The world spun oddly, this February 28th in 1981.

While Prime Minister Thatcher and President Reagan exchanged toasts and cordialities at a dinner hosted by the British Embassy in Washington, the rest of the world was going off on its own direction.

The Soviet newspaper Pravda labeled lies over reports from the State Department claiming Russia was sending arms to El Salvador. Had they known. . .

Meanwhile earlier, President Reagan asked for funds to reactivate two WW2 era Battleships, based on information the Soviet Navy was stepping up warship production. This, hot on the heels of Reagan presiding over additional government budget cuts to the tune of $10-13 Billion. A budget and Tax cut battle were heating up.

In the rest of the world - An Islamic Peace Mission landed in Tehran to try and settle the 6 month old Iran-Iraq War. Three British Missionaries were released from captivity by the Iranians. John and Audrey Coleman and Mrs. Gene Wadell were glad to be home. Still, there were more to worry about. Speaking of hostages, the Basque Separatists ETA released hostages snatched from the consuls of Austria, El Salvador and Uruguay after 8 days of captivity.

Domestically - violence was threatening to loom between Vietnamese and American Shrimp fishermen in the Texas Gulf Coast. The Vietnamese were reported to be stocking up on arms for protection and the Americans were seen at various KKK meetings, espousing the virtues of immigrant bashing. The Shrimp had no opinion one way or the other, and no doubt preferred they just went away.

And so went this rather skewed February 28, 1981 as reported on the CBS World News Roundup.

This February 24th in 1941 was marked by continued German bomber raids over London and various other cities in Britain overnight with casualties reported as "light". Britain responded with RAF raids over the German occupied port cities of Calais and Boulogne in France.

Meanwhile - Britain labeled as untrue reports of diplomatic proposals to Japan about the Far East. Both London and Tokyo denied any sort of overtures, although it was reported Britain did issue a warning if Japan made any moves on Indochina or the Dutch East Indies there would be trouble.

News from Bulgaria reported German troops were on the border, poised to move in, but nothing had been confirmed - only the waiting game. Turkey pledged alliance with Great Britain over the looming Bulgarian crisis.

London labeled as unconfirmed reports of increased U.S./UK collaboration in the war effort and Russia adamant about maintaining neutrality in light of the Bulgarian situation, despite the fact that German troops were massed on the Russian Border and Russian troops were massed back. Some neutrality, that.

Reports from Berlin announced Hitler was getting ready for an address to the German people. This on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the founding of the National Socialist Party (established Feb. 24, 1920).

And on Capitol Hill - The Dies Committee (precursor to HUAC) reported claims that Russia had been secretly acting as an agent for the German government, with apparent evidence of a dramatic spike in goods shipped to Russia that just so happened to be on the German short-of-supply list. The State Department immediately called for an investigation over the allegations that America had been increasing its shipment of Cotton and Oil Drilling Parts to Russia in recent weeks.

There was also news of a Senate inquiry over Union strikes in the Defense industry and debate was about to begin on the latest Lease-Lend Bill.

For a war, it was a rather calm day, considering.

All reported on the morning roundup of news from NBC broadcast on February 24, 1941.

A significant day in history, but one that was moving so fast we didn't appreciate it at the time.

On February 7, 1990 sweeping changes were taking place in the Soviet Union, almost hourly and predominating the news of the day. As Mikhail Gorbachev repealed Article 6 in the Communist Party platform, making way for a multi-party system and Democracy to replace the old Communist system of government. Everyone was in favor, except for one - Boris Yeltsin, regarded by most as a maverick politician. The news was greeted in the West with enthusiasm, although President Bush quickly rushed to claim at least partial credit for the changes. Ironically, he also called for increased spending of the Star Wars Defense system, which baffled everyone, including Central Committee Member Georgi Abatov who said:

"I think you are, you Americans, not yet prepared to live without an enemy. You just don't know what to do without an enemy".

True, that. And still true, some 20 years later.

In other news - Vaclav Havel was scheduled to arrive in Washington for a visit and address a joint session of Congress. Jesse Jackson was scheduled to arrive in Johannesburg South Africa, continuing his call for an end to Apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela. Schools in Selma Alabama were closed on this day, as racial tensions rose and black marched in protest to the recent dismissal of black School Superintendent Norbert Rousseau by a mostly white Board of Education.

