Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20131122

Wooduff plus, mark shields and david brooks reflect on the senate vote to curb filibusters and the rest of the weeks news. And we explore the enduring impact of president kennedys 1,000 days in office. Those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by support also comes from Carnegie Corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what Andrew Carnegie called real and permanent good. Celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Wooduff americans and the world marked the 50th anniversary today of one of the 20th centurys defining moments the assassination of president john f. Kennedy. Hari sreenivasan reports on the days events. taps playing reporter the gray skies at Arlington National cemetery this morning, matched the somber occasion. Joined by family members, the president s sister and last surviving sibling, jean kennedy smith, laid a rose at the grave, where a flame burned as it has for the last half century. Hours later, at dealey plaza, in dallas, people gathered in bitter, wet cold as bells tolled at 12 30 central time the exact moment when the president was shot, as he motorcaded through, 50 years ago. Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings said his city has grown since that horrific day. While the past is never in the past. This was a lifetime ago. Now, today we the people of dallas honor the life legacy and leadership of the man who called us to think not of our own interest but of our countrys. We give thanks for his life and service. We offer condolences to his family. Reporter the mayor unveiled a new memorial, imprinted with words from a speech that president kennedy had been set to give in dallas. It also rained in the slain president s native boston, as governor Deval Patrick laid a wreath at the kennedy statue, outside the massachusetts statehouse. Oh beautiful. America, america across the reporter across the city, music marked the day at the john f. Kennedy president ial library and museum. And excerpts of his speeches were read aloud, including the address to the nation on civil rights, in june of 1963, five months before the assassination. We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and as clear as the american constitution. The heart of the question is whether all americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities. Reporter the remembrances extended around the world as well. In britain, kennedys granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg laid a wreath at a memorial to the slain president. We have come here today to honor his memory as this monument does so well. But today is a difficult day as it is a reminder of a moment of profound sadness for my family, for america and for the world. Reporter and back in washington, the 44th president met with peace corps volunteers carrying on the legacy. The organization was created during the kennedy presidency. President obama said today the kennedy assassination reshaped the secret service, and that the agency does an outstanding job. He told abc news he does not worry about his own safety. Historians join us to reflect on the kennedy legacy later in the program. The u. S. Has stepped up pressure on afghan leaders, to sign a security deal by years end. Defense secretary chuck hagel said today that otherwise, there wont be time to plan for keeping u. S. Troops in afghanistan past 2014. Afghan President Hamid karzai said yesterday he wants his successor to sign the pact, after elections next spring. Today, his spokesman said we do not recognize any deadline from the u. S. Side. Secretary of state john kerry headed to switzerland this afternoon to join sixnation talks with iran on freezing its nuclear programs. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had arrived in geneva earlier. That in turn raised speculation that negotiators may be edging toward a compromise. In a few minutes, Margaret Warner updates us from geneva. United nations sponsored Climate Change talks were scheduled to wind up in warsaw, poland today, but delegates from more than 190 nations kept talking. Theyre trying to fashion a deal to reduce carbon emissions. Its supposed to be adopted at a 2015 summit in paris. The u. S. Special envoy acknowledged its been slow going. I dont think anybody expected anything different from that. There are disagreements that are part of these negotiations and we are still two years from paris so certainly this was never a metric of success for this agreement that these big issues would go away. Wooduff hundreds of environmental activists walked out of the talks yesterday, over the failure to make headway. The pakistani physician who helped locate Osama Bin Laden has been charged with murder. The lawyer for Shakil Afridi said today the case relates to the death of a patient in 2006. Afridi was already facing re trial on other charges. The doctor ran a Vaccination Program that helped the c. I. A. Find bin laden. Pakistani officials regard him as a traitor. The death toll from the typhoon that struck the philippines topped 5,200 today. The countrys National Disaster agency also reported some 23,000 injured, with 1,600 still listed as missing. The agency said only about half the city of tacloban has been cleared, so its likely the number of dead will go higher still. Wall street scored new gains to finish out the week. The Dow Jones Industrial average added more than 54 points to close at 16,064. The nasdaq rose 22 points to close at 3,991. The s p 500 hit a new benchmark, closing above 1,800 for the first time. For the week, the dow gained just over 0. 5 . The nasdaq rose 0. 