it is harder to pay for gas. we are not driving around as much as we used to. the school is working with budget cuts and cutting teachers. we did not have enough money to finish reviewing the school recently. >> would year are you? >> a senior. >> what are you doing next year? >>god knows. [laughter] >> are you off to college? >> yes. >> good. i hope it goes well. we will meet someone else. welcome to "close up at the newseum." >> i am a teacher. >> what they like students to

pay attention to in washington when you bring them? >> my favorite thing that we have done so far is our experience with the federal judge. i like them to be part of that experience and to be that close to the capital and to be in the power center. this museum is wonderful. to be able to have them see things, real people, real events. >> give us a more accurate depiction of what a history teacher does during the summer recess. i am guessing that you do not just kick back. >> know. -- no. there is very little of that. [laughter] i can speak for a lot of my colleagues. we do research. we are constantly updating and looking for the real stories

behind the things that are in the textbooks. what can we do to lighten things up that's what is current. we want to show that history is very relevant to what is happening today. our job changes all the time. we are constantly updating. >> the computer and all of the information out there. is it now a challenge for the teacher to incorporate all of that, or is it making it more difficult less difficult? >> i think it depends on the funding and how much access you have to the media. our great things out there. the start getting into it, but then you can i get into the labs. it is unbelievable what is available. that is another thing we do in the summers. having good people behind us by

our teaching history grant people, who can help us dig through that stuff and get through it quicker. >> thanks and welcome, and we hope to hear more from you. the program includes guests talking about the last 30 years. joining us today are these people. joe is a senior producer for close-up television since 1986. he has won many awards for his documentary work. he won the best information documentary in 2003. this gets is a producer for the museum. he is responsible for a lot of the videos you see here. he has co-produced close-up at the newseum.

this person has been a managing editor for the program for 21 seasons. we welcome our guests to the program. [applause] >> this first clip is what president ronald reagan. please set this up for us. >> we had amazing access to him. this one we are going to show you, a student from miami asked him a hypothetical question. the answer was very memorable and led cbs evening news that e.

>> is a question sending troops into central america? >> because of threat to american security, would you consider sending american troops into central america? >> it would have to be very evident that it was a direct threat to the united states. the truth of the matter is, dating back to some days where the big colossus of the north

and the united states did lean on, and practiced a certain type of diplomacy, our neighbors do not want us to send that kind of military help. they do not want our troops down there. we respect them for that. el salvador has said, we need some help, weapons, ammunition, and training. we are providing that. we will provide the mandhir, we do not want yours. -- we will provide the manpower. we do not want your, he said. >> we have had some high-powered guests on the state. what does it feel like to take this show to the white house? >> you cannot get any bigger than that.

that was before my time a little bit. i had been doing it for 23 years. he is answering a hypothetical question. we were amazed. i am sure when they saw it on cbs that evening, we got some attention. >> the president did not need an invitation to get on close-up. set up the next clip. >> i remember this program. this is very memorable. c-span went on the air in 79. reagan becomes president in 1980. this was all new. there was no cable in washington, d.c. later after this encounter, the founder of c-span, and the founder of "close-up" talked about this. they got a surprise caller from the white house.

one person was screening the calls. she gets a call that says, please hold for the president of united states. she thinks it is a crank call. she realizes it is legitimate and types a message to the speaker. it said, next call, washington, dc this was confusing him because there was no cables and a washington, d.c. our next washington, d.c. go ahead please. hello? one last time, washington. >> yes, i am sorry. hello, would you please hold one moment for the president. >> [laughter]

