♪ john: tonight on pbs news weekend, on the eve of the democratic national convention in chicago, polls show vice president harris gaining ground in key swing states. then, america at a crossroads. a look back at the chaos that

consumed the 1968 democratic convention in chicago, and why it's unlikely to happen again this time. >> america before august 28th, 1968, and after august 28th,1968 was a different america. the idea that this convention will, be a watershed is pretty much inconceivable. now, this election might be a watershed. john: and, why a device used to treat a deadly heart condition is under scrutiny. ♪ >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by. >> consumer cellular, how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. somebody's pocket, thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide, -- coverage with no contract. have a nice day.

>> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ and friends of the news hour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ john: good evening. i'm john yang. secretary of state antony blinken is in israel tonight to try to nail down a ceasefire deal, despite some hamas objections, as israel mounted fresh assaults on gaza. israeli airstrikes killeat least 29 people, including six children. israel says it was targeting hamas rocket launchers.

in a cabinet meeting today, prime minister bejanmin netanyahu said he could be flexibile on some parts of a u.s.-backed ceasefire proposal, but would stand firm on others. netanyahu and blinken are to meet tomorrow, and blinken is to fly to egypt on tuesday. ukraine is ramping up military operatns in its nearly two-week-old incursion into russia. ukrainian armed forces video shows a vital bridge in russia's kursk region being hit by an airstrike. it's the second key span that's been destroyed, severely hampering russian supply lines. president volodymyr zelenskyy is asking western allies to lift remaining restrictions on using long-range western weans to strike targets deeper in russia while russia is weakened. on the eve of the democratic convention, vice president kamala harris was in the key swing state of pennsylvania today. harris and running mate, minnesota governor tim walz, made calls to supporters. speaking to volunteers, harris compared her leadership style with donald trump's.

>> this campaign is about a recognition that, frankly, over the last several years, there's been this kind of perversion that has taken place, i think, which is to suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down. when what we know is, the real and true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. john: former president trump and running mate j.d. vance will also hold events in pennsylvan tomorrow. and french actor alain delon has died. his smouldering good looks lent an air of wounded mystery to dark roles in a string of classic films. he played a hitman in "the samourai," an unscrupulous art dealer in "mr. klein," and the murderous, social climbing tom ripley in "purple noon." off-screen, he was notorious for his entanglements with women, organized crime, and right-wing politics. today, french president emmanuel macron hailed him as a french monument. alain delon was 88 years old.

still to come on "pbs news weekend," a look back at the chaotic 1968 democratic convention, and why a potentially life saving heart device is under scrutiny. ♪ >> this is pbs news weekend from wbt a studios in washington, home of the pbs news hour weeknights on pbs. john: it has been an unprecedented run-up to this week's democratic convention. the incumbent president, dropping out under pressure from his own party, and the vice president taking his place. newshour anchors geoff bennett and amna nawaz are in chicago for the next chapter. geoff, what's this week expected to look like? geoff: john, democratic officials say the convention will open tomorrow night with the theme, "for the people." we'll hear from secretary hillary clinton, the first lady, dr. jill biden, and president joe biden, whose prime-time keynote address will make the case for electing kamala harris.

tuesday will be organized along the theme of what democrats call their "bold vision for america's future," with evening keynotes from michelle and barack obama. wednesday night, expect the campaign to draw a contrast with the trump ticket, when we'll hear from former president bill clinton and harris' running mate, minnesota governor tim walz. and on the last night, as is customary, we'll hear from the nominee herself, kamala harris, as she formally accepts the convention's nomination for president, outlines her agenda, and reintroduces herself to the american public. over the next four days, democrats will look to capitalize on their base's newfound enthusiasm for the campaign, which has returned the presidential race to a neck-and-neck contest. amna: that's right. i asked multiple democratic officials and lawmakers, all of whom are attending the convention this week, to describe that sense of enthusiasm in a word or two. they used words like joy, excitement, and this word i heard a lot, momentum, going into this convention. we've seen that momentum show up among voters, in a race that's

shifted dramatically since vice president harris moved to the top of the ticket. in fact, the latest battleground state polling shows harris and former president trump mostly tied. the latest national polling shows harris with a narrow lead over trump. on both fronts, that is an improvement for democrats from just a month ago, when president biden was still running for re-election. our white house correspondent, laura barron-lopez, has been covering that harris-walz campaign, and is here with us in chicago. as we have been saying, this is a different convention than the one democrats were planning. what is the vibe in chicago laura: it is different and you can feel it on the ground. democrats are motivated in a way that we didn't hear prior to kamala hris jumping in. when it was a rematch between trump and biden. kamala harris is in pennsylvania campaigning alongside her vice presidential pick tim walz.

