geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. he "newshour" tonight, millions face record-breaking temperatures as a dangerous heat wave scorches the midwest and

east coast. geoff: russian president vladimir putin signs a mutual defense agreement with north korea's kim jong un, which could increase weapons supplies for russia's war in ukraine. amna: and on juneteenth, an investigation uncovers new details about america's broken promise to formerly enslaved people after the civil war. >> it wasn't just a promise that was spoken and then broken. they lived there for like up to a year and a half before they were kicked off. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour hrodeby -- >> consumer cellular. this is sam. how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket thought , i would let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son.

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supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ amna: what -- welcome to the newshour. te of millions of americans are baking in a dangerous early-summer heat wave. dozens of cities from the midwest to new england are expected to reach record highs as the heat index hits triple digits. the powerful "heat dome" is forecast to keep temperatures well above normal across much of the country through the weekend. meantime, wildfires are raging across the west, fueled by soaring temperatures and dry

conditions. in new mexico, two massive blazes forced thousands of evacuations and killed at least one person. and a major fire north of los angeles remained less than 40 percent contained. geoff: across the globe, authorities say hundreds died in saudi arabia, where temperatures reached 125 degrees at the grand mosque in mecca this week. more than a million people traveled to the country this week for the hajj, the annual islamic pilgrimage. in greece, a stifling heat wave was responsible for the deaths of multiple tourists, including a 55-year-old man from floral park, new york. we are joined by jeff goodell. life and death on a scorched planet. welcome back. some 75 million americans are under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory today.

some of these warnings are the first-ever ever in places like new hampshire and maine. how unusual is this heatwave we are seeing right now and how much of it is driven by climate change? >> that is a really good and important question. obviously, heat waves are nothing new. but what else is not new is that scientists have known for more than 100 years that adding co2 to the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels primarily is warming up our planet. 2023 was the hottest year on human record. 10 of the last hottest years have been in the last decade so what we are seeing today is completely consistent with what science tells us. we are seeing longer heat waves, more extreme heat waves, we are seeing them starting earlier in the year, and we are seeing them in unusual places that we have not seen before. geoff: i know from having read your book that extreme heat is the deadliest form of severe weather. what are the particular dangers

of a drawnout heatwave like this and who is the most affected? >> our bodies are heat machines. we have this, you know, unconscious mechanism in our bodies that keeps our bodies in a very stable temperature. i think everyone knows that. when we go to the doctor, the first thing the doctor does is take your temperature. it is a sign that things are wrong. what happens during these extreme heat events is that our body has to work much harder to maintain that temperature so what happens is your heart starts pounding and pushing more blood towards the surface of your skin where it can be cooled through sweating and that can work for a while but if the temperatures get too high, it really puts your life at risk. not everybody is equally vulnerable. people who are older or have weak hearts, young children, pregnant women, people in certain kinds of medications, their bodies cannot regulate the temperature and once your body starts warming up, it is really not pretty what happens. geoff: it raises the question of

what to do about all of this. earlier this week from a coalition of labor and environmental groups filed a petition to urge fema to include extreme heat and wildfire smoke in their definition of major disasters. how might that help and what are the challenges to that approach from a and otherwise? >> that is an important question, too. disasters that impact on major infrastructure, where federal por lines and provide housing for people whose homehave bn destroyed in hurricanes and other -- and other events like that. heat waves are entirely different, events that don't do a lot of damage to infrastructure but do a lot of damage to human beings. they are mass mortality events. fema is in the process of reevaluating how it defines major disaster.

it is not just fema, i should say. they are behind on thinking about how they deal with extreme heat in other cases also. the osha -- occupational safety and health administration -- has been working for seven years or so on several heat standards and it still has not been able to come up with it. so the government is really behind on understanding and dealing with these extreme heat events. geoff: in the meantime, the world is getting hotter. what is life on a much hotter planet look like? >> i live in austin, texas. i can tell you very well what life on a much hotter planet looks like. we had 40 days about 105 degrees last summer and it's looking like that again. you have a vampire life. you stay inside during the day if you are lucky enough to have air conditioning. you go out in the morning. you go out in the evening. this is manageable to a certain

level. you know, but as this heat increases hotter and hotter, risks vulnerable people gets greater and greater. i call heat a predatory force in my book. it really does go after the most vulnerable people first so we are going to see more and more suffering and more and more loss as these temperatures climb. geoff: thanks so much for your insights. >> thanks for having me. amna: in the day's other headlines, the first named tropical storm of the atlantic hurricane season is brewing in the gulf of mexico. it bears the name "alberto," kicking off the alphabet for what is forecast to be a busy year for tse storms. "alberto" formed this morning some 300 miles southeast of brownsville, texas, with

sustained winds of 40 miles-per-hour. tropical storm warnings were in effect today along much of the state's southern shoreline. it's due to make landfall in northern mexico on thursday, an area that's already seen rough waves and heavy rains. relatives of the victims of two boeing 737 max crashes have asked the justice department to criminally charge the plane-maker and seek a fine of more than $24 billion. in a letter to the doj, a lawyer for 15 families wrote that the request is legally justified because, quote, "boeing's crime is the deadliest corporate crime in u.s. history." the letter comes a day after boeing's ceo dave calhoun apologized to families in a dramatic moment in senate testimony. 346 people were killed in two boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019. cyril ramaphosa has promised a new era for south africa, as he was sworn in for a second ll ramaphosa's re-election comes after his "african national

congress" party lost its 30-year majority in last month's vote. the anc struck a deal with the opposition democratic alliance to form a coalition government. today a military parade marched through the capital before ramaphosa addressed the nation, saying voters want to see unity from their leaders. >> the people of south africa have stressed that they are impatient with political bickering. today, i stand before you as your humble servant to say we have heard you. amna: ramaphosa went on to say that south africa remains, quote, "deeply unequal and highly polarized," and promised to work on providing basic services like housing and clean water. he is set to appoint a cabinet for the new coalition government. a russian court has sentenced an american soldier to nearly fou years in prison for stealing and

making threats of murder. officersrought staff sargeant gordon black to the court in vladivostok in eastern russia today. authorities say he was arrested during an unauthorized trip to the country to see his girlfriend, who accused black of stealing money from her wallet. the sentence comes as the u.s. contues to work on the release of other americans held in russian jails. they include former u.s. marine paul whelan and wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich. british authorities arrested two climate activists today for defacing the stonehee monument. video captured the protesters spraying the megaliths with orange paint, as an onlooker tried to stop them. they're members of the environmental activist group just stop oil, which said on social media that the paint is made of corn starch and will dissolve in thrain.

the incident comes a day before thousands wi gather at the 45-hundred-year-old monument to celebrate the summer solstice. mexico's president asked his foreign minister today to work with the u.s. ambassador to resume inspections of avocados. the u.s. suspended inspections in the state of michoacan after two agricultural department employees were assaulted and temporarily held by assailants. michoacan is mexico's biggest exporter of avocados. farmtheye s're ensitid about their jobs if the usda suspension. a lot with the we can't export even a single avocado. the government should do its job and guarantee the safety of the inspectors so they can do their job. we want to work, but we can't do it without them." amna: ressured,he current halt on inspections won't entirely block shipments of mexican avocados to the u.s. many michoacan avocados are already in transit, and the state of jalisco also exports them. louisiana has become the first state to require that the ten commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms.

that includes kindergartens, all the way through state-funded universities. the republican-led bill that became law today mandates a poster-sized display of the commandments be clearly visible. and it must include a four-paragraph context statement describing how they were "a prominent part of american public education for almost three centuries." the displays must be in place by the start of 2025. critics question the consitutionality of the measure, and say lawsuits can be expected. americans have been honoring the juneteenth federal holiday, marking the moment in 1865 when word reached the enslaved people of galveston, texas that they were freed by the emancipation proclamation. that was 2.5 years after president lincoln issued the decree. the city of dallas commemorated the event, a 2.5 mile "walk for freedom." that's an annual march led by 97-year-old opal lee, who is widely known as the "grandmother of juneteenth." >> i'm delighted, i really am,

that so many of you are celebrating freedom, and i don't mean freedom in texas or freedom for black people, i mean freedom for all of us. amna: lee was instrumental in making juneteenth a nationally-recognized holiday, in 2021. the day was already celebrated by many black communities for more than a century. still to come on the "newshour", a look at the latest round of primary election results from virginia, georgia, and oklahoma . doctor anthony fauci discusses death threats and his legacy in the second part of our interview on his new memoir and baseball mourns the passing of one of its all-time greats, willie mays. >> this is the ebs newshour from weta studios in washington

and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: russia and north korea have taken a step toward improving relations, as president vladimir putin and kim jong-un signed a strategic partnership agreement today. both sides pledged to help each other's defense and security, and to fight off sanctions. stephanie sy has the story. stephanie: as the russian jet rolled into pyongyang, the north koreans rolled out the red carpet. leader kim jong-un welcomed president vladimir putin to north korea for the first time in 24 years. as putin looks for support for his war in ukraine, kim hopes to find an economic and military ally. the tone for the summit was set with a sturdy embrace. in recent years, the countries have flirted with stronger ties. kim jong-un first traveled to russia in 2019 and again in 2023 to meet putin, but neither trip produced a formal alliance.