1 . Still ahead on the newshour adjustments in signing up for health insurance; a possible compromise in the iran talks; whats behind the stock market run; shields and brooks and the kennedy legacy 50 years on. The Obama Administration announced several changes today that they say will make it easier for americans to sign up for Insurance Coverage under the new federal health care law. Jeffrey brown has the story. Brown some of the key changes involve timelines for enrollment. First, people trying to get new coverage starting january 1st now have an extra week to finish enrolling. The new deadline to sign up is december 23. The administration also announced it will push back the start of next years Enrollment Period by one month. That effectively means that in year two of the program, americans can start signing up in midnovember 2014. Late this afternoon, officials announced another change for this year insurers will be able to directly enroll people in three states florida, texas and ohio. Louise radnofsky of the wall street journal has been following all of these developments and is here to explain. Welcome to you. Thank you. Brown so if we start with the changes for this year, this one about pushing it back a week. Whats behind that . Well, the main reason behind it is the Administration Says people have had problems getting into the site and they havent had very much time to get their stuff together in time for january 1. What the insurers are saying is the extension for other people create a more compressed time frame for them. They only have a week to process some of the applications if it turned up on december 23. Brown this is, first of all, from the pressures of the roll out, the problemes, and also the explected eye dont know, glut, perhaps at the end of the year. Year. There are questions about whether the site can handle it and whether the carriers can handle it, too. Brown just to be clear, you can seen up later to be covered in 2014. You can. Typically insurance starts on the first day of the month. Brown this was done as you said, in consultation with the insurers . There are differences in what what had to be worked out. The insurers say they were told about it but they didnt think it was a good idea. Theyre very concerned about it now and saying so pretty loudly, so the consultation appears to have been somewhat one sided. Brown to deal with this expected influx at the end of the year, the administration came out today and said they actually feel a little bit better. What are they looking at . Well, theyre looking at the same data were looking at that seems to suggest there is an uptick in interest in november both in the federally run and statebased exchanges. It suggests more people were going through the site. That said, what the insurers are saying, theyre having difficulty still with the data coming from people when they complete the signup process. The more people that get through, the harder it is because theyre checking it manually in a lot of cases. Brown but they feel a little bit better about the technology at this point. They feel a little bit better for the technology, as you said, in the direct movie enrollment process. But thats something they wanted at the beginning and its only just ready now. Brown what about this other announcement, direct enrollment from insurers in three states. This is kind of a pilot program. It is. Its where the insurer basically gets to help somebody sign up for a plan that they hope will be theirs in the end of it. There have been a lot of technical problems with making it work as bended. There has been some exploration for a workaround and it sounds as if it is just working well new to enough now to test it out. Brown why these three states . These are among the biggest ones having their states run by the federal government because they chose not to do so. It seems an obvious way to start. Itt seems plans in those states were able to persuade the administration they would be willing to be the guinea pigs. Brown will that be allowed in other state . That seems to be the hope. Again, the administration is having trouble getting people sign up on their own and they need all the help they can get. Brown now next year, pushing it back enough. This is very different in terms of reasoning. What the insurers have been saying is they dont think theyre going to have enough information for the First Quarter of next year in order to set their rates around april for the 2015 cycle. They think they might be uncertain because there have been lastminute changes to law, the administrations decision to disigz to allow carriers to sell policies that have been canceled and it could lead to uncertainty. And they will err on the side of caution, and that means higher rates for 2015. Brown also, of course, it plays into the politics. It immediately got criticize bide skeptical republicans. It has certainly not been lost on this people that this sidesteps the midjeer election person of 2014. People will not be going through open enrollment while also voting. The republicans were quick to discuss that. Brown that means we wouldnt know the number of people signed up or the rates. We might know the rates. Theyre certainly not plastered out there and most people are not seeing them the way reporters are. Brown did the white house respond to republican comes . The administration emphasized it did this change the open enrollment delay change based on the need of insurers, and certainly that is a very compelling reason for them to have done it, perhaps even beyond the politics. They want to see them work as they intended. Brown california this week decided it would not pick up people who had lost their insurance because of the new a. C. A. , bucking what president obama himself had asked for. What were seeing from california is a division among democratic states about what to do. The president s move was designed to take political pressure off the law, and some supporters of