the guy, right? >> yeah, we grew up not too far apart. >> the past, the future. >> alexa, how old is tom brouk kau? >> 76 years old. >> did you think there was a lucky star hovering over ronald reagan? >> i was very blessed. >> did you have any clue? >> no, you were supposed to have the clu. >> unforgettable moments. from heroes to the greatest generation. >> you guys haven't been back here in 40 years. >> first time back. >> how does it look to you? >> peaceful. >> a half century of history. >> the soviet as we know it is breaking up now. >> and you were there, because he was. >> you are a legend. >> don't talk to my family about that. >> if you're not a legend, then what are we doing this special for? >> i know, i know. >> tonight, tom brokaw at nbc news, the first 50 years. >> the great plains of north america, my home state of south dakota. where the wind never seems to stop blowing. this is the land of the missouri river, crazy horse and sitting bull, lewis and clark and of course the hearty pioneers who came here in the 19th sent -- century and civilized it all. i loved growing up here, but as a young man i knew i wanted to leave because i wanted bright lights and big cities. ♪ ♪ >> i traveled a few hundred miles to become a reporter in omaha. i hoped one day i'd work for nbc news. >> this is tom brokaw reporting. >> then to atlanta. >> and mayor what is your reaction to the demonstation? >> at the height of the civil rights movement where my work caught the attention of network executives. ♪ wouldn't it be nice if we were older ♪ ♪ then we wouldn't have to wait so long ♪ >> in 1966 my dream came true. and at the age of 26 i came to work for nbc news in southern california, just as this state, the nation and the world were undergoing momentous change in every conceivable way. politically, financially, scientifically, culturally, and socially. ♪ all the leaves are brown >> los angeles in the mid-sixties. on the freeway, a.m. car radios belted out the mamas and the papas. ♪ >> i was here at a time of explosive change and upheaval. the counter-culture was taking hold. turmoil roiled the state's universities. >> vietnam was aflame, and beginning to inflame divisions at home. racial divisions were everywhere. >> communities, mutually suspicious, afraid and reluctant to shoulder any of the blame for the crisis in los angeles. this is tom brokaw reporting. >> it was my good fortune to be in california when ronald reagan began his legendary rise to a prominent place in american history. >> mr. ronald reagan. >> conservative and charismatic, he was running for governor. i covered ronald reagan as he went up and down the state in a greyhound bus. at first the opposition laughed at him. but ronald reagan won in a landslide, the beginning of a historic political career. >> governor, can we get you to react to a story that was in the san francisco chronicle this morning. was that the invitation that you were just referring to? >> that's right. >> thank you. >> when he ran for president, many in the eastern establishment didn't take him seriously, questioning his qualifications. but ronald reagan won, big time. >> a personal note, i can't help but recall in 1966, riding around in a greyhound bus with him. and they've learned in every election in which he's been involved. never laugh at the chances of ronald reagan. >> 50 years after president reagan's first political campaign, another newcomer who was laughed at, at first. in the spring before the election i met up with my old friend david letterman who is always interested in politics. >> people say, "who's gonna win?" i always say, "i believe in the ufo theory." ufo theory stands for the unforeseen will occur. donald trump is the unforeseen occurring. and the election this fall, i still say the same thing. the unforeseen will occur. >> donald trump pulled off the biggest upset in modern political history. [ chanting "usa" ] >> jon stewart might have walked away from his "daily show" too soon. >> did you have any clue it was coming? >> no! you were supposed to have the clue. you're the guy who was payin' attention. i wasn't payin' attention! ♪ >> in a half century of reporting at nbc news, i've learned the only thing to expect, is the unexpected. tonight, we'll look back at some of those stories and look ahead of those stories and look ahead as i talk to a broad cross section of prominent americans, who also turn the tables and interview me. we'll question each other about where this great country has been, where it's going, and how we may be able to repair our national divide. >> do you find people coming up to you and saying, "are we gonna be okay?" >> yeah. >> yeah? >> all the time. [ laughter ] >> all the time. like, you great sage can help us? >> yeah, yeah, no. i can't help -- [ laughter ] >> and what do you say? what is the answer to that? are we gonna be okay? >> the country has always been stronger than one person the rule of law and our economy. you know, for all the talk about how bad the economy has been, against other western economy this country has been doing well. in part because we have more people in college than we ever had before. >> the same country that elected donald trump elected barack obama. it's the grand contradiction in our character. >> the one thing that has to happen that we are all responsible for, we have to come together as a country. >> are you concerned that we're becoming much more of a tribal nation? >> i'm troubled by that, tom. but at the same time i have confidence in the resilience of our country and the resilience of our society. >> do you think america's still a great country? >> oh, absolutely. >> you think it can be great again? >> it is great today. >> people are looking for an enforcement of their own biases on the left and on the right. that's what really worries me as much as anything. >> do you recall another time in the time that you've been a journalist where people had this much anxiety, where there was this much trepidation? >> 1968. coming up -- vietnam, king, kennedy -- >> and it's on to chicago and let's win there. >> so you step into the kitchen passageway. >> i heard what i thought was balloon pops. >> a return to 1968. le dakota'se was quivering in fear. because it knew an ordinary tissue was near. the fiery tissue left her nose sore and red. so dad slayed the problem with puffs plus lotion, instead. puffs have pillowy softness for dakota's tender nose. with lotion to comfort and soothe when she blows. don't get burned by ordinary tissues. a nose in need deserves puffs, indeed. now get puffs plus lotion in the squeezable softpack. i did... n't. hat? hey, come look what lisa made. wow. you grilled that chicken? 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you gave me way too much money. he's good. for a limited time, pay just $1 for any size mccafé coffee, freshly brewed every 30 minutes. or pay $2 for a delicious small mocha, latte or hot chocolate. wake up and win the day. ♪ >> the run-off could be a preview of 1968. ♪ everywhere i hear the sound of ♪ ♪ >> 1968. a year of unsettling turmoil. sound familiar? >> these feel like really tumultuous times. but we have lived through even more difficult and more tumultuous times. you've had the opportunity to sit in the seat of it. i mean, was there a more tumultuous time than 1968? >> no. >> i remember, it was a horrible, horrible year. >> one year, the president bows out, two assassinations, a calamitous, costly war divides the one. urban uprise, a divisive campaign. for example, on just one day in april, in just a few moments in los angeles, three momentous stories. king. >> the fbi has pinned down the oiskds of the man suspected of killing martin luther king. >> and kennedy. >> senator robert kennedy brought his campaign to california today. >> i was covering the campaign and california was a showdown state for the democratic presidential nomination. senators gene mccarthy and bobby went head to head to replace lyndon johnson, who was forced to withdraw because of vietnam and mccarthy's early success. >> i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president. >> and then,politics were eclipsed. just a few days later. >> we as a people will get to the promised land. >> martin luther king was shot and was killed tonight in memphis, tennessee. >> the inner cities of america erupted in rage and destruction but not in indianapolis where robert kennedy arrived to campaign and instead gave voice to grief. >> what we need in the united states is not hatred, what we need in the united states is not violence and lawlessness. but is love and wisdom and compassion toward one another. >> three days and nights. thousands paid their respects. 60,000 people surrounded ebenheizer baptist church. family, friends, politicians, celebrities gathered inside. a nation reeling. mccarthy and kennedy came back to california. which they knew could determine the democratic nominee in chicago. for both candidates, the big issue was vietnam. >> this afternoon i asked the senator what would be the signal negotiations weren't working out. >> it's going to be left to the people of south vietnam to decide for themselves what kind of future they want. >> rfk, rfk, rfk! >> it was a bitter contest. rfk won a narrow victory. >> he wins in california, he goes into the ambassador hotel ballroom. everybody's really excited. >> very, very much so. >> his friend and mine. my colleague at nbc the great olympian rafer johnson. was at kennedy's side that fateful night. >> to my old friend if i may to rafer johnson is here. >> it was an unbelievable high. i mean, he was on his way to the white house. >> my thanks to all of you, and now its on to chicago and let's win there. thank you very much. >> so you step into the kitchen passageway. >> i was 10, 15 feet behind the senator when i heard what i thought was balloon pops. >> everybody, please stay back, please stay back! we need a doctor here. >> rafer and rosy greer grabbed the gunman. serhan, serhan. rafer taking the gun away. >> it was one of the longest nights of my life. i was one of the many reporters outside the good samaritan hospital, standing vigil. >> senator robert francis kennedy died at 1:44 a.m. today. >> as the nation mourned for bobby. his followers were undone by their grief. >> i thought, "my god. is the world coming to a end? and we're only halfway through this year." >> most of all 1968 was about the vietnam war. a year in which 16,000 americans were killed. 