ABC Evening News open - 1977-07-25

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:03] This is the ABC Evening News with Harry

[0:06] Reisner and Barbara Walters. And

[0:08] tonight, Howard K. Smith in Washington.

[0:13] Good evening. Our top stories. President

[0:15] Carter promises a flood of new programs

[0:17] for the poor. More heavy rain falls on

[0:20] Johntown, Pennsylvania.

[0:22] >> An Ohio court rules Kent State can build

[0:25] a gym with the National Guard shot for

[0:27] students. and a Senate committee

[0:29] approves budget director Bert Lans's

[0:31] financial dealings.

[0:33] >> Also, House Speaker Tip O'Neal says he

[0:35] expects some indictments in the Korean

[0:37] influence buying scandal. And I'll have

[0:39] a comment on some hopeful gaps in

[0:41] Israeli Prime Minister Bean's hard line.

[0:44] Barbara,

[0:45] >> thank you. Howard Vernon Jordan, the

[0:48] executive director of the Urban League,

[0:50] a largely black national organization,

[0:52] charged yesterday that President Carter

[0:54] has failed to keep his campaign promises

[0:56] to blacks. Jordan said, "Black people

[0:58] having tasted the sweetness of victory

[1:00] in November resent the sour taste of

[1:02] disappointment in July." Well, today,

[1:04] President Carter answered the charge in

[1:06] a speech to the Urban League, but the

[1:08] controversy didn't end. Sam Donaldson

[1:10] reports.

[1:12] >> The president brought up the fact that

[1:13] Jordan had criticized him almost

[1:15] immediately in his speech to the Urban

[1:16] League, arguing, as Jordan looked on,

[1:19] that the problem of helping the poor was

[1:21] both inherited and difficult. I've been

[1:23] in office now

[1:26] 6 months. Have no apologies to make. And

[1:28] I was trying to think of a story to

[1:30] illustrate

[1:33] that sometimes an immediate

[1:36] transformation can't be accomplished

[1:40] when problems have been there for years

[1:45] or terms of presidents or even

[1:47] generations.

[1:49] Griffin Bald who will speak to you later

[1:50] has a favorite story about a man

[1:54] >> who was arrested for getting drunk

[1:56] >> and setting a bed on fire.

[2:00] When he got before the judge, he said,

[2:01] "Judge, I plead guilty to being drunk,

[2:04] but the bed was on fire when I got in

[2:06] it."

[2:09] >> The president ticked off what he called

[2:11] a flood of new programs which will help

[2:12] the poor in the weeks and months ahead.

[2:14] And he promised even more. We still have

[2:17] a long way to go. And you've got my

[2:20] pledge to respond well

[2:24] to counsel, to advice,

[2:27] to caution, and to criticism.

[2:31] >> The president may have said publicly

[2:32] that he welcomes criticism, but it turns

[2:34] out that wasn't quite what he said

[2:36] privately to his main critic, Vernon

[2:37] Jordan. White House press spokesman Rex

[2:39] Granham said Mr. Carter told Jordan that

[2:42] the president, the cabinet, and the

[2:43] Democratic Congress have a genuine

[2:45] interest in poor people and statements

[2:47] arguing to the contrary are damaging to

[2:49] their aspirations because, said Granom,

[2:52] it damages their faith. Mr. Carter's

[2:54] election gave poor people hope and

[2:56] suggestions that he isn't delivering are

[2:58] psychologically bad. Suspecting that

[3:00] some people might get the wrong idea

[3:02] from all that, reporters wanted to know

[3:04] if Granom had gotten it right, or was he

[3:06] just paraphrasing the president, perhaps

[3:08] erroneously. No, said Granom. I've

[3:11] gotten it right. Sam Donaldson, ABC

[3:14] News, the White House.

[3:17] >> This is Bill Matney in Washington. The

[3:19] Urban League's executive director

[3:20] declined to get into a public debate

[3:22] over the president's warning against

[3:24] public criticism of his civil rights

[3:26] commitment.

[3:27] >> I believe that my conversation

[3:30] momentarily, Mr. Mcan and I, with the

[3:32] president, uh, is in fact a private

[3:34] conversation. and uh I want to leave it

[3:37] as a private conversation and I'm

[3:40] prepared to respond directly to uh what

[3:42] the president said uh on the record.

[3:44] >> But Jordan and other Urban League

[3:46] officials believe they've accurately

[3:47] assess the mounting problems of blacks.

[3:49] Unemployment double that of whites, a

[3:51] widening income gap between blacks and

[3:53] whites despite equal rights laws won in

[3:56] the 1960s. The Urban League is

[3:58] especially distressed over the

[3:59] staggering unemployment rate among young

[4:01] blacks as high as 60% in some cities.

[4:05] Despite all this, Jordan chose to voice

[4:07] optimism over the president's appearance

[4:09] and his support. Uh

[4:10] >> I do think that the uh president's

[4:14] presence uh in and of itself was

[4:18] encouraging. I think that it was

[4:20] positive. I think that it was helpful.

[4:24] Jordan says he and other civil rights

[4:25] leaders will continue to prod