africa, he persevered, he ended up in prison for 27 years and he walked out and he walked out a magnificent human being who talked about reconciliation and bringing people together because the president of south africa s absolutely almost unbelievable and in becoming a president of south africa, he changed a nation and he showed the world what s possible if you really believe and you are willing to fight for what you believe. absolutely. the pressure on the south african government from countries like the united states as well as countries in europe with sanctions put a lot of pressure, eventually brought about his release from robin island, but the u.s. wasn t so friendly toward nelson mandela, the reagan administration considered the anc a terrorist organization. in fact, four vice presidents,
clinton said later what nelson mandela told him was, they can imprison you. your enemies can go after you. what you cannot give them is your heart and soul. you must keep that for yourself. if you can do that you can maintain your dignity. and nelson mandela did that throughout his entire life. david gergen, thanks for joining us. rick stangel fascinating as well, christiane amanpour no doubt we ll be talking a lot in the days ahead. thanks for watching cnn s special coverage of the death of nelson mandela. it continues next with wolf blitzer. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world as we remember nelson mandela. i m wolf blitzer in washington. we re learning new details about tribut tributes south africa s first black president and president obama intention to attend a memorial service for one of his personal heroes, who transformed his country and inspired people all over the world. we ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and
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also think of it as a moment of great reflection and almost ironically a moment of celebration of prisoner mandela s legacy of what he has brought to the country and also of what he has taught the world about those reconciliation and about generosity. i think one of the hallmarks of his presidency. generosity. what a nice word to use for nelson mandela. you were at one point were opposed in his efforts an ended up being executive secretary of the truth and reconciliation commission. so what was that period like for you and south africans as he was the one who encouraged this peaceful coming together of a country? well, i think what mandela really talks about south
if i di now i mean there s nothing that is ever going to be able to top this. archbishop tutu acknowledging when nelson mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of south africa that it was a culmination of decades of waiting, planning, negotiating. i said to him, did you ever lose hope in the 27 years that you were in prison? was there ever a moment when you first know? he said, no. i had no time for that. i was confident from the time i walked into prison. i was confident that i would walk out of prison a free man into a free society. reporter: her mandela is meeting the wife of the former president the architect of apartheid. we are now waiting.