The State Department was up to its eyeballs in scandal as it suspended employee Felix Bloch on spy charges. Chicago was minus 20 organized crime figures as the DOJ did a sweep and handed out indictments like party favors.

And a study found the majority of high school students had no idea about geography or even where they were on the map. The good news was 87% could find Canada - but that was about it.

And we were now The Big Kids Left Standing.

And so went this particular day in history as reported by CBS Radio and The World Tonight along with Special Reports and a word or two from Dan Rather.

( . . .and there went Prague Spring for the next 30 years)

It was a only matter of time. The writing had been on the wall for months. The experiment got out of hand. Communism With A Human Face retreated back to the closet. And Alexander Dubcek, the architect of Prague Spring would be removed from office. On August 20, 1968, the Soviets, along with East Germans and other Warsaw Pact allies, massed troops and tanks on the Czechoslovak border and headed towards Prague.

When the first news broke via Radio Prague, the White House was alerted and President Johnson called an emergency cabinet meeting to figure out what was going on.

The recording here from the first few hours recaps much of the happenings earlier in the evening, including the interruption of an evening session of Democratic Platform hearings with Dean Rusk, chaired by Hale Boggs as the story unfolded and reports kept coming in.

Hale Boggs: “We have here a bulletin which has just been handed to me by the Press from Czechoslovakia saying that Radio Prague announced Wednesday that Soviet troops have crossed the Czechoslovak borders. The broadcast asked Czechoslovak citizens not to take any action against them. The broadcast came at 2 a.m. over the direct network of Radio Prague. There was unusual activity at the airport which justified as apparently a landing”

As the hours drifted into days, it was very clear what the end result was going to be.

(Sometimes the pill is a bit large)

I suppose you could characterize Foreign Policy as the clever art of deception. Much of ours in recent years has had a certain level of hypocrisy attached to it. Probably nothing exposed the level of that hypocrisy quite like the Iran-Contra scandal of the late 1980's. Although to be fair, there were numerous other occasions where the diplomacy and the covert actions ran high throughout our history. But it was the fact that the Iran-Contra case unfolded so publicly that most people were taken aback at just how ruthless a bunch we actually were/are.

In 1987, while Iran-Contra was grabbing headlines, CBS Radio as part of their Newsmark series aired a segment called "Diplomacy and Deception" and asked former CIA official George Carver, Senator Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.) and Harper's Editor Lewis Lapham about the recent revelations and our role in Diplomatic deception.

George Carver: “Covert action is regarded by the administrations of both parties as a marvelous substitute for thought. Covert action is a useful supplement to policy, but it is no substitute for it. In Central America, for example I don’t happen to think it’s in U.S. national interest for a Communist state to be established in Nicaragua and spread subversion Cuban-style throughout the rest of the uh……land area that eventually butts our own borders. But for the Government to do as Lewis (Lapham) said, recognize it, maintain open diplomatic relations, try to pretend at one level that everything is sweetness and light, while at the other level work to overthrow it is, to my mind, as the Frenchman (Talleyrand) said when he heard of the murder of the Duke of India back in the nineteenth century, ‘it’s worse than a crime, it’s a mistake’, and I think that we should go more intelligently about achieving what we want to do and not try to have too wide a divergence between our public stance and our covert actual actions.”

And in 2010 there seems to be no let-up.

(Ernest Lefever - Reagan was baffled he wasn't greeted with open arms)

Just another June day during the Reagan Years. This particular June 2nd, as outlined in this broadcast of The World Tonight, brought up news of Conservative Democrats meeting with Reagan for 90 minutes over a proposed Tax Cut measure. The uphill fight Reagan was having getting his friend and neo-con Ernest Lefever an appointment to the Human Rights Commission of the State Department. Small wonder since his clearly extreme views on the difference between Authoritarian and Totalitarian regimes raised more than a few eyebrows. He would eventually not be confirmed and it would be a source of bafflement for the President. Israelis were going after Palestinians (again) and the Prime Interest rate was hovering around 20%.

