Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20150504

Islamic state forces. And. Another of the social causes of the migrants leaving was at times they did not feel safe. Ifill a tribute to the prolific painter Jacob Lawrence. A one way ticket into the great migration of African Americans from the rural south to urban north. Those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the f. B. I. Looked for terrorist tieins today after two men attacked an exhibit of muhammad cartoons outside dallas. The sunday evening shooting in garland, texas sent investigators across the southwest. Federal agents searched this apartment in phoenix, arizona within hours of the shooting along with a white van and a second vehicle. They were out here just wailing on the back door over here trying to get it open. There were several different guys that came over and were trying to cut into the door. Ifill the f. B. I. Said the apartment belonged to elton simpson. He was identified as an american muslim convicted in 2011 of lying to the f. B. I. In a terror investigation. Investigators say he sent out several tweets before sundays shooting, using the hashtag texas attack. Various news accounts identified the second man as nadir soofi, simpsons roommate. Clad in body armor, the two gunmen fired assaultstyle rifles and wounded a Security Guard at the garland event center. An offduty traffic officer also working security, returned fire, killing both attackers. He did what he was trained to do and, under the fire that he was put under, he did a very good job and probably saved lives. We think their strategy was to get to the event center, into the event center, and they werent able to get passed that outer perimeter that we had set up. Ifill the bodies were still there this morning, covered by a tarp. While a bomb squad searched the gunmens car, and blew up several suspicious objects but found no bombs. Police said theyre still working on the motive, but the event center was hosting a contest for cartoons depicting the prophet muhammad. Thats considered blasphemous under islamic tradition. It was organized by a group led by new york activist pamela geller, who campaigns against what she calls islamic supremacism. Because of that, Garland Police had created a security plan months in advance. They drew on what happened in paris last january when islamist gunmen killed 12 people at the office of a french magazine after it published muhammad cartoons. In other news of this day, the republican president ial field expanded to five, with a pair of announcements. Carly fiorina, a former Hewlett Packard chief executive made it official during a television interview, and in an online video. And retired neurosurgeon ben carson followed suit at an event in detroit. Well hear some of what each one had to say, and get some analysis, after the news summary. Former president bill clinton is defending foreign donations to his family foundation. In an interview airing today, he dismissed criticism that other governments traded donations for official favors when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. Shes now running for president. Mr. Clinton told nbc news the foundation has never done anything knowingly inappropriate. I dont think theres anything sinister in trying to get wealthy people and countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps poor people and lifts them up. I dont think theres anything bad with that. Ifill also today, the state Department Said its found no evidence that the donations influenced any actions by then secretary clinton. And on a related matter, the former president said hell continue to accept speaking fees of up to half a Million Dollars apiece, even if his wife wins the white house. He said ive got to pay the bills. Also today, Hillary Clinton offered to testify before a special House Committee on the attack in benghazi libya, that killed the u. S. Ambassador. Clintons attorney said shes willing to appear once late there are month to answer all questions on benghazi and her email practices. Calm seas in the mediterranean sent waves of migrants sailing toward italy over the weekend. Thousands were picked up at sea as the European Union struggled to keep up. Jane deith of independent Television News has this report. Reporter the boats havent stopped coming. In the space of three days italy france and groups of volunteers have raced to the rescue of almost 7,000 people, including this baby girl born just hours after her mother was in a boat floating off the coast of libya. Last month, e. U. Members promised to send help. This French Navy Ship rescued 217 people on saturday. But where is the flagship h. M. S. Bullwork . It left the galipoli event in turkey a week ago, but only tonight is it ready to help after a reported diplomatic wrangle over whether rescued migrants could disembark at italian ports. Its understood things were only resolved today. At the moment, the rescue mission, operation tritan, is still relying heavily on passing vessels. It is mainly commercial ships who are patrolling, who are actually in the International Waters and are able to carry out rescue operations faster than other ships which are quite distant from the migrants in distress. Reporter this rescue boat is speeding not towards italy but straight back to libya. The libyan coast guard returning migrants to the country they were desperate to leave. We are suffering, cant you see . Look it look it we are risking our life. We are suffering cant you see we are suffering . Its not a crime for me to risk my life for my family