the law, but some say it could damage their prospects for success and theyre preparing to stay the course on it. Brown some states are going along and some are making decisions like california. Among blue state typically youre seeing states with a wellworking state exchange are more willing for people to give up the policy than people who dont have the exchanges available. Brown louise radnofsky, from the wall street journal, thank you very much. Wooduff talks over Irans Nuclear program appeared to be gaining momentum as negotiators met for a third day today. Our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner is in geneva covering the story for us. I spoke to her a short time ago. Margaret warner, hello again. So tell us what happened today. Judy, it has been a total roller coaster day. I mean, it began with clearly a change in at mott fear from last night. It ended with now all the Foreign Ministers are either here or are coming to geneva. The day began with a meeting between the Iranian Foreign minister, sareef, and Catherine Ashton, the e. U. High rep and u. N. Cochairman for these talks. And ist only lasted unlike yesterday where it went for hours it only lasted maybe 90 minutes, and then they left and consultations continued among the two groups. Foreign minister zarif on tv explained it this way. He said there were issues that were raised yesterday, he said, that we didnt agree on. And he said the delegations consulted their capitals and in some cases had results. In other words, it seems to me that on some of the issues, the 6 its u. S. , chinese, french, russians, germaps and british did move traups way enough to satisfy tehran. However, the rest of the day was just a complete toking and froing. 200 of us reporters were camped out in the intercontinental lobby, at one point forced to order wine to keep a seat in the wine bar. That happened about 5 00 p. M. , frantically trying to glean anything. The only people talk were upon iranians. The Russian Foreign minister flew in. After much prodding, the state Department Said finally after 11 p. M. Our time that secretary kerry would come. And its just been announced all the Foreign Ministers are. Lavrov came on his own. But asked whether Catherine Ashton had had invited kerrero whether he was arriving on his own, a western source said to me just minutes ago that as a matter of fact she had talked to kerry that it was decided if there is a deal she wants all the ministers here, and, therefore, it would be good if he came. But this person went on to say, this is not to mean that a deal is done. There is a lot of intensive work thats still going on, and im told it is going on, the negotiations are going to continue into the night tonight. Woodruff so, margaret what, do we know . What do you know about what theyve agreed on and what are the sticking points still . Warner well, judy, the sticking points kind of remain the same, but according to even iranian sources and theyre the only ones who denied before that this point was resolved the whole squabble over the right to enrich, irans insistence that this deal recognize iran has a right to enrich has been resolved and finessed. And that is along the lines i think you and i talked about one affect and gwen and i talked about last night, and the position is the Nuclear Proliferation treaty does not mention a right to enrich or deny the right to enrich. And so theres a way to not grant iran a right to enrich, but simply wording it in such a way that either side can take what they want from it. And foreign minister zarif did an interview again this morning in which he indicated flexibility on those terms. He said, unalienable right so we dont need anyone to recognize it. We just want them to respect it. What we dont know yet, judy, is the french had jammed up the works. That was already the deal between kerry and zarif, and what we dont know is what exactly thigh tried to do and how that has been finessed. Woodruff give us a sense of what will happen now that secretary kerry and other Foreign Ministers will be there gl. Warner nobody knows whether this deal, if its going to be done, can be done by tomorrow, or can be done by sunday. Because certain sticking points remain. Not only the fate what kind of construction can continue, for instance, on this plutonium reactor, which as we have had discussed, is pretty much impefersous to being bombed one its finished because it would spread dod deadly radiation. The other issue, im told, is zarif upped the price in the way of sanctions relief. The question is what could president obama and or the europeans give in the way of some limited sairvegzs relief that would not unravel will entire system of what is really strangling irans economy, which are restrictions on their oil exports and their use of the Global Financial system. Woodruff so, margaret, sounds like youre reporting this right spot weekend. Thank you. R this has been a notable week for the stock markets, particularly for the Dow Jones Industrial average, the benchmark index thats closely monitored and thats reaching new milestones. But there are questions about whats behind the rally of late and whether it reflects the fundamentals of the economy. Newshour economics correspondent paul solman hit the Trading Floor yesterday in search of some answers. The story is part of his ongoing reporting making sense of financial news. Up, up and away, yep. Reporter mark otto at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, when the dow ended above 16,000, another record for the headline stock index of 30 major companies. Other stock indexes are hitting new highs as well, as Companies Continue to report healthy profits and recovery chugs along. And yet, the recovery is weak and unemployment, high. Even on the exchange floor, there was little