Sometimes it takes the form of pressure on the chairman and occasionally on other members of the FOMC. The Fed has – throughout this process – built a reputation for independent policymaking and has had the benefit of strong chairmen to sustain this direction. But independence is not something that should be taken for granted.
Rather, it is a work in progress that, now and again, will have to be defended and protected. Informal interactions and policy coordination One potential tension is between independence and policy coordination. There is a fascinating and quite famous, or infamous, episode involving the FOMC and the President in 1965.