Whip inflation now
Whip Inflation Now (
WIN) was an attempt to spur a
grassroots movement to combat
inflation, by encouraging personal savings and disciplined spending habits in combination with public measures, urged by
U.S. President Gerald Ford. People who supported the mandatory and voluntary measures were encouraged to wear "WIN" buttons, perhaps in hope of evoking in peacetime the kind of solidarity and voluntarism symbolized by the
V-campaign during
World War II.
The campaign began in earnest with the establishment by the
93rd Congress, of the
National Commission on Inflation, which Ford closed with an address to the American people, asking them to send him a list of ten inflation-reducing ideas. Ten days later, Ford declared inflation "public enemy number one" before Congress on
October 8,
1974, in a speech entitled
"Whip Inflation Now", announcing a series of proposals for public and private steps intended to directly affect supply and demand, in order to bring inflation under control. "WIN" buttons immediately became objects of ridicule; skeptics wore the buttons upside down, explaining that "NIM" stood for "No Immediate Miracles."
*
"Whip Inflation Now" Speech by Gerald Ford, Miller Center — retrieved 05:51, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
