May 3, 1987 – CBS Radio News On The Hour – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
May 3, 1987 – Just ahead of the hearings over U.S. involvement in clandestine support for the Nicagarua Contras, who were in the midst of fighting the leftist government of Daniel Ortega. President Reagan reiterated his support for the Contra cause during an address at a gathering of newspaper editors in New York earlier in the day.
In his address he said if the U.S. cut off aid to the Contras it would give the Soviets a free hand in Central America. Before the speech, the President repeated his denial of any detailed knowledge of private fundraising for the Contras. He explained that when he met with Contra supporters at the White House, he met to thank them for funding a TV ad campaign designed to put pressure on Congress.
Later on in the week, Congress was to begin hearings over the Iran-Contra Affair. Hawaii Senator Daniel Inoye, who is chairman for the Senate Investigating committee said that, based on the evidence he’s seen so far, the President may have been more deeply involved than he’s acknowledged.
And during these boom times on Wall Street, they don’t take losses lightly. Merrill-Lynch, which announced that it had lost a quarter billion dollars in securities trading, also announced a major management shakeup. Merill-Lynch President Daniel Tully was to take personal charge of the firms trading activities, and two heavy-hitters; former Secretary of State William Rogers and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Irving Pollack had been brought in to conduct a review. Despite the big losses, Merrill-Lynch was expected to turn a profit in the second quarter.
And that’s a small sample of what went on, this May 3, 1987 as reported by CBS Radio News-On-The-Hour.
