We haven't run anything on LBJ in a while, so I thought I would include this Press Conference from June 1,1965, President Johnson's 43rd since taking office.

A number of areas are covered, most notably the situation in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, which was the scene of recent military action. Also covered was the situation in Vietnam and the 20th Anniversary of the United Nations.

A complete half hour of Q&A as broadcast by ABC Radio on June 1, 1965.

While the War was slowly turning in favor of the Allies, The groundwork for setting up The United Nations had been established. On June 7 of 1943, President Roosevelt addressed the very first United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture and discussed what role the allies would play in the Post-War world and the crucial importance of Food production.

Here is that address, complete as given on June 7, 1943.

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This May 2nd in 1979 saw Britain on overload during the last day of campaigning just before the election. Projected to win, via recent polls, was incumbent Prime Minister James Callahan and the Labour Party. Dropping in the polls and not expected to win was challenger Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative Party. The last day of criss-crossing Britain, Thatcher promised that, if elected she would clamp down on the power of Labor Unions. Harbinger of things to come, for sure. But on this day, Callahan was expected to remain in power and the Thatcher promises were regarded as empty threats.

Not such empty threats was the assassination of Ayatullah Motahari in Tehran. A newly discovered group calling themselves Forghan claimed responsibility. The group, it was thought, was purported to be made up of supporters of The Shah and promised a lot more.

Seven bombs went off in and around Paris overnight. No injuries or loss of life, but the perps remained a mystery.

The United Nations flag was flying over Pyongyang for the first time since anyone could remember. It signified a visit from UN Secretary Kurt Waldheim for talks regarding unification of the two Koreas.

And speaking of talks - discussions on the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Japan got underway between President Jimmy Carter and visiting Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira.

In other Capitol Hill news - President Carter was readying to announce his replacement for Army Chief of Staff General Rogers, who was leaving to replace Gen. Alexander Haig as NATO Commander in Europe.

The endless War on Drugs was heating up again. This time in Southern Floria where it was announced 14 people were so far under indictment for Drug Smuggling in Miami with many more to come.

Boston Pops Icon Arthur Fiedler celebrated his 50th season with the orchestra in a gala celebration.

And John Wayne was back in the hospital with a not-so-good prognosis.

All this and much more via The CBS World News Roundup for May 2, 1979.

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A curious mix of optimism and pessimism for this week, ending on April 26th in 1964.

On the optimistic side - President Johnson announced to the world that the U.S. would make substantial reductions in Nuclear Weapons and Uranium enrichment production. Simultaneously, it was announced by Nikita Khruschev via Radio Moscow, that the Soviet Union would do the same thing. The news was greeted with a sense of relief and UN General Secretary U Thant offered an evaluation on what was deemed a hopeful sign towards an easing of Cold War tensions.

On the Pessimistic side - tensions were brewing between the U.S. and Cuba as Cuban Premier Fidel Castro vowed to down any U.S. Reconnaissance planes flying over Cuban territory as it had been doing since 1962.

On the optimistic side - Sec. of State Dean Rusk returned from a fact-finding mission to Saigon and offered an upbeat assessment of the situation in Vietnam, saying the South Vietnamese Army could handle themselves nicely.

On the Pessimistic side - Defense Secretary Robert McNamara conceded it will "take time" for any progress to be made in Vietnam and that the South Vietnamese Army is running a defensive strategy rather than an offensive one. Oh well.

Meanwhile - the four year long negotiations between the Railroads and the Unions was finally at the settlement stage. And just in the nick of time, as the settlement averted a threatened strike.

President Johnson went on a brief tour of the Appalachia region, hitting the towns and cities worst hit by poverty and unemployment, touting his War on Poverty legislation. He was greeted with waves of enthusiasm.

Not so enthusiastic were reports from Capitol Hill saying the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was at a standstill, making the future unclear for passage of the Legislation.

And the much publicized "Stall-ins", threatened for Opening day of the New York Worlds Fair on April 22nd, didn't materialize. But that didn't stop some 300 Civil Rights demonstrators from being arrested from the Fair opening anyway.

All this in one week, ending on April 26th 1964, as reported on the ABC Radio Voices In The Headlines program.

In an episode never before seen at the United Nations, violence erupted on the floor of the General Assembly while U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson delivered a Foreign Policy Address. The violence, stemmed from protests to the actions of the Belgian government over the situation in the former colony of the Congo, and the death of a much loved leader Patrice Lumumba, sparked a demonstration that turned nasty and forced Stevenson to step down from the podium while the protesters were removed.

Stevenson is 15 minutes into his address when the violence breaks out, and the tapes kept rolling.

Here is a special report, aired some 45 minutes after the incident occurred on February 22, 1961.

Who said the UN was boring?

