March 2, 1978 – CBS Radio The World Tonight – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
March 2, 1978 – Popularity contest on Capitol Hill, with President Jimmy Carter defying the polls and said that his personal approval rating was very high; that it was his willingness to tackle problems ignore by his predecessors that’s causing his trouble. The assessment came earlier in the day at a news conference at the National Press Club. He opened with a 10 minute presentation of his proposals for overhauling the Civil Service system, that governs the two million employees in the Federal bureaucracy. Carter called it the “center piece” of his long-promised program for re-organizing the government. His proposals were aimed at changing the system from promotions and pay based primarily on seniority, to a much more flexible merit system, including bonus incentives for superior performance and easier firing for failure. Mr. Carter also went on say that he felt American economy was sound; that oil imports were leveling off and America‘s major trading partners were not adequately assessing the real strength of the dollar.
The Soviets were taking another first in space on this day – sending two more Cosmonauts to join their orbiting space laboratory. One of the cosmonauts was a faithful Communist from Czechoslovakia – hailing approval from the Soviet Press, who said it was an example of the “growing unity of the Communist countries”. This latest mission was heading to the books as setting an endurance record for the longest time in space – the previous record was held by an American Skylab crew who stayed in orbit for 87 days.
And Swiss police were unsure if it was just vandalism or if there was a ransom plot in the works, but someone dug up Charlie Chaplin‘s coffin the previous night in a small Swiss cemetery and carted it away. The Police said they had no idea who did it, but however it was, they said “must be very sick”.
And that’s a little of went went on, this March 2, 1978 as presented by CBS Radio’s The World Tonight.