enthusiasm. Why . I think everyones a little bit worried. I mean, you hear the possibility of a bubble conversation coming up more often now. Reporter and, says otto, voicing a common complaint, thats because of the Federal Reserve in washington. The fed stimulus, has really propelled the market. Really, thats the debate thats going on right now as we close in on the end of the year. Reporter but when youre buying a share of a company youre buying a stake in or a claim on its profits, right . Actually, since washington d. C. And the markets have become more intertwined, i believe that traders are looking at stocks not only for earnings and the basis of beating expectations, its also the fact of whats propelling those stocks. The Federal Reserve is trying to stimulate economic activity. Reporter wall street money manager doug dachille, whose office literally looks down on the New York Branch of the Federal Reserve, agrees. The feds postcrash policy of easy money, he says, has driven up the price of assets like stocks, instead of prompting investment and spending, as hoped. Why youre here today talking to me is youre questioning this whole thing, thats the problem. People are questioning it because they know the asset valuations have been driven by a monetary phenomenon, theyve been driven by the fed, so theyre not confident that those asset valuations will be sustained and supported, because they think it may be a house of cards. Reporter to boost the economy, that is, the fed may have wound up goosing the stock market by creating money for the purpose of keeping Interest Rates down. And therefore the fed, by keeping Interest Rates. At zero, at close to zero. Reporter close to zero, forces people to buy stocks instead. Buy stocks and then that person who used to own stocks, when he gets out of stocks, you know what he does . He looks for alternatives. Reporter alternatives like the new housing boom or, amazingly to dachille, online lending clubs. We just went through a credit cycle where you were afraid to lend against an asset supported by to a person supported by a house. Now youre lending unsecured, no collateral, no nothing to joe on a website. Reporter and also lending to stock investors, whose margin debt to buy shares on credit has been hitting record highs. The last record was set in 2007, a few months before the dows previous high water mark. But for all the talk of the feds role, dachille agrees that theres an alternative way to understand a record dow and higher profits a shift of power from workers to owners. Another explanation is that these days labor is. At the mercy of capital. There are a lot of talented people in the world that are no longer being employed. Youre now having machines and robots build stuff and now you have one guy doing that job where you used to have five, ten, 15. Reporter and so companies can pay labor less, keep more for themselves and their mostly wealthy shareholders. Yes, half of us own stock, if you include our pension funds. But the top 10 own Something Like 90 of the stock market; the top 1 , Something Like 40 of it. At zuccotti park, home to the occupy wall Street Movement and its we are the 99 slogan two years ago, liberal economist mike konczal. We see things like offshoring and globalization have really pushed down labor wages relative to how much Capital Gains in the economy so globalizations creating a lot of winners and losers and a lot of the winners are people who own capital, like people who own the stock market and the losers are people who work and are unemployed right now. Reporter and that even includes people who work at the market itself, says trader mark otto. Youve been here for how long . 20 years. Reporter and 20 years ago what did this floor look like . Weve gone from approximately 5,400 at Maximum Capacity to down around 800, 900 right now. A lot of that has to do with the fact that what i do actually required nine people to do when i started 20 years ago. Reporter and, says mike konczul, thats why the recovery is slow; unemployment, high. I think the stock market would actually be much higher if the unemployment was much lower. I think the economy is still really fundamentally weak and that slack thats in the economy right now, with all the unemployed people, all the unemployed businesses would actually bring up the stock market even further. Reporter in the end, then, it comes full circle. The fed is trying to lower unemployment by stimulating the economy. But by doing so, in some minds, it is overstimulating the stock market in the process. Wooduff and to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. Welcome to you both. David in philadelphia tonight. Lets talk about what happened yesterday in the senate. Essentially changing the rules, mark, to say that to confirm a president s one of the president s nominees it only takes a simple majority, no longer 60. They called it the Nuclear Option. But were the democrats just fine doing this . Were they justified . Ill leave that to a higher power to make that determination. I think it became inevitable. There were 168 filibusters on president ial nominees in the history of the senate, half of them have occurred in the last four and a half years under president obama. So it had become a tactic that was just part and parcel changed the system and the rules in the senate that you required 60 votes to be confirmed. It reached the point where they werent objecting to nominees on the basis of their qualifications or lack thereof. It was just a blanket opposition, and i think democrats concluded breaking their word from five years ago when they opposed this Nuclear Option, they concluded the republicans, if they do win control of the senate in 2014, which is probably a betterthaneven bet, that they would do the same. Any chance of compromise would