else is better theory of the case. i don't know if this is a manageable media climate. i am open to the idea. i think they are uniquely not good at it. i think as fast as they were to respond they are more methodical now as president and head of the government there is an argument to be made that methodical is a good thing. you don't want to be rash buchlt i think that -- but -- they never found the touch of when to untopple something. i think ebola they were upfront tried to be up front and no one noticed and the ebola case became news and he took heat. i think the infrastructure of washington would say they

handled ebola well. >> host: the way to get something done, obama was saying, to go it alone jus as to some extend he always had. there is a poinsey there. >> mr. todd: that is the lesson he has taken from his presidency. that you know he can't make washington work collectively. he thinks it is washington's fundamental flaw. i don't think he believes there is much he could have done differently to change that. i argue differently. i will say in the book, look how he feels about going about climate change and immigration? there is certainly regrets of his. he is going to leave office with neither problem fully solved but wants to make progress and the

only way he knows how is alone. >> host: chuck, congrats, your book "the stranger: barack obama in the white house," thank you for sharing. >> booktv in prime time continues with books by 2016 presidential candidates on friday. mike huckabee discuss his book that looks at american culture. ben car bp -- carson's book is after that and senator rubio on america's dream: restoring economic opportunity for everyone and then former secretary of state hillary clinton on her book hard choices. 8 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. on the next washington journal, margo sangar catz joins us

looking at whether the increase of health insurance actually cuts the cost. and we will talk about the 88th anniversary of the social security system. and then a talk over the u.s. foster care program. we will take your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. washington journal live each morning at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. c-span is in des moines at the state fair. we are live as the candidates walk the ground and speak at the soap box chatty on friday morning, 10:30, jeb bush. starting at noon on saturday rick santorum.

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covered the first black

president is just amazing. timing is everything. >> when he was a senator you were covering the white house. >> all the presidents gathered outside and they come outside of the west wing and they stand on the bank with microphones for the people were meeting the president. at this time it was the congressional black caucus that just had obtain the newest member, senator barack obama from chicago. everyone was looking for senator obama. i couldn't see him. i was so excited about trying to get an interview with him. at that time, i kept remembering, where is he? what is he doing? at he doing? at that time he was new. he was barack obama but i think i transposed his name and i said

where is, i don't remember when i called him, and he said well first of all, get my name right. i was so excited. he was a rock star in chief. this was about being a reporter and and trying to get to him before anyone else. that's the thing about this business. you want to be the first with the most. i wanted to get this new rock star on the hill. i couldn't get his name right. it wasn't mass. >> you wrote that he wasn't a particularly popular senator. did they kind of resent this newcomer? >> they did resent the newcomer. he was someone who had tried, unsuccessfully, against one of their fellow members.

because they are a small group on the hill and they're very loyal to one another. that that was one strike against him. the second strike was he was a senator. he was a a black senator, something that rarely happens in this country. he also was on a different schedule. the senate in the house were in different schedules. when the congressional black caucus would meet it was not on his time, so he would kind of ask if he could be placed in part of the meeting to deliver a few statements about what's going on in the senate. in the meantime, they ignored him. he was left to leave the meeting without resenting anything. there were a little hard feelings there. >> do you think, talking about your time covering the white house, can you talk a little bit about how you explain in the book how you were treated as, not only an african-american black reporter, but also a woman

reporter. there. there were not a lot of women in the press corps. let's start with that first year when bill clinton second term in you arrive at the white house to cover, they are sitting in the briefing room every single day. >> it was kind of rough because there was a gentleman who was iconic there. he was the first african-american to become the president to the white house press corps and his shoes were so hard to fill. when i came to the white house, many people resented the fact that it wasn't him anymore. i can understand that. but also, i think, coming in and really pressing on urban and african-american issues which really wasn't done that much as much as i had, some people took it the wrong way because that wasn't really on the agenda on a daily basis. many people were wondering, who