to live good. Reporter britain does now stand ready to help as the numbers risking it all for europe continue to rise. Ifill the surge of migrants has touched off rising political tensions. Some political leaders in northern italy are insisting their regions will not accept any more of the newcomers. In nepal, the earthquake death toll topped 7,300 today including 100 trekkers and villagers who were buried in an avalanche. And there was word that the climbing season for Mount Everest is likely over. Sherpa guides now say theres not enough time to safely rebuild the route. Central tel aviv cleaned up today after protests by Ethiopian Jews turned violent. They said theyve been subjected to racism and denied opportunity. Police used stun grenades and Water Cannons on sunday to disperse the crowds. The unrest was sparked by a video of policemen beating an Ethiopian Israeli soldier. Israeli president Reuven Rivlin said today the violence exposed an open, bleeding wound in israeli society. Violent political protests have claimed three more lives today in burundi. The red cross said 45 others were wounded. The protests began april 26 after the african nations president announced hed run for a third term, violating a two term limit. In kenya today, visiting secretary of state john kerry, warned against the move. We are deeply concerned about president nkurunzizas decision which flies directly in face of the constitution of this country. And the violence that is expressing the concern of his own citizens about that choice should be listened to and avoided as we go forward in these days. Ifill the u. N. Says 30,000 people have fled from burundi to neighboring countries. A new york city policeman brine moore was shot saturday while trying to arrest a man suspected of carrying a gun, the third officer killed in the city in five months. The death came amid tensions over Police Actions in baltimore, new york and other cities. The Top Republican in new york state surrendered today to face federal charges of extortion and bribery. State Senate Leader dean skelos, along with his son, adam, turned themselves in to the f. B. I. , in manhattan. The elder skelos allegedly used his power to enrich himself and his son. Earlier this year, a top new york democrat, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was charged with taking payoffs. Wall street moved slightly higher on this monday. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 46 points to close at 18,070. The nasdaq rose 11 points, and the s p 500 added six. And, britains newest princess now has a name Charlotte Elizabeth diana. Kensington palace announced today, two days after she was born, that she will be known as her royal highness, Princess Charlotte of cambridge. Her names honor prince charles, Queen Elizabeth and the late princess diana, her grandfather, greatgrandmother and grandmother. Still to come on the newshour politics monday the 2016 field expands. A changed baltimore moves beyond unrest. How where you live affects your chances of moving up and out of poverty. In iraq, shia muslim militias volunteer to beat back Islamic State advances. The lives, ambitions and stories of americas 45 first ladies. And, renowned painter Jacob Lawrences great migration series all on display in one place. Ifill the republican field grew more crowded as two more contenders jumped into the race for president today. And yet another announcement is expected tomorrow. Its politics monday, so well talk it all through, with amy walter of the cook political report, and tamara keith of npr, whos on the campaign trail in las vegas tonight. Lets start off, ladies, by listening to both the two new candidates, just a bit of what they had to say today. If youre tired of the sound bytes, the pettiness, the egos, the corruption, if you believe that its time to declare the end of identity politics, if you believe its time to declare the end of lowered expectations, if you believe that its time for citizens to stand up to the Political Class and say enough, then join us. Its time for us to empower our citizens, to give them a voice in our government. Im not politically correct and im probably never cheers and applause im probably never going to be politically correct because im not a politician. I dont want to be a politician because applause politicians do what is political expedient. I want to do whats right. Ifill ben carson got on stage in new york and introduced his wife kids, and entire Campaign Staff and said im not a politician but im running for president in the next more than a year. Thats right, he is running and so is Carly Fiorina as well. These are outsiders. These are two people who do not have elected experience and think this is the perfect time to run for president for somebody without elected experience given how frustrated americans are with whats happening in washington and the political calculations going on in washington. Theyre going to try to make it the center piece of their campaign. You saw it with both of them they talked about crony capitalism being politically correct, saying things politicians wont say. Maybe theyll get a little bit of traction. The reason . They certainly stand out in the field. The only africanamerican candidate and the only female candidate. Candidate. Ifill a pretty deviers field. Tamara carsons gotten popular. He came to prominence the first time because hes a neurosurgeon who worked at Johns Hopkins university, wrote a book turned into a movie. In 2013, he spoke at the National Prayer breakfast, stood at a podium a few feet away from