News stories from Saturday March 19, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Virtually all voting registration requirements would be eliminated under a universal registration proposal that President Carter will send to Congress this week. The proposal, one of a number of election reforms backed by the administration, would allow more than 45 million additional Americans to participate in the 1980 presidential and congressional elections. Under universal registration, any citizen could vote for federal candidates if he came to the polls with only an identification card. [New York Times]
- Unemployment among young people is one of the nation's most visible and serious social problems and President Carter made an initial attempt to tackle the problem 10 days ago when he asked Congress for $1.5 billion over the next 18 months to expand the Jobs Corps and establish three new programs to help jobless youths. Presidential aides who worked on the proposal said it should not be viewed as the administration's final answer to the problem of youth unemployment but as a tentative attempt to test ideas and strategies and a prelude to an eventual overhaul of government manpower programs. [New York Times]
- Young men and women throughout the country are showing an increasing preference for living alone. The Census Bureau reported that the number of young adults under 35 who live alone has more than doubled since 1970, despite an uncertain economy. This is far greater than the expansion of this age group in the population, which was less than one-fifth. The trend toward single status is a reflection of several shifts in American family and social life that include the tendency to postpone or even forego marriage. [New York Times]
- A "suicide commando," whose leader escaped, killed President Marien Ngouabi of Congo, the Brazzaville radio said. The 38-year-old President, the radio said, "died fighting, his weapon in his hand" at his official residence in Brazzaville. Informed sources said Friday that Major Ngouabi had only been wounded. The radio said the assassins had been led by a former army captain, Barthelemy Kikadidi. [New York Times]
- President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, accompanied by Western reporters, flew to Kolwezi, a copper mining town in the path of the forces that have invaded Shaba Province. He was briefed by officers who told him that his forces had recaptured a village. The trip was cut short by the news that President Marien Ngouabi of the neighboring Congo had died in an assassination plot. President Ngouabi's death added to Mr. Mobutu's problems. [New York Times]
- Morarji Desai is believed to be the most likely successor to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi if she loses the elections that are coming to a close tomorrow. Morarji -- he is hardly ever referred to in any other way by friend or foe -- is 81 years old and has twice been in the running, and twice he lost. He was an associate and disciple of Mohandas Gandhi in the early phases of India's freedom struggle and was considered a principal contender for leadership when Jawaharlal Nehru, Mrs. Gandhi's father, died. [New York Times]