– CBS World News Roundup – May 5, 1979 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
News for this May 5th in 1979 had a lot to do with Jimmy Carter‘s whirlwind visit to Southern California. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, what better photo op than to have Jimmy spend the night with a “typical Mexican-American family”? Looked good on paper. But . . . the family in question, it was learned, were anything but typical for Los Angeles. Seems somebody picked the rather wealthy Rodriguez family, whose typical working-class mode of transportation was a new Porsche – hardly typical, since poverty and unemployment levels for Mexican-Americans in California were at an all-time high. The upshot was the Mexican-American community had President Carter’s ears all day – and no doubt they would be treated to verbal tirades for much of it – and there were plenty. Carter was on a fence-mending session since he received the lowest percentage of votes from the Latino community in 1976 than any Democratic Presidential candidate before him. Estimates were it would be less in 1980. He had some ‘splainin’ to do.
But California was up to its eyeballs in other problems this day – most notably gas rationing, which was scheduled to take effect within days. Nobody liked the idea, but Governor Brown was able to pass a plan that called for rationing of gas on an odd-even basis. Fingers were crossed it would work out.
El Salvador was becoming a hot spot – as anAnti-Government group, variously described as armed terrorists and peaceful activists were holding some 30 hostages in the French and Costa Rican embassies in the capital of San Salvador. The hostages were rumored to include the French and Costa Rican ambassadors.
Police gunned down a suspected Woman member of the Baader-Meinhof Gang in Nuremberg West Germany. She was suspected in the kidnap-murder of a West German industrialist.
And while Jimmy Carter was doing a whirlwind tour of L.A. that’s just a small slice of what went on in this world on this Cinco de Mayo in 1979, via The CBS World News Roundup.
Hit the Play button and hear the rest.
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