be probably minimal so why not get done what they could get done in the remaining time of president obamas term. Woodruff david, by the way, i made a mistake. Youre not in philadelphia. Youre in san francisco. I knew that. Are you prepared to weigh in on whether the democrats made a mistake here or not . Yeah, they made a big mistake. Marks right. Theres no question theres been a deterioration of norms but thats no reason to basically begin the erosion of the institution of the senate, what makes the senate special. When you go to the Senate Dining room and you look at the . Airtz do talk to each other across party liebz. They have work relationships. Its not great. Its not the way it used to be. They were able to pass slairkz even immigration a reform, a couple, weeks, ago. They have to do, that because to get a lot of stuff passed, including nominations, you have to get 60 votes and its rare one party has 60 votes and theyre used to working across party lines the way they arent in the house. If you take away the 60 votes, starting now with some of the nominations but probably going in a couple of Years Supreme Court nominations and legislation, you are basically turk the senate into the house. Youre basically beginning the erosion of what makes the senate special, beginning the erosion of minority rights. Youre creating a much more polarized body over the long term. If you think partisanship and polarization are in short fly, this was a good move because i think we will have more of it in the near term. Davids analysis is, as always, interesting, but erosion of comity and good feelings is not beginning with this. This is not a cause. Thans effect of whose happened. This is a consequence of what has been going on. In run anything administration, judy, personnel is policy. If you cant have your own people at a department or an agency, you can never execute or be responsible for the administration of justice in the law, which is your obligation. Take the case of the Consumer Financial protection bureau. Because republicans objected to the law, they refused to confirm rich cordry first elizabeth warep, who is now a member of the United States senate, who as a consequence of the opposition became a National Folk hero. And finally rich cordry. And only the threat of the Nuclear Option did they do it. So it had reached a point it will be more partisan, no question about it. It will be more like the house. But i think this was one more step at a time where there wasnt that willingness there was eight years ago for a gang of 14 to emerge and say were going to break with our own party, seven democrats, seven republicans, they did that on judicial nominees. Woodruff the democrats argue the obstruction under this president is much worse than it was under his predecessors. I think overall thats true. I think the final year of the Bush Administration was pretty bad. I think that was equal to some of these years. I would say the most defensible thing part of this law is the white house personnel. I agree with mark on that. The president should have wide leeway to choose who he want pips can see getting rid of the 60 vote thick for the administration personnel. I find it much hard tore defend getting rid of it for the judges. Believe me, the Supreme Court judges, that 60 voteses will be gone in short order. What you will get are much more polarized judges. Once this rule is in place, both parties are going to go to their bases and we will have a much more polarized judiciariry. I agree with mark, theres been a deterioration of norms, but the way to fix that is try to get people to behave better. You fix the norms pup dont want to break the fundamental structures and rules of the body. To me thats giving up. I think historically, there has been a distinction made for president ial nominations because a president ial appointment in the administration, a cabinet job or subcabinet job, is going to service the senate has been more likely to confirm. Its very, very rare that the senate has opposed a president ial nominee for a cabinet job john tower being one of the few, but judicial nominees have been historically different, that theyve had to meet a different test because theyre there for a lifetime appointment and will be there long after the president has nominated them and left office. Once you put the two together, you do accelerate and aggravate the partisanship. Woodruff what are the consequences for policy . For ordinary americans watching all this, david, what will be the result of all of this . I think in the short term, the republicans will do a little retaliation. Theyre probably not going to cooperate maybe some of the water stuff, the agriculture bills, food, but in the short term we werent going to see much passage of anything anyway. Inow it the probably guy dye in both bodies. I think what youll see in the long term, if my supposition is correct, well go to a majority rule, 50vote rule on a couple of things is youll see wider things in policy. One of the nice chingz of ching, we have a lot of stability in our policy across really decades because because its hard to pass stuff. Now it will be much easier to pass stuff if its only a 50vote rule, so republicans swing policy this way, democrats will swing it that way, so well probably see wider policy swings and probably more instability. Woodruff sphwhrood is that what people will see . Just take, for example, judy, the historic civil rights act. They had a real filibuster, 504 hours of senate argument and debate over a mormonth period. They invoked cloture and ended the filibuster. On that vote there were 23 democrats who opposed end, the filibuster, opposed civil rights, and six republicans. Its reached the point now i dont care who the nom no is, the republicans remember against it simply buy a