All in all a rather uneventful day . . at the time.

(Cyrus Vance - not wanting to be an "I told you so")

As news of the failed Hostage rescue attempt continued to reverberate throughout the world, the Carter Administration was dealt another blow by the resignation of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Vance initially tended his resignation days before the Operation took place, but it became official on April 28th as rumors of the resignation were rife throughout Washington.

Cyrus Vance: “As you know, I could not support the difficult decision taken by the President on the rescue operation in Iran. I therefore submitted my resignation to the President last week. I have told the President that I continue to support fully his policies on other Foreign Policy issues. I’ve assured him that he can count on my support for his continued leadership of our nation. He will always have my deepest respect and affection.”

Vance was immediately replaced by Warren Christopher then Edmund Muskie and the stalemate continued.

This clip is from NPR's All Things Considered from April 28, 1980. In addition to the resignation and the continuing fallout from the rescue attempt, there is also a bit of news on the upcoming 1980 election as well as news of the swarm of Cuban refugees landing in Miami. Interesting day all around, in case you missed it.

(Sen. Alan Cranston - Majority Whip and Tap Dance - 1980)

As the hostage crisis in Iran dragged on, the finger pointing season was in full swing. Everyone from the President to the State Department had their fair share of blame to pass around. Our attempts at diplomacy and negotiation were failing miserably and there seemed to be no positive outcome to the story.

So when Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Whip appeared on Face the Nation on March 30, 1980 he was barraged with questions on what, if any, next moves were on the horizon. From the sounds of it, there were none.

Sen. Alan Cranston: “I think you have to go all the way back to the beginning of the crisis to really fault what has occurred. I do not fault the decision to permit the Shah to enter this country, I think that that was necessary and appropriate, given our past relationship with him and his health. I do feel that, in retrospect it would have been far wiser for the President to have taken steps to insure the safety of our people in Iran. There apparently there were reasons to fear what might happen when the Shah came in. And I think we should have closed our embassy and removed our personnel simultaneously with the permission of the Shah to come this country. Since that time, I think the President has handled a very difficult situation with restraint and wisdom and imagination in seeking ways to go and resolve an incredible situation.”

In short, there was no solution and a lot of blame to pass around. But bear in mind, it was only going to get worse with an ill-fated rescue attempt a little over a month away.

And thirty years ago it was very possible to make a bad situation worse.

(Iraqi Nuclear Power Plant - Post Operation Opera 1981)

Rather interesting story that got a bit buried in events surrounding it. The Israeli Airforce conducted a raid on Iraq's Nuclear Power facility on June 7, 1981. It effectively got rid of Iraq's bid for making potential nuclear weapons.

John Blackstone (CBS News): “Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin predicts that his action in ordering the destruction of an Iraqi nuclear plant has set a precedent for future Israeli governments".

Fingers were pointed at the Saudi's who said their radar was not sophisticated enough to track the Israeli jets going through their air space. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee made noises about the jets being U.S. made and promised an investigation, which never came to pass.

The interesting point is how Begin later went on to add during that Face The Nation segment, that Israel would not hesitate to stage similar raids on other Middle East nuclear power facilities in the future. Particularly those deemed threatening to Israel.

Makes you wonder about the current state of affairs with Iran, doesn't it? Or is that just a matter of time?

(Alexander Haig - the tipping point was "being in charge")

With the news today of the passing of General Alexander Haig, I was reminded of his overzealous overstatement during the assassination attempt on President Reagan. How in retrospect that seemed to be a turning point in his career.

But apparently, Alexander Haig did have a short fuse, as was evidenced by this exchange during his Senate Confirmation Hearings when he was appointed Secretary of State by President-Elect Reagan.

Alexander Haig (when asked about his possible role in Watergate): “Do you think I’m going to endorse what was done? No way! On either side! And I want to be sure that balance is kept. And nobody has a monopoly on virtue. Not even you Senator”.

Certainly explains why one Senator presented him with a box of nails for a birthday present. But he did garner respect from his peers and he was a figure in history during some tumultuous years.

And to have survived that deserves at least praise.