>> students, i just came upstairs to the study here and turned on the set and there you were. i watched bond enough to hear several questions that shows your concerns about the exclusionary rule. you are so conscious of that clock going by. i did not mean that the police would be free to do whatever they wanted to do in the line of getting evidence and breaking the law. i did explain the exclusionary rule this case law for judges down align to make woolens in the court that become president. >> -- presidencedent. >> tell us about his influence on this show. >> i want to say thanks to a

couple of people throughout the show. we have to start at the top with brian lamb. all of the early founders of "close-up", and a guy named tom cigerard. it passed away several years ago. he was working with a broadcast company with washington. he was an early deal maker. if you go to his obituary, it mentioned that he was the early founder. without those of visionaries, -- they made it all possible. there is no one else in the world of television that commits one hour a week to hear from young people. >> you know the story better than i did.

you should tell the story about the camera. >> c-span just got on the air. they were showing only what was going on in the house of representatives. >> with cameras owned by the house. >> they could not have anything else on the air except for the house session. our founder went to brian and said, what if we give you some cameras? which reminds covering some of close-up encounters? -- would you mind covering some of the close-up encounters? from there it just built and the relationship that stronger. >> i was working out of a bureau in the 1980 pugo. -- 1980's.

we covered the kids on "close- up. it was a marriage made in heaven for the close-up program. >> it was more like a marriage made in a board room somewhere. our ceo at the museum was good friends, and i do not know what other connections he had with the close-up founder, but at the place where the freedom of former museum developed enough television capacity to help the show be of service to close up, we got recruited to the cause. it was a johnny come lately thing. that was about 14 years ago. >> c-span had a small studio on

north capitol street. they had a book of shells. the studios got smaller and smaller. we had students sitting on top of students. it was great when the museum invited us to be partners that we have space for a larger group of students. >> hello and welcome to "close- up at the newseum." >> what will you always remember? >> i have one. it was the day the power went out. we were in the middle of a taping like this. one person was giving a talk, discussing a first amendment

talker -- topic. he uttered some words. there was the last thing we heard. the lights, everything in the whole still control room went out. we use yoko ono as ever patron saint. there was someone on the roof that accidentally shut off the lights. from then on and in the control room, we had a picture of your local ono with his welding outfit on because the last words were to yoko ono. >> how many of you know who yoko ono is? [laughter] and how many have heard yoko ono sing? very good. i would like to move on to the

next question. you talked about memories. john, you took the show to the limits, to the white house. we made a trip to berlin right after the fall of the wall. tell us about that. >> we went right back a few months later after the fall. what is memorable for me is the attitudes of some people. they knew in their schools that they had been lied to about world history and relations, because they were receiving soviet propaganda. they were worried about how they would keep up with their west german counterparts when the schools are now integrated. it was very touching to meet the students.

there was one soviet student. i asked him about a collectible penn. -- pin. he told me to take it. >> let us take a look at that clip. >> i was watching it on tv. everything changed. i cannot believe it. they showed people in the department stores and it was interesting to talk to different people. >> it is the freedom now.

in the evening, and herded in a press conference. i did not believe it. the next day, it was true. it was hard to believe. >> what are the impression is you have now that are different than what you thought before the fall of the wall? >> it is hard to believe. [unintelligible] it was like a prison, and now it is open. it was hard for us. >> michael was the student who gave me the pin. >> markets, i note that we have

done a program since then annually where students from the former soviet republic talk. it is always a fascinating session to see the whole gradation of how they have embraced the freedoms or how the freedoms are still withheld from them. >> absolutely. the freedom and first amendment topics have been resident with our audiences. high-school students come to washington are pretty attuned to it. i do not think there is any group in the country whose first amendment freedoms are more routinely infringed upon and high-school students. it is a resonant topic. >> we always get fascinating feedback on no child left behind

and immigration policies, which is a new lens -- nuanced by regions. >> absolutely. we appreciate working here for all these years every area of the country has a different outlook on politics. it is one of the things that make the greater program work. we bring these communities together, and in many cases they are roommates where there are a couple of kids from the york and southern california or north dakota and pr, and that breaks down walls and creates more understanding. >> most of those places have the first amendment. >> as you know, john, when you are preparing the guests on the show, you tell them to remember these are students from all over the country. it keeps the politicians honest.