16,000. including my friend gene kimmel, a marine pilot. >> and then, in august, the war crashed the political stage, the democratic convention in chicago. >> let's have order, please. [ crowd chanting ] >> i was there as it blew up in the streets and in the hall. >> and they're dragging everybody right out of the aisle here, it's a terrific crush. >> i remember standing between the protesters and the police thinking this is the dividing line in america. i went home to south dakota and heard from my father who was angry. college students could avoid service, but my brother could not. >> my brother went to vietnam as a marine. he didn't have a college education. and my dad says, "this is so unfair." i said, "well, dad --" and he -- and then i thought, "i have no argument here." there's no way that you argue where you give the number count? >> yeah. >> the number of soldiers killed this week, the number of soldiers died today. >> u.s. losses were placed at 13 killed, 18 wounded. >> and for so many people those numbers just became numbers. >> and it was -- a lot of that was blue collar kids going to war and the privileged kids in college getting diplomas and not having to go to war. >> vice president hubert humphrey, the democratic nominee, finally came out against the war. he stopped by for an interview with me and my colleague, bob abernathy. republican nominee president richard nixon turned to the south, pushing law and order. a pledge to end the war with honor. >> the easy answers -- get out or finish them off -- don't have to be the right ones. >> nixon won a very close race over humphrey. and a third party candidate alabama governor george wallace an open racist. >> i richard millhouse nixon -- >> nixon entered office in a deeply divided country. today, the country faces deep divisions once again. my colleague, nbc nightly news anchor, lester holt. >> tom, 50 years, you've seen this country go through a lot of crises, political, war. where are we as a country right now? >> i think we're at a very divided spot. there's too little effort across the political spectrum to find a place where we can agree on something and we can move the country forward. this era of confrontation and division has to come to an end at some point. coming up -- the only predictable thing about politics is how unpredictable it is. >> i think the democrats' plan was, the demographics are such, we just have to sit back. >> huge mistake. >> politics and presidents. at walgreens we make it easy for you to seize the day by helping you get more out of life and medicare part d. now with zero-dollar copays on select plans... ...and rewards points on all prescriptions, walgreens has you covered. so drop by and seize the savings! walgreens. at the corner of happy and healthy. shis it dna or olay? us 20-something skin. new olay total effects fights seven signs of aging to help take years off of your skin age. who needs dna when you have olay? new total effects. your date with destiny has arrived. let's do this! new cinnamon frosted flakes are finally here. sweet cinnamon and the frosted crunch you love. well? tastes like victory t. tastes like victory. they're great! directv now! the f[ now echos ]s now. 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>> yes, i think -- >> in eight years as governor, and then as president, ronald reagan made an indelible markon- history. >> mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> reagan left office after eight years as an historic success. by the time i interviewed him in his final week in office, ronald reagan had surprised just about everyone. >> did you begin to think, gee, maybe a lucky star is hovering over ronald reagan? >> whether i called it luck or answer to prayers, i realized that i was very blessed. >> well there's a long list of possibilities. >> reporter: i have covered 24 conventions. >> we'll have to wait and see if donald trump captures the republican party he will change things profoundly for the gop. >> in 2004, i first interviewed an illinois state senator named barack obama. >> i think the biggest issue is restoring a sense of hope and possibility among voters. >> election nights are my favorite. >> let's go back to the 2000 election. there's a lot to talk about that one of course, but what strikes on your mind? >> well, in 2000 tim russert and i were like brothers. and we were morning, noon, and night political junkies. so we had -- we could finish each other's sentences. that night, of course, was the whackiest night i've ever been on. >> florida, of course, would determine the election. bush versus gore. >> nbc news projects that he win the 25 electoral votes in the state of florida. >> reporter: and florida switched from gore to bush. >> george bush is the president elect of the united states. >> reporter: to undecided. >> wi -- we don't just have egg on our face, we've got omelet all over our suits. >> and you'll remember tim, florida, florida on his on his grease board. >> this is the answer, get it right. >> reporter: america was in suspense for 36 days until the supreme court finally ended the vote count. and bush had won. i thought there would never be another like it until this past november. >> this folks is a razor thin race for president. >> reporter: enter president donald j. trump. president trump's first days in office have been frenetic. but he is doing what he said in the campaign. union leaders are encouraged by his plans for new construction. he's planning to end obamacare. and his talk of putting a high tariff on trade with mexico has ignited a diplomatic crisis. he continues to press an unfounded claim of massive voter fraud and a running dispute over the size of crowds at his inauguration. >> we are transferring power from washington, d.c. and giving it back to you, the people. >> is this a revolt or a revolution? >> you know, i think it's a revolution in some ways. >> reporter: president trump's senior advisor, anthony scaramucci, a successful hedge fund founder, sees favorable comparisons between president reagan and president trump. >> my bet is a year or two from now the same thing that happened to ronald reagan, he was inaugurated 36 years ago and people were super worried about him, and in eight short years, we were shutting down the elements of communism and there was economic prosperity. >> does it surprise you that the mantle of republican renaissance went from reagan to trump? >> the connection is that they were both well known in other areas before they ran. >> right. >> the idea that he would have used the kind of profanity that donald trump used never would've happened. the new trump presidency has brought his opponents to the streets. prominent americans, like meryl streep at the golden globes, have spoken out publicly. ngets we need the principled press to hold power to account, to call them on the carpet for every outrage. >> reporter: working class frustration with traditional politicians helped drive president trump to power. scaramucci is the son of a construction worker. >> i look at my dad's wages in the 1970s. if you priced it on a real adjusted wage today it's probably down 30%, 40%. >> reporter: as a child of the working class i've been interested in the problems of blue collar workers for decades. since 1980 we have lost more than seven million manufacturing jobs. >> something has gone wrong with the american dream. it just isn't there for too many young people, especially those with only a high school education. >> reporter: hillary clinton won the popular vote by almost three million, but a wide band of traditional democratic working-class counties across several states switched, and provided the margin needed for donald trump. >> there's no magic wand now for recreating the economy. no matter how many promises are made. we're living in an entirely different time. >> yeah. and i understand what happens when you are the white working class who now feels like you have become the other. >> yes. >> what happens is you -- you -- you have this -- the outcome of this election. that's what you have. >> mr. president, tom brokaw of nbc -- >> reporter: the metamorphosis of american political parties have been going on for 50 years. donald trump took down the republican party establishment and the democratic party is on life support. former democratic senator jim webb of virginia -- >> they have lost three of the last five presidential elections. they lost congress now, a number of times in a row. across the country, 75% of those state legislatures are in the hands of republicans and the governorships. >> i tried to warn the democrats that this was going to happen. they gave up on working people writ large. and they started going after interest group politics way too much. they left out white workin' people. and it finally, i think, reached a head here in the -- the last presidential election. >> in terms of race and the demographics of the country, i think the democrats' plan was, "oh, we don't have to do anything. the demographics are such we just have to sit back." >> and let the hispanics and the african americans carry it. >> correct. >> huge mistake. >> and not what happened. >> reporter: the parties have sliced and diced the electorate so much they no longer appeal to the broadest base. now many are walking away from the parties altogether. even with her kennedy-shriver democratic connection maria shriver thinks it might be the best way to get over our partisan divide. >> i was a democrat first lady in a republican administration. and i was really raised to think of republicans as the enemy. and all of a sudden, i was working with so many of them. >> and what did you learn from that? >> i learned that there were a lotta really good people who call themselves republicans, who had a lot of the same goals in public service that i had been raised with and i saw good people who were republicans, good people who were democrats, bad people who were republicans, bad people who were democrats. and it led me to actually resign from the democratic party and become an independent. >> i think the single biggest issue in the country is how we put it back together again. we have become a tribal country. >> yes. >> we have white working class and african americans. we have hispanics and we have asians. but what we don't have -- >> is a tribe that is america. >> the tribe that's america. coming up -- >> i came of age in a white man's world, and women were not allowed to compete on the same level. >> women, past and future. >> what i love about my grandchildren is that they've been raised to be fearless. >> how do you tell them to lean in? >> they mostly advise me. >> they tell you to lean in? 