April 2, 1988 – CBS World News Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
April 2, 1988 – A busy news day and not all of it was happening at home.
Starting with news from Panama about dictator Manuel Noriega and considerations over stepping up pressure on the Military strongman to resign, or else more U.S. troops come ashore. Still in the talking stages, but the Pentagon was upping the ante with Condition Alpha, the final step before invasion. In Panama city all was quiet, with observance of the Easter Holiday turning streets quiet for a change.
And the Capitol Hill probe into corruption and bribery allegations against Attorney General Edwin Meese were underway. The Independent Council dealing with the corruption affair claimed Meese had been on the receiving end of payoffs for encouraging words about an Iraqi oil pipeline project as well as a possible conflict of interest in a Telephone case said it could find nothing to charge Meese with. Meese asked the Independent Council to release a public statement about the findings in the corruption scandal, and the word was relief. Needless to say, Meese was relieved, though not completely vindicated. There was still more evidence to sift through for the Grand Jury investigation which was going on for at least another month. Despite speculation that he would be stepping down, Meese assured the press that he wasn’t going anywhere, except back to work.
A meeting with the Pope, as Secretary of State Edwin Meese stopped over in Rome en route to the Middle East on another peace-seeking mission. Schulz stopped in Rome for Easter festivities before heading to Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia during the coming week. During the meeting, Pope John Paul stressed that both the legitimate rights of the Palestinians and of Israel must be respected if any agreement was going to be reached. The Pope didn’t offer any specific solutions to the conflict. Meese was optimistic that progress would be made, as hints of an agreement were seen as productive. Meese added that Jordan’s King Hussein was becoming a key player in the talks, but the Secretary of State offered nothing in the way of new proposals designed to entice the parites.
And that’s just a sample of what was going on, this April 2nd in 1988 as presented by The CBS World News Roundup.
