Jawboning: “to attempt to persuade or pressure by the force of one's position of authority.”
Lyndon Johnson did it when Bethlehem Steel raised prices. He denounced the firm's executives as unpatriotic for feeding inflation during the Vietnam war and they rescinded the increases. Inflation rose anyhow. Richard Nixon (wage and price guidelines) and Gerald Ford (“Whip Inflation Now”, or WIN) also jawboned in an attempt to contain inflation; they didn't. Several presidents jawboned OPEC to keep oil prices down by turning on the spigots, with varying, but never durable, success.
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