democratic did so. I think theyll they felt as long as the court of appeals in twawrks cannot make decisions and they cant in the republican system. What had refuse, confirm it, another joanother judge, all thn on civil rights, gay right, workers prre that court. Thats wh where all of the regulations and laws are appealed. And finally campaign financing. Judges have changedly the way we finance our campaigns. It is abit mal. Woodruff and thats coming frocomingfrom the Supreme Court. I know these decision do touch peoples live just not directly in the way they miesh keenly away of on a daily basis. Woodruff today is the day for both of you when the whole country looks back to president john kennedy. David, so much has been written about this over the last days. Surround, today weve been thinking about it all day long. How did this country change . Or did it change as a result of his presidency and his assassination. I think the whole presidency, really pique, the martyrology checks the wa way we define president s. Its a limited sense of what government can do and it should be balanced. We should expect bigness. We should just try to balance interest. Its a very modest sense of what government can do. Kennedy comes in with the inaugural, and promises to pay any burden, pay any price, and it is much more utopian, and that sense its underlined by the martyrdom, and by the mystique of camelot that grows up. Politicians since, president s since including reagan and kennedy and obama are trike to trike the same tone. To me, largeness of the politics has been subsequent disappointment when government can deliver the camelot dream. Its conversely inflated politics. Created a much more disstant college put but. Woodruff in a way, setting an unreachable standard. I van advantage over david. I lived through it. The first time i ever hey, i was two. The first time i ever slept in the same quarters with an African American and took orders from a African American was paris island in North Carolina and the only reason i did it was because the president of the United States harry truman said it was immoral in the final analysis to have americans fight and possibly die for their country and be separated by race. John kennedy did the same thing and was the first president to announce that policy. That segregation was immoral. The other thing he did that was so important and so missing is he called those who had been blessed and advantaged by education or by birth to an ethic, to summon them to Public Service, that they have a responsibility to service those who are less fortunate than themselves. It was best put judy i thought by a young peace corps volunteer when we was asked why he did it. He said i had never done anything unselfish, political, or patriotic. Nobody had asked me. Kennedy asked. And scd did ask and he did make a difference, brought thousands of people into Public Service at everyone level. And i think in the best cent of the country he touched what was best. Woodruff mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. Wooduff finally tonight, another take on the kennedy assassination. Gwen ifill sat down recently with a group of authors and historians to discuss the late president , and the mark he continues to leave on this nation, a half century after his death. Ifill to discuss president kennedys legacy and the impact of his assassination on the country, were join by Ellen Fitzpatrick, professor of history at the university of new hampshire. And author of the book letters to jackie condolences from a grieving nation. Now a documentary film. William p. Jones, professor of history at the university of wisconsin madison and author of the march on washington. Bill minutaglio, professor of journalism at the university of texas at austin. And coauthor of the book dallas, 1963. And bob dallek author of camelots court, inside the Kennedy White house, and an unfinished life. Welcome to you all. Nice to be here. Ifill its famously known that kennedys presidency lasted for 1,000 days. Yeah. Ifill was there a legacy that could be formed after 1,000 days . You know, a lot of people must think so since there are 40,000 books that have been published about him since he tied. And there is a very important legacy. Hes become an iconic figure. He commands 85 approval in a gallup poll. Its really kind of astonishing. The sixth briefest presidency in american history, 1,000 days, but you see, i think what recommends him so powerfully to people is they dont like his successors. Johnson was vietnam. Nixon with watergate. Fords frunicated presidency, jimmy carter, the two bushes. And kennedy, i think to this day, gives people kind of hope. Hes frozen in our minds at the age of 46. People cant imagine that now hed be 96 years old. But hes promised. Hes the future. He still looked like us. He has a kind of halo over his head. And you can write anything on the slate that you care to write. Ifill there are any number of things he certainly is credited with having accomplished during his brief time but i want to ask you, William Jones about one of them, and its civil rights. He was the president during the march on washington and it wasnt an issue he completely embraced, at least not at first. Thats right. I mean, i think actually this is a great example of the we in which people write meaning on to him. Civil rights leaders immediately were openly dismayed by the assassination. One said the bullet this slayed the president also paralyzed the civil right cause. And i think in some ways its a remarkable reaction given the fact these same leaders spent his entire administration really clashing with him and saying he was not doing anything. And it showed, i think, the degree to which they had actually pushed him around to supporting their cause. First, in june of 1963 with the