We forget how often President's used to hold news conferences. During the JFK years is was almost every week. This Press Conference, from June 7, 1962 covers a wide range of topics. The budget, the recession, inflation, taxes and of course Medicare, which was foremost on JFK's agenda in 1962.

He opens the Press Conference with a statement:

President Kennedy: "Good afternoon. I have a brief preliminary statement. I would like to say a few words about our economic outlook and program.
I think most financial experts have realized for some time that an overpriced market could not hold up once investors recognized that inflation was ending. Price-earning ratios which averaged on Dow-Jones 23 to 1 could not be justified unless there was heavy inflation in prospect. And we have been working to prevent inflation, which gives a very misleading and spurious picture of economic health. We must not permit the effects of this adjustment, however, to hamper the growth rate of our economy, with which we have, as you know, not been fully satisfied. While our recovery from last year's recession has been a good one, production, profits, and employment are at alltime highs, and the prospects for continued economic expansion remain favorable. In view of corporate and consumer cash on hand, we should take every appropriate step to make certain that recovery is stronger and longer than before and is not cut short by a new recession.

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Former vice-President and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace broke with the Democratic Party in 1948. Anger with what Wallace considered Truman's dismantling of FDR's New Deal policies and a general slide back to the days before the Depression. Wallace, running as a Third Party candidate (The Progressive Party), gave a series of radio talks leading up to the 1948 election which he based on subjects voters wanted to hear about the most. This talk, number 3 of a series of 7, is about Inflation and what could be done about it in 1948.

Henry Wallace: “Inflation, what you and I call the high cost of living, is not something that just happens like the weather. You can’t do anything about weather, but you can about inflation. Inflation is not accidental, it is man made. It is monopoly made. It was made and forced upon us by the men of Wall Street, acting through their agents; the Republicans and the Democrats – the two party’s. And there is something we can do about it. We can end it.”

Wallace was pretty much marginalized by the powers that be at the time. I suppose the closest comparison you could draw (although by no means a wholly accurate one) would be a 1948 version of Ralph Nader. Seen as a thorn in the side of the two party system and ignored to a great degree when he wasn't being smeared as a Communist sympathizer. It's always interesting to consider how things might have turned out had Wallace gained momentum. But you could also draw a conclusion as to how Third parties tended to fare in our political climate throughout history. Perhaps that's something to think about as November draws nearer in 2010.

(Calvin Coolidge - did for the Tribal Headdress what Dukakis did for the Tank)

Todays installment of the Reference room brings Governor of Massachusets Calvin Coolidge on the subject of Law and Order from 1918.

Gov. Calvin Coolidge: “Government is not, must not be a cold impersonal machine, but a human and more human agency, appealing to the reason, satisfying the heart, full of mercy, assisting good, resisting wrong. Delivering the weak from any impositions of the powerful. This is not paternalism, it is not a servitude imposed from without, but the freedom of a righteous self-direction from within.”

As Governor, Calvin Coolidge is probably best known for his putting down of the Police Strike in Boston in 1919. As vice-President, he was known as "Silent Cal". When Warren G. Harding died during his first term in office, Coolidge ascended to the Presidency and adopted a policy of hands-off government, imposing as few restrictions as possible. He did, however change the tax system so that the upper 2% of the taxpaying public actually paid taxes during the 1920's. But with the relaxation of curbs, particularly with Wall Street, it turned into a huge nightmare waiting for Herbert Hoover, when he took over the White House in 1929.

Coolidge has gone down in history both praised and damned. And judging from his performance in office, perhaps a bit of both. On the one hand, he is credited for establishing a fairer tax burden, but on the other hand, his almost complete abandonment of curbs, particularly with Wall Street, did lead to one of the biggest depressions of the 20th century.

Seems the issue of Healthcare was having its troubles on this day in 1994 too.

Faced with dwindling support in Congress and a reported drop in popularity in the Polls, President Clinton readied to take his Healthcare Plan message to a series of Town Hall meetings in the hopes of drumming up support. Further evidence this issue has a history and goes way-way back. Even further than 1994.

Elsewhere - the Teamsters were girding up for a possible walkout of nationwide Freight haulers. The only thing holding them back was a dwindling membership and a growing number of non-union companies affected by a walkout. Don't Ask-Don't Tell was under fire as a Judge ruled that 6 Gays kicked out of the service for violating the law couldn't be removed until the case was decided.

The Ukraine sent a 1,000 Peacekeeping troops to Bosnia. The first Palestinian exiles were allowed back into Gaza. Wall Street was heading up on optimistic news, or a "correction" as some called it.

The Arkansas Razorbacks won their first NCAA Championship, defeating Duke in a nail biter.

Darryl Strawberry heads off to rehab and a riot broke out at a Grateful Dead concert in Orlando, Florida.

All that and so much more from this April 5th in 1994, as reported on The CBS World News Roundup.

(new faces - different apples)

From the Second Fireside Chat of September 30, 1934, FDR laid out the progress the administration was taking in light of the disaster several months earlier. All the elements were laid out - Bad investments, Wall Street on a rampage, jobs evaporating, savings gone. The big difference was implementing curbs and regulations which didn't exist prior to the New Deal. Today the look is what was ignored, abandoned and deregulated. Then as now, the outlook was slow and the recovery painful. But there was recovery.

History does get painful from time to time . . . .