Baby It's Cold Out There



Tonight it is going to be cold if you are a Miami native or an iguana.  For the second night in a row it will be in the 40’s just after sun up which is not beach weather or particularly good for all the stuff grown in South Florida agricultural areas
 On January 19th, 1977, it snowed in Miami, and the January 20th, 1977 Miami Herald’s headline was about the snow in Miami which didn’t last and the battle the farmers to save their crops which were winter vegetables.  The Inauguration of Jimmy Carter made the front page below the fold and was almost an afterthought to all the shivering Miamians.

I was sent to hand deliver a grant modification to Atlanta on the 19th which would have been a really plum assignment except that it was a lot colder in Atlanta.  I think I got the assignment because I had an almost new winter coat and everybody else with more seniority passed because it was so cold.
The Department of Labor Regional Office in Atlanta was celebrating when I got to the office.  Almost all of them had worked with Jimmy Carter in one way or another while he was Governor of Georgia and it would be good for business.   Ray Marshall became the new Secretary of Labor and all sorts of DOL programs were expanded and business was good until the dew was off the rose with sky rocketing interest rates, stubborn unemployment, energy problems and hostages in Iran.

Ronnie replaced Jimmy, but the headlines are similar even today after almost forty years: Iran, Energy Policy, Jobs, and the Weather.


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