they have a bus to are going through western pennsylvania and pittsburgh and the campaign is holding battleground state events where they are signing up 10,000 volunteers for shifts to knock on doors, including high-profile surrogates. pete buttigieg and his husband in wisconsin, going through that key battleground states as they try to really capitalize, as you said come on the momentum they are feeling with their base. geoff: you have been speaking with democratic voters. what have they been telling you? laura: i have spoken to a number of democratic voters in chicago and wisconsin and they tell a similar story. a lot of them used words like nervous, worried, grim when i asked them how they felt about this rematch when it was a rematch between donald trump joe biden. and how they feel now that kamala harris is about to go through the convention and she

is the democratic nominee, how they feel about th race. it has changed. they say they are more hopeful and they feel like all of the dynamics have shifted. they sense it in their communities and they are clearly more excited to just go out and vote. they feel as though democrats potentially have a chance to win the election when they didn't necessarily feel that a few weeks ago. amna: you are speaking with black voters who are key. laura: donald trump has been trying to siphon away black voters. the majority of black voters vote democrats, more than 80% in almost every election. he is thinking, donald trump, that on the margins may be he can siphon away black voters. i talked to some who voted for trump saying they aren't as interested in voting for the him this time but they aren't sold on kamala harris and they want to hear more from her speaking directly to them specifically on

the economy. they want to hear more on housing, which we haveeen she started rolling out more plans to differentiate herself from president biden. the black women i spoke to are incredibly excited. they feel as though the country is ready to elect its first black woman and south asian resident. -- president. they feel like this is something a lot of women are feeling across the country and a lot of them name issues like reproductive rights and health care. amna: we expect to hear more details for the rest of the week . laura burrell and lopez will be with us all week. back to you. john: thanks amna, geoff, laura and the whole team in chicago. they'll be there for live, special coverage every night of the democratic national convention, beginning monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, here on pbs. ♪

john: chicago has hosted more presidential conventions than any other u.s. city, stretching back to 1860, when republicans nominated abraham lincoln. perhaps none was as notorious or consequential as the 1968 democratic convention, when deep divisions over the vietnam war played out on both the convention floor and on the streets of chicago. that history, and its relevance to today, is the subject of tonight's installment of judy woodruff's ongoing series, "america at a crossroads." >> you know, we thought of ourselves as revolutionaries in those days. and we were really irked by the democratic party and the war in vietnam. judy: michael james was in chicago in 1968, when the protests at the democratic convention began. >> i mean, it was early women's movement, certainly civil rights movement. people were really aware of what was going on in the world, and,

you know, taking it out on the democratic party. we were demonstrating becse a lot of the delegates were staying here. judy: i met him across the street from the hilton in downtown chicago, where he took part in some of the most intense clashes, including when he and others began rocking a police van. >> there's a of myths about tipping it over, but we never did. we rocked it. this guy in the passenger seat right here, he comes out, he grabs one of these guys, i grabbed him. i took him down and i disappeared. judy: it was another violent moment in an already bloody year. >> we've got some difficulties. judy civil rights leader martin : luther king had been assassinated, leading to days of riots in major cities, including chicago. mired in the vietnam war, which would kill tens of thousands of americans, president lyndon johnson decided not to seek a second term. he threw his

-- >> i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president. judy: he threw his support behind his vice president, hubert humphrey, but it was up to the delegates to choose a new nominee at the convention. then in june, less than three months before the convention was set to begin, one of humphrey's challengers, robert f. kennedy, was gunned down. >> the menace of violence was everywhere. it was inside the convention hall. it was outside of the convention hall. judy: chicago-based author and journalist rick perlstein has written extensively about that summer, including in his book, "nixonland: the rise of a president and the fracturing of america." we met at the chicago history museum lasweek. >> it all came to a head on the central day, thursday, august 28th, when the protesters tried to march to the convention hall from this hotel downtown, were kind of waylaid by the police.

