ONE of the more durable myths of journalism is that big news takes a holiday during the "summer doldrums." Actually, it is the routine activities of government, the arts and business that slacken during the heat. Major events are blind to the calendar, as we were reminded once again by President Nixon's announcement of some extraordinary measures to curb inflation and enhance prosperity.

To present all the economic, political and human aspects of this story as cohesively as possible, we decided to modify our format. Our Business and Nation staffs collaborated on a special section that leads this issue. The project was jointly supervised by Nation Editor Jason McManus and Business Editor Marshall Loeb. The editors called in reports from 21 domestic and foreign TIME bureaus, in addition to consulting our own Board of Economists. In New York, a team of seven writers and ten reporter-researchers worked on the section.

While the magnitude and complexity of the ingredients make this a more ambitious cover story than most, the President's new program was by no means the only bombshell of this newsy summer. The past two months have seen the Pentagon papers, the death of three Soviet cosmonauts and the safe voyage of three American astronauts, the historic Kissinger mission to Peking, coup attempts in Africa, the shooting of Joe Colombo and the political conversion of John Lindsay. Then there are the continuing dramas, like the agony of East Pakistan and the civil strife in Northern Ireland, that show no respect for vacation schedules.

Previous summers, distant and recent, have also been heavy with news. The two World Wars and the Korean conflict, for instance, all started during the warm months. Last summer it was the Middle East skyjackings. In 1969 there was a news eruption: the first moon landing, Chappaquiddick, the original Woodstock, the Sharon Tate murders, the death of Ho Chi Minh. The year before that, the Democrats, the police and the protesters had their uproar in Chicago, L.B.J. nominated his old friend Abe Fortas for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Russians marched on Prague.

The Cover: Pencil drawing with transparent dyes by Paul Calle against background design by David Merrill.

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