New Faces Among the Advisers

Every new President likes to turn to trusted confidants for advice. So the unfamiliar faces of two old friends of Gerald Ford's have begun to appear in the circle of men with whom the President discusses economics. Like Ford, both are conservative Midwestern Republicans--and neither is an economist.

The more important of the two is L. William Seidman, 53, son of a Russian emigrant and now the millionaire managing partner of Seidman & Seidman, an international accounting firm that his father and two uncles founded. Seidman served as an adviser on Ford's vice-presidential staff, and is now a key member of the transition team. Last week he began sitting in on the daily 8 a.m. meetings of Administration economic officials at the somewhat reluctant invitation of Economic Coordinator Kenneth Rush. The reluctance is perhaps understandable: Seidman is a prime candidate to take Rush's job.

Like Ford, Seidman grew up in Grand Rapids--though on the "better" side of town--and has lived for the past 22 years on a farm just outside the city. He has been a highly successful accounting executive: since he took over in 1968, Seidman & Seidman, which specializes in tax matters, has expanded from 14 U.S. offices to 47. Seidman, a jogger and avid antiques collector, is also something of a frustrated politician: he lost a campaign for Michigan auditor general in 1962, headed the Romney for President office in Washington in 1967-68, and withdrew early last year from a race for the congressional seat Ford vacated to become Vice President. Seidman so far has had little to say about his economic views: he describes himself as a conservative but adds that "I don't think those labels mean very much" and says that he is seeking ideas far and wide. "We are giving $5 in 1919 money to anyone with a quick and easy answer to inflation," he jokes.

A still less familiar name is that of William G. Whyte, 58, U.S. Steel vice president in Washington for public relations (in charge of lobbying). Whyte does not seem to be headed for an official post, but Ford has said that he will ask Whyte's advice. The two have been friends since U.S. Steel sent Whyte to Washington in 1952 during Ford's second term in Congress: they golf together, their families have vacationed together, and Whyte's younger son Roger has dated Ford's daughter Susan. Whyte says that he and Ford are "pro-free enterprise." Among his opinions: new wage-price controls would hamper steel production; the U.S. should "close the gates" on exports of steel scrap (presumably because they tend to keep supplies down and prices up at home); it would be a "tragedy" if the U.S. reimposed an embargo on imports of Rhodesian chrome; and there is only one way that American industry can raise the capital it needs to expand--"more profits."

A third old friend from whom Ford may get at least unofficial advice is Paul McCracken, the University of Michigan economist who served as the first chairman of Richard Nixon's Council of Economic Advisers, from 1969 through 1971. McCracken turned "game plan" into a celebrated Washington phrase for Nixon's original strategy of combating inflation by gradually slowing the economy through use of budget and monetary restraints and still insists the policy was right; he vehemently opposes wage-price controls. He met several times with Ford during Ford's vice presidency, but says that he has no intention of returning to the Government ("I'll take Sherman's oath on that"). Some of his colleagues, however, would like to see him return. Says Alan Greenspan, who is awaiting Senate confirmation as CEA chairman: "The more people like McCracken there are around, the better." Greenspan would like a conservative ally who has Ford's ear.

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