First, it's usually Congress that lays the foundation for an imperial presidency with unconstitutional delegations of authority to the executive branch. The Economic Stabilization Act of 1970 gave Nixon legislative cover for his actions.
Remembering Nixon's Wage and Price Controls | Cato Institute
I read the article at the link.
First, this was back around the early 70’s...I was born in 1950 so I was in my early 20’s.
Freezing my wages, a hard-working keypunch operator, seemed like punishment to me that I did not deserve.
Again, what the hell was Nixon thinking to slap a middle-class young woman with frozen wages? Why would any Republican vote for such a thing?
My promotion came during this wage freeze...to, of all things, PAYROLL!!!!! I had to freeze my own damn wages.
Like I say, it didn’t last long. And I knew nothing about that Economic Stabilization Act. I came to be interested in politics with Nixon and now know a lot about Watergate, having read many books.
But that short period of time when this country froze my wages, damn I was making about $20,000 a year at that time, good wages in my day.
Why was I being punished? What was my sin?