No end to conflicts and potential hot spots, this February 23rd in 1975. Southeast Asia eruptions were continuing with the Mekon river blockade now effectively cutting off Phnom Penh and rebel fighting throughout Cambodia. Likewise in South Vietnam where terrorist attacks were inching closer to Saigon. All this activity triggered calls from President Ford to send military aid to the region. Congress wasn't thrilled. We'd been there. We'd done that. We got the bloodstains to prove it. Still, there were some such as Strom Thurmond who thought we should pour nothing but money into the region in exchange for their oil, if and when they found some.

Elsewhere in the Lovely Neighborhood - Secretary of State Henry Kissinger returned from a tour of the Middle East, saying he was "optimistic" that talks-about-talks-about-talks were looking up. Senator Ted Kennedy introduced legislation asking for a cut-off of military aid to the oil producing Persian Gulf nations, saying instability in the region begged for a hold-off on ordinance for at least six months. His crystal ball, it appears, was in much better shape than a lot of his colleagues.

Ethiopia was asking the U.S. for arms in the wake of increased tensions coming from the northern province of Eritrea and the separatist movement gathering steam there. New tensions in Cyprus between Greek and Turkish elements were springing up. Spain, despite a law prohibiting strikes handed down by the somewhat creaky Franco regime, went on strike over dissatisfaction with the decades-old authoritarian rule.

And back home - Judge Sirica handed down sentences for convicted Watergate figures. It went like this: Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman all got 2 1/2 years in jail and Robert Mardian got 10 months.

All that and a lot more for news ending the week of February 23rd, 1973 as reported on CBS Radio's The World This Week.

Feel better about your day now?

One billion Dollars a day was how it was roughly figured out, as Capitol Hill dissected the size of the Budget President Ford was handing to Congress this February 1st in 1975.

The astronomical sum didn't sit with most lawmakers, considering the U.S. was knee-deep in a recession that no intention of letting up anytime soon.

Money woes and the blame game were in massive supply all over Washington. With the price of gas having some called on a system of rationing in order to stop our dependence on Foreign Oil, which was indicated as a major contributor to our woes.

And the matter of Foreign Aid was another. A supplemental Aid bill to Southeast Asia was resoundingly defeated because, as one Senator pointed out - 55,000 casualties, untold billions already - enough was enough.

And it wasn't just Southeast Asia feeling the brunt of austerity. Aid to Turkey was pending and on hold because of the ongoing situation in Cyprus. The problem in this case was not having much idea of who exactly was running the show over in Istanbul.

To top it all off - our Trade Deficit had now achieved the dubious distinction of being the 2nd highest in the century.

Cold comfort and no doubt cause for another round of sleepless nights.

And so went the news for this February 1st 1975 as reported on CBS Radio's The World This Week (February 1st was a Sunday in 1975) as reported by Allan Jackson and a flood of reports.

(The bread was okay, but the ads were priceless and were on every bus, subway, construction site and billboard in New York in 1964)

One of the perqs of having a sound archive is the effortless ability to pull things at random, on a whim, and just listen. As someone pointed out to me, there's history all over the place, and no matter how inconsequential any particular day seems to be, something is always happening.

Case in point - I decided to randomly grab a news broadcast from February 20, and the first one to fall into my hands was from 1964. Not an earth shattering day in the big scheme of things, but a day where events happened.

This newscast, an hourly from ABC Radio starts off with the Civil War in Cyrpus, the ongoing dispute between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots with the British Army stuck somewhere in the middle. This particular day also sees a ceasefire, which is declared as the broadcast is happening. The next item deals with the border dispute between Algeria and Morocco.. It had been a hotbed of violence and unrest since the late 1950's and a key element in the continuing Independence movement on the African continent. Then things turn domestic with the New Hampshire Republican Primaries between Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller. The broadcast winds up with a piece on the newly installed monarch, King Constantine of Greece.

Just a typical day - like all typical days. And all typical days are loaded with history.

The broadcast is run complete and in its entirety as it was broadcast with no edits. I say that because in 1964 Cigarette advertising was still going strong and the jingles are catchy. This one is for Camels. If you find it offensive, it's only the first 45 seconds of the newscast, so you can forward through it.