– News for December 23, 1993 – CBS World News Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Troopergate and grumblings from Euro Disney this December 23rd in 1993.
The Clinton White House was the scene of wild innuendo and accusation as Arkansas State Troopers testified that then-Governor Bill Clinton made no promises of promotions in exchange for silence over alleged dalliances while Clinton was in the State House. The allegations, which came to be known as Troopergate, arrived on the heels of an article in American Spectator Magazine which published a story claiming to be about a sexual harassment issue from a woman named Paula and the claims of two other Arkansas State Troopers who said Clinton offered promotions.
Meanwhile, the weather was acting up in California with fog and black ice being the culprits in a massive pileup on a highway just outside Sacramento, strewing cars and big-rigs everywhere, but miraculously killing no one. Arctic air was blasting its way through the nation’s mid-section with deep-freeze conditions extending as far south as Alabama – deadly weather too, in Germany and throughout Europe with flood waters spilling over the Rhine, flooding buildings from Cologne to Koblenz. A massive cleanup was anticipated, once the weather calmed down.
And weather was blamed as a factor in very poor attendance at the newly opened Euro-Disney. The European version of The Happiest Place on Earth was facing bankruptcy – and the combinations of bad timing, bad weather and bad management led the parent company, Disney to issue an ultimatum to get its financial act together or close down. Among the drawbacks to attendance was the state of the economy, which led some to claim it was cheaper to fly to Florida and go to Disney World in Orlando than it was to drive the 20 miles outside of Paris to go to Euro Disney.
And so it went – this December 23rd in 1993 as presented by The CBS World News Roundup.