is she, what is she. we she. we haven't seen her in washington. she's a strange kid, you know. i had a little bit of that and had a lot of pushback. i had a a lot of pushback from within the press core and i was such a newbie, not being in washington. coming. coming straight out of baltimore really, there was a lot of pushback and people were wondering how is she getting these interviews with president clinton? how is she doing this if she's not in the pool? >> let's break it down into three categories because you write about not only her interactions with other reporters and your interactions with presidents but of course press secretaries too. talk about under the bush administration, tony snow was

the new press secretary. what happened with the tar baby on that? >> oh my gosh, the first day he came into the press briefing, he was a rock star when he came inches so maybe people were in that room i couldn't even get in my seat. typically when you're in the white house and in the briefing area, you have your designated seat. you feel comfortable that okay i can rate until the last minute and come up and get my seat. that wasn't wasn't the case to my surprise. i came upstairs and every seat was taken. it was standing room only. i was on the right side of the briefing room against the wall. there was a question posed to him by abc's martha route it and he was explaining what was going on and he said i'm not going to hold a touchback because that is made me shrink because that is a

very insensitive phrase. it is from old rare trap it. i actually have that book, just remember that this is what used to be but it should not be. i couldn't believe it. when you think of the time and the tar that the rabbit together so the fox wouldn't find the rabbit and i said okay, so then unfortunately, it was two of gentleman standing in front of me and he told me shut up and i couldn't believe it. after that first press briefing, i marched myself up to tony snow's office and i asked him if he realized what he did. he apologized. from that moment on he struck up a really good relationship.

he really apologized for his in sensitivity. he didn't realize how insensitive he was. to the credit the credit of the white house correspondent association, i talked to mark smith who was the president at that time and i got an apology. people really don't understand. >> i got an apology from the reporter. >> people don't really understand what happened at that point. there are so many things that go beyond that room and it really affected me that day. the. >> the press briefing, you and i cover the white house for many years, the press briefings were off-camera up until the time you came. mike curry was the second press secretary for clinton and he agreed to do it on camera. i tend to agree with mike that the press briefing are supposed to be the raw ingredients of the news and not the invent itself.

you had a dust off, while probably not dust off isn't the right word. i was there for it, not because you are and i african-american reporter but may be because you you are a woman. that was with robert gibbs. >> yes, i think you might be right with the woman issue, the gender. it could be a little a little bit of race and it could be because i was a special meeting. the issue is i was not part of the mainstream, first and second row. i'm specialty that focuses on urban and minority america. how dare she, that is the way i felt at the time. how dare she asked me questions. i don't feel they were relevant

questions. i was hearing that from inside and outside the white house. it wasn't a personality issue, it was a real issue. a real issue. the challenge was the last day. people were watching and didn't see the two days, the culmination of the two days that crescendoed into that moment. >> this is after a couple apparently crashed the first obama state dinner. the white house social secretary who was an african-american woman from chicago, a friend of theirs, was taking the heat for dropping the ball on this. you asked robert gibbs specifically about her role. what was it that he said to you? >> he said, i was on a roll with questions, he said something to the effect of calm down. for a woman who has children, but to equate me to a child, it was disrespectful. he was angry at the time and people believe there isn't

retaliation when you asked the white house a question, there is retaliation. the. the retaliation was seen on television, part of the retaliation was seen on television. after that i was upset. i couldn't believe it. at. at that time i was sitting in the fourth row and i couldn't believe what had happened. i had just sat there. i see the doors to the lower press office open and it was bill burton. , robert gibbs and he said come here and i said no. he was shocked. the unfortunate thing, i said okay i'm coming. i couldn't believe it. i thought what did i do wrong, in my mind. i asked the gentleman a question and what happened was, in my mind, and robert gibbs and i have come

to a good understanding of we have a different relationship now, but to to my understanding there was loyalty there. the obama administration was new and they supported one another. they really supported this president. they were very loyal to this woman that was a faux pas that caused us security be breach at the white house. >> did you go up and see robert gibbs at that time? >> i did. there are other people in the room and i just remember gibbs telling me i0 the first lady an apology and i overheard an apology. i said for what? if i did anything did anything to offend the first lady, i apologize. people were sending sending me e-mails at the time, why did robert gibbs disrespects you?