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you're rockin it, you are rockin it. this program is amazing. weight watchers is not a diet. i eat more now than i did before. it's just - i'm learning how to eat better. how do you show up in your life? i feel like i walk into a room, just glowing. i feel like me again. i eat chips. i love chips! i love chips! in the first 2 months members have lost 15% more weight than on our prior program. join for free and get one month free. hurry, offer ends february 1st. less than a week apart, the huge anti-abortion march on washington. it followed massive women's marches around the world, demanding respect from president trump. >> donald trump has got to go! >> nixon hates women! >> in 1970, women also marched, demanding respect and equality from president nixon. >> recently i had a flash back to a scene in the white house in 1973. >> how long do you think it will be before there's a first husband? >> not long. not long. i think a woman will be elected president, probably in my lifetime. i certainly hope they'll have a chance to run. >> i just received a call from secretary clinton. >> reporter: for many women, the outcome of this presidential election -- bitter disappointment. for others, it was a cause for celebration. >> women say, "we didn't break the glass ceiling." there were a lot of women who voted against a woman. what does this moment say to you about where women are. >> the glass ceiling, i have a little trouble with. i don't think -- >> you have trouble with the name or the concept? >> with the idea that this is the one in which the glass ceiling should have been broken. i think a lot of other women are saying, "it's not a gender issue for me. i wanna make sure my husband has a job and i have a job and my kids can go to college. that's what is about for me." >> reporter: i grew up in a family where the women could do it all. and my grandmother and mother's fortitude gave me an enduring lesson on what a woman could do. like many of her generation my mother never got a chance to pursue her own career dreams. >> my mother wanted to be a journalist. she was bright as hell. she graduated from high school at 16. college cost $100 a year. there was no way she could afford it. >> reporter: instead she found a job at the post office, and soon her aspirations were not for herself, but for her three sons. >> i came of age in a white man's world. and women were not allowed to compete on the same level. the smartest students in our school were all women. meredith and i got married. she graduated with honors. >> i had kinda stumbled through college. i got a job right away. she could not get a job because they would say to her, "oh honey. you're a young newlywed. you're gonna get pregnant. and then you won't be of much use to us." >> today most women are still at the same tedious jobs. >> reporter: in 1970, nbc news did a groundbreaking series on the women's movement. reported by the handful of nbc news female correspondents, including liz trotta. >> by the time she reaches high school, a girl has been brainwashed by parents and relatives into believing that her life must go in a direction that is different from that of her brother. she's a housewife in training. rare is the girl who wants to be a doctor, and engineer or a pilot. >> reporter: even then, these minnesota high school students were still debating whether women should go to college. >> yeah, like the women, what do they do, they start playing, they start educating themselves, so they can go to college, so that they can get a man. >> ah, no, come on -- [ groans ] >> reporter: but soon the social turmoil in the country had unleashed undeniable force. women. >> hey, hey, what do you say, ratify the e.r.a. >> i think we're so used to a dearth of women in leadership that we basically expect it. and our expectations need to be much higher. >> reporter: sheryl sandberg, the chief operating officer of facebook, author the best seller directed to women, called, "lean in." >> the world which you live, the digital world, is very heavy on math skills, engineering skills. and women have stayed away from those for a long time. is that going to change, do you think? >> well, it has to change. and it is going in the wrong direction, as you say. so in 1985, women were 35% of computer science degrees in this country. now, granted, there were very few of those. but now, as the field has grown, women are 17, 18%. we expect boys to be better at math, and science, and computer science. therefore, teachers give them more encouragement. therefore, they see the role models. therefore, they continue to go into those fields. >> reporter: sandberg wrote her best selling book to encourage women to overcome what she sees as a built-in bias. >> we actually don't like women in leadership. and that is the core of the problem. when a woman leads, it doesn't feel comfortable. and we inherently dislike it. and that's what needs to change. and when that changes, we won't have a glass ceiling anymore. >> i, nikki randhawa hayley -- >> reporter: nikki haley knows first-hand about shattering glass ceilings. a daughter of indian immigrants, sikhs, she was the first female governor of south carolina and now president trump's ambassador to the u.n. >> i need not tell you there's been a big, big debate about the place of women at the upper level of american politics. how do you see the glass ceiling in politics? >> everybody likes to talk about the glass ceiling. and all the glass ceiling is, can we break that first barrier? that's not what's really important. it's when you break it, what you do with it, the job that you do after. >> are we gonna see more women in executive positions, do you think, as we go forward? >> i hope so. i mean they're 51% of the voting population. and when you look at the things that women do, they balance extremely well. they know what it's like to manage finances. they know what it's like to manage a family. they know what it's like to worry about the world. >> the only reason we don't have as many women running is because -- they just question themselves so much. women win when they run. it's just we need more of them to jump out there and get -- you know, get to where they say they can do it. >> reporter: i've seen the changes in expectations for women in my own family. >> how have those three daughters of yours changed your perspective? >> our girls caught the wave. there was no question about whether or not they could have careers and have -- and want -- if they chose to, can have marriages. our youngest daughter chose to become a single mother. that's a new form of motherhood. and it's worked out extremely well. the other two have traditional marriages. one's a doctor and the other one's a professional, as you know, in the music and entertainment industry. they have never not worked kind of full time. but they've raised their own very strong daughters. what i love about my grandchildren is that they've been raised to be fearless. >> how do you tell them to lean in? >> you know -- [ laughs ] they mostly advise me. [ laughs ] >> they tell you to lean in? >> they tell me to lean in. coming up -- old school meets the new media. >> i get people saying to me, you're not gonna believe what i read on the internet. and i say, you're right, i'm not going to believe that you read on the internet. >> fact versus fiction. ♪ ♪ fothere's a seriousy boomers virus out there that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. because it can hide in your body for years without symptoms, and it's not tested for in routine blood work. the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested. if you have hep c, it can be cured. for us it's time to get tested. ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. it's the only way to know for sure. more "doing chores for dad" per roll more "earning something you love" per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty, the quicker picker upper ♪ ♪ >> corrupt media, pushing completely false allegation and outright lies. >> scum. scum. they're totally dishonest people. >> these days, watching donald trump bash the press, reminders of another president and another time. >> president of the united states -- >> reporter: richard nixon despised the press. >> so help me god. >> reporter: early on, he unleashed his vice president, spiro agnew, to rip into the network news divisions. >> the place to start looking for a credibility gap is not in the offices of the government in washington, but in the studios of the networks in new york. >> reporter: after nixon's historic opening to china in 1972, he won re-election in a landslide. >> we will try to make yourself worthy of this victory. >> you know, nixon is an interesting example because ultimately of where he ended up. and people forget, you know, '68 was a squeaker. '72 was not. >> blowout. >> i mean, of historic proportions. >> but his relationship with the press became even more adversarial with watergate. >> president nixon will refuse to testify personally. >> reporter: woodward and bernstein of "the washington post" uncovered evidence implicating the president in a criminal conspiracy. as a member of the white house press corps i was in the room when the president went personal. >> don't get the impression you arouse my anger. one can only be angry with those he respects. >> reporter: nixon was trying to fight off impeachment, claiming executive privilege to protect damaging evidence. >> yes, sir? >> mr. president, tom brokaw of nbc news. >> reporter: at his last meeting with the white house press, i quoted legal experts who said executive privilege does not apply in impeachment proceedings. >> my question is this. aren't your statements to that matter historically inaccurate or at least misleading? [ applause ] >> mr. brokaw, in so far as the principle of confidentiality is concerned, that principle still stands. >> reporter: the supreme court ruled against nixon. >> this appears to be the final day of his administration. >> reporter: in august 1974, he became the first president to resign his office. but we met several times again -- including in 1988, on "meet the press." >> do you see anything that you might have done differently? >> well, i suppose i could have treated the press better. >> well, i wasn't looking for that. necessarily. >> but then, they might have treated me better. >> as you know, i have a running war with the media. they are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. [ laughter ] >> reporter: donald trump has been even more openly hostile toward the press. >> adversarial relationships are part of what we see between the media and presidential administrations. >> we have to be immune to that. we have to be professional in what we do. and it's not just about our personal feelings, but it is an attempt to give the american people an accurate view of what is going on, and do it in context. >> reporter: pulitzer prize winning columnist thomas friedman of the new york -- of "the new york times" -- >> to your successors, to the next generation, what's the biggest thing journalists need to keep in mind today? >> don't be arrogant. i mean, we've had an example of that in the last year in america. you know there are very few journalists who said that trump could pull this off. almost everyone said, "oh, no, he can't get the nomination. he can't do all that." i knew the country was angry. >> reporter: president trump was underestimated. he understood the anger in middle america so much better than the national press. >> everybody has an opinion about the press. you have any questions for me in my role? >> i do. >> reporter: republican nikki haley of south carolina, former governor and now trump's u.n. ambassador. >> do you think the media has shown bias more now than they did in the past? >> you know, it's always the question i get every election cycle. and my answer is always the same. i give a little benign smile and i say, "you know, bias, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder." >> reporter: what has changed is that there are so many more sources of information now, and many of them rely heavily on opinion instead of just straight news. that can be confusing to news consumers. >> and people out there have all these choices about where they're gonna get their information. >> right. >> and they develop hatred and affection and other things. and the rest of us are out there there -- you know, in a kind of a whirlpool, trying to figure out what our role is. >> right -- >> reporter: social media have changed the distribution of information -- and misinformation, profoundly. >> it feels like something was unleashed in the culture that people now are gravitating to. >> i think we have underestimated the impact of social media. i mean this stuff is so sophisticated and it's mostly in an attack mode of some kind. >> i get people sayin', "you're not gonna believe what i read on the internet." and i said, "you're right. i'm not gonna believe what you read on the internet." [ laughter ] >> and then i say to audiences who ask me, "well, who can i believe?" i say, "well, make the same intellectual effort about where you get your news and get your information as you do in buying a flat screen television set or a new car or a house." you know, you do due diligence. you've gotta do that about where you get information. i came up in a time when even political opponents largely shared a common set of rules. but this is a new political era, when we hear terms like "alternative facts." it's also a time of great peril for journalism, and the public's right to know. coming up, from carson -- >> you had a relationship with the guy. >> i did. we grew up not too far apart. >> to "saturday night live." >> with the election this year, we were changing things late friday night. >> 50 years of comedy, culture, and change. >> the country is so divided, i need not tell you right now, is there a healing effect of "hamilton"? >> well, i think there's a healing effect to theater. it can happen with certain neurologic conditions like stroke, dementia, or ms. he prescribed nuedexta, the only fda-approved treatment for pba. tell your doctor about medicines you take. some can't be taken with nuedexta. nuedexta is not for people with certain heart conditions. serious side effects may occur. life-threatening allergic reactions to quinidine can happen. tell your doctor right away if you have bleeding or bruising. stop nuedexta if muscle twitching, confusion, fever, or shivering occurs with antidepressants. side effects may include diarrhea, dizziness, cough, vomiting, weakness, or ankle swelling. nuedexta made a difference by reducing my pba episodes. ask about nuedexta and go to nuedexta.com it's so delicious. i can't believe it has 40% fewer calories than butter. i can't believe it's made with real, simple ingredients. i can't believe we're on a whale. i can't believe my role isn't bigger. oh, it's real. real ingredients. unbelievable taste. go ahead, enjoy. tmom didn't want another dog. real ingredients. unbelievable taste. she said it's too much work. lulu's hair just floats. uhh help me! 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"are you sure?" i looked at my inquisitor and said, "yes, mr. hope and mr. crosby. it looks solid." bob and bing. there i was at 26, giving them a personal update. when i arrived in 1966, old hollywood was surrendering to the new. beatty, nicholson, jane fonda, mcqueen, redford and newman were not only stars, they were producers, they directed. they were the new moguls. and took on political themes. bonnie and clyde, butch and sundance, dustin and mr. robinson in "the graduate." >> "mrs. robinson, you're trying to seduce me." >> and television, which then was just three big networks, became an intersection of politics and entertainment. >> some people can afford more clothes on, and other people less clothes on? >> that's right, exactly. >> at cbs, the smothers brothers were forerunners to jon stewart and steven colbert. >> well who's running the country? >> the more-ons. >> and at nbc in burbank, i was just down the hall from rowan and martin's laugh in. it featured a cast of irreverent characters who skewered politicians and current events. and showcased an unlikely guest. >> sock it to me? >> lorne michaels, later the legendary founding genius of "saturday night live," was a young, laugh-in writer. >> laugh-in had the look of change. the styles were different. it was young people. people we weren't used to seeing on television were suddenly on television. >> when you're doing laugh-in-- >> yeah. >> -- one studio over is dean martin. >> yeah. >> that's the news, i'm tom brokaw, johnny carson is next -- >> the tonight show with johnny carson. politics and the news, were the essential raw materials for carson's monologues. >> let me ask you, i mentioned you're from south dakota, right? >> indeed. >> whereabouts in south dakota, originally? >> well, i ended up growing up in yankton, which is forty miles up the road from norfolk. >> what year, i'm a few years ahead of you, though. >> i hope so. [ laughter ] >> and, i may say, a dollar or two ahead of me as well. >> i hope so. >> you had a relationship with the guy. >> i did. we grew up not too far apart. and when i would see him in the hallways at burbank, he was always cordial and wanted to know how things were going. >> so your relationship with johnny was different because you had nothin' to prove to the guy. you guys were equals. >> we were not equals. he was protective of me. and he was extremely generous to me. >> nbc's saturday night -- >> every broadcast is a high wire act, but never more so than during this past political season. >> and number four -- aaah! >> with the election this year, we were changing things late friday night, because you didn't know where donald trump was going to end up, and the velocity of it was staggering. >> before trump ever declared his candidacy for president -- >> it's sarah -- sarah palin. >> oh, sorry. "snl" celebrated its 40th anniversary with this. >> you had sarah palin. and one of the bits was, she said to jerry seinfeld, how much do you think lorne would pay me if i got donald trump to run with me? >> sarah, you're teasing us. >> that was not fiction? >> no. that went from very clearly a joke to, here we are. >> from the old master of political satire, to the young master of political musical theater -- lin-manuel-miranda. ♪ ♪ >> he's the creator and original star of broadway's musical smash "hamilton," the hip-hop musical about an american founding father. >> you grew up as a gifted, young man with a great interest in the theater and not just as a writer, but as a performer as well. and then, bang, overnight, you're a big celebrity in the age of celebification. >> i guess so. you know, it's strange. i'm aware that most people -- more people are looking at me now than before. and the tricky part is remaining who you are. >> the country's so divided as i need not tell you right now ideologically and in other ways as well, culturally. is there a healing effect of hamilton? >> well, i think there's a healing effect to theater. i mean, look at where we are. there's something about everyone being in the same room and having the same experience that is powerful and increasingly rare. we curate our reality more than ever. we block that friend on facebook whose opinion differs with our own, or just posts too much. and even in the news -- we can get a different set of facts from a different network. and so i think the power is in everyone being in a room, putting down their phones. and theater is one of the last bastions of that as well. >> thank god. >> thank god. and, and having the same experience. ♪ ♪ coming up -- from beijing to berlin -- >> good evening, live from the berlin wall on the most historic night in this wall's history. >> lessons from a changing world. >> is there anything more exciting than watching people taste freedom for the first time? >> no. >> political tyrants can only go so far. e you shave. proshield chill from gillette. the best a man can get. proshield. available with or without chill. a new epic flavor... it's cranberry. it's pineapple. and there's no. sugar. added. cranberry pineapple 100% juice. the next big thing to hit the juice aisle. cranberry pineapple 100% juice. for the first time ever.g to the next level, at olive garden. never ending classics starting at $11.99. switch it up between never ending helpings of your most loved classic dishes. because the best things in life should be never ending. at olive garden. ♪ ♪ >> the soviet union as we have known it for most of the 20th century is breaking up now. >> reporter: in 50 years as an nbc news correspondent, i've reported on some of the most momentous events of our time. >> so here we are in 1966. we got the soviet union dominating this part of the world, and the west is dominated by the united states. china's kind of a blank spot. but the tectonic plates begin to move politically. and the world is a much different place now. >> reporter: tom friedman, the pulitzer prize-winning, foreign affairs columnist for "the new york times," and i have seen a lot changes in the world. >> i think so much of managing foreign policy today is actually about managing weakness. you know if you think of putin and russia for a second what's more dangerous, that putin takes another bite out of somewhere in eastern europe, or that putin collapses and spills onto the world stage nuclear scientists and nuclear weapons? >> for russia, then the soviet union, the changes began with this man -- mikhail gorbachev -- who took power in moscow in 1984, and recognized the country had to change to survive. he was an articulate and charismatic figure so different from the dark, dour men who had presided over what president ronald reagan called "that evil empire." gorbachev campaigned like an american politician, promoting perestroika, a new economy, and glasnost, a new openness. >> i would like to give you an opportunity -- >> he even gave me an exclusive primetime interview in 1987. >> i did the first interview with gorbachev. >> in the kremlin? >> i did it in the kremlin. everybody was trying for it. we got it. >> reporter: i confronted him about a cold war flashpoint. >> you know how important symbols are in politics, mr. general secretary. there is no uglier symbol in the world of the division between east and west, the division between your country and what the west stands for, than the berlin wall. why don't you use your considerable influence with the east germans just to have them take it down? >> he was very self-confident. and extremely western-looking. and i thought, "this is gonna be a new day in russia." former secretary of state james baker who saw gorbachev up close. >> he changed the world, he absolutely changed the world fundamentally, and i would argue in a positive way. vr. >> reporter: as the soviet regime regime began to come apart, there were rumblings in the other communist superpower. i first went to beijing in 1975, with president ford. >> tom brokaw, nbc news at the great wall. >> what was it like to be a newsman there, then? >> well, it was hard because you'd ask people questions, and they would say, "i do this for my leader." you know, and we were very restricted in where we could go and how we could get there. and there was a little bit of a kewpie doll thing: "oh my god, they're so fascinating. look at those wonderful people." you know, but there was a reign of terror going on beneath all that. >> in 1983, however, i took a journey by train. >> it's carried out at the local level and places like this, neighbor committee headquarters, and boy, is it public. this bulletin board, for example, lists all the couples that had just one child during each of the respective months. >> reporter: by 1989, china was changing and chinese students encouraged by gorbachev demanded more freedom following the russian leader's visit to beijing. >> today we received our first complete videotapes of the carnage where chinese turned on chinese. >> reporter: china's leaders unleashed the army on tiananmen square. i arrived as the government cracked down. hard. >> once it blew up, we couldn't get anywhere in the square. so i had a great, great cameraman. and tony said, "chap, i think i've got a way of doing this." >> reporter: cameraman tony wasserman rigged a hidden camera on the back of his bike and together we road with the people of beijing, into the heart of the capital. we are now coming up on the forbidden city, which has been reopened again for the first time in almost a month. the forbidden city, of course, is a symbol of china's past and the tanks and the armored personnel carriers that are lined up here are now a symbol of china's present." >> one chinese understood what we were doing, rode up and tickled the lens on the camera. and we got the first footage out of there at that time. but i could have been shot, frankly. >> reporter: by late 1989, the soviet empire began to collapse in poland, czechoslovakia, hungary, romania. on november 9, 1989, the final piece, east germany, the berlin wall. i was there reporting on unrest, not knowing the wall would come down. nbc news would have a worldwide exclusive. as they say, it was a night to remember. >> good evening, live from the berlin wall on the most historic night in this wall's history. what you see behind me is a celebration of this new policy announced today by the east german government, that now, for the first time since the wall was reacted erected in 1961, pel be able to move through freely. >> is there anything more exciting than watching people taste freedom for the first time? >> no, no. political tyrants can only go so far but in the end it's how people respond to their captivity and how they get out of it, and how they relate to each other. and i think that is the enduring lesson of everything that i've ever seen in journalism. >> reporter: on christmas day, 1991, the soviet union ceased to exist. the cold war was over. and historic events were taking place around the world. >> number one, you gotta name one moment. >> nelson mandela. >> nelson mandela. interesting. >> nelson mandela because of what he'd been through. >> when did you encounter him first? >> i went to the town square, and he stepped out, as if he had just gotten back from a business trip in zurich. tall, elegant, articulate, beautiful man. this crowd before him. and they'd all been denied fundamental rights simply because of the color of their skin. >> today my return to soweto fills my heart with joy. >> the next day i was in his garden in soweto with him. he was so much at ease with us. he was so charismatic. >> let me just show you something here. this is something that has been greeting you wherever you go. it's television microphone. what did you think when you first saw it, when you came out of prison? >> well, i thought it was a weapon, and i was very careful to see every time this was moved toward me, i moved a little bit back to remain at a safe distance. i was seeing it for the first time. >> mandela and gorbachev were the two guys that i think made a huge difference outside of america, taking on a big system. >> who was the worst? >> putin was one of the worst ones. i've interviewed him twice. >> is there an ideology at the heart of vladimir putin, or are you ultimately just a pragmatic man? >> he'll go to his death as a kgb agent. and as a russian nationalist, come hell or high water. whatever it takes. >> reporter: the next major international story may be bigger than any single world leader. >> what do you think is the most under-covered story right now? >> well, i think the most divisive story in many ways -- apart from how we put this country back together from a political and culture point of view -- is climate change. you've had regular coverage on "nightly news." there's still a lot of resistance to the idea of climate change. i'm a believer. >> and you can't separate it from politics either. >> you can't separate it from politics. but around the globe, there is enormous amount of evidence that this is happening and it's likely to go on for a long time. >> coming up -- it is the biggest story of the last half century. >> america has been attacked. >> we are at war. >> sometimes it seems, a never-ending war. >> we never thought we'd be in iraq for going on 14 years, or in afghanistan now, for almost 15 years. >> we can't keep that up forever. than warfarin. eliquis had both. