Donald Trump’s secretary of agriculture, Sonny Perdue, echoed these sentiments at the 2019 World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin – a state that lost 10% (​more than 800) of its dairy farms that year. “The big get bigger and small go out,” he said. “It’s very difficult on economies of scale with the capital needs and all the environmental regulations, and everything else today, to survive milking 40, 50, 60 or even 100 cows.”

Continues…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/01/there-are-ghosts-in-the-land-how-us-mega-dairies-are-killing-off-small-farms

[doc03]

6. One exception is the Amish, they still have dairy. They use the milk to produce

cheese and other products themselves.

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. Wasn't that the actual context for the infamous "I am not a crook" quote?

People assume it was about Watergate, which I think subconsciously it was, but I believe the question that actually spurred that line related to this story.

[Kid Berwyn]

7. The Checkers Speech.

While campaigning in 1952 as Eisenhower’s running mate, Sen. Nixon got caught accepting a vicuña coat intended for wife Patricia. He swore he wasn’t into that sort of thing and promised to give back the coat, but not their gift dog, Checkers.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eisenhower-checkers/

The I am not a crook speech was in 1973. Reporters had asked him about Watergate.

November 17

Nixon insists that he is “not a crook”

In the midst of the Watergate scandal that eventually ended his presidency, President Richard Nixon tells a group of newspaper editors gathered at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, that he is “not a crook.”

Nixon made the now-famous declaration during a televised question-and-answer session with Associated Press editors. Nixon, who appeared “tense” to a New York Times reporter, was questioned about his role in the Watergate burglary scandal and efforts to cover up the fact that members of his re-election committee had funded the break-in. Nixon replied “people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.” He did, however, admit that he was at fault for failing to supervise his campaign’s fund-raising activities.

Source: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-insists-that-he-is-not-a-crook

Compared to Papa Doc and Baby Doc Bush, and Tiny Hands Pisswig, Nixon was a saint.