It did not take long after the passage of Humphrey - Hawkins for wiser Federal Reserve officials, including Paul Volcker (who became Chair in 1979), to conclude that the «
dual mandate,» far from
defining a new and sustainable approach to monetary policy, was simply a nuisance — something they had to pay lip service to, whilst really concerning themselves with keeping a lid on inflation, so as to undo and avoid repeating the mistakes of the 70s.