and he said you tell them to email me and i'll tell them. and i'm thinking to myself what did i do to deserve this? when you are someone that they perceive by yourself, because i don't don't have the backing of the larger networks, you understand. i don't have the backing of having other people, i don't have a lot of specialties that are they are focusing on the same issues to have my back. it it felt like i was alone, but i wasn't along alone. to my surprise many of my fellow correspondents were supporters of me and said that should not have happened that way. it was a serious line of questions and the sources that told me and because of that there was change at the white house. we went back to the old procedure of how to allow people to come in for events. you have to remember, this was about security of the presidency and the president.

the first african-american president had so many death threats. it's not just about being african-american, it's about being president for this type of thing to happen. >> talk about the specialty media because i think a lot of americans don't understand it. of course there's there's the networks and the wire services get those from row seats. major newspapers all have seats, but you really do cover the white house and write about it in this book from a very particular vantage point, which is crucially important for those who listen to you. specially media. >> specialty media is media that is not necessarily focused in on the traditional. we are a group that isn't in the front row. it could be media or a newspaper or radio. we are not abc, cbs, cnn. we are the smaller networks.

we are those types and we are the lgbt newspapers and the christian broadcast groups. all sorts of things that are not part of the mainstream. >> but you do have a seat in the press room? >> smack dab in the middle. i was in the sixth row when i first started and i moved up to the third row and i do have a seat. i think that is because i am there every day and i asked questions with the principles and i asked questions. we have an audience that they want to get a message to. >> does sometimes a president or white house communication operation take advantage of your specialty media by saying we want to get this race story out there, this urban story out there and they seek you out?

>> oh yes. >> how does that work? >> just recently president obama did a race interview with bet. it resonated more with that group than it would with a cnn or an nbc. so when they want to put out information, they will sometimes have a go to person. they use to call me a foil. i'm not a foil but i'll let them call me that and get the story at the same time. sometimes you have to use what you have at your advantage. that was to my advantage. the fact that i'm working for a minority company that focuses on urban and african american issues, but i also question on other issues as well such as mainstream issues. >> how did you deal with that second group? the white house press colleagues that i for years set right down the road from you. you write

about asking a question at your first presidential news conference and you said that after you asked the question you were treated like media slime. what happened? >> this is a rough-and-tumble business. we are happy for one another but it's always why not me. why did she get that and why not me. they are asking why they didn't get it. recently, last couple of times i got a question from the president at press conferences, the last one at the end of the year and the one around summer time about africa, it's like why not, we get questions all the time. i don't always get to ask questions in press conferences as much as others. we all want to have that moment where we get that question. we want that question. how did she get it? she's always getting it? i think

some of that was part of the problem but i was new. i worked hard. >> how did you get it question being brand-new? >> well at the time, at the time when i first went to the white house it was more open than it is now. you were there when it was much more open than it is now. >> open in what sense? >> you could walk around and run into the president more. i was literally coming in from outside and i had my coat on. i walked in and then at that time i think there was a door. this is the staff area and i don't think there was a door at the time that you could see people walking back and forth. i just happen to be standing there and i asked if if i could go to upper press. >> which is the press secretary's office up a hallway just outside the oval office. >> yes just outside the over office. i was headed to upper press to see the press curry who was

secretary who was michael curry at the time. i wasn't understanding what was going on. my first encounter was with the secret service and i didn't understand. all the sudden i'm walking down the hall and eating a pretzel was pres. bill clinton. he didn't know who i was was at the time. i guess he thought i was someone on staff or something. he was talking and stopped in the hallway and i'm standing there looking at him and i'm thinking okay he's talking to the staff in the lower press area. i introduced myself and i said please call on me sir. >> call on me? >> call on on me on a press conference. there was a press conference that immediately followed and he didn't call on me but the next one he did. i told michael mccurry, thank you and i sent a note to mike

mccurry to send to the president to say thank you. the president president wrote me back. he wrote a note back on white house letterhead and that's all she wrote. >> that's a good one. you wrote a thank you note to the president for getting a question in and then you got a letter back. >> how in news conferences you talk about that first question when you called yourself media slime. was it the content of your question? were reporters hostile to you? >> i don't think was the content of the question, i just think media slime is a adversarial relationship in that building. to some extent they don't like us and to other extent some do. when we get classified, i just say media slime. it might've been for others but they didn't like that questions.