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. i'm still going for my best. and for eliquis. ask your doctor about eliquis. y do people put why does your tummy go "grumbily, grumbily, grumbily"? 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>> a city that was once called the paris of the middle east, beirut can no longer be compared to any other city. >> lebanese militia, the plo and israelis battled in fierce fighting across the city. >> i was in an area where i shouldn't have been and a guy emerged from a basement and put an ak-47 to my ear, and i looked down, and he had a boy scout shirt with davenport, iowa, on it. and i thought, wait a minute, it's nations that go to war, not boy scouts. and i realize how everything we took for granted was becoming undone. . >> tribal and ethnic conflicts broke out across the region. saddam hussein decided to inhis oil-rich neighbor. in 1990, america came to the defense of kuwait. president bush and his friend, secretary of state james baker got high praise for the coalition they assembled and for the military plan led by general norman schwartz cop. >> if there was any military action, it would be bloody indeed. >> war is bloody. >> the war was over in a hurry. >> so this d >> the united states has received the enemy and dictated the terms for sur rund. >> but there was a series of attacks coordinated from afghanistan by osama bin laden. then out of the skies over america, 9/11. >> the world trade center is on fire. >> people ask me, what are the big stories of your time, and i say, the biggest single story, 9/11, on the air, not knowing what was going to happen in the next nano second. 10:30 in the morning, when the second tower went down, i looked into the camera and said, the magnitude will th magnitude of this will go on for some time. we are at war. the country has suffered a devastating attack. >> as this tragedy played out in new york, washington, and shanksville, pennsylvania, i was drawn to the families, their grief, bewilder managemement, t. for me, it's the story of mrs. francis swift. >> who are you looking for? >> my son, thomas swift. >> she said, has anybody seen tommy swift? she was holding this sign. and i remember thinking, that's the emblematic mother. that's the mother of all of us. >> america has been attacked, and it has been changed. this is the first great test of the new century for this nation. >> it quickly fell to the military and the cia to carry the fight to afghanistan. the search was on to find osama bin laden, the mastermind. >> when america goes to war, someone will surely ask at the pentagon, and especially at the white house, where are the carriers? >> i flew off the carrier, the u uss john stennis to report on the air war. it was the beginning of the longest war in american history, more than 14 years, more than 2,400 americans killed in afghanistan. and 18 months after 9/11, another war. this one, in iraq. >> on my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets -- >> president george w. bush decided to remove saddam hussein even though he had no provable role in 9/11. i was in baghdad before the war began. >> who do you want to fight against? >> against united states. >> against the united states? >> the government. >> not the people? >> yes. >> in the first week, resistance was stiff. >> we got rockets coming in on us. tom, we're under attack right now. >> nbc's intrepid correspondent, david bloom, reported live from the battlefield. >> we're with the second brigade, the 315 infantry. tragically, david died of a blood clot while reporting from iraq, as he approached baghdad. it was a devastating professional and personal loss for all of us at nbc news. >> back to you. >> within a week, the u.s. was in baghdad and saddam was on the run. back in baghdad, not long after the invasion, i saw what the american military was up against. >> they only have two or three months more to get this country up and running again, with the help of the iraqis before hope gives way to resentment and the kind of chaos that could bring on a new war that no one wants. >> the administration's goal was to establish a stable democracy in the heart of the middle east. that plan quickly fell apart, when the u.s. disbanded iraq's professional army, which became the foundation of isil. >> late spring next year, should have quite a good force out there. >> general david petraeus struggled as he tried to form a new iraqi army. >> execute! >> eventually, he designed the surge, and won some stability in iraq. but hundreds of thousands of iraqis have been killed. and iraq was a catastrophe in american blood. more than 4,000 u.s. military deaths, 32,000 wounded. many so grievously, they'll never recover, physically or psychologically. and it took until 2011 to track down and kill osama bin laden. with american troops still in harm's way across the region, the new president inherits old wars without a foreseeable end. former secretary of state and joint chiefs chairman, colin powell. >> john f. kennedy described the fight against communism as a long twilight struggle. are we in a long twilight struggle against radical islamic forces? >> i think we have to be very, very careful about getting into major commitments abroad that require a large, american military presence there for years. we never thought we'd be in iraq for going on 14 years, or in afghanistan for almost 15 years now. we can't keep that up forever. coming up -- the man who helped change almost everything you do, looks into the future, again. >> you and i met at the beginning. there was no smartphone, ipad, google, facebook, no artificial intelligence. where do we go from here? >> the ability of the machine to understand information, a robot that can do a lot of things. all of that is still in front of us and it's actually speeding up. that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. because it can hide in your body for years without symptoms, and it's not tested for in routine blood work. the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested. if you have hep c, it can be cured. for us it's time to get tested. ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. it's the only way to know for sure. new pantene doesn't just wash i wiyour hair, it fuels it.gain. making every strand stronger. so tangles don't stand a chance. because strong is beautiful. anything with a screen is a tv. stream 130 live channels, plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. download the xfinity tv app today. "i have smelled dirty diapers, goes on and on.". the list ==trt :06====anchor/vo== weinver inside san francisco's millennium towers. ==take vo == aiorts across thcountry.... as trumadnistration backs off on part of its immigration ban. ==rob/ck== (rob adlibs) ===rob/11pm close=== tonight at 11 on nbc bay area news. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: in the past 50 years, technology has transformed all aspects of life. from the mundane to the breakthroughs on medical research, space, agriculture, tecnología, el espacio, la it is reshaping the world every day. >> there's a whole new generation of computer wizards -- >> reporter: i was interested from the beginning and in 1992 made a point of going to seattle to meet bill gates. >> i had a fascination with computers. >> reporter: when we first met a quarter century ago, he was a big presence, a founding whiz kid. >> one of the big things over the next couple of years will be getting the computer on enough desktops that we'll actually communicate using what's called electronic mail. >> reporter: bill was single-minded, tireless, and famously tough against competition. >> is there going to be come a time in your life when you're going to able to let go of this a little bit? >> i work hard because i love my work. it's not some addiction. i like lots of things. i was mono-maniacal about software. that was all i -- i thought about, did. i didn't believe in vacations or weekends. and it was for that age, you know, so much fun. >> reporter: bill gates is 61 now -- more elder statesman than boy wonder. but no less interested in how the tools he helped invent continue to change the world in so many ways. >> you and i met at the beginning. i look today at what has happened since we first talked. at that time there was still no smartphone, ipad, google, facebook. amazon was just beginning to sell books only. no artificial intelligence. where do we go from here? >> the ability of the machine to understand information, a robot that can do a lot of things. all of that's still in front of us, and it's actually speeding up in terms of how quickly it changes. when you look at the technology you get to use now, what are some of your favorite things that you wouldn't wanna give up? >> i wouldn't wanna give up, in the morning, getting up and hitting a keystroke and reaching the financial times of london. and at the next key stroke, reading the hometown newspaper in south dakota. >> reporter: one of the biggest changes that we are beginning to see is artificial intelligence -- machines and robots and vehicles that make decisions and imitate human behavior. >> i think you were the one who said we're at the end of the beginning of the next beginning. that we're moving into a new time in artificial intelligence. >> the degree to which it can help with judgment and really do autonomous things, like driving -- that's at an early stage. if you give 20 years, then it will be at a very advanced stage. a lot of typical human things will be easily done by software alone. >> reporter: and today's tech giants? some weren't even born when bill gates started microsoft more than 40 years ago. mark zuckerberg founded facebook