April 6, 1976 - News was breaking, during this broadcast, of a possible settlement in the long running Teamsters Strike. President Ford campaigned in Wisconsin, ahead of Tuesday's Primary election. Democratic hopeful Morris Udall quietly campaigned in Wisconsin. UAW President Leonard Woodcock was quoted as saying if a Democrat wanted to be in the White House this election, he needs to consider that it's not less government, but better run government that''s the key. Whether anyone took his advice or not wasn't clear. Right Wing death squads were responsible for the systematic rounding up and murder of 15 people ages 20-25 during the latest reign of terror as part of the Military crackdown in Argentina. Terrorist bombs went off in Northern Ireland and Northern Portugal. Women stage the largest protest in Rome's history as several thousand march in opposition to the Vatican's position on contraception. And France tested another nuclear device in the South Pacific this day.

All that, via NBC News On The Hour for April 6, 1976.

A typical March 28th day in the Cold War world.

Beginning with word from Capitol Hill that the House Appropriations Committee voted to give President Eisenhower authority to spend the 1959 Budget in 1958. The unprecedented move was brought about to stimulate business and an attempt to bring the economy out of the doldrums.

Also on Capitol Hill - the Senate Appropriated funds for the Civil Rights Commission and UAW President Walter Reuther was testifying before the Senate Rackets Committee.

In other parts of the world - The Liberal Party in Britain won it's first election in over 29 years. Saudi Arabia ended it's $14Million subsidy to Jordan. U.S. Military aid to Yugoslavia officially ended on this day and Volkswagen workers in Germany went on a one hour strike to protest calls to arm German troops with Nuclear weapons.

The rest of this broadcast was given over to commentary regarding the new rise of power from Nikita Khruschev in Moscow, how it was viewed by the Press throughout the world. How the British Press regarded the newly emerging Khruschev from "We must try and get on reasonable terms with the Soviet Union, no matter who is running the country" to "More dangerous than Stalin".

Only time would tell where Nikita Khruschev would fall in those assessments.

And that's how it went this March 28th in 1958, via Cedric Foster News and Commentary over the Mutual Broacasting System.

If you discount the 4 inches of snow that fell overnight in Tennessee and the 7 inches overnight in Arkansas, the ruined citrus crops in Florida and another blizzard heading for the East Coast, it was probably a relatively quiet day.

The UAW was in contract talks with Auto makers. A summit conference was called between France and Germany to study the situation in Poland with the Solidarity Movement and strikes sweeping that country.

Gen. Alexander Haig and Hosni Mubarak were in talks regarding Palestinian autonomy.

In California, a boycott of Japanese goods was called by the state's Farmers in retaliation for the ban on California produce exports to Japan because of the Medfly controversy.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son Mark was the object of a search, as he turned up missing from a road rally from Paris to Dakar. Maggie said not to worry, "he's a big boy".

And the White House couldn't get straight who Norman Mineta was - some claimed the Congressman from California was of Italian descent and others claimed he was Japanese. The guessing game continued - though no one thought to ask Mineta himself.

Just one of those days via CBS News Hourlies from 3,4 and 5:00 am (PST) on January 13, 1982

(HR - 2893 - everybody agreed on it . . . well, mostly)

With World War 2 over, the focus was now on domestic issues. The Truman Administration sought to expand on Social Security, update it from its beginnings in 1935. America had changed in ten years and Social Security needed to keep up with the change. Everyone agreed it was a good idea. But what Truman tried to do was finish what FDR had pledged to do - make a National Healthcare plan part of the Social Security system. And that's where things began to slide off the rails.

Paul Sifton (UAW): “The principle provisions of the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Bill is now being marked up by the House Ways and Means Committee, a call for the doubling of the benefits paid to aged persons or their survivors it also calls for bringing in some twenty million persons not now covered including the farmers and the hired farm hands, and by the way the news of the Grange’s attitude is great news, I may say, to the CIO and I’m sure to the AF of L that that oldest farm organization is now raising itself in support of this idea of systematic compulsory coverage in this program. In addition to that, it calls also for establishing temporary and permanent disability benefits as systematic coverage. If there is a justification and there certainly is for unemployment compensation and there is even more justification for disability benefits because it costs more to be idle and sick than it does just to be idle. And that is certainly long overdue.”

It's interesting that during the early incarnation of Social Security, farmers and farm hands weren't considered eligible (one wonders why) for Old Age and Survivors Insurance. Benjamin Kendrick from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was adamant that expanding Social Security was a good idea but any notion of having a National Health Plan meant disaster for the country.

In this segment of the radio series America United, Paul Sifton of the UAW, Representative Andrew Biemiller (D-Wisconsin), Lloyd Halvorsen of The Grange and Kendrik discuss the various aspect of the proposed expansion in 1946.

And sixty four years later . . . .