protests in birmingham, which really forced him to come out and support a civil rights law and make a very powerful statement that civil rights was moral cause. And then in the fall, followinglet march on washington, embracing fair Employment Law and much stronger measures that he had been very reluctant to embrace but i think under the pressure of this really powerful Mass Movement had really changed his ideas. And so pie the time he was assassinated he was really seen as an important ally to the movement. Ifill Ellen Fitzpatrick there, have also been other echoes left postassassination that completely defind who john f. Kennedy was for so many people. Tell us about a couple of them. Well, i think that kennedy is somebody who in so many ways, there was a convergence here of a particular man way set of extraordinary skills, a great deal of charisma. He was an extraordinarily artic las ofalate politician, a very warm and charming human being. And theres a convergence of that with the new moment in our country, the rise of television. Kennedy was our First Television president. But in a unique moment when he suffered none of the townsides of the 24hour cable news stieblg, his private life, his medical history were really shieldfroshielded from the publ. And so he really occupies a unique moment in our history, and in some ways a very privileged position fair president to be in. And as bob said he is in a sense sort of frozen in that time. All of the revelations about him, all the the of the revisionism that historians have pursued since his death, have done very little to alter that mortrat that so Many Americans maintain about him gliem bill minutaglio, you write about a slais of the kennedy presidency, and how the people in dallas may not have seen john f. Kennedy in the way the rest of the nation did, and then came to after the assassination. Dallas was a singular city before kennedy was assassinated. It had become the citadel of antikennedy resistance in america, right there in the heart land, the buckle of the bible belt, fueled by millions of millions of dollars, oil men who resisted kennedy and suspected him of socialism. The leader of the baptist face in america was headquartered in dallas, texas, and believed kennedy was suffering through this control of the papacy as a roman catholic, catholicism being viewed in some ways as a dark art. Not everything was rosy in terms of the adulation of president kennedy. In the heart land of country there was this willing resistance, notion that he was going to overregulate, profess socialism, perhaps practice a strange religion and move things away from southern traditions. Ifill bob dallek, what do you think of that . How much of John Kennedys accomplishiments was driven by idealism and how much pragmatism and were people right to be scared he was pushing an agenda . Well, he did have an agenda, which was in Foreign Affairs. You know, he used to say that Foreign Policy can kill, but politics can only unseat you. And professor jones is quite right. He came late to the civil rights issue. When he finally got there, it was pretty heroic of him, in the sense he and bobby were convinced that pushing for that civil rights bill could cost them the 1964 election. But he finally saw it as a moral cause. It was something he could not ignore. But through his presidency, he was so focused on the issue of nuclear weapons. He was terrified that he might be the president who would have to pull that nuclear trigger. And he said to somebody during the presidency, id rather my kids be red than dead. Ifill William Jones did it seem the president fg descrabted by nuclear weapons, vietnam, the bay of picion and really putting more of his attention on those issues than issues closer to home . I think there were a number of ways in which his agenda was divergent from other people who were pushing for him. He also i think very much was a political actor. He was responding to polling numbers at the time. And they showed, as bob mentioned, that his he was very much at risk for supporting, particularly the struggle for racial equality. People thought he was moving too fast, even as civil rights activists thought he was not moving at all. There were these political calculations that were very important to him as they are to any president. Ifill and yet Ellen Fitzpatrick, no matter whether people agreed with him, disagreed with him, thought he was too catholic or too something else, on the day he was assassinate, the outpouring of grief and the common mourning that you chronicle in your book in the letters that people wrote to his widow was pretty much overwhelming. It was, and it crossed all ideological lines. There were that were written to his widow after his death. She received some 1. 5 million messages in the first year and a half after his death. And there were letters from segregationists. There were letters whose from people who supported his stance on civil rights. There were people who said they were looking forward to voting against him in 1964. There were people who thought he was equivalent to lincoln, a great emancipator. But across all of that spectrum, quite a uniform feeling that this was a terrible act, a terrible thing to have happened in the United States of america, and a real absolute disgust, really, that such a terrible act of violence could have deprived this nation of its elected president. Ifill bill minutaglio, did the fact of this assassination, did it change attitudes in a place like dallas, which you argue was the center of antikennedy resentment, or was the shame of it happening in the place where it occurred change dallas . It did change it. Its still in the marrow. Its still in the d. N. A. 50 years later people there still feel it. Its in the shadows. You know, dallas really wasnt a city of hate. It