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A curious mix of optimism and pessimism for this week, ending on April 26th in 1964.

On the optimistic side - President Johnson announced to the world that the U.S. would make substantial reductions in Nuclear Weapons and Uranium enrichment production. Simultaneously, it was announced by Nikita Khruschev via Radio Moscow, that the Soviet Union would do the same thing. The news was greeted with a sense of relief and UN General Secretary U Thant offered an evaluation on what was deemed a hopeful sign towards an easing of Cold War tensions.

On the Pessimistic side - tensions were brewing between the U.S. and Cuba as Cuban Premier Fidel Castro vowed to down any U.S. Reconnaissance planes flying over Cuban territory as it had been doing since 1962.

On the optimistic side - Sec. of State Dean Rusk returned from a fact-finding mission to Saigon and offered an upbeat assessment of the situation in Vietnam, saying the South Vietnamese Army could handle themselves nicely.

On the Pessimistic side - Defense Secretary Robert McNamara conceded it will "take time" for any progress to be made in Vietnam and that the South Vietnamese Army is running a defensive strategy rather than an offensive one. Oh well.

Meanwhile - the four year long negotiations between the Railroads and the Unions was finally at the settlement stage. And just in the nick of time, as the settlement averted a threatened strike.

President Johnson went on a brief tour of the Appalachia region, hitting the towns and cities worst hit by poverty and unemployment, touting his War on Poverty legislation. He was greeted with waves of enthusiasm.

Not so enthusiastic were reports from Capitol Hill saying the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was at a standstill, making the future unclear for passage of the Legislation.

And the much publicized "Stall-ins", threatened for Opening day of the New York Worlds Fair on April 22nd, didn't materialize. But that didn't stop some 300 Civil Rights demonstrators from being arrested from the Fair opening anyway.

All this in one week, ending on April 26th 1964, as reported on the ABC Radio Voices In The Headlines program.

May 3rd in 1972 was a busy news day. Starting with reports of a Silver Mine disaster in Kellogg, Idaho. First reports said 58 were dead, but many more were unaccounted for. News was not hopeful.

It was also Primary time. The votes were being tallied and Hubert Humphrey won Indiana. Ohio was in trouble, with some polls still not opened at the time of the broadcast. Voting machines were the culprit, and all some officials could offer was a tepid reply "we goofed". Funny, Ohio just seems to be problematic that way throughout history. It was also reported that Sen. Henry Jackson gave up the ghost and quit his campaign, leaving McGovern and Humphrey to battle it out, with George Wallace tagging along somewhere behind.

In other news - despite reports that this day was rather uneventful in the Vietnam War, news was coming in of mass evacuations and bands of drunken South Vietnamese troops abandoning the city of Huè in droves. It didn't bode well for the South Vietnamese Army being able to stand on its own, and it was cause for concern on Capitol HIll, with some calling for an increase in Military supplies to the Saigon government. No, it was a situation that you didn't need to throw ordinance at in order to make better. The writing had been on the wall for Vietnam for some time, and Capitol Hill just wasn't noticing. Just sayin'.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill - Nixon's naming of L. Patrick Grey to temporarily follow in the footsteps left vacant over the recent death of J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI until after the election had more than a few perplexed. Grey, an ardent supporter and close personal friend of Nixon, raised a few eyebrows over just how much in good hands the FBI was going to be with him in charge.

Silas Huddleston plead guilty to the murder of UAW President Jake Yablonski.

And a memorial was being held for the late FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover and services were to be held the following day.

All this, on a seemingly quiet May 3rd, 1972 as reported by John Chancellor and The NBC Nightly News.

And don't forget - if you haven't already: