And how is this March 7th different from other March 7th's?

Well . . .

On March 7th 1978, news from Tel-Aviv reported a sharp divide, bordering on revolt among Israeli Cabinet Ministers over the matter of Israeli settlements being built on disputed Arab territories. Moderates, headed up by Ezer Weizmann wanted the settlement building to stop. Hawks, headed up by Ariel Sharon wanted it to continue and Prime Minister Begin was stuck in the middle. Meanwhile, in Cairo - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was looking to the U.S. for some leadership in the area of Peace talks with Israel. As always, the Middle-East was a hotbed of activity.

Back in the States, a settlement of another kind was being sought after. This one having to do with the Coal Miner's Strike, which was having a devastating impact on the Mid-West. President Carter was invoking Taft-Hartley legislation and the Coal Miners were hearing none of it. Meanwhile, the loss of coal production meant severe cutbacks throughout Indiana, Ohio and several other states with electrical cutbacks as much as 50%.

On Capitol Hill, debate was continuing regarding the Panama Canal Treaty with no eye on an actual vote until "maybe May 1st". Jesse Helms introduced an amendment to keep a U.S. Radio facility up and running in the Canal Zone to be used in tracking ships, particularly those of Soviet lineage.

Elsewhere - Continuing border clashes between Rhodesia and Zambia were getting the attention of other African nations who wanted to reach some settlement in the dispute, preferably without Ian Smith involved. Kind of tough since, even though Smith headed up the minority government of Rhodesia, he was still heading up the government.

And Kuwait's Oil Minister was calling for a substantial boost in oil prices, since the U.S. dollar was sinking slowly in markets around the world, and Kuwait was claiming losses of $1million a day as the result. Gee.

And publisher Larry Flynt was recovering from surgery the day following a shooting of him and his attorney by "unknown" assailant(s).

And that's what this particular slice of reality sounded like for March 7, 1978 as reported by Dallas Townsend on The CBS World News Roundup.

Your average day, only this one was in 1975. Economic news was grim, with reports on the Recession getting worse. The Gross National Product dropped 9.1% the previous month. The worst since 1958. Inflation shot up 13%. The worst since 1947. Meanwhile, calls on Capitol Hill for Gasoline rationing were roundly poo-pooed by President Ford, saying it wasn't really all that necessary. The grumblings continued.

The Soviet Union proclaimed Detente wasn't dead, it was just wounded.

Meanwhile, back on Capitol Hill - Congressional Hearings on the CIA brought up two former directors, Jesse Helms and William Colby who both had different takes on the matter of Domestic spying. It doesn't bode well when your own people can't get their stories straight.

Some good news from the Auto Industry, at least for consumers. Ford announced it was offering rebates of $200-500.00 on new car purchases.

In the Middle East, border skirmishes were taking place between Israel and Lebanon with artillery fire being traded back and forth. On the Negotiation front, Senator Charles Percy was in Cairo handing out peace feelers to Anwar Sadat in the hopes of getting something moving, however slow.

And in his Commentary, news analyst Eric Sevareid offered some pithy observations on World reaction to the Economic crisis.

All in all, a run-of-the-mill day for January 16, 1975 as reported by Douglas Edwards on CBS Radio's The World Tonight.