president obama trashed obama careobamacare said a lot of the politically incorrect things hes become known for and made him something of a conservative darling. Did the talk show circuit. As he said people have been asking him to run for president. He said he never dreamed of running for president but people keep asking him to. There was a recruit ben carson effort that raised more than 10 million. Much of that was then spent on fundraising, so it just sort of cycled through, but people were asking him to do it. Ifill im going to ask amy a little bit about Carly Fiorina. People are asking him to run. Whos asking her to run . I think shes asking herself to run and shes hoping that, again, she can set herself up as somebody who is not part of the established system. Unlike ben carson whos not run for anything city council state, nothing she won and lost to Barbara Boxer in 2010 in california, but shes trying to present herself tos had a different set of experiences. Shes a corporate titan. She ran hewlett. What Barbara Boxer talked about a lot and attacked her about a lot in 2010, how many layoffs there were at Hewlett Packard under Carly Fiorinas stewardship. So that will get a lot of attention as the economy is a big issue. Ifill tamera keith covering Hillary Clinton tonight. Seems Carly Fiorina wants to position herself as the only other woman in the race to run against Hillary Clinton. Absolutely. Out of the box, her announcement video features Hillary Clintons announcement video saying im about to do this thing and then Carly Fiorina clicks the Remote Control and says we need to get rid of the career politicians. So she is really positioning herself tas as the antihillary when shes spoken. She is firmly viciously attacking Hillary Clinton if a way she can because shes a female candidate and people in the audiences at the events have been fired up about that. Thats the route shes taking. Shes going to be the attack dog in the field against Hillary Clinton. Ifill let me ask you to rails ahead to tomorrow. You wont be here tomorrow, so i have to ask you this today. Mike huckabee is also getting to the race. He certainly has run before. There was a very low bar for him when he first wan in 2008. He ended up surprising everybody, winning iowa becoming a nationallyknown candidate and faltering and petering out. Since then he went on to have a stint on fox, as a host. Hes coming back as a politician saying he brings a different set of perspectives into this race. When he ran last time, he was the evangelical candidate. Hes trying to run now as evangelical but also blue collar roots, talks about a populous message when he was the governor of arkansas, and as Carly Fiorina is talking about taking on the clintons. Hes from hope, arkansas as bill clinton and he talked about taking on the clinton machine and uses that as his campaign. Ifill as the field is organizing itself for someone to be in the right or the left of the field and especially for fundraising . I think he has a challenge in that he used to be the evangelical, but in this race there are at least three people angling for that evangelical vote, probably four. Ted cruz is angling for it, Rick Santorum if he gets in will go for it and scott walker is trying for that group as well. So Mike Huckabee has much narrower lane this time and also has a lot of republicans who think that hes not a fiscal conservative, who are not happy with his record as governor in arkansas, and so he has a lot to navigate. Ifill lets talk about the clintons before we run out of time here because Hillary Clinton now has Bernie Sanders, an actual person challenging her burks she also has things shes trying to clean up. She said today shell testify about benghazi and her emails, one time only. Her husband was explaining what the Clinton Foundation was kind of mansplaining it. Theres the Hillary Clinton opponent which is Bernie Sanders and then the other opponent who is Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. Seems every day we have a story about where the money came from, who spent it, was it properly recorded and give on the state department. So a lot of questions swirling around that. There is a big vacuum around the nomination. The vacuum is filling with this stuff. Ifill her husband has given one more interview than she has since this campaign got underway. Do you expect her to be in the position to answer those kinds of questions in nevada . Its not clear well have the access to shout those questions to her as shes doing another small roundtable events this time at a high school where she will be meeting with students to talk about fixing the broken immigration system as theyve described it. Thats not a great place to answer questions about the Benghazi Committee or about her husbands somewhat tone deaf remarks in africa. He says they need to pay the bills. Thats what you call an unforced error. Ifill we will be watching for the forced and unforced. Tamera keith, amy walter, thank you both very much. Thanks. Ifill for more on what these candidates for president are bringing to the campaign, you can check out our online feature what they believe. Thats on our politics page, at pbs. Org newshour. Ifill baltimore was mostly normal today, but with a bad case of jangled nerves, especially after conflicting accounts this afternoon of another Police Encounter near the scene of last weeks riots. Baltimore police, however, say no one was shot. This weekend, after mayor Stephanie Rawlings blake lifted a sixday curfew, we found City Residents mostly breathing a sigh of relief. singing i think the curfew was unnecessary from the beginning. Im glad the mayor pulled the curfew back because its really hurting baltimore business and wasnt helping anyone but i guess the city officials have peace of mind. I can work a full night and possibly make more money so im pretty happy about that. Im a creature of the 90s. Having to be home by 10 00 p. M. Is strange when youre almost 50. Its such a relief to have this target open. My dad gets his medicine here. If he does not have insulin, its lifethreatening. Coming here now and see ago small opening, thats a sign business is strong. Ive grown up here and a ive never seen this city come together the way it has in the last week or so. Its wonderful. It brings tears to my eyes because it took all of this to get some justice. State after state all these black males are being shot and killed by the police and nothing is being done and it took a riot for us to get some justice. But in the long run, it hurt us. It actually made me feel sick that our kids have to go to such a huge extreme just to feel like to be heard. You know if you come into the inner city, the neighborhoods, they defund our School System you know. A lot of our rec centers are closed. When i was growing up, i mean, you had a whole block of people who cared about you and would take time out. The older gentleman in the neighborhood would tell youth what to do, you know, but now pretty much theyre on their own to fin for themselves now. These kids need an outlet. If they dont have an outlet, if they dont have a way to express themselves, the only thing they know is to be destructive. It gives the kids things to do so theyre not just outside running around. Sphas them closing the rec centers, i dont think its a good idea because the ones i used to go to when you get there after school, the main goal was to finish your homework before you could do anything. We can avoid the chaos, we can avoid the curfew, looting, fires and protesting. It got too bad, the rioting, i didnt want to take part of anything. The definition of protesting is to get justice, not to tear down the city and burn down the city. My hope is that we can level the Playing Field for disenfranchised people. We can be heard. They can feel like theyre being heard. These kids is coming up theyre watching everything we do. I pray for baltimore, and well make it. Well be all right. Ifill in new york today, on the campus of Lehman College in the bronx, president obama launched the my brothers keeper alliance, the independent non profit that he says will outlive his presidency by tackling the underlying problems that have led to the unrest in cities like baltimore. Its goal to reduce the opportunity gap for black and latino men. Those opportunity gaps begin early. Often at birth. They compound over time. Becoming harder and harder to bridge. Making too many young men and women feel like, no matter how hard they try, they may never achieve their dreams, and that sense of unfairness and the powerlessness of people not hearing their voices thats helped fuel some of the protests weve seen in places like baltimore, ferguson and right here in new york. Ifill baltimore is not the only urban area coping with the challenges of expanding opportunity in poor communities. But, according to a new analysis by harvards equality of opportunity project, it may be one of the worst. As laid out in the new york times, poor children in baltimore face even worse odds than lowincome kids elsewhere, mostly because they remain in impoverished neighborhoods. Baltimore, in fact ranks among the worst areas when it comes to mobility. As this map shows, by the time he or she reaches the age of 26, a poor child growing up in Baltimore City will earn nearly 3,400 less than his or her counterpart in nearby baltimore county, and about 2,400 less than in suburban howard county. But theres a bigger picture. Nathaniel hendren of Harvard University is a principal member of the team that did the research. He joins me now. We talked about baltimore as an example of a place where frankly, poor, young people are most likely to get stuck. Why is that . We looked at a range of factors that characterized places that have very low effects on children and we find broadly there are five characteristics of places where kids from poor backgrounds dont do very well and those are places that have more economic and racial segregation, places with nor mcinequality, places with less social capital, pleasurers of civic engagement, areas where the Family Structures arent as strong and where the schools arent as high quality. Some of the things you outlined sound like common sense, what we instinctively intuitively believed, right but whats different about the report in doing that . What we try to drive home is variation across the states in opportunities that are present for children and what our Research Documents is if you take the same child and put them in two different places, it will dramatically shape the way their economic outcomes are realized later in life and documenting the dramatic variation across the u. S. And the impact places have on that variation is the primary aspect of the work. Ifill lets move away from baltimore where we have been consumed with looking at the most tragic outcome of the entrineched portentrenched poverty. Cook county and page county. Yes, cook county and page county in western chicago, very close together but if you take the same child and imagine them growing up in cook county, they would earn an average of 32,000 a year when age 26. In the western suburbs of