that was not for them to say because once again specialty media, we are there focusing on one thing and you may be they're focusing on another. that's the great thing of having a group of people in that room. they room. they ask different questions and move around. the topics shift around. >> at the daily briefings? >> at the briefings and the press conference is. >> let me ask you about a george w. bush news conference when he had a foreign visitor and you were not seeded with the white house press? >> i was not. >> where were you seated? >> i was seated with the african-american group. there was a faux pas on the part of the white house. i was told after the fact that i should have been grateful. i really don't think.

>> but you were sitting with other black reporters? >> yes i was sitting with other black reporters but i am a white house house correspondent and an american journalist. it was so odd because even my colleagues were on the other side of the room saying what's going on. president bush even noticed. >> during the news conference he said why are you sitting over there. are you trying to get a question? >> i said i was placed here. he even acknowledged it at least three times during the press conference. he even tried conference. he even tried to put me off so that the african president would call on me and he did. it was a faux pas and even the chief of staff at the time said it was a bad move. it was a bad move. >> do you think presidents regarded you differently than other reporters because you are black, because you represented a

specialty media or because you are a woman? did it in some ways work to your advantage? >> i believe yes it had worked to my advantage but it also worked my disadvantage because as bill clinton told me they said sometimes when i call on you all get in trouble because they didn't know what to expect from me. they sometimes didn't have an answer for me. many times i wouldn't get called on. president. president clinton told me that. i figured if he told me that that's kind of the thought going down the line. this was told to me during his time in office. so it worked to my advantage when they wanted to talk to the community, to the black community or the urban community but it was to my disadvantage because they didn't call on me too much because they didn't know where i was coming from. it it was a very interesting dynamic and double edge store

sword. >> in your book you write extensively to put today's president in a historical perspective of where race relations have come in the united states. you make it clear that there is still a ways to go. selma, december 1964, this is before either were in the white house. the civil rights act has become law and now the folks are turning to the voting rights act and martin luther king jr. is in the white house urging president lyndon johnson to move on it. now the film selma that has come out has been criticized by some for putting lyndon johnson in a very bad light. you write about your conversation with the other person in the room at that moment. tell us about that. >> in the book presidency in black-and-white: my up close view of three presidents and race in america, i have an exclusive interview on the

record with an ambassador that was in the room with doctor king. >> andrew young was not only a prominent figure in the civil rights community but a former congressman from georgia. he was someone who worked for at that point a relatively low level white house staffer. >> he was a very credible person. more than credible, he was in the room. this is what i don't understand with all of this back-and-forth about lbj and selma. andrew young said in this book that lbj did say that he didn't have the power to push it forward. he was talking about voting rights in 1964. after they successfully got the rights past.

reverend jesse jackson said in this is very interesting, he said, people like dr. king as a martyr but not a marcher, so strategically these bill of rights leaders had to figure out how to get him into power. there were tactics and they had to work strategically to work to get the power. what was that to go down to alabama and anyone talked about in the book, specifically for the presidents in black-and-white, three african-american people could not be on the street together. it was against the law there. for three people to be in the street together in alabama was illegal. >> that could be considered leading to a protest or demonstration. >> they had to find a way to begin a meeting for the demonstration and protest. they had to strategically figure out how to present the situation

so that lbj could have the power to push it through. this is actually someone who was in the room with doctor martin luther king and reverend jesse jackson. in the book, on the record talking about this. >> there are audio recordings of that former secretary joseph califano wrote about using the transcripts. and so this should be a pretty well documented fact. are you surprised at the kind of reaction the movie has brought? is it progress to finally have a movie that has turned out to be a commercial success about the life of doctor martin luther king? >> i thought the movie was magnificent.

