– News for December 21, 1977 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Summit talks, between Israel and Egypt, were scheduled to take place in Cairo on December 25th in 1977. But on this December 21st the preliminary talks were abruptly cancelled in favor of negotiations for the upcoming meeting between Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin. The fragile nature of these talks, and the painstaking measures being proposed, rejected, agreed-to and second-guessed had the world in a state of near-exhaustion. But Peace was a long time coming to the region, and there were no guarantees, even once a settlement had been reached. But it had to start, and the ball was rolling – where it would eventually lead was anyone’s guess. But for the time, it moved slowly forward.
Meanwhile, there was more mundane news to be had – high winds struck Southern California, with gusts upwards of 100 miles and hour reported. Fanning flames of brush fires and overturning trucks up and down the state and generally causing havoc this close to Christmas.
On Capitol Hill – President Carter was getting ready to leave Washington to spend the holidays in Plains, Georgia. Before leaving, he was expected to take a look at a compromise proposal for Natural Gas pricing, which had been worked out by Democratic Energy conferees the night before. A vote by the full conference was expected the following day. President Carter was also deciding on a $25 billion tax-cut proposal to take effect the following Fall, partly to offset higher costs for energy and Social Security. Former President Gerald Ford chimed in, saying it wasn’t enough and that cuts should be in the neighborhood of $70 billion if America was to stave off the growth of what Ford called The Middle Class Poor, discouraged working Americans unable to keep up with the soaring cost of living. And so went the rhetoric.
That’s a small slice of what went on, this otherwise mundane December 21st in 1977, as reported by CBS Radio News.
