Starting off the Month of June with a bang in 1980.

First, it was the economy - with reports that the Recession had come back with a vengence on top of double-digit inflation. Still, no tax cuts in the foreseeable future.

The GOP Presidential race was now down to one with George Bush dropping out and leaving the field open for Ronald Reagan. This ahead of Super Tuesday.

Fears of racial unrest surfaced when news of the assassination attempt on Urban League President Vernon Jordan, shot in the back by a sniper's bullet came to light. The fears were allayed when it was learned Jordan survived the attack and was doing well, but a stepped up investigation and search for the sniper was underway.

Some in South Korea were blaming the U.S. for being behind the recent violent crackdown on dissidents there. The U.S. vehemently denied any role or influence on the moves, even though the U.S. Ambassador and Military Adviser were not held in high esteem with the people of South Korea.

The hostage situation continued in Iran with a shift in political power signified by the opening of Parliament and a majority of members aligned with the Khomeni regime. The fate of the hostages was now in Parliament's hands.

And despite faded hopes for finding some 50 missing people in the wake of the eruption of the Mt. St. Helens volcano, 75 year old Ray Jennings and his four dogs surfaced relatively unscathed.

And that's how this month got started, June 1st 1980 as reported on The World This Week from CBS Radio News.

I almost forgot what a wall-to-wall insane week the first week of March was in 1992. The Democratic Presidential primaries were heating up with Sen. Bob Kerrey dropping out and leaving it a field of four; Gov. Bill Clinton, Paul Tsongas, Gerry Brown and Tom Harkin. While on the Republican side Pat Buchanan tried to pull support away from George Bush by proclaiming a certain "lock and load" mentality to his campaign rhetoric. Meanwhile, the economy was hovering or circling the drain, depending on who you asked. Macy's Department stores filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection and the unemployment was 7.3%. Scandals were big this first week of March, with the Congressional Check Bouncing (dubbed Rubbergate) scandal jangling nerves all over Capitol Hill. Washington Senator Brock Adams quit his re-election bid amidst a flurry of sexual harassment charges. And even charities weren't immune to the specter of scandal with United Way reeling over alegations. Ireland was pondering abortion legislation. Texas was advocating surgical castration for sex crimes. The Rodney King police beating trial was getting started and people were flipping out over the threatened Michelangelo Virus poised to hit computer hard drives all over the world.

That, and a whole lot more got crammed into this half hour of ABC World News This Week from March 8, 1992.

Some week - now you know why people opt for staying in bed.

December 13, 2000 was the day the Presidential election was over. Hotly contested, even to this day, the election was finally decided by the Supreme Court, who overruled a lower court's decision to recount ballots in Florida.

But as Representative David Price from North Carolina put it:

David Price (D-North Carolina): “I think the dissenting opinions are going to be treated much more kindly by history than the majority opinion. But we’ve got to move on.”

And ten years on, those words keep coming back.

Here are the concession and victory speeches by Al Gore and President-Elect Bush with a wide range of opinions on the days events by a whole host of pundits, politicos and just plain folk, as reported by NPR on the evening of December 13, 2000.

President Nixon delivered one of his rare press conferences during Prime Time on December 10, 1970. As press conferences went, there were no startling revelations and it all went pretty much to plan, including two announcements:

Pres. Nixon: “I will announce tonight however, two I think important additions to the Administration. The first, Mister Rumsfeld is coming into the White House as a Counselor to the President on a full time basis and Mister Frank Carlucci will take over as the Director of OEO. He is his deputy and has done an outstanding job in that particular position and I believe in promoting a man who has done such a job to the top spot. Mister George Bush, the Congressman who was defeated in his bid for the United States Senate, I talked to yesterday and I’m very happy to report that he has agreed to take a top position in the Administration. That will be announced tomorrow at Mister Ziegler’s eleven o’clock conference. Mister Bush will be there.”

Funny how those two names keep popping up. The gifts that just keep on giving.

("The voodoo you do so well")

When President Reagan spoke about the economy, most people were mystified. He was the one who stressed the "trickle down theory", the cuts in domestic spending, the increases in Military spending, the gutting of programs. What it managed to do was create a bigger gap between the poor and the wealthy, while fracturing the ever-shrinking middle class. All of this rose doubts, even within the ranks of the GOP, as White House advisers put spin in every way possible, hoping no one would look too closely at what would be disastrous long-term remedies to short term problems.

On September 24, 1981 President Reagan went before the public to outline his latest set of plans. The results were met with skepticism as is evidenced by this post-address round table, part of the September 24th edition of Nightline with Ted Koppel. It featured Murray Weidenbaum, a Reagan Economic adviser. Harold Brown, former Defense Secretary. Senator Paul Tsongas (D-Mass) and Congressman Toby Moffett (D-Conn).

Congressman Toby Moffatt: “ Well, this is part of what George Bush called ‘Voodoo Economics’, and I think if the President wants to really do something, what he ought to do is stop embracing these economic assumptions that don’t make any sense. He wanted tight money, he has tight money. We have 20% interest rates, small businesses are caving. The cuts are going to fall very heavily on the poorest of our people. He’s a charming fellow with what turns out to be a cruel program, and what he should do is back off on these tax cuts, defer them, until we have a balanced budget in our sights, and really cut back on what is the most massive defense increase in history. It’s not a Defense cut.”

I think it would be safe to say that much of what went on with the economy during the Reagan Years has had an effect on our current economic situation. Those "fixes" that were presented by The Great Communicator did not work. And to think they could work again is to live in a fool's paradise.

But then . . .so many still do.

(Ross Perot with purported Adviser)

When I heard the news today that Dell was buying Perot Systems for a reported $3billion, I started to realize we actually hadn't heard anything from Ross Perot lately.

Surely, the 1992 election and Perot's on-again/off-again/on-again candidacy left a lot of people baffled. When he restated his entry into the race, a month before the election - it not only caught people off-guard, it left them scratching their heads, as was the case with this announcement and press conference from October 1, 1992. Certainly his short fuse made for some interesting moments.

Reporter: “Ten weeks ago you said you were quitting the race because you didn’t want to be a spoiler and you didn’t want to be disruptive. Now you say you’re back to win this thing. . . “

Perot: “Yes.”

Reporter: “Isn’t your strategy to disrupt George Bush’s vote in a number of key states, including this one, Texas?”

Perot: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That’s press myth number six hundred and fifteen. . . .

(Crowd noise)

Perot:”WAIT JUST A MINUTE!!! Wait a minute - let me finish! Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Now, I love you guys. He has called me every name in the book. All I’ve ever said ‘fine man, fine family’, the only thing I’ve ever criticized is his mistakes in office. That’s it. We’re talkin’ about performance here, not personality. See, I’m everything from a monster to a crazy comin’ from them, right? Nobody ever says, ‘boy, you must really dislike that guy, because you keep sayin’ those things. I show up here and you say I don’t like George Bush. When you create these fairy tales and pass ‘em on, every now and then get together some time in the evening and say ‘ is there any basis for this stuff?’ No. There’s no basis for that. I wouldn’t spend ten minutes because of personal dislike. I certainly wouldn’t spend the money I’m having to spend on this. I’m doing it for the reasons I gave in the speech – very simple.”

It makes you wonder about the constantly changing landscape of politics. Whether Perot will make another appearance remains to be seen.

His short fuse was kind of enjoyable though . . .