chicago they would be earnings about 30,000, so a 30 increase in incomes from the difference of growing up in Downtown Chicago rather than the western suburbs. Ifill the president was talking about my brothers Keeper Initiative and was focusing on outcomes for young boys of color. Does your Research Show that is a particular problem . Why not young girls or even poor white kids . So i think thats largely justified. If you look across the u. S. , theres much more variation in the impact places have on young boys from lowincome backgrounds as opposed to young girls. We were mentioning baltimore in particular of the 100 largest counties in the u. S. Baltimore has the lowest impact on low income boys. So you take a low income boy that spends 20 years growing up in baltimore as opposed to the western suburbs of chicago we think their incomes would be 50 lower as a result of that experience. Ifill what happens if you cant move . You cant move everybody. Yeah, broadly we see the research sort of highlighting two different potential directions. For policy on the one hand, you can try to give people opportunities to move to different places, maybe give them housing vouchers for parents with young kids, but we have to do more research to really understand what is it about baltimore versus western suburbs of chicago loading to these impacts on children in lowincome adulthood. Ifill when you talk about the issues, segregation and flawed Education Systems among them, are there policy solutions that exist which arent just throwing money at the problem . Well, i think for us thats the important question. I think, honestly, theres more research that needs to be done to understand what is it, what is the best lever by which to change neighborhoods and make them produce higher outcomes for lower income kids. But i think a lot of this comes back to some of the common sense youre referring to, the quality of the School System allowing for a greater access to mixings between people of different backgrounds. I think its hard to argue that will reduce outcomes for lower income children and probably is a good start. Ifill how about the age of kids involved . Does it matter whether you move in first grade or 10th grade as long as you move . Actually, it does. We find places matter in proportion to the amount of time you spend growing up there. Every additioned year a child spends growing up in a good place improves their outcome. If moving younger is better your child gets more exposure to a good place. But its never too late to move to a good place to improve your childs outcomes in adulthood. Ifill if the solution is moving, what happens to the neighborhoods left behind . No, i think thats right. Again, we see this as highlighting that it does matter where you grow up. Exposure to good neighborhoods is something that improves a childs outcome but youre absolutely right that it doesnt mean that the only policy solution is to move people to different areas. I think we have to figure out what is it about places producing poor outcomes and what is it about places producing high outcomes and find the right policy levers to bridge the divide. Ifill another big question with complicated answers. Nathaniel hendren from harvard. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Ifill we turn now to iraq and the war against the Islamic State group, where iraqi shia militia, many backed by iran, are often the ones leading the fight. That activity was on display most recently in tikrit, where the shia were accused of looting and atrocities, after retaking the sunni muslim city. These militia have a long bloody history with american forces, too. The top american commander for the region spoke recently at a senate hearing. Id just like just to highlight, sir, that three tours in iraq commanding troops who were brutalized by some of these shia militias, i will not, and i hope we never coordinate or cooperate with the shia militias. Ifill in the final report in her series from iraq, newshour special correspondent jane arraf traveled south of baghdad, where she was granted special access to one shia militia group, and its training operation. Reporter these men have left their homes to answer a call by iraqs most revered shia leader to fight the Islamic State group. But this brigades inspiration is irans Supreme Leader ayatollah ali khamanei. Their monthlong training starts with the basics. This is an automatic kalashnikov, instructor ali hussein tells them. Its a russianmade rifle with the best mechanism in the world. When the i. S. Group, known here as daish took over mosul last year, entire divisions of the iraqi army collapsed. The Iraqi Government turned to iran and iraqi citizens for help. There are at least four other Training Centers like this in nassriyah. In this one alone theyve trained 2,000 fighters. Most of them are young men but the only real requirement is a willingness to fight. More than 100,000 men joined up after revered cleric ayatollah ali al sistani, issued a fatwa calling on those who could to join the fight. Nassriya, 200 miles south of baghdad, has a long history of fighting. At 17, ali jabber hussein is the youngest recruit here. His father was wounded fighting against saddam. Two of his uncles were killed. translated our father told us to volunteer. He said why are you sitting here with me . You have to go and defend your country. Reporter the south of iraq has particularly close ties with neighboring iran. Many fighters fled there in the 1990s after the u. S. Urged iraqis to rise up against Saddam Hussein but then stood by