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POWER PIONEER

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     "My grandparents came over here with nothing," Gramm explains. "They weren't naturally brilliant or talented. They were ordinary people, but here they could do what they wanted. My family is very average, but my father ended up going to college during the depression and ended up holding this position of authority. That's what America is all about, and that's what free markets are all about.

     "With over-regulation, and with the government telling you how to run your business and other stupid things, America would not have had the economy that allowed my grandparents to come over and work."

endy Lee was born in 1945, the third of four siblings. In high school she excelled in math and planned to major in it when she attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts. But she found college math bland, switched to economics and was intrigued by market and business dynamics.

     After graduating she entered Northwestern University's doctoral program. Her dissertation, written in 1970, examined the influence of married women in the labor force and discovered that their participation depended directly on the ages of their children. This was ground-breaking research.

     Wendy Lee was attracted to the study of economics more than its practice, and after receiving her doctorate she looked for a university teaching position. The search led to the American Economics Association conference, where she found a job and met Phil Gramm.

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     At the conference, a Texas A&M rep interviewed and hired Wendy as an associate economics professor. Phil Gramm, then a young economics professor at the university, "began checking me out" after the interview, Gramm recalls. Two years later, they were married.

     The Gramms taught, conducted research and bore two kids during a six year stint at Texas A&M. In 1978 Phil entered politics. He won a seat in the House of Representatives, and the Gramms left for Washington, D.C.

     Gramm could have drifted into the social circle of Congressional wives. Instead, she was determined to pursue her career. She maintained contact with her Texas A&M peers and landed a job at the Institute for Defense Analysis, a Washington-based think tank where she spent three years researching Cold War issues.

     During this time, an old Texas A&M colleague came to Washington to head the Federal Trade Commission, one of the largest regulatory agencies. He repeatedly asked Gramm to work for him. Gramm turned him down.

     "I told him I didn't want to work for the government," Gramm recalls. "And my husband would joke, 'I'm a Congressman. I don't want to be married to a bureaucrat.' But he kept prodding. Finally after six months I said to myself, 'Well, instead of always complaining about the government, I'm going to do my part and see if I can be part of the solution to all its problems.'"

     She worked as an economist with the FTC. She quickly rose to the top position at the agency's Bureau of Economics. When her Texas A&M colleague left the FTC to head the influential Office of Budget and Management, she joined him. PAGE 4

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"I'm a Congressman. I don't want to be married to a bureaucrat."




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