the u.s. accuses north korea of sending ammunition and weapons to russia for its war in ukraine. and worries that in exchange , russia is boosting north korea's nuclear program. kim and putin have denied it, since such a trade would violate u.n. sanctions. but in march, a russian veto on the security council ended the u.n.'s monitoring of nuclear sanctions on north korea and raised alarm bells. >> "[01:16]we highly appreciate -- >> we highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for russian policy, i am referring to our fight against the hegemonic policy imposed for decades, the imperialist policy of the united states and its satellites against the russian federation. stephanie: today's summit formalized the strongest relationship between the two countries since the cold war. [applause] >> our two countries' relations have been elevated to a new, high level of alliance, laying the legal groundwork for the grand ideas of leadership of the two countries and longing of our -- the two countries.

stephanie: the treaty includes military-technical cooperation between the two countries, a mutual defense pact, and opposition to western sanctions against north korea. before the agreement was announced, the pentagon raised red flags. >> the deepening cooperation between russia and the dprk is something that should be of concern. >> what happens in europe matters for asia, and what happens in asia matters for us. stephanie: nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg appeared with secretary of state antony blinken yesterday ahead of the summit. >> we've seen, as you've said, russia try in desperation to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against ukraine. stephanie: in pyongyang, the state visit came to an end with dinner and drinks as the two leaders made a show of their deepening partnership. while the details of what the russians and north koreans agreed to has not been made public, some observers are

concerned. for more, we turn to robert gallucci. he was the u.s. state department's lead negotiator with north korea in 1994, when the north agreed to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for economic benefits. he is also a professor at georgetown university. robert, thank you so much for joining the newshour. putin and kim announced they signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty and putin called it a breakthrough document. as we start to see some details come out, do you see it that way? is it a big deal? robert: it is important and negative, both of those things. but it's not a fundamental change in the nature of relations of major states. it is not good news in terms of what the north koreans have been supplying the russians so that they can more effectively prosecute their invasion and war

against ukraine. that is not good news. on the other hand, we can't be really sure what it is exactly the russians are going to transfer to the north koreans. stephanie: let's break down the significant parts of what we do know, starting with what putin called "military technical cooperation." do you think that is a concerning development? the announcement of that. and what could it mean as far as pyongyang's nuclear weapons capability? what could they transfer? robert: the key issue is will the russians materially assist the north koreans in having a more effective, more threatening nuclear weapons capability? and by that, i mean not only the weapons themselves, thermonuclear weapons, as opposed to simple fission weapons. will the yield go up? will the confidence that the north koreans have in their weapons go up thanks to russian

assistance? will the delivery vehicles, the ballistic missiles, particularly the intercontinental ballistic missiles, they have for a long time been no questions about whether the north should have any confidence in their icbm's, in their ability to deliver nuclear weapons against continental united states, given that they can't be sure that the warheads contending these nuclear weapons would actually survive the trip and reentry and work effectively. it is not clear at all in what we stand -- understand will be the language of this, when and if it is released. that the russians are committing to make these kinds of transfers. amna: i assume those with -- stephanie: i assume this would be violations of international law and sanctions. both countries have been under varying sanctions especially north korea. and if you believe u.s. officials, both are already

violating these sanctions through these arms and ammunition transfers to do with ukraine. you have engaged in high-level diplomacy with north korea in the past. what can and should be done now by the biden administration? robert: we should deplore what the russian move signals and that is first no longer a willingness on the part of the russians to see the direction of events to lead to an eventual denuclearization of the peninsula. the russians had been a board with the chinese and sort of the rest of the world as sanctioning you and sanctions, sanctioning the north koreans for their ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development. having this, if it does nothing else, signals to russians that they are no longer aboard. that ought to be deplored and criticized. amna: is it also bad news that part of this agreement includes a mutual defense pact?