in 2004, and four years later hired google veteran sheryl sandberg as its chief operating officer. now it's her turn to watch the horizon. >> how much of your daily thinking is about, what next? what's coming over the horizon that will be a threat to facebook, or that we'll have to adapt to? >> all the time. i mean, one of the great things about the technology industry is we change really quickly and new players come up. so when i see young entrepreneurs starting a great company, i'm excited by that. the opportunity they have. >> reporter: sandberg joined facebook the same year that bill gates stepped down from day to day control of microsoft. proud of what he had accomplished. he's left the next big changes to those like zuckerberg, the google boys, apple, bezos, and musk. gates spends his days now setting a new standard for philanthropy, though he still finds time to fire off memos to microsoft. and he also is more willing to look back, and to take stock. >> you're indisputably a visionary, but everybody misses from time to time. looking back on your career what did you miss? >> you know, i -- i didn't miss the importance of the cell phone, but microsoft didn't execute well enough to be at the center of that, in the same way that google and apple did. so i made a lot of mistakes there. >> the one thing about the smartphone is that people won't put it down. in the elevators at the office, we used to talk to each other and have ideas and exchange them. i get in the elevator now, everybody's like this. you know, what new could have happened between floor five and floor seven? it's cutting down on human dialogue, face-to-face in my judgment. >> yeah, hopefully we get more tasteful on using these things. it is very funny when you walk around a park and you see people, oh, that guy's talking to himself. well, no, he's got that earphone in. >> alexa? how old is tom brokaw? >> tom brokaw is 76 years old. >> alexa, can you make me 36 years old? >> sorry, i didn't understand the question i heard. >> i was afraid of that. coming up -- what troubles me most of all is race division. >> one nation, divided. >> black boys have been discriminated against and violated for years. i don't think there's more of it happening. we just didn't have the cameras to see it. >> i absolutely agree. ecision o. it always feels good when somebody says you look good. aren't we glad we did it? yes! we're doing it! 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>> well, it's certainly in the top tier. i really do. you know, when president obama was elected i was with you the night after that. you were giddy. we thought this is a passage that's gonna change race relations. in too many ways, race relations are worse now. >> african americans have made great progress in so many areas, but we still make quick judgments based on pigmentation, the color of a person's skin, black and white. >> i do hereby declare this an unlawful assembly -- >> reporter: when i started with nbc news in 1966, race was the big story then, as well. after the watts section of los angeles went up in flames the year before, tension filled the air. >> what about those that say that watts is not good enough yet, that it's got to be burned down completely before it can ever be a real place to live? >> it's a threat for political reasons. i really don't know what for. >> reporter: then, in may 1966, the los angeles police department shot and killed an unarmed black man rushing his wife to the hospital. >> there is sharp conflict in the testimony surrounding the shooting. >> reporter: twenty-six years later, after the rodney king verdict and the explosive reaction, i offered some personal observations. >> what we are seeing in los angeles, goes well beyond fires and senseless deaths. it is a sickening reminder of how we have all failed to deal with racism -- black and white racism. how we have failed to deal with violence on both sides of the law. >> can we, can we all get along? can we, can we get along? >> when it comes to all the stories you've covered on america's racial divide, which one in particular has saddened you the most? >> i did a story in a place called matteson, illinois. it was a white, middle class community. and then what happened is a developer came down and built some nice homes. and the new african american economic class from chicago, civil servants with good jobs, physicians and other people, came down and bought those homes. >> reporter: there was an earnest attempt to make integration work, despite white fears, the crime rate did not go up. school standards remained high. >> when it comes to understanding how color divides us -- >> reporter: then, as i reported in 1997, white flight took hold. >> it is kind of hard and bitter, when you think you have reached a plateau, you have achieved something, they still -- you're still not accepted. no matter what. >> why can't black families and white families live together? >> as much as people want to say things have changed, some things have not changed at all. >> reporter: integration did not happen. the community now is 80% african american. to this day, i still try to understand the resistance to living together. >> i think the disconnect -- >> reporter: i came to baltimore to catch-up with wes moore in his old neighborhood. he is an exceptional success story. an entrepreneur, army combat veteran, rhodes scholar, white house fellow, and best-selling author of "the other wes moore: a personal memoir of growing up black in america." as a young man, wes moore's mother got him into a white suburban school. he was living on both sides of the divide. it did take an emotional toll. >> you had to learn how to be a chameleon, right? how much smile do you give somebody that you're not looking cheesy, but you don't want to walk around with a scowl because then you look intimidating. >> reporter: like so many other african american kids, moore sensed there were lowered expectations for him. >> as a young kid, you're cool with it, right? because as a young kid, you're, like, "great, i don't have to work as hard." without understanding how damaging that was to me. if you break a man's spirit, you never have to escort him to the back door, because he'll walk there himself. >> but has that spirit been broken by external forces or internal forces or a combination of the two? >> racism isn't just about what an oppressor is doing to you. it's also about the mentality you take in of yourself. if a white person sees a black person and they grab their purse or they grab their wallet or they cross the street, what's just as dangerous is when the black people do it too. the danger of racism isn't just about what is being done from one group to another group. it's actually the psychological damage that's being done to everybody. >> shut it down! >> reporter: fear and anger have escalated in recent years. in 2015 wes moore's hometown, baltimore, after the death in police custody of freddie gray. >> he has a gun. >> reporter: this past summer, after police shootings in louisiana and minnesota. >> i told him not to reach for it. >> reporter: five dallas police officers were assassinated, and nine injured in a revenge rampage by a black man. many recent cases involve cell phone videos recording black and police confrontations. [ gunshots ] >> black boys have been, you know, discriminated against and violated for years. and there were no cameras to show us that it was happening. so i don't think that there's more of it happening. i think it's always been happening. we just didn't have the cameras to see it. don't you? >> i absolutely agree on that. >> black lives matter! >> reporter: while there is understandable concern about black victims of controversial police shootings, there's something else going on in too many cities. hundreds of black men, women and children have been killed by members of the black community in baltimore, chicago, now memphis. >> i want more outrage about -- within the community from the grandmothers and everybody about what's going on with black on black homicide. >> but the mothers are out -- have given their outcries. the mothers have. they march in the streets. and nobody hears them. >> i agree and one of the things i think that black lives matter needs to do is to widen its focus and say, "it's not just about cops outrageously shooting young black men. it's also about what goes on in our neighborhoods." >> i think that should also be a part of the agenda, but i think a lot of people get offended when they hear black lives matter, because they immediately start saying, white lives matter. black lives matter is not saying that white lives don't matter. >> right. >> it's saying black lives matter, too. everybody wants to be heard and wants to know that they have value. that what they're saying has meaning. and that they matter. that is the reason why that movement started. was to say, "our lives matter." >> i think that the title of it, and the passion that came with it was timely and important. >> yeah. yeah. >> but now we got to think of goals. you know? and not just about rage but now work our way to a different place. >> i think that should be a part of the strategy. >> what does our nation need to do to get over this final hurdle? >> i really think that on a number of issues, but especially on race, everybody needs to lower the temperature a little bit and proactively work at talking to each other, and finding opportunities to engage one another in communities and universities and the workplace, and be honest about it. >> you know, what happens, is that when race comes up, people withdraw, the shade comes down, they -- "i don't dare go there, they'll misinterpret it." or, "i -- i have these strong feelings, i don't wanna ask 'em about it." we've got to learn to talk about it. >> reporter: as i look back on my career, i know i had a lot of lucky breaks. but i always ask, if i