News stories from Sunday November 21, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Jimmy Carter took time out of his preparations for meeting President Ford at the White House tomorrow to make a fervent appeal to members of his church in Plains, Ga., to settle their differences over desegregation of its services. The President-elect has long been pressing for church desegregation, and is said to feel that his new fame has made the controversy open to exploitation and manipulation. [New York Times]
- Jimmy Carter has pledged, according to Mayor Beame, to discuss New York City's new fiscal crisis at a meeting tomorrow with Treasury Secretary William Simon. The mayor spoke with both men about the city's court-ordered obligation to repay $1 billion in short-term debts and said that the President-elect had promised to "do everything he could to help with this situation." [New York Times]
- Record Christmas business is anticipated by the nation's retailers, despite wavering store sales in recent months. Most retailers predict that sales in the holiday season will surpass last year's level by 5 to 8 percent, running a bit under the gain of a year ago. [New York Times]
- The Hertz Corporation has had stunning success in enlisting O.J. Simpson, the Buffalo Bills' star running back, as the star of its $12.6 million advertising campaign. Hertz officials believe their-two-year affiliation with the super-athlete has been successful because he personifies the speed, reliability and efficiency that are the qualities the car-renting company seeks to project about itself. [New York Times]
- A Victorian stone mansion on the Rockefeller family estate at Pocantico Hills, N.Y., was designated a national historical landmark by President Ford. The President and his wife were weekend guests of Vice President Rockefeller at his sprawling estate, and Mr. Ford's activities included two rounds of golf with Mr. Rockefeller and his two brothers, David and Laurance. [New York Times]
- A spectacular robbery was carried out by six courtly and conservatively dressed men at the Regency Hotel on Manhattan's Park Avenue. Several thieves herded 24 guests and five employees into a lounge while their accomplices punched out the locks of 41 safe deposit boxes and stole cash, jewels and other valuables estimated to total at least $200,000. The robbery was similar to ones in recent years at the Drake, Pierre and Plaza Hotels. [New York Times]
- Risky open-heart surgery will be performed on more than 60,000 Americans this year. The costly, controversial operation involves bypassing coronary arteries clogged by arteriosclerosis -- the nation's biggest life-threatening ailment. The surgery generally brings dramatic relief from the crippling chest pain of angina pectoris for the patients. But experts say it is still not certain whether the surgery can prevent heart attacks or lengthen life. [New York Times]
- The Navy seeks to produce a new eight-inch gun that the General Accounting Office contends is inaccurate at longer ranges. The Navy denies the contention about the $700 million program. In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the G.A.O. urged that a production decision be delayed until the controversy can be resolved. [New York Times]
- The Syrian army completed its expected, final phase of occupation of Lebanon. Without meeting resistance, the Syrians took control of the Mediterranean port cities of Tripoli and Saida and highways between them and Beirut. The Syrians, acting as the Arab peacekeeping force, now dominate Lebanon except for a strip along the Israeli border. [New York Times]
- Quebec's new separatist leaders will govern the province within the Canadian Confederation, but expect that the federal government would not oppose by force any majority vote for independence, according to Rene Levesque, who will become Premier Thursday. In an interview, he said he would run a provincial government unless Quebecers decided by referendum that they wanted independence. [New York Times]
- Some confidence was restored among supporters of the French government when three of four former Ministers regained their Assembly seals in by-elections, Polls had indicated further erosion in the government's popularity. The balloting produced no surprises, but it showed continued strength of the opposition Socialists. [New York Times]