so they decided to sit down right in the middle of the street, do a sit down strike right in front of the cameras, and the chicago police waded into the crowd with billy clubs, and just randomly started beating people as hard as they could, throwing them into police wagons. when the police wagon was full, they threw a tear gas canister inside, and then they would close the doors and the protesters were chanting, "the whole world is watching. the whole world is watching." judy: the city's mayor, richard j. daley, was incensed by protesters threatening to disrupt the convention. police were also angry, feeling they'd be held back from responding in full force earlier that year, during the riots following king's assassination. and many of the protestors thought the country would be on their side. >> it turned out most of the country seemed to side with the police, believe that they must have been provoked. >> with george mcgovern as president of the united states,

we wouldn't have to have this in the streets of chicago. judy: at the same time, there was chaos inside the convention hall, as the party battled over whether to call for the end of the vietnam war. >> and that was, that was equally conflict-ridden. and all of these forces came together, in an extraordinary confluence of violence and anger. and all of it was seen on tv. judy: in the end, perlstein explained, most americans sided with the police. richard nixon ran on a promise to restore "law and order." >> a growing concern is also the issue of peace at home. judy: that november, he narrowly beat theventual democrat nominee, vice president hubert humphrey. >> it was definitely an -- inflection point on many, many things. it was an inflection point for the republican politics of law and order, and basically presenting themselves as the forces of hierarchy, decency. you know, if you're behind a

white picket fence and work hard and play by the rules, the people richard nixon termed the silent majority, we're for you. and the democrats are in cahoots with these anarchists. right? it was, you know, profoundly, and it was -- profoundly inaccurate. it was a smear. but that was the beginning of that smear. >> i revere this office but i love my country more. judy: fast forward to today, when a sitting democratic president has stepped aside, a conflict rages overseas that's re-ignited tensions on the left, there are renewed pushes for women's rights and racial equality, and the republican presidential candidate, mself a recently convicted felon facing more charges, is running on a promise of "law and order." >> i think the parallels don't really rise above the level of the superficial. conventions are very different now than they were in 1968, in part because of 1968. in 1968, the guy who became the presidential nominee of the democratic party didn't enter a

single primary. basically, the delegates decide who to vote because political bosses told them to. and these were deals made in backrooms, often at the convention. judy: following 1968, the democratic party reformed its nominating contest to favor primaries, giving voters more of a say. while perlstein says this year is unusual, harris did appear on primary ballots with president biden, and since his stepping aside, delegates have overwhelmingly lined up behind her. but the question remains if younger, progressive voters who are pro-palestinian will also back harris. how would you comparthe, the passions that were flowing in 1968 around vietnam, with what's going on now in the united states around the israel-gaza? >> well, there's, you know, a considerable group of people who are extremely passionate about what's going on in israel, and in gaza. i would say the biggest

differences that the people who are extremely passionate about what was going on in vietnam were young people who could have ended up in vietnam that same month. and this is a time in which as many as 100 american soldiers were dying a day. so, you know, i don't want to take away from the moral passion, but, you know, this was kind of life and death. judy: in addition, perlstein says the federal government now runs security, which has become much tighter, especially after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. >> there was this brief, shining moment in which, you know, this crazy thing, american political convention that is not predictable, seemed possible. but, you know, the democrats are in array. they've lined up behind the candidate. i think 83% of democrats said that they agree with the decision of the party to put forward kamala harris over joe biden. the delegates will vote for her. we'll hear inspiring speeches. we'll see celebrities sing songs, and life goes on.

judy: but very different from 1968. >> very different from 1968. you know, the america before august 28th, 1968, and after august 28th, 1968, was a different america. the idea that this convention will be a watershed is pretty much inconceivable. now, this election might be a watershed, but, you know, the energy lies elsewhere. >> i think it is important to keep it cool. judy: that's a point democrat and former 1968 protestor michael james agrees with. >> i definitely n't want to have what happened in 1968 happen, because i think that the danger of having the orange-haired guy resume office of presidency will really be a disaster, not only for america, but the world. judy: for pbs news weekend, i'm judy woodruff in chicago. ♪

john: americans rely on the food and drug administration to make sure that medical devices are safe. now, reporting by kff health news has raised questions about how the agency has dealt with some products, including one that treats a heart condition. ali rogin has more. ali: the device is called mitraclip, and its goal is to fix leaky heart valves, often in patients too sick for surgery. it's implanted by snaking a small clip into the heart through a major vein. now, a new investigation by kff health news looks into questions surrounding the device's development, promotion and use since it was approved by the fda back in 2013. david hilzenrath is the senior washington correspondent for kff and was the lead author of this story. david, thank you so much for being here. what type of patient was this device developed for and why was it such a game changer? >> mitraclip is used to treat patients with a condition called mitral regurgitation, or m in

which blood flows backward through the heart's mitral valve. mr can lead to heart failure and death. i've seen estimates, ali, that millions of people in the united states experience mr, including 10% of people over 75. the mitraclip system includes a tiny clip that is implanted in the mitral valve to fasten the two flaps of the mitral valve together and enable them to achieve a tighter seal. ali: and what was then the reality of what you found about how what this product says it does matches up with the reality. >> for many patients, it may be a game changer. we found that the story of mitraclip is in many ways a cautionary tale, however, about the science, the business, and the regulation of medical devices. we found that since the fda approved mitraclip in 2013,

mitraclip has been named in thousands of reports to the fda about malfunctions or casein which it might have caused or contributed to a patient's injury or death. we found 17,000 reports, of which more than 1100 involved deaths. there has long been debate about research surrounding mitraclip before the fda approved the device in 2013. it issued a paper criticizing data marshaled in support of mitraclip, and one outside adviser to the agency compared that data to poop, more specifically horse poop and dog poop. ali: now, in terms of the deaths that you mentioned, certainly the people associated with mitraclip would point out that this was not a physically, well, population to begin with. so some deaths are to be expected. but is the issue here that the

claims are that these devices actually caused the deaths? >> the reports that i described do not prove causality. it's one of the flaws in the fda's post-market surveillance system that these reports are not definitive the fda relies largely on reports submitted by the manufacturers themselves, such as, in this case, abbott. ali: and as you mentioned, abbott denies wrongdoing. they say in part that, quote, "it is a safe and effective treatment option with a strong foundation of clinical evidence for more than 20 clinical trials." i do want to ask you, though, about the clinical trial aspect of this. it does seem like a catch 22 that the um very companies that are charged with proving to the fda that their products are safe and effective largely bankroll a lot of these clinical trials because they're extremely expensive and they're the only ones that can do so. is that an inherent conflict of interest in just how the system is run in the united states? >> it's built into the system.

what you describe is absolutely true. the fda relies primarily on clinical trials conducted by the very companies that manufacture these products. much of the research that abbott alluded to in that statement was funded by abbott. many of the doctors involved themselves had financial relationships with abbott, and the research is not always clear cut. it can be debated. ali: this investigation also, though, reveals the amount of uncertainty that is allowed for in the fda approval process. is that also something that is pretty standard when fda approval is sought? >> well, at times, and we've seen this with other products. the fda has approved medical products over the objections of its own staff professional in the case of mitraclip, the fda initially argued that the clinical research and other data the manufacturer had produced to

argue for approval was fundamentally flawed. to cite just one example, the allegation was that the mitraclip patients in that testing were treated by surgeons who were highly experienced, while those in the control group were treated by doctors who performed surgery much less frequently. in that testing, mitraclip was compared to surgery. and the fda convened this committee of outside advisers. the committee was quite split on what to recommend to the fda. the committee ted against the proposition that the device was proven effective. however, it voted that the benefits outweigh the risks. ultimately, the fda approved it for a somewhat narrower universe of patients than originally proposed.

ali: i should note that the fda, has a statement that says, that, the agency believes that the overall benefits of this device continue to outweigh the risks, in these patients and that, abbott's recall strategy was appropriate and adequate. much left to discuss, but we have to leave it tre. david hilzenrath with, kff. thank you so much for coming in. >> thank you. ali. great to be here. ♪ john: and that is pbs news week on for this sunday. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a good week. >> paper -- major funding for pbs news week and has been provided by. ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. ♪

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