when i say magnificent, it brought me to tears. i felt like i was in a black church black church somewhere. it was an amazing movie to see. when i saw the four little girls, i knew what was going to happen and it brought tears to my eyes. just talking about it brings tears to my eyes. it's very graphic. to see them go back and forth on that bridge. to understand that bridge. to understand that i'm an african-american, if they had not done this then you and i would not be able to talk today. i would not be able to question three american presidents. this book would not be here. that. that movie, i don't believe it showed everything that i could've showed because it was very graphic but it was much more brutal than what we saw. the movie touched me and i commend oprah and brad pitt and all of them did it. i think it was a wonderful movie. people want to preserve history, people died., people died. this was not an easy struggle. people want to believe it was an

easy struggle and it was not. people died and they knew people were going to get hurt and die. that was some of the implications that white people and black people died for black people to be able to vote. >> condoleezza rice was a friend of one of those girls she was living in alabama and obviously she was the national security adviser and secretary of state. did did she also feel she had a race portfolio? >> secretary rice went on the record and i thanked her for her truth. she said she was there and she brought to the table what was brought to the table. when it was time to have an anniversary event, she said no we must have this anniversary event. if it wasn't for this event i

wouldn't be able to sit at a restaurant, eat at a restaurant. she said that in this book. her fat. her her father couldn't vote until 1952 and she couldn't eat at a restaurant with her family until 1964. >> she said we have to stop and celebrate. she also, there is another controversial piece. at the at the very beginning of the bush years, president bush decided to write a court brief and he said it was about the university of michigan. >> affirmative action action. >> yes. he did not want preferential treatment there. the national security advisor at the time, condoleezza rice, said to him at the time there needs to be opportunity.

>> giving black candidates that admission and the extra measure of boost. >> yes. the problem was, someone, i don't know how it happened but someone said she supported president bush and they wanted to make sure that condoleezza rice story was told properly. i will never forget, before i came to work that morning and i heard all the hoopla, i had to go to the doctor and i got a call from the white house press secretary at the time and he said you want to interview condoleezza rice. i said sure. he said do you know what's going on and i said yeah i know what's going on. we we ultimately talked and she made it perfectly clear that she supported quote unquote, targets of opportunity which some considered affirmative action. she was against against the train of thought that there should not be preferences in the

admission of the university. >> a specialty reporter like you gets the message to the audience that cares the most. >> not just to my audience, and this is important, now we are right into the new york times and that goes into abc in the washington post. i'm not just a specialty media but i'm now the go to person that other media feed off of when there is a black issue. something like a black issue or urban issue or something like that. >> did you really cook a dinner for bill clinton? >> i didn't cook it but we brought - >> start from the beginning. the time now is late in the bill clinton administration. in fact was this the kind of time when he was saying i'm still relevant. the the campaign was on for his successor and he was out polishing the car and

walking the dog and you were in washington, still at the white house every day. how did you come about inviting the president for dinner? >> during the clinton years there were a lot of african-american reporters and producers. we sometimes talk amongst ourselves and we were saying, well so and so had an otr. did you have an otr? off the record means off the record with the president of the united states. it was back and forth. we we were all wondering what's going on here. so we said, we started scratching her head and we ultimately started talking to michael curry. so bill douglas and his wife, bill douglas, a wonderful reporter, he opened up his beautiful home to allow us to

have dinner with mike mccurry. so we talked about that. at the time the president wanted to talk about race as well. he wanted to get a little bit more information about our thought because there was a recent issue he had on the table at the time and it was kind of floundering. he wanted to get our thoughts, apparently the president liked us. he wanted to hear what we had to say so we initially started the process with mike mccurry. he liked it so much that he brought his own pepper slaw. he's from from south carolina. we had cornbread, chitlins, biscuits and gravy. it was a real southern dinner. he came from the south and really welcomed it. in the black community, food brings you together. the sunday. the sunday dinners after church,

the anniversaries. food is a very common item to perpetuate free flowing conversation. we had a beautiful time. it was all the black reporters and producers at the white house at the time. he said look, you want to talk about race? and not only that, he has not had an otr with any of us and that's not fair. mike was saying yeah yeah, okay. once mike mccurry left we thought it would never happen. especially especially with everything that was hanging overhead with the monica lewinsky scandal. >> at this time he had been impeached. >> yes this was the summer of 1999. actually we were surprised that we got a call, it's going to happen. so at the time, the time, i was one of the main people on the associated press

