*Shock Value: Prices and Inflation in American Democracy*

That is the new and very useful book by Carola Binder, mostly a very good economic history.  Here is one excerpt:

The [Nixon price controls] were seen as necessary to support the third component of the Economic Stabilization Program, an expansionary fiscal package that included tax reductions to promote business recovery.  The Council of Economic Advisers wrote in its annual report that “action to make fiscal policy more expansive had been limited by the need to avoid intensifying any inflationary expectations and stepping-up the inflation. The establishment of the direct wage-price controls created room for some more expansive measures, because it provided a certain degree of protection against both the fact and the expectation of inflation.”

The ties of the dollar to gold had been cut recently as well, as Bretton Woods turned into floating exchange rates.  1970s macro was a strange thing!

The book is recommended, you can pre-order here, most of American monetary history is covered.