received a group of congressmen, his first contact with the legislative branch in a week. His diary claimed, dubiously, that the advice of legislators from both energy-producing and energy-consuming states was “remarkably compatible.” (The only “dissident,” he journaled, was Speaker Tip O’Neill, “who cannot accept the idea that the Great Society days are over, and that all the problems of the nation cannot be solved with massive spending programs, public works, etc.”) He met with a group of economists, which left him annoyed. The next day, he met with a group of religious leaders, which left
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