News on this May 9th in 1978 was all about the kidnapping and death, after a 55 day hostage situation, of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro at the hands of members of the terrorist group Red Brigade.

When word got out that the body, found in the trunk of a car parked near the center of Rome, was that of Moro's, a wave of shock spread throughout Italy, quickly replaced by outrage that the government was unwilling, or unable, to deal with a hostage crisis that allowed Moro to be assassinated. The government's response was an attempt at justification, that it would no longer give in to demands of terrorist organizations. That Italy was no longer willing to be considered "soft" when it came to acts such as these. But that didn't stop the anger from being echoed throughout the world.

And the Moro tragedy was being considered on Capitol Hill as the FBI was calling for stepped up measures in dealing with Terrorism, particularly the threat of terrorism within the U.S. Clearly, the kidnapping and death of Aldo Moro was having a marked effect on terrorist policies in many countries.

The other big news story of this day happened off the coast of Florida, where news of a dramatic rescue of passengers of National Airlines Flight 193 by a fishing boat was credited for saving the lives of all but 3 passengers.

So there was bad news and there was good news for this May 9, 1978 as reported by Douglas Edwards and The World Tonight from CBS Radio.

Just like every day on Planet Earth.

The world got another dose of reality on this March 16th when Italy learned it's five time Prime Minister Aldo Moro had been kidnapped by members of the Red Brigade. This brought the number to 13 who had been kidnapped since the beginning of 1978, and especially potent since a trial had already begun for 15 suspected Red Brigade members and this high-profile kidnapping was a not-so-subtle message of retaliation by the terrorist group.

While Italy was mobilizing and preparing for what would eventually become the worst, a little further east the sound of tanks and aerial sorties echoed around Southern Lebanon and Beirut as the Israeli Army entered its second day of invasion in the region. The move was a diplomatic headache for the U.S. who was knee-deep in trying to iron out a Middle East Peace accord and this juggling act was threatening to be too much for the already tenuous atmosphere.

Meanwhile, in this Hemisphere - The Panama Canal Treaty was inching ever-closer to becoming reality, even though ruffled Panamanian feathers needed to be smoothed over from various amendments being discussed in the treaty.

After 101 days (and counting), a new contract offer had been given to the striking Coal Miners with optimistic hopes, not necessarily universal among the rank-and-file, but optimistic hopes nonetheless, that the contact would finally be approved.

And after 96 days in Space, Soviet Cosmonauts were finally returning to Earth.

Something it was hoped the rest of the world would also wind up doing.

And so it went, this March 16th in 1978 as reported by Dallas Townsend and a team of reporters on The CBS World News Roundup.

News of this day was about a sudden turn of events in the Aldo Moro kidnapping case. Moro was an important figure in Italian politics and his kidnapping by members of the Red Brigade caused a deep rift in Italian society over the question of terrorist kidnapping and terrorist demands. As in all such cases, there is a certain amount of bluff calling involved. In this case, the Italian Government wouldn't cave to the demands of the terrorists and refused to negotiate. The reasons for not negotiating were, at best many, entangled and murky. The result was the shooting death of Moro and the dumping of his body in the trunk of a car in the middle of Rome. The affect of the shooting also brought on questions about our own ability to deal with terrorist situations. It's interesting, listening to this broadcast of The World Tonight from May 9, 1978, that America's dealing with a terrorist situation like the Moro incident was pretty nonexistent - something that 21 years later gave way to wide-sweeping and somewhat questionable legal procedures as a result.

Since most of the news that day was taken up with the Moro incident, the only other news that made it to national coverage was news of a dramatic rescue of passengers from a downed jet in Pensacola Bay and the heroic actions of a tugboat skipper that resulted in averting what could have been tragedy.

A light news day, but not without its drama.