This Day in United States History 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
On September 25, 1981, major U.S. newspaper headlines included: U.S. AND SOVIET SET NEW GENEVA TALKS ON MISSILE ACCORD - with Bernard Gwertzman writing in the New York Times: UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. --The United States and the Soviet Union pledged today ''to spare no effort'' to reach an agreement on reducing medium-range nuclear forces in Europe in negotiations that will begin on Nov. 30 in Geneva.
The formal announcement, issued simultaneously here and in Moscow, was worked out during yesterday's meeting at the United States Mission between Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. and Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko. The two men will meet again next Monday at the Soviet Mission to continue their discussions, the first high-level contacts between the Reagan Administration and the Soviet leadership.
American officials declined to discuss what else was discussed by Mr. Haig and Mr. Gromyko in their four-hour meeting yesterday, but it seemed evident from the description of the talks as ''frank and businesslike'' that they disagreed, as expected, on virtually every world issue, ranging from El Salvador to Afghanistan.
Nitze Will Be U.S. Delegate
The statement issued today said that Paul H. Nitze, a long-time specialist in arms control and political-military affairs, would head the American delegation to the November negotiations. Mr. Nitze has developed the reputation of being a hard-liner toward the Russians because of his opposition to the last strategic arms limitation treaty, but he was on the delegation that negotiated the first set of accords in 1972.
What was the outcome of the Geneva conference?
The sessions produced no agreement or even a framework. They simply established that the positions were far apart, then recessed after Ronald Reagan’s election so the incoming administration could complete its policy review. Contemporary accounts and later histories describe the October–November 1980 talks as having made “little progress.” Formal negotiations did not resume until the date set in the 1981 Haig–Gromyko announcement.
On This Date In The Music World 🎶🎵🎶
Hank Williams, Jr., having released his album, The Pressure Is On, was getting plenty of airplay on AM and FM stations nationwide. It was his seventh album and included his song, A Country Boy Can Survive - a song which never reached #1 on the charts but is still a mainstay for multiple generations of Hank Jr. fans - especially men.
Enjoy a portion of Wednesday night's ride with me. After weeks of being scalded under the "Heat Dome," temperatures had finally dropped in Middle Tennessee. It was 68º when I left the house - 30º cooler than my ride the week before. Unfortunately, the cooler temps came with lots of cloud cover. Enjoy some Hank Williams, Jr. Volume UP!!!! ⬆️🇺🇸😎🫵🏻
A Country Boy Can Survive ~ Hank Williams, Jr. 🎶
The preacher man says it’s the end of time
And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry
The interest is up and the Stock Markets down
And you only get mugged
If you go down town
I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive Country folks can survive
I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
Because you can’t starve us out
And you cant makes us run
Cuz we're them old boys raised on shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn
We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trout line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I’d send him some homemade wine
But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
Id love to spit some beechnut in that dudes eyes
And shoot him with my old 45
Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
Cause you can’t starve us out and you can’t make us run
Cuz we're them old boys raised on shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn
We’re from North California and south Alabam
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive 🎶🎶🎶