robert: even if i have the text in front of me, it is hard to tell. when the russians make a deal and they have been cleared, they don't call it an alliance. the north call it an alliance but not the russians. the last time the russians made a security commitment that i know of like this was 1994 in the budapest memorandum when they promised that they were not threatening ukraine security but we all know what that was worth and we all ought to remember nothing has changed here, really. the north has been providing this military aid to the russians. the russians are still pursuing their invasion of ukraine. we have talked about the one thing that might be important and different and that is if the russians started supplying technical assistance to the weapons of mass destruction and delivery vehicles that the north koreans have been developing for the last 25 years. amna: robert, thank -- stephanie: robert, thank you so

much for joining us with your analysis. i appreciate it. robert: thank you so much. amna: virginia, oklahoma, and georgia held primary and runoff elections last night and the results in some key races could say a lot about the state of the republican party this election cycle. lisa desjardins has been following it all closely and joins me now. lisa, let's begin in virginia now where the chair of the house freedom caucus is in danger of losing a seat to another republican. tell us about the race and the results so far. lisa: this is one of them assist ordinary primary races we are probably going to see all year. we are talking about republican bob good, the chairman of the house freedom caucus. he had a republican challenger. both men, very conservative. both men, big supporters of former president trump. let's look at where this race is right now. if you look at the total, just

barely within half a percentage point, and make -- my calculus and is 321 votes to separate these men right now but john mcguire, he is a brand-new state senator, just at that office in january, winning over the incumbent congressman by 321 votes right now. what is the big difference between these two guys? let's look at this. former president trump endorsed mcguire, a nonincumbent and opposed bob good. why is that? it happens that bob good endorsed ron desantis in the primary. both of these men have signs saying they support donald trump. this has been a real test of trump and whether he can convince people in a district to vote against an incumbent who has served them for almost two terms now. amna: it is rare for an incumbent toulouse in a primary like this. why is it one to watch? lisa: what is happening here is trump taking over the republican party continually. the house freedom caucus does generally support former president trump.

it's one of the few wildcards left in the house. we have covered the dysfunction and the kind of bucking that has gone on from the house freedom caucus. bob good is someone who pushed for and led to the ouster of kevin mccarthy. this is a hard group to control. so it could be said that this is a group that perhaps someone coming into office as the president would like to make sure he can control. bob good did not endorse him. that is something the former president did not like. when you talk to political experts like larry sabado at the university of virginia, he says this is a highly unusual race. >> incumbents almost never lose party primaries and the fact that one who is as entrenched as bob good, who is also a major national figure, main chairman of the freedom caucus, should lose even by one vote is a headline. the message was very clear. donald trump was saying if you cross me personally and if you

cross my agenda, this could happen to you. >> conservative outside group supported $10 million in this republican versus republican race. that is extraordinary. groups from everything from marjorie taylor greene have been supporting john mcguire. kevin mccarthy has gotten involved in this race. right now, where it stands is bob good is not saying that he's lost. he's going to wait because under virginia law, ballots that were filed. postmarked by election time. if they are received by friday, they still count so we really don't know where this race is going to end up. amna: you are tracking a number of other races as well. tell us what you are watching and why they matter. lisa: tom cole is a well-known republican, now the chairman of the house appropriations committee. he also had a challenger from the right who said he is too friendly with democrats. he easily won that election but it was something that people were watching very closely. he is sort of a voice of

moderation in the house republican conference. another race in georgia in the fifth congressional district. a candidate there was someone who was convicted on january 6. we are going to get to the deficit in just a second but there was aandidate in the georgia fifth congressional district who was convicted of entering the capital with his wife on january 6. that is chuck right there, the republican. he lost in that primary. it was a real test to see if there was support for someone like that who faced actual gentle -- jail time because of january 6. those were two races we were watching as well. amna: i want to turn to the congressional budget office. let's just focus on that story first. the cbo came out with a stunning conclusion about the deficit. tell us what that was. lisa: let's get right to that graphic that popped up. the cbo has said their projection is now that we will have a $1.9 trillion deficit this year. that is much larger than they originally forecast and it is about 7% of our gross domestic

product so right now, we are pushing about $1 trillion in interest payments in this country each year just on interest on our debt and why did things go up? student loans. the forgiveness program's in the biden administration, that cost more than they thought it would and medicaid costs also have been larger than expected. amna: how is this connected to the races you were following, lisa? lisa: let's connect it altogether. bob good and the freedom caucus, their central raison d'etre has been about cutting spending and if former president trump or whoever becomes president, whoever winds this election, they will have to reckon with potentially a freedom caucus that will still try and say we are not going to support any bills that raise spending or that don't cut it more so the freedom caucus that has less power really does have an effect potential on the deficit and also on the functioning and potential shutdowns ahead.

these issues are all very connected. freedom caucus is one of the loudest voices on the deficit but a voice that some people say is too disruptive so that is why these matter quite a lot. amna: lisa desjardins, thank you very much. lisa: you are welcome. amna: after the civil war, the federal government's pledge of 40 acres and a mule to the formerly enslaved has long been known as a broken promise, but a new investigative report reveals that not only did the government grant land to hundreds of formerly enslaved people, it also took that land back and returned it to white southerners. that two-year reporting project, done by the center for public integrity, reveal, and mother jones, is now the largest collection of land titles from the 40 acres program ever to be analyzed and published. i spoke recently with, alexia

fernandez campbell a senior investigative reporter at the center for public integrity. take me back to the fall of 2021. you were working on an entirely different project unrelated to this. you're digging through the digital archives at the smithsonian, and you come across the name fergus wilson on an 1865 document. how does that change the course of your reporting? alexia: yeah, because i didn't immediately realize what i was looking at. and then i did. i was like, this is the 40 acres program. and i was thinking, but everything i knew about it was that it was a promise that was never kept and something that didn't happen. so to me, like that disconnect where like, oh, there are land titles. i don't think this is common knowledge. amna: so a lot of folks have heard this phrase, right. 40 acres and a mule, as you say. a lot of people thought, okay, this just never happened. and your reporting is called 40 acres and a lie. what's the truth behind this program? what do people not know? alexia: what people don't know is that there were it wasn't just a promise that was spoken and then broken. people were received land titles. we found more than 1250 people

who got land titles, men and women. they picked out their plots of land, mostly on the plantations where they were enslaved. actually, not everyone got 40 acres, which is another misconception. it was up to 40 acres. and then people were like living there. they were planting their crops. they were selling them in savannah. some of them, like, formed, governments. they elected a sheriff. they they were living their lives, and they lived there for like up to a year and a half before they were kicked off. amna: they were kicked off. i want to stop you there so you can tell us a little bit more and also remind people what it took you to get to the point of finding those 1200 people that you did, you and your reporting team, you reviewed thousands of records. you conducted hours of genealogical research. you even employed artificial intelligence to sort through the millions of documents online. you mentioned these families. we're talking about a stretch of land in georgia and south carolina. we should point out how did they get kicked off the land that the government gave them? alexia: basically, because lincoln was assassinated. i mean, they had promised this land. they gave land titles. the government said, this is yours. you deserve it. t congress needed to make those titles permanent.

and everyone thought they had they had a majority in congress who were willing to do it. but andrew johnson, he was the vice president. he was a white supremacist. and he he sided with the planters who wanted their land back. and he vetoed every effort to make those land titles permanent. amna: so how are those families removed? they were literally forcibly removed from the land. alexia: some of them were. some of them revolted. some of them were forced, pressured to sign work contracts, basically to work with their former enslaver. and some just said, no way, and they left. amna: i want to name some of the people you uncovered here because their names have otherwise been lost to history. fergus wilson is one, jim hutchinson is another. pompei jackson is a third. you managed to track down some of their descendants as well. did they know about the land and the history you're sharing with us now? alexia fernandez campbell: a lot of them did not. a lot of them did not. and i even spoke with one descendant who has been researching her family diligently. she lived with her great grandmother, who was pompey's daughter, and even she thinks her daughter, his daughter didn't know. so she was amazed to hear this history. amna: you did a little more research to talk about the value of the land. this is an important part of

your reporting here. one four acre lot that you identified in jacksonville, florida. based on a sale last year that it would -- today, 40 acres would be worth $2.5 million there. it's not just the land that was lost here in your reporting. tell me about what else you found. alexia: yeah, well, just that generational wealth that wasn't passed on because, you know, this 40 acres land was all the coast. it's like expensive coastal real estate. we found gated communities, that are like golf courses, gated -- and restaurants in this gated -- restaurants incredibly , valuable land. so this is land that was not this is wealth that was not passed on. it's the impact on people who are alive today. amna: the people who live there now, the communities that are there now, is any of this history part of what they know? are they aware of it? alexia: no, absolutely not. and it was very jarring for me to go to some places where it's there's no sign other than like the habersham plantation gated community. that's, i guess, that sign. but as far as the 40 acres that it was given to someone and taken back, there's zero signs. amna: do you have any way of calculating the full loss of generational wealth here? alexia: that was that was actually one of the hardest things to do. we wanted to because there were like 75 plantations more where

this land titles were handed out. but we couldn't find maps for all these old plantions to figure out exactly where they were. so we had to just use these examples and the examples we found. so when, when where like shocking, like, like you said, millions of dollars for 40 acres today. amna: so when you speak to descendants of these families, what kind of reaction did you get? i mean, knowing about the generational wealth that was lost, about the historical injustice. this that that transpired here. what are their reactions today? alexia: people have had a lot of different reactions. i would say a very common one was a cynicism, kind of like, yeah, of course the government took it away. like, of course we would be given land and my ancestors were given land and be taken away because this is just what like -- that was just the beginning of like many hundreds of years of like injustices against the black americans. so a lot of people were not surprised. there were some people who were surprised to find out they were personally connected to that history, but not that this was something they were not. no one was surprised that the land was taken back. amna: there is a sort of what now component to all this, right? is there a way to correct a historical justice like this?