that were trying to make it happen. they said april there's no way we can get into your house in baltimore because of taxpayer money. well who's house? and once again mr. douglas opened up his home and we are very thankful for that because we had the best time. the president talk so much and enjoyed it so much we had to pull him out of the house at 1130. if you are around president clinton, he will talk for monologue. you just listen. to have a united states president eating dinner with you, the soul food, our fried chicken, fried chicken, he's eating and i'm sitting right next to him watching him put collard greens chicken, potato salad and i'm thinking oh my

gosh. to have the conversation-- >> as a reporter what you get from that? you better understand him question at this is not a store you do the next day. >> know this is off the record. you always want time with the principles and you want to get into their head and figure out what they're thinking and why. he taught us so much and talked about different things in africa. he talked about a hodgepodge of issues. we got to know him a lot better to find out who he was and what he was thinking and why this happened and why this wasn't going to happen. it was a very interesting time. we got off the record. >> the moments in the obama administration that you get to toward the end of the book are the one so many americans are acutely aware of. the bear summit, the très von martin would look like pres. obama's son son if he had a son. what do you make of president obama's handling of some rather

explosive moments under his watch? >> first term, the first time was kind of rough because many americans were looking at him and he even wanted to make people believe what was going to happen as he was running for office the first time. he could never reach that level of expectation that he set himself. people were looking for a savior. particularly americans who were hurting because of the recession, they were looking for change. you understand it's back man and it's different for him. give them a chance this is his first time as president. given the chance. the first time it was the everyone issue. >> and the second news conference --

>> right there were letters for each letter. second term, we have now seen an african-american president who happens to be african-american. the first time it was the president who happened to be african american. the reason why i say that is because he is open on how he regards racial issues and as president you are president of all america. all america needs to understand where you come from uncertain issues. particularly when it deals with race issues. personally, i am thankful to hear that because he has brought out an issue that a lot of people were sweeping under the rug. the issue of race police

involved shooting or killings. right now you have to marry law enforcement in trying to root out the problem. >> should he have gone to ferguson missouri? >> that's a very tough question. it was such a hot day. what would that have accomplished if he did? >> presidents don't usually go there unless there is something they can bring something solutions. >> ferguson is is part of a bigger issue. ferguson is tired. they they were a town that was upside down. it is inverted. you you have white rule, black majority. that's why say that because of the inversion of power structure. >> the police were largely white

and the community was overwhelmingly african americans. >> the power structure is different there too. so i think all of these issues that have happened are real. if not obama, who. >> but he didn't go. >> he didn't go. everything comes to the president. this is the thing that bothers me. we forget so easily. people say wire you ask him if he's going to go to ferguson. why not? he's the president of the united states. race has come to every president in that building. race issues have come to every president. lbj, john f. kennedy, abraham lincoln, kennedy, abraham lincoln, eisenhower, all of these presidents.

they have all dealt with issues of race. >> and acted on them. >> yes. people have to to understand when i get these talks about why would you ask about race to this president. he's a black president. because he is the one who can affection eight change. >> bill clinton, did he come close to issuing what some african-americans would consider an apology for slavery? >> did he come close? he wanted to. there was a speech he gave in africa. he did not apologize for slavery. there was a black and forth fight with him in the white house that was for and against. i will never forget it. i said i'm not looking for an apology from slavery. people are like know that needs to happen, yes they need to happen.

he was the one but i think he was the only one who could've done it. he was a white president that could've done it. george w. bush said oh the africans participated in the slave trade. he wasn't going to take onus for what america did. pres. barack obama at the time when he went was not the right time i guess for him. this president has had to strategically navigate through these waters so he could successfully get a second term. i think it would've been the right time for him. i think bill clinton was the hope of this time or this area for there to be an apology. in the book presidency in black-and-white: my up close view of three presidents and race in america, there is a challenge from the e-mail. there were crossing out certain words, the the strength of words that were almost an apology and i just didn't believe it. they they were close but it did not happen.