when his regime killed thousands. The chaos of the u. S. Led invasion in 2003 only deepened the conviction among many here that the United States was trying to destroy iraq. Like many iraqis, this commander is convinced the u. S. Arms the Islamic State group. translated the expertise is british, the intelligence is jewish and the weapons are american. The Islamic State attacks are part of a british plan. Reporter some of these men, like ali nasser, fought in syria with the hizbolllah brigades, a group backed by iran. They battled antigovernment fighters. When the is group crossed into iraq, the fighters came back here. translated the fighting here is much more intense. Reporter the commanders try to prepare them for the skills they believe they will need in their fight to the north including kicking down doors and throwing grenades. They say reports of the shia fighters destroying and looting houses are lies. translated the media says the Popular Mobilization destroyed that house or set others on fire this is impossible theres nothing like that. But of course if there is gunfire coming from a house of course we will fire on it. Reporter the brigade has lost seven fighters. This commander says they included ahmed lamussawi, 22 yearsold when he was killed north of baghdad. translated there were more than 250 is fighters in the area. The army unit that we were with started to clear the area, fighting from 4 00 in the morning. Reporter ahmeds father has two other older sons still fighting. He considers the death of his youngest son an honor. translated he loved the idea of jihad. When he first went they wouldnt take him because they said he was too young and then he went to sayid hamzas 15th shaban brigades and said i want to join you. They say im young but i want to go however i can so they agreed and he stayed with them until he was martyred. Reporter nassriyah is in the middle of iraqs huge oil fields, but people here are among the poorest in the country. Just north of the city, the walls are dotted with photos of those killed in fighting. They were poor when they joined. When they died, many left their families even poorer. Shukria found out hussein, her husband of 30 years, had been killed fighting when someone else answered his phone. translated he said, hes a sacrifice. He sacrificed himself for you. We didnt believe it. I still cant believe it. Reporter the only money theyve ever received from the government or the Popular Mobilization forces was to bury him. The Iraqi Government says it will integrate the volunteers into official Security Forces but for now it doesnt have the funds. Those killed in battle are buried at the najaf cemetary. Its the biggest cemetery in the world, close to the tomb of imam ali, the seventh century leader at the center of the shia faith. Its a special honor to be buried here. An estimated 4,000 shia fighters have been buried in the cemetery since the battle against is began. This corner has been dedicated to some of the volunteers whose families cant pay for burials. Haj abbas, an undertaker, says they died defending other shias and iraq. translated some were killed in jurf al saqr, some of them were killed by bombs in the street and others were fighters in tikrit, and some of them were fighting in ramadi. Every day there are martyrs at least 10, 15, 20, 30. Because when they enter houses, sadly, the houses are detonated around them. Reporter some of the men had decades of experience fighting. But many others were just beginning their lives. They are fighting for all of us, says haj abbas. Leaving everything behind to defend us. Im jane arraf for pbs newshour in najaf, iraq. Ifill now, to our pbs newshour bookshelf. The next election will bring new residents to the white house including a new first spouse. First ladies president ial historians and the lives of 45 iconic american women focuses on the women who have called it home. Its a culmination of cspans yearlong history series. Judy woodruff and editor susan swain sat down to talk about the book not long ago, in the first ladies water garden at the botanical gardens. Its granite stones were built to resemble the quilt patterns made famous by Martha Washington. Susan swain, coc. E. O. Of cspan, moderate of the series first ladies, now editor of the book, first ladies. Thank you for talking with us. I heard its become the most difficult job to be first lady the definition isnt clear and you havent been elect bid american people. How did you see that . There is a duality in the lives of the first ladies weve seen. We have a quote, Martha Washington says i feel like a prisoner of the state, i cant go out in a public place so i stay inside. She really reflected that she was living a life that was not exactly hers and everything was under scrutiny. 