March 26, 1966 – ABC Radio News – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
March 26, 1966 – A day loaded with trouble – The flight of Gemini 8 was hampered by what was later discovered to be a short circuit in the Number 8 Thruster of the spacecraft. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott were concerned at one point that the spacecraft and the Agena target vehicle would break up in space and it would be the first critical in-space system failure NASA would suffer until Apollo 13. The astronauts were able to get control of the spacecraft and safely aborted the mission and returned to earth.
Meanwhile in Saigon, discontent as trouble broke out as demonstrations by some 2,000 Buddhists took to the streets protesting the government Nguyen Cao Ky. Condemnations of Ky were coming from almost every corner of Vietnam. In addition to the Buddhists, the most powerful Catholic leader in Vietnam charged the Ky government was worse than the dictatorial regime of Diem.
On the war front – U.S. Marines went ashore at the mouth of the Saigon River in an effort to clean out Viet Cong, who had been trying to sink ships and block the channel to the Capitol.
And trouble on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. Thai officials charged Cambodian troops crossed the border into Thailand and began shooting on Thai police.
Moscow was pleased that delegations from both North Korea and North Vietnam were ignoring Peking’s threatened boycott and arrived in Moscow for the upcoming Congress of The Soviet Communist Party.
And the weather was creating trouble for just about everyone from the Northern plains east to New England. Snowfall was light but relentless and driving was hazardous with some areas near Chicago reporting 3 inches and more to come. Four below Zero reported in Duluth.
And that’s a little of what happened, this March 26, 1966 as reported by ABC Radio News On The Hour.