were black -- if my skin were one shade darker, would i have gotten all those chances? >> well, it's the biggest issue of my life, frankly. it really is. you know, i -- i get emotional. i think mostly because of all the good things have happened to me. and when i do say that if i'd been one shade darker, i wouldn't have gotten any of those jobs at that time. they would have said, "aah, i don't think we can do this." coming up -- they saved the world and almost never talked about it. >> let's call them modest, you know, they weren't braggers about what they have done. >> you guys haven't been back here in 40 years. >> that's right, tom. first time back. >> how does it look to you? >> peaceful. >> the greatest generation. for that! ♪ oh! found your keys. ♪ hit some 3's, love melted cheese? ♪ chorus: there's a big mac for that! woah! juicy, cheesy, iconic big mac. now in three sizes, but only for a limited time. i'm lovin' it! ♪ ba da ba ba ba ♪ 48 hours of protection. i don't have to reapply this... not once! it's really soft and almost velvety... as you put it on. it's like reaaally soft. try dove advance care. for softer, smoother underarms. my advice for looking get your beauty sleep. and use aveeno® absolutely ageless® night cream with active naturals® blackberry complex. younger looking skin can start today. absolutely ageless® from aveeno®. of being there for my son's winning shot. that was it for me. that's why i'm quitting with nicorette. only nicorette mini has a patented fast dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. every great why needs a great how. six of you for when thyou stretch out.t i want you to stay this bright blue forever, that's why you'll stay in this drawer forever. i can't live without you, and that's why i'll never ever wash you. protect your clothes from stretching, fading and fuzz with downy fabric conditioner. fading and fuzz with downy fabric conditioner. it smooths and strengthens fibers to protect clothes from the damage of the wash. so your favorite clothes stay your favorite clothes. downy fabric conditioner. ===vo=== sinking... and now stinking.we r inside san francisco's millennium towers. ===vo=== plus: another day of action at airports.. over the trump administration's immigration ban. ==live== and we're tracking another round of rain. ===close=== next on nbc bay area news. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: my earliest memories of life are of war, world war ii, the greatest war in the history of mankind. >> i lived on an army base where my neighbors were going to war or coming home. -- or coming home from war. ♪ ♪ these were defining times for a generation. for a nation and for the world. to defeat the nazis and the warlords of japan. america pulled together in a national effort. >> hi, men. this is frank sinatra. >> reporter: recordings produced for the troops by the war department were a soundtrack of the those times. ♪ blue ski skies >> blue skies -- above the dark clouds of war. ♪ ♪ nothing but blue skies do i see ♪ >> reporter: by d-day, 12 million americans were in uniform. 16 million served overall. >> i will see you on the beach. >> reporter: steven spielberg's film "saving private ryan," graphically depicted the terrible price of combat. more than 400,000 americans were killed in the war. more than half a million were wounded. >> grab some cover and put some fire on that crew. >> reporter: the star of "saving private ryan," tom hanks, who also co-wrote and produced the mini series "band of brothers," has shared my commitment to keeping the legacy of the greatest generation alive. theirs is a legacy of heroism and quiet patriotism. almost never spoken of. ♪ long ago and far away >> reporter: my first memories of world war ii are of the bleak, sagebrush covered landscape of igloo, south dakota. an army munitions depot. >> which really was a life defining experience for me quite honestly. a very remote little place in southwestern south dakota where they were storing ordinance coming up from denver. >> bombs, ammunition, tnt? >> bombs. and they were -- and there were exploding out on this alkaline like desert. >> constantly. >> and everybody around me was going to war, or coming home from war. i wore a helmet every day, and wore it to class. >> those war years stayed with me. soon after vj day, the end of the war, my family moved to a town filled with veterans. >> lotta logos there for the american legion, lotta flags, lotta ribbons, yeah. >> all that stuff, but not a word about the war. not one word about it. >> they were let's call 'em modest. you know, they weren't braggarts about what they had done. >> reporter: what they had done was save the world. i often thought of a story that my mother told me, about a very kind neighbor, a former marine, gord an larson. >> gordon larson came around and fixed our furnaces, and the morning after one halloween, he was complaining about high school kids, and how they behaved the night before. and my mother said, "oh, come on, gordon, what were you doin' when you were 17?" he said, "i was landing on guadalcanal." and he walked out. >> did you have a momentary flash where you knew you wanted to write, the greatest generation? >> i trace it to the first day when i walked on the beach on the 40th anniversary of d- day. >> 1984. >> yes. >> now you guys have not been back here in 40 years? >> right, tom, first time back. >> yeah. how does it look to you? >> peaceful. >> peaceful, right. >> reporter: omaha beach was more like hell on earth when harry garton and gino merli came ashore with the "big red one." the leading edge of the d-day invasion. >> have you ever been more scared? >> no, really scared that day. >> and then, all of a sudden the latch of the door came down, and you ran on the beach. and when you ran on the beach you heard the screams, savage screaming. crying for help. >> you had machine guns down here. they keep them covered and eventually you could hit them kill those guys off but the artillery that was behind it was doing the most damage and killing the most men, plus all the mines they had. a lot of men were stepping on mines. >> it's really sad. i have said a prayer every day since june 6,'44. >> reporter: but the war was just getting under way for them. they fought to the end but just two weeks before the german surrender, harry garten's legs were blown off by a land mine. gino merli earned the medal of honor by single handedly holding off a german attack in belgium. >> is it fair to say the greatest generation constantly replenishes itself and faces its own challenges? >> well, here's what i think, tom. after having written the book, and after you doing private ryan, i think inadvertently we both ignited new generations to look at that war, and to see what was going on. >> the book came out in 1998. and i can't go through an airport, or any public place every week without people coming up to me, and saying, "i didn't realize what was going on." >> it's because, tom, you reduced it to its most primal and accessible element, which is the human element. is there a tangible strategy, a philosophy, a lesson that we can take from the greatest generation and what they went through? >> i think what troubles me most of all is that combatants in uniform represent less than 1% of the population. >> true that. there's no draft, they're all volunteers. and they have to go back again, and again, and again. >> and they're doing eight and nine tours over there in afghanistan and iraq. they're at risk every time they step outside of their barracks. and nothing is asked of the rest of us. we're at home, going about our lives, looking at our smart phones, seeing films, watching television. that troubles me more than anything. i just think it's immoral for a democratic society to send less than 1% of its people into harm's way. and the rest of us sit back and say, "well, here's a sign at the airport, welcome home." thank you for your service, but we need to say somehow, now, watch me do my service. >> yeah, right. >> the service needs to go both ways. >> yeah, i could not agree more. and i would hope that that would be part of where we go from here. >> reporter: in 2014, i returned to normandy for the 70th anniversary of d-day. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: this is why we're here. here above the beaches of normandy just beyond the water. that brought liberty at a great sacrifice. for those who survived that day and for so many others, this is a journey of honor and remembrance. to honor their fallen friends. and remember. 70 years later. >> what more powerful manifestation of america's commitment to human freedom than the sight of wave after wave of young men boarding those boats to liberate people they'd never met? >> reporter: there had never been anything like it before. and there never would be again. >> whenever the world makes you cynical, stop and think of these men. whenever you lose hope, stop and think of these men. [ gunfire ] ♪ >> reporter: their legacy can never be dimmed. >> for centuries, beginning with the founding fathers, generations of americans have been tested and divided but we have always overcome. this is my favorite place in washington. it is, of course, the lincoln memorial. the timeless reminder to the great man who led america through its greatest crisis. as a schoolboy i often recited his gettysburg address. and it remains for me the american gospel. in the half century that i have been covering america's trials and triumphs i often return to his life, his words, his wisdom, and his courage. mr. lincoln did not hold the union together and give his life so we would surrender to divisions and anger that threaten a nation that shall not perish from this earth. >> now, one more time, i'm tom brokaw, nbc news. ♪ ♪ protesters at sfo vowing to continue their demonra [ inaudible ]

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