100 years later Grace Coolidge said of being first lady, it was i, yet not i. There was the public Grace Coolidge and the private Grace Coolidge and trying to find the sweet spot between those is the interesting thing in this book because some women do it very successfully, others chase under the glare of the spotlight that has always been part of being first lady. Woodruff there are so many remarkablers to stories in here some poignant, some funny. What are your favorites . My favorites are the ones i didnt know anything about. The coolidges were great lovers of animals. Someone gave the coolidges a a raccoon and they meant them to have it as dinner. The coolidges were horrified, made a pet of it and named it rec ba remember gay and it moved into the white house. Florence harding is someone we see as having the scandals in the administration. She was a strong woman. Had a sense of marketing, brought hollywood into the whiteout and used news realize to tell story of the whowssments she was very connected to the veterans and Veterans Issues but she also wanted to open the white house up to the public. She thought it was the publics house and would spend countless hours shaking hands as the public went through. Woodruff there are some traditions that you see patterns that you see through the e the experiences of these first ladies and one is their interest in beauty fying washington, making it a lovely place and making the country lovelier starting with mrs. Taft. Washington and cherry trees are so synonymous now. People come from all over the world when our Cherry Blossoms bloom every year. That was helen tafts idea. She had lived in asia with her husband and she fell in love with the Cherry Blossoms. The city especially around the tidal basin was undeveloped and a dirt track people used to race carriages on at 15 miles an hour. She had a vision where people would come from all over the city to walk beneath the Cherry Blossoms and enjoy it as family. The japanese government heard about it and donated the first Cherry Blossoms which she dedicated in 1912 and in the 60s lady bird brought her Beautification Program which was a complement to Lyndon Johnsons Great Society efforts. She thought the pap toll should be a place for people to be proud of and planted 3,000 more cherry trees. In 2012 there was the 100th anniversary and Michelle Obama went down to the tidal basin and planted century trees. Woodruff we talk about the softer side of the effect on the president and their effect on the country but, in fact, some of them had ight influence. Influence significant influence. They had a great deal of influence. We dont have to keep records about that but they go to bed every night with the most powerful person in the world and most first ladies have learned to use the influence wisely. Even mary todd lincoln, Abraham Lincoln was devastated after his first unsuccessful run for the senate and it was mary todd who said you can do this. What if she hadnt been that kind of encouragement and we wouldnt have had Abraham Lincoln wising up in politics. You know the story of nancy ragenned and how powerful she was. She watched his back and was his closest person advisor. They worked as a couple from the time he entered politics. The women in the victorian age, Frances Cleveland was enormously popular, first celebrity first lady yet her husband didnt want her in the public eye. She had to find other ways to wield her influence. She, when they lost the white house after the first time, turned and said to the staff keep the drapes as they, are well be back in four years, and they were. She was right about that. She knew the strength of her political power. But i think, over time, you see women emerging more, beginning to get their feet, using the media more as a venue, and in this modern age from the 60s on we now have this project that every first lady seems to have. Hillary clinton stands out as a first lady who, of course went on in her on way to serve as secretary of state now running. For president herself. A question on a lot of peoples minds since shes given this a serious shot, how much thought is being give given to what the role of the first gentleman or husband would be. Interesting. We had an interview with laura bush as to whether as a country weve reached a maturity level for the shouses to have their own careers. Were about to put that to the test in this campaign and lots of questions will be asked about the role of the two clintons and what role he might have in the white house. The interesting is the social side wouldnt go away in a Clinton White house, so you cant see the first gentleman being the social partner that the first ladies often are. So it is fun watching the different trends and things that come full circle throughout the lives of the first ladies. Woodruff amazing stories. The book is first ladies president ial historians and the lives of 45 iconic american women. Susan swain, thank you. Thanks for your interest. Ifill next, a sweeping story of migration, told in intimate detail through paintings and words. Jeffrey brown has the story. Brown it began during world war one and wouldnt end until the 1970s the movement of six million africanamericans from the rural south to the urban north changed america forever. The epic story is the subject of an epic work of art the migration series by Jacob Lawrence, himself the son of southern migrants, who studied photographs and news and scholarly accounts before lifting a brush. The thing about lawrence is that hes deeply read. Brown curator Leah Dickerman has brought together all 60 of lawrences small paintings for an exhibition, titled one way ticket, at new yorks museum of modern art. Its a chance to see the entire work, from the hardships of life in the south, to the long journey from home, and the new life that awaited, one that included opportunity, but also new struggles. Each panel comes with a brief barebones caption. Theres an extraordinary emotional range to this work of art between scenes of great tenderness and intimacy an image of saying grace before the most spare and impoverished meal, an image of a woman reading a letter from the south to a child whos listening to her. And then its crosscut. And im using that cinematic term because i think he thinks cinematically. Brown you do . Yes, with images of stark forthright images of racial