alexia: some people have been asking if there's any legal recourse. everyone we spoke to, the experts said that because they weren't permanent titles, that they needed to be basically ratified by congress, there's no legal recourse. but it's also an unprecedented. no one's ever, like, challenge this. so, a situation like this in court, however, there are people who we spoke to who think that, you know, there is a moral issue here of this. like it's such like a glaring injustice. and there are people with names who got land titles and descendants, like, it's not just some abstract idea of like, people lost this wealth and that maybe there's a moral claim for like reparations or something like that. amna: it's just a remarkable piece of reporting. i know a labor of love for you and your team. two and a half years of work there. it's online now for anyone who wants to read the whole thing. 40 acres and a lie. alexia fernandez campbell, thank you so much for joining us today. alexia: thanks for having me. ♪ geoff: now, part two of our

conversation with dr. anthony fauci. last night, we discussed his experience leading the country through two of the greatest public health crises of our time, hiv/aids and covid-19. tonight, more on his his fraught -- tonight, more on his fraught relationship with former president trump, the partisan attacks he faced that turned into real threats, and how he views his own legacy after a nearly six-decade career. all captured in his new memoir "on call: a doctor's journey in public service." what was your relationship behind the scenes with president trump like? mr. found she -- mr. fo fouci: well, you know, i described it in in in some detail in the book. it was really it was complicated because when we first met, we

had a real good rapport with us. i describe it. maybe it was sort of, you know, a guy raised in queens and a guy raised in brooklyn. we had that similar new york swagger. whatever you wanted to call it that we related to each other, and in the beginning, he actually listened to what we were saying and went along with it. but when it became clear that the virus was not gonna disappear, and it was not gonna peak in february and go away in in april the way the flu does, and as we got into the season of preparing for the election, then we started to go separately, because that's when i had a -- to contradict him, which was painful for me to do that. you know, the the people in the -- you know, the people in the white house staff thought i was doing that because i wanted to get it. not at all. there was not comfortable for me to do that. but that's when it went from. hey, we're buddy buddies, to you know, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. he's wrong. so it started off of actually, quite a good relationship. geoff: you write in the book that, uh, he once told you that he'd never had a flu shot because to to him, he'd never had the flu. so there was no reason to get a flu shot. which sort of reveals a certain lack of understanding about the kind of work that you do. was he receptive to the information that you were sharing with him, uh, during the pandemic?

mr. fouci: well, you know, i think at the moment i was giving the information to him he was receptive. but the way the white house worked is that you walked out of the oval office of the situation room. and then somebody else would be talking to him. and it is, i would say not likely, but it happened that that would contradict the information that i gave him. so it isn't as if i tell him this and i'm the last word as well as with deborah birx, too. i mean, she would say something, and maybe not the last word. then that's what happened when, when atlas came into the white house and it undermines some of the things that deb burks and i were trying to tell him. geoff: the attacks on you. the rhetorical attacks on you actually led to to real threats. in one case in august, 2020 you're opening your mail and this white powder just explodes all over you, your face your chest. it turned out that the the -- it turned out that the powder was not dangerous. still a harrowing experience. after that, you went back to work. i think a lot of people would have forgiven you.

-- forgiven you if you said you know what? this is too much. i've served this nation. i'm done. but why did you go back? why did you continue on the job? mr. fouci: there was no question that i would go back because this is what i do. i mean, i'm a physician. i'm a scientist. i've devoted my entire professional career to fighting outbreaks of infectious disease. there wasn't a chance in the world. i mean, they could have had somebody come in with a gun and point it. i mean, i still would have gone to the next day. mr. fouci: -- geoff: you never thought about quitting? how's your family feel about that? mr. fouci: my wife, christine grady. doctor grady is incredibly supportive of me. they were times when she would bring up the question. you mean is this what you continue? really want to do? and i would say, you know, chris? d once i did that she was 100% supportive. geoff: reflecting on the the pandemic. the partisan policy responses , the misinformation, the disinformation. it raises the real question of whether americans will listen to