Aside from the U.S. Presidential election in 1948, the other big news story was the 1948 Italian Elections. The staunchly anti-Communist government of Alcide de Gasperi was in big fear of being toppled by a Communist led movement to upset the election. This was one of the big popularity contests between the West and Communist East and one of the big showdowns in the Cold War period. Speculation ran the gamut, as did the fear factor in the Press that a Communist led government in Italy would indicate the Soviets were well on their way to becoming a dominating force in Europe.

And so the big news also became the big story with most U.S. commentators, including this one - Clifton Utley who delivered his commentary on the upcoming Italian elections on March 18, 1948, viewing it as an epic showdown between Soviet style Communism and Western style Democracy with Italy, a country still in the grips of digging itself out of the devastation of World War 2, stuck somewhere in the middle.

The Post-World War 2 period and the Cold War era had no shortage of cliffhangers and upheavals.

Listening to the United Nations meeting yesterday over the request to grant the Palestinian territory Nationhood, I was reminded of a similar situation with regards to the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, and how our Foreign Policy in the Middle East has always been one of inconsistency.

In 1948 a lot of what the U.S. did in the area of Foreign Affairs was predicated on aspects of the Cold War - always the threat of undue influence in any region from Moscow was of primary importance. And it shaped our relations with the rest of the world, and many times not with the best outcomes (Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia). Since the end of the era of the Soviet Union, it's become the threat of Islamic Extremists and another whole set of new and complicated fears.

But as much debate as there is going on now over the Palestinian question, there was going on with the Israeli question, sixty-three years earlier.

Here is a Sunday featuring the noted NBC newsman and commentator Clifton Utley from May of 1948, where Utley discusses the role of the U.S. in the Middle East and the newly declared nation of Israel in the United Nations.

Interesting when you consider now that, even in 1961, Technology was very much on India's mind. In this 1961 address to The Collegiate Council of the United Nations, Indian Prime Minister Jawahrarlal Nehru saw the importance of technological advances in an emerging nation. How education was the most important thing in obtaining a better place in the world in general. And how, on the one hand nations like the U.S. were making great technological strides, yet somehow losing on moral grounds. The two, in Nehru's mind, had to be in harmony.

Nehru: “On the one side there is tremendous achievement and the world is changing rapidly in regard to technical matters, technological advances and material advancement. But probably the thinking of human beings has not kept pace with these changes that are taking place.

Later on in his address, Nehru quoted Albert Einstein in saying the war after the next war will most likely be fought with bows and arrows.

He may still have a point there.

Here is the complete address Prime Minister Nehru gave at that United Nations meeting on November 11, 1961.

November 9, 1943 saw the formation of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), anticipating what was going to be needed to put some semblance of order back into the world once the war was over. Even though it was a ways away, the need was already abundantly clear that the amount of relief it would take was going to be enormous. And so an agency was formed as part of the greater United Nations to deal with that eventuality.

The signing of the declaration on the parts of the 44 nations represented took place at the White House East Room on November 9, with President Roosevelt keynoting the event.

FDR: “Here in the White House, seated about the table in the historic East Room, are representatives of forty-four nations. United Nations and those associated with them. The people of these forty-four nations include approximately 80% of the human race, now united by a common devotion to the cause of civilization, and by a common determination to build for the future a world of decency and security and above all, peace. Representatives of these forty-four nations, you gentlemen who represent them, have just signed an agreement creating the United Nations Relief And Rehabilitation Administration, commonly known by a simpler word; UNRRA.”

UNRRA was in use from 1943 until the end of 1946, with the last effort ending in 1949.

I remember just how much of a panic people got into when the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated to this point on October 23rd. We had all become too familiar with the "pending atomic attack" from the Soviet Union over the years. And how, as a kid living in Los Angeles, reading an article in the L.A. Times with accompanying graphic of just how much of L.A. would be reduced to dust if such an event occurred. As best as I could tell, our house was destined to be boiling ash and it created no end to the amount of sleepless nights in the days and months to come.

In retrospect, it probably explains a lot of what we eventually grew into and the choices we'd make because, let's face it, we were convinced we'd be radioactive waste at any given moment.

But I think it was the cool detachment of the media when this crisis hit the boiling point that is so fascinating in hindsight. And this broadcast from 7:00 pm Eastern on the evening of the 23rd perfectly exemplifies that.

Ray Scherer (NBC News): “The most significant moment of this perhaps historic day came at seven minutes after seven tonight when the President took up a pen and put his name to the Quarantine Proclamation, a two page document titled ‘Interdiction Of Delivery Of Offensive Weapons To Cuba’. Here is the list of prohibited materials: Surface to Surface Missiles, Bombers, Bombs, Air-To-Surface Rockets and Guided Missiles, Electronic Equipment To Support Them. After 10:00 tomorrow morning, any ships carrying such materials will be turned back. If there is resistance, force shall be used, says the document, to the extent necessary.”

It's interesting to consider (and I certainly didn't at the time), that no doubt there was a family somewhere in Moscow with a 12 year old kid who was probably just as freaked out about the possibilities of being reduced to radioactive waste as I was. The threat of war is just like that.