News stories from Sunday April 3, 1977

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

A White House meeting today discussed the next step in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviet Union. President Carter and his arms control advisers met with Secretary of State Vance to get details about the talks. After the meeting, Vance stated that he rejects the idea that the original Soviet response to the U.S. proposals will stand. Vance asserted that the proposal is fair, and is different from the others as it gets to the heart of arms control instead of just putting ceilings on development.President Carter said that his administration is determined to have a friendship with the USSR and have arms reductions if at all possible. Carter urged the Soviets to make counterproposals so they can be dealt with at the Geneva talks in May. The Russian newspaper "Pravda" claimed that Vance and Carter have misrepresented what happened in Moscow and are trying to cover up U.S. policy changes from the Ford administration. The Soviets backed down in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis; a special committee said that unless the trend in defense is reversed, the U.S. would have to back off in future confrontations, because in a few years the Soviets will have achieved military superiority. Included on the committee are Dean Rusk, Paul Nitze and other former government officials. [CBS] A new immigration policy for the United States will be developed by administration officials, who will start work on it Tuesday. It could have significant consequences, not only for the 6 million to 8 million illegal aliens now in this country, but for employers and native-born workers as well. The policy group includes Attorney General Griffin Bell, Labor Secretary Ray Marshall, and representatives of the State Department and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The policymakers face "an unbelievable thicket" of sensitive issues, an aide said. [New York Times] Egyptian President Anwar Sadat arrived in Washington to meet with President Carter regarding the Mideast. Sadat was met by Secretary of State Vance and others. Sadat has requested economic and military aid for Egypt, and he is also expected to push for an early reconvening of the Geneva conference on the Middle East, with the PLO as part of the talks. [CBS] Rapid economic growth this spring and summer is anticipated by private economic forecasters. The prospects are so good that many economists believe that the need for President Carter's proposed $50 tax rebate is far less urgent than it seemed at the beginning of the year. They say that while the rebate would make economic growth still higher, it would also be likely to provoke an increase in inflation and that consequently Congress is less likely to overcome its hesitation and approve the rebate. [New York Times] The bodies of American victims of the Tenerife plane crash began their journey home to be unloaded at Dover AFB in Delaware. No names are on most of the boxes; experts will be at the base to help identify them. The cause of the crash is still not known, but the answer may be found in the flight recordings. Experts will begin to study them in Washington on Monday. [CBS] The first test on humans of a drug that may prevent certain types of cancer is being prepared by the National Cancer Institute. The drug, a synthetic chemical related to Vitamin A, will be given to more than 100 persons who have a very high probability of developing bladder cancer. The "chemo-prevention" test will be conducted at 10 medical centers around the country. [New York Times] A Greyhound bus was hijacked near St. Augustine, Florida; the hijacker was captured by police and FBI agents in Jacksonville. Hijacker Ronnie Thomas Nance had told the driver to head for Arkansas. Nance said his reason for the hijacking was that he had nothing better to do. [CBS] Fewer Americans now believe that defense spending directed at keeping up with the Soviet Union should be reduced and many more believe the spending should be increased, a poll by a Washington public opinion organization has found. There is also general agreement that the Soviet Union's strategic capability has increased greatly over the last decade. Private patriotic organizations that have been lobbying for American preparedness for years have been encouraged by the change in public opinion. These organizations have been joined by a new preparedness group, the Committee on the Present Danger, among whose sponsors is Eugene Rostow, a former Under Secretary of State. [New York Times] Bard College in New York is trying an "instant admission" plan. Located at Annandale-on-Hudson about 100 miles from New York City, Bard College isn't an ordinary liberal arts college; included in its alumni are comedian Chevy Chase and members of the rock group "Steely Dan". The college president is Leon Botstein, who is one of the youngest in the nation, and the instant admission plan was his idea. In an admissions conference in New York City this weekend, prospective freshmen took part in sample classes; prospective students universally endorsed the admission plan. [CBS] President Anwar Sadat of Egypt arrived in Washington for talks with President Carter in which he is expected to propose Arab conditions for peace in the Middle East. The meeting will be one of a series with other Arab leaders directed at reviving the Geneva peace talks. In the next few weeks King Hussein of Jordan, Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia and President Hafez al-Assad of Syria are expected to come to Washington. [New York Times] The Madison (Wisconsin) mayoral election is Tuesday. When Paul Soglin was elected four years ago as Madison's youngest mayor ever, he was anti-establishment and fresh out of the University of Wisconsin. Now he is more conservative and is in a tough race to keep his post. Soglin's opponent is Anthony Nino Amato, who has been a city alderman for two years and is 25 years old. Amato accused the mayor of not following through on his own ideas and turning things over to the bureaucracy instead. Soglin said that Amato doesn't understand taxation or budgeting, and he distorts the issues.The major campaign issues are property taxes, city spending and pornography, all of which make for an emotional campaign. Soglin is concentrating on campus voters, but Amato expects to cut into that area. Amato believes that students' views are different today than they were four years ago. As to being called "establishment" now, Soglin stated that one becomes part of the establishment by taking on responsibilities like those of mayor. [CBS] South Africa's rulers, the Afrikaners, are hunkering down like their pioneer forebears did for a battle against the Zulus as they improve their defenses against the mounting threat to white supremacy. Prime Minister John Vorster, proclaiming that the white man's position is not negotiable, has commissioned the development of a "total strategy" to stave off the pressures for majority rule. In effect, the nation is to be put on a war footing. [New York Times] The world's industrialized and developing countries will make another effort to agree on an international fund to stabilize the earnings of developing countries for their exports of basic commodities such as tin, coffee, copper and rubber. Participating countries failed to reach an accord in Geneva on Saturday, but said that they should reconvene not later than November. The proposed international fund would amount to several billion dollars in contributions and borrowings and would be used to finance commodity buffer stocks. [New York Times] Foreign investment in Poland is being reduced because of the country's soaring indebtedness to the West. The size of the debt, which is also causing concern in the Communist bloc, is an official secret, but Western analysts estimate it at $8 billion. An American banker, whose company is not currently doing business with Poland, said that while Communist nations have an excellent record in paying debts, "we have a very nervous feeling about the Polish debt and at this point I couldn't see our group putting anything into that country." The debt could have serious political as well as economic consequences in Poland. [New York Times]