was objectified as a city of hate. People talk about it as the city that pulled the trigger that killed our president. And really what happened in dallas was that a very distinct but very powerful minority, people who basically had access to the pulpits, the airwaves, the media, and, frankly, a lot of money, were able to form a confederacy that was virulently antikennedy and attacked him and considered it a moral crusade. They were worried about enroach, socialism, and by extension communism, and as things escalated, particularly in 1963, an amazing year, dr. Martin luther king came in january of 63 to dallas in a quiet visit, witbut a bomb threat was made. Later on in 63 it got hotter and hotter and hotter in the city and in a famous comment the president said as he was approaching dallas, he turned to jackie and said, be prepared, were headed into nut country. I think he was just unafraid, and certainly not expect anything even row moatly like what happened. Ifill lets end where we began with bob dalleks comment on how this holds such a claim on our imagination five decades later. Why is that . Well, the assassination is important here. It was such a blow to the countrys sense of selfesteem, and it gave dallas a deepening sense of alienation towards dallas. But the feeling was this is not what we do in this country. This is not how politics should be conducted. But i think the most important thing is that Kennedy Still gives people a kind of hope, a kind of expectation of a better way. You know, my teacher was a man named richard hoff steadier, a great historian, who once said america is the only country in history that believes it was born perfect and stare, ivs and for improvement. Kennedy is very much attached to that. What i think, gwen, 50 years from now, will we be talking about john kennedy this way anymore . If we get another president who gen raits a kind of excitement, a kind of hope for us, kennedy will be eclipsed. But if we keep stumbling along, as we vehicle, i think so of i think kennedy will continue to have this extraordinary hold. Ifill you have all been great. This is a fascinating conversation. Thup william p. Jones. Bill minutaglio. Ellen fitzpatrick. And bob dallek. Wooduff later tonight on pbs charlie rose talks with clint hill, the secret Service Agent who jumped onto the back of the president ial limousine after the shots were fired. Check your local listings. Wooduff again, the major developments of the day americans and the world marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of president john f. Kennedy. The u. S. Stepped up pressure on afghan president karzai to sign a security deal by years end. It would govern u. S. Troops who may remain there past next year. And secretary of state john kerry headed to geneva to join sixnation talks with iran on freezing its nuclear programs. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived earlier. On the newshour online right now, flash back to the original thanksgiving table and youd likely see local food. Today, eating local is considered a specialty, but we found seven families who are challenging themselves to a 100mile thanksgiving this year. Find some of their recipes on our homepage. And mark and david have put together a very special holiday guide its their triedand tested formula for arguing politics with your relatives. Our online team put together a handy printout, so you can take it with you to grandmas house. Thats on our homepage. And we honor the life of c. S. Lewis, who died 50 years ago today. We spoke with gregory maguire, author of wicked and a childrens literature scholar, on lewis legacy. Thats on art beat. All that and more is on our website newshour. Pbs. Org. And a reminder about some upcoming programs from some more of our pbs colleagues. Gwen ifill is preparing for washington week, which airs later this evening. Heres a preview ifill action this week on filibuster, sexual assaults in the military, and the beginning of the end in afghanistan. Plus, a reflection on the interrupted legacy of president john f. Kennedy. Thats later tonight on washington week. Judy wooduff tomorrows edition of pbs newshour weekend looks at an innovative way to encourage americans to save. Special correspondent karla murthy reports on a Credit Union Plan called save to win. Heres an excerpt. In tonights megamillion jackpots is an estimated annuitized come 149 million. Its a moment that millions of americans wait for each week. Now, lets see if we can make you a millionaire tonight. The chance to win a huge, lifechanging amount of money. A check for 10,000. But now, some states are experimenting with a different kind of lottery, one where you wont necessarily win but you cant lose. applause wooduff thats tomorrow, on pbs newshour weekend. And well be back, right here, on monday. With a look at tunesias struggle to restart democracy; and we look to thanksgiving with a weeklong series on food. Thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Have a nice weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. 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 Macneil Lehrer productions 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 to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. At union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering Specialized Solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. We offer expertise and tailored solutions for Small Businesses and major corporations. What can we do for you . And now, bbc world news america. This is is bbc world news america. I am laura trevelyan. 50 years after president kennedy was assassinated in dallas, this city and the world stopped to mark that fateful day. Could a deal be close . State john kerry is going to geneva to join in talks nuclear program. Celebrating an ameri