federal public health officials and the guidance that they provide the next time. a major epidemic rolls around. how how do you see it? -- how do you see it? mr. fouci: i'm very concerned. i mean, deeply concerned about what misinformation and disinformation has done because right now, we have what i've called and have written about as the normal of untruths. -- normalization of untruths. there is so much false information and untruths out there that after a while, people shrug their shoulders and say, well, we don't know what's true. and once you have a doubt as to what's true or not science, which is based on the truth and data and evidence, all of a sudden, you stop trusting the scientific process and science, and that's really dangerous. geoff: how do you respond to the accusations that mixed messaging from public health officials to include yourself added to the confusion during the pandemic and added to some of the lack of trust. mr. fouci: you know, i think to be perfectly honest and humble about it, there was some mixed and perhaps garbled message that

came out. i know the cdc even admitted that there were times when the message was gobbled for the man -- garbled for the man and woman in the street. geoff: you say in the book that you wanted to reflect on what it means to devote one's life to public service. what has that required of you? and what has it required of your family? mr. fouci: it's required some sacrifice. um, in a perfect world where there's no conflict, it's hard work long hours, but very, very gratifying and the rewards that you get personally of seeing what you can do, saving lives, making people feel more safe is is makes up for all the 16 and 18 hour days. when you throw into that the complication of the divisiveness that we had to face that makes it much, much more stressful because it's tough enough and the gratification is there. but when you have what i and my colleagues, i'm not alone had to go through. that's tough, and i hope that

that's not a disincentive for people to want to go into science, medicine, public health and public service. but i keep saying, and i'm honest about it. the truth is that the gratification that you can get from saving lives and and and -- from saving lives and protecting the of the american public is overwhelmingly in the balance of risk-benefit. the benefit is way out there. geoff: is that what you would tell young people who want to follow in your footsteps? mr. fouci: i do. i do. because they do ask me now, frequently, now, doctor fauci, if you were in my shoes, you know back then would you do this now? knowing what you knew, and i tell them absolutely 100%. i would do it again. geoff: the process of putting together a memoir like this, i imagine you a lot about your impact. how you wanna be remembered your -- be remembered, your legacy? what do you want people to to take away from your life and

your contributions to this country? mr. fauci: you know, i think it's simple. i think when you talk about legacy to me, legacy are for other people to evaluate. years from now or maybe a year or two or maybe 10 years from now what? i would like people to know if they ask me. what do you want me to know about you? is that without a doubt? i gave it 100%, 110% every day, you know and to use. a metaphor from sports. i left it all out on the court every day, and that's what i want to be remembered for whether you think i did well or how good i was or what might come. that's what i did every day. geoff: doctor anthony fauci. the book is "on call, a doctor's journey in public service." thanks so much for speaking with us. we appreciate it. mr. fauci: thank you for having me. geoff: finally tonight, we say goodbye to the "say hey kid." baseball great willie mays died peacefully, surrounded by

family, on tuesday afternoon in the bay area, where he's forever remembered as a star of the san francisco giants. he was 93 years old. we look back now on his legacy. >> way, way back to center field and it is, oh! geoff: his play was the stuff of legend. announcer: willie mays with a catch that must've been an optical illusion. geoff: known simply as "the catch" in game one of the 1954 world series, a championship mays would go on to win, the iconic and logic-defying play captured the magic of willie mays' career. one that earned him the nickname the "say hey kid." ♪ geoff: appearing in a record 24 all-star games, he could do it all. with 12 gold gloves, the center fielder could catch. he could steal bases with

blazing speed, sometimes losing his hat along the way. and, when it was his turn at bat, home run, after home run, after home run, 660 home runs rocketed past the fences , the sixth most all-time. >> i think the general consensus now is that willie mays is the greatest so-called five tool player in baseball history hit for average, hit for power, run, field and throw. he could do all of those things at the highest possible level. geoff: mays was voted into the hall of fame in 1979 his first year of eligibility. but his beginnings were far more humble. born in westfield, alabama, in 1931, mays was the son of a negro league player, and he started his pro career in 1948 with the negro league birmingham black barons, at just 16 years old. in 1951, he made his major league debut with the new york

giants, a year he captured national league rookie of the year. beloved by fans for his dazzling play, his exuberant smile, and for giving to the game's next generation. mays would even play stick ball with children in new york city streets. >> they'd knock on my window. i would go out, play stick ball for about an hour, two hours, and then, i'd buy everybody ice creams. geoff: less than a decade later, his play went coast-to-coast, when the new york giants became the san francisco giants. even though he was already a star and a world series champ, the welcome wasn't always warm. >> every time i went to the plate, they were expecting a home run outta me. why, why are they booing me? geoff: but, it didn't take long for mays to win over another city and another fan base. >> joe dimaggio, though he played for the yankees, was from san francisco, and san franciscans wanted their own players, so they had willie mccovey and orlando cepeda. they felt like maybe willie was a new york giant. but then over time, he won them all over. because even those though those were hall of fame players, willie was the best of all of them. geoff: taking the boys of the