>> april you have covered the white house and you've covered it through this prism but you're also an american, you are an a mom to two beautiful kids who aren't that small anymore. you come from a small strong close family. do you vote? i know there are some reporters that don't but how do you handle your own personal beliefs? >> i know some of my colleagues didn't vote and they want to go to some of the functions because they're so fixed on their feelings that we shouldn't mix. i am an objective person. i'm a person they won. i know we talk about being a woman, the strength of the women. i'm a woman but at the same time

i'm a reporter too. i can be a reporter too but sometimes i have to cool off. i do vote do vote but i'm not telling you who i vote for. >> do you register -- >> i'm not going to get into that. >> i live in the district of columbia where we can register as no party but you vote in primaries as well as general elections? >> yes i am a registered voter. >> good. i want to get into one other little footnotes that i noticed in the book that struck me as a very nice touch. when you talk about black-and-white and blacks and whites, you capitalize the word black and capitalize the word white. i think that gives both terms a sign of respect. was that intentional on your part? >> yes we are all here together. yes. i have black friends and white friends. i love. i love my white friends and i love my black friends.

people want to believe that when you talk about black-and-white there's race issues, no it's about history. it's about about putting out there what's really going on. what i really want to impart is that we really need to know what's going on. you cannot say you, you, you didn't do this or you did this. it's all about. it's all about coming together and working this out. it's much respect for each side in each community. >> this is the white house press corps as a whole, do they show the same kind of respect? >> while historically you know what happened 70 years ago. >> tell everyone who harry was and how he was honored by the white house for his association at its 100th dinner.

>> you're going to make me cry. seventy years ago there was a gentleman by the name of harry mcdowell. he was a print reporter who took his job seriously and wound up being a civil rights person, but he was a reporter at the white house. the first african-american who reported at the white house. he was told by the white correspondence, don't come in this room because if you step on someone's toes to find out what's going on. >> this is when franklin roosevelt -- >> yes. don't come in here because of you step on a reporters toes there's going to be a riot. if you step on a white reporters toes there's going to be a riot. ultimately it was about not letting him come in. bottom line, this happened 70 years ago, 70 years ago and it just boggles my mind.

we work so closely with one another in that place and to think that where i stand now, they wouldn't let him stand. moving fast forward to today, you're always going to have a difference of opinion. you're always always going to have that. some differences might be racial, other differences are just a difference in opinion. i think there is a whole group that is trying to do better as a group. i think we, as a group, number one want to have a professional competition. but are there some people who may harbor racial issues? they may be or there may not be.

i've had some incidents that i might question but i have to shake it off and do it another day because it's not worth fighting over right now. >> april ryan, you do something many reporters don't do. at the end of your book you conclude with your explanation of how you have graded the three presidents that you have covered. while i don't want to be a spoiler alert here on how the book turns out, you covered bill clinton, you covered george w. bush and you covered barack obama. three modern-day presidents who have eight years, two terms each none of them flunk. >> while there's a piece of one that flunk. >> but none of them come up with and after for the grade. no one comes up with in a either. you write president clinton as the reigning champion on diversity. why? >> he has had the most confirmed african-american on his staff

cabinet, marshals, judges no, not judges, that was barack obama he is the reigning champ on that one. but as far as marshals, u.s. marshals, cabinet persons, confirmable positions. they worked hard on diversity there. when i say that they worked hard to do that and i give him the grade that i give him, it is good that he did that because he brought another group of people who were not at the table to the table. he brought people to the table to help make decisions. maybe we didn't get all the things we thought we needed but we were at the table and started the process. he began starting change that

trickle down into other administrations. >> george w. bush had an african-american secretary of state and a national security advisor and a second african-american secretary of state at a time when the united states was very, very engaged around the world in troubled spots. does he get good points for that question. >> he gets great points for that. he said this during when president bush was president and he said at last year at this time last year. george w. bush did have the most diverse republican administration. it's interesting that it was a republican in that position who are african-american. that was interesting that it took him to do that. so this was the first administration when you saw, this time the prominent african-american that followed suit in the obama administration with the attorney general. >> that doesn't cote