injustice. Brown Jacob Lawrence was an artistic prodigy, just 23 when he began this work in 1940. He was part of the cultural flowering in mid20th century harlem the harlem renaissance of writers, musicians and artists. And the exhibition captures that period through photographs and music. In 1995 lawrence, who died in 2000, spoke to the newshours charlayne huntergault. When i did this series, i didnt know who would see it. I didnt know if it would ever be seen. I just did it. And id like for people to look and say this is me. This is mankind. Or womankind. And i would like it to be a universal statement as well. Brown universal, but deeply personal thats how the paintings have been viewed ever since. And now, they have a new resonance, into contemporary poetry. Much about the south is unseen or not shown. The painter understands the usefulness of obscenity. Brown the museum asked 10 poets to respond to individual paintings with a new poem. The boll weevils Jacob Lawrence painted are little more than silhouettes, but a southern landowner would have recognized them as symbols of bad luck bold evil, the money eaters. Flames of green crop streak squash blossomed, color stripes soil go with your ratchet, negro who had been part of soil, now going into and leading a new life in the urban centers. Brown poet Elizabeth Alexander led the project, and she, like the others, has her own personal connections. In African American history, in African American culture, as a black person myself, we all have some connection to migration at some point in our families. It really was very powerful to think, this is what my mother, my very own mother, she comes from this. The past has long legs and is heavy, which was a kind of warning. Stay clear of the enormous twisted tree on tidwell hill. Brown crystal williams grew up in detroit. Her father had come from alabama. She chose perhaps the most harrowing painting in the series one about lynching. The poem she wrote, year after year we visited alabama, became a gentle homage to her loving father. The poem really has to do with the lessons that i think we have lost. My father was truly one of the most gentle people ive ever met. And i understand now as an adult that that gentleness was a choice, that he was choosing, given what he had seen in the south, to live a life in which he looked for connections between people to practice forgiveness. Another of the social causes of the migrants leaving was that at times they did not feel safe, or it was not the best thing to found on the street late at night. They were arrested at the slightest provocation. Brown Tyehimba Jess went in a different direction, quoting from the caption of one of lawrences paintings of black men being arrested. This painting in particular called me to, to speak to the fact that the things that my parents left the south left the southland to escape, are still part of this nations d. N. A. , and are still being dealt with today. Brown his poem, titled another man done, is a literal layering of words, suggesting the repetition of events through time. I see a kind of daring vision behind the idea of doing all of these paintings at once and trying to capture that moment. The idea of going from some place where you are not recognized fully for your Human Potential and trying to move to a place where you can fully exercise your human capacity. Brown one way ticket is on exhibit through september 7. From the museum of modern art in new york, im Jeffrey Brown for the pbs newshour. Ifill finally, to our newshour shares of the day, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. A view of baltimore, from the lens of a young, local photographer. Time magazine features a dramatic picture shot by 26 yearold freelancer devin allen. We spoke to him today about some of the other images he captured. Im from baltimore, born and raised. My whole family is here. So i felt obligated to get out there and take pictures because this is my city. I wanted to show the city i did show some negative stuff. I showed some rioting, and the destruction of the cars, but i also wanted to show the strong black men that were cleaning their neighborhoods, i wanted to show the Family Support we have here. A lot of the kids were marching and protesting. I try to show every angle. Ive seen more pain than anger. Some people have lost their jobs, some people have lost their homes. People are being locked up. Some people say their rights have been violated, and its really hard to explain all the emotions i have been around. Im just trying to tell their story a little bit by how i saw it. Ifill you can see more of allens story in the latest issue of Time Magazine at time. Com. On the newshour online, some endangered species are awfully cute. Think pandas. But where is the love for less attractive animals . One comedy group says ugly animals need our help, too. You can see a Photo Gallery of some of the less fetching species the Ugly Animal Preservation Society wants to support, on our home page. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Tune in later this evening, on charlie rose, the editor and film critic of frances Charlie Hebdo on censorship and the mohammad cartoon shooting in texas. And thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday, how end of life care, like hospice, varies widely by race in america. Im gwen ifill. Well see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good kovler foundation, and mufg. They say the oldest trees bear the sweetest fruit. At mufg, weve believed in nurturing banking relationships for centurie