bay to a world series appearance in 1962, and an mvp season in 1965. in 1972, mays went back to where it all began new york city , to play for the mets. the aging superstar played less and less, but he helped elevate yet another team to the world series in 1973, a series they would lose. but, when he retired that same year, he looked back on a storied career, and knew he'd left nothing on the field. >> the game of baseball has been great to me. geoff: others after him, even outside the world of sport, acknowledged the path he paved. mr. obama: it's because of giants like willie that someone like me could even think about running for president. geoff: former president barack obama honored mays with the 2015 presidential medal of freedom for his indelible mark on american sports and society. for some more perspective on the legacy of willie mays, i'm joined by howard bryant, author and senior writer for espn.

howard, thank you for being with us. what made willie mays the signature player of his day and ultimately the greatest all-around player of all time? howard: the first thing about him is the electricity. i think it is an interesting contrast to baseball today where the game is essentially sold by math and science and numbers and launch angle and exit velocity and the two sticks. willie mays was electricity. he was emotion. for people who talk about him with that sort of reference when they watched him play, he made you feel something. it was all about the projection of young kids wanting to be like him, the real idolizing of a hero who could do things on the baseball field that everyone wished they could do and then he also put up the huge numbers as well but when you think about willie mays as a player, the thing that you think about most

is into 600 60 home runs order the 3283 hits or any of those things. it is the movement. it is the catch p.a.d. even in black-and-white, people turn their backs on things that are black-and-white these days but even then, you watch him run the bases, you watch him move and that is a ballplayer. that makes you want to go to the ballpark and it brings back all the memories. he was representative of the golden age of new york baseball in the 1950's in baseball in general. geoff: is that how he managed to capture the american imagination? howard: it was two things. charisma. we love stars especially as we are getting into the television age where it's not you are moving away from baseball and sports and media in general being a newspaper industry into a television industry and to watch him play just was pure joy. i think it was that and i also think it was something else which people do not talk about a whole lot when it comes to

willie mays and that was in contrast to jackie robinson, who was a smoldering player, who was constantly pushing boundaries, he was a black player who was there at the beginning, who did not force that on him so you were able to enjoy him. you were able to see integration in action without the heavy politics of it and that was an interesting balance for him but when you think about the joy that he brought to the game, it was an uncomplicated joy whereas jackie robinson was in a stream the complicated player because he was so much more political and i think that had a lot to do with it. geoff: how did willie mays view his role and his response ability? he did face some criticism including from jackie robinson for not using his position in american life to be more prominent in the civil rights movement? >> not everyone will protest.

not everyone is a marcher. not everyone is the one who is going to make those headlines. willie still had to deal with things. he was a rookie in 1951 and during spring training when the new york giants used to train in arizona, he was not allowed to stay with his teammates because scottsdale was a san downtown. it did not allow blacks after sundown so he dealt with a lot of things. when the giants moved to san francisco, he was not allowed to buy a house down the peninsula. there were all kinds of different things that he went through and he was absolutely hurt by jackie's criticism. in jackie robinson's 1964 book, he criticizes him for not using that outsized celebrity to force people to take him as a whole, that if you are going to enjoy my talent and emulate me, you

also have to allow me and want me to live next door to you. i cannot just carry that inside. willie carried it inside and i think he was very conflicted by one that it wasn't his personality, but two, things that hurt him as well. geoff: how did willie mays elevate the game of baseball? howard: it is an interesting contrast to where we are today. when anything about baseball, the very first thing that baseball met that people talk about with the sport, it's not just the fact that there's only 6.3% lack american participation in the game. the game lacks stars. who is the greatest player in baseball today. there is no baseball layer at the equivalent of a tom brady or lebron james or any of those great players in the other sports that people just look at and you say, yes, that is our game. willie mays was a staple. when he said baseball, when you said willie mays's name, everybody knew who you were

talking about. he was on sitcoms. and he was the face of the sport for an entire generation or two. and that is what sports does for people and willie mays was the guy who made you connect to the sport and that lasted until the very day he passed. geoff: howard bryant, thank you so much for sharing your insights with us. i appreciate it. howard: my pleasure. amna: before we go, we have heard from some of you that your dvr recordings of the newshour have mysteriously stopped. we have ever so slightly renamed the program pbs newshour with a space between news and our as part of our recent rebranding on-air and online. this change is throwing off some scheduled dvr recording so

please do reset. we apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your online feedback! geoff: i encountered that problem myself. join us again here tomorrow night for new book recommendations to add to your summer reading list this year. and that's the news hour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years, bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour

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