they have to answer these questions. >> it is challenging for them. they make assumptions about the audience and the ideas they have. >> we have a student here. welcome to close up at the newwseum. >> since you have been around for over 30 years, i know you have experienced a lot of changes in administration, congress, and it to american history. i was wondering, what was one of your most memorable stories about american history that you covered through the 30 years that you have been here? >> that is a good one. the fall of the berlin wall, it is hard to beat that. we were actually there covering history as it unfolded. most of the time, our show is not a news show.

we look at things with prospective an analysis, and we have discussions. we are not cutting edge news. we were there when they were knocking down the wall. i was amazed at 1 per cent english-speaking ability because he spent his whole life in east berlin. he had never left their his entire life. at that level, he was probably the most historically profound thing we covered. >> journalists will talk about one of the great benefits of the job is they are witnessing history. we have had the benefit. that instance has been talked about. there is a series of things that felt real and felt that we were part of something larger.

tv programs are often contrived. do you remember the d.c. sniper case many years ago? schools were not allowed to come to the studio because all out of school activity was stopped. we had to take the program to schools to keep it on the air. moments like that, after 9/11. all the students wanted to know what they could do. there was this earnest yearning to contribute to healing a nation that had been severely wounded. if you remember, they mocked the president. at the time, president bush said what people should do is keep doing what they do, go to malls and shop. students were mocking that. my grandparents grew victory gardens in wwii , and i am supposed to shop? it did not resonate with them.

>> we covered certain things every quarter years. those things were very exciting. -- we covered elections every four years. those things are very exciting. there was a profound affect on the whole city of boston when president obama spoke. my son predicted he would be president in to thousand eight. i thought he was way too young for that. but he got it right. -- president in 2008. i thought he was way too young for that. but he got it right. >> there was a dramatic and memorable moment with the president had the last forum where he gathered and assembled party. >> thank you for your question. i will use this program to segue

into our next clip. we started at the end of the carter administration. we did not have him best as a president, but he was a guest regarding the situation in the middle east. >> i was wondering, people from all over the world have different cultures and value systems. i wanted to know if there is something you found that everybody connects on because they are human? when you're dealing with someone, is there something you can always relate with them about? >> it gets, regarding one's race, creed, or political philosophy or religion, and there is a common point of. the israeli mothers, palestinian mothers, they all want to see their families raised in peace.

they want to see their sons get a good job, not go to war, and get killed. they want their small children to get health care. they want to see their husbands produce apples or oranges or run a pharmacy or practice medicine and have his talents be used properly. they want to lead a normal life. the leaders of the population want human rights, freedom, democracy. that is what brings them together. but there are superficial problems between the leaders of those groups. >> we have had no trouble getting the top guests in this program year in and out.

some say, i'd like to come. what do you think about that? >> it is about the students and the opportunity to get top government officials to talk to students. i think we do it in a way that is a real discussion. it is not just its downpipe -- a sound bite for an hourlong discussion. it was a candid discussion, and the person agreed. we were very lucky. it was a great experience, looking back. >> one former u.n. ambassador spoke. he had been the ambassador for un. president colbert of a

president -- gorbachev and president reagan were speaking. she did no other media during the summit. she did to help education. another reporter came up to her and after, she just -- you just did this program, or will you come on ours? she said no. she walked off. >> week in and week out, there is some kid who would say where he or she was from and what a surprise you with what came next. it would describe what ever stereotype you had a belt regions of the country, and gender, race, or whatever.

-- it would be different from what ever stereotype you had about a region of the country, gender, race, or what ever. there was some student when we did some cheering when a student would stand up and distinguish him or herself. >> if you are just joining us, you are watching close up at the newseum. we are talking about 30 years of programming on this program on c-span. if you like more information,

you can go to our web site at closeup.org. let us go to one of our students right now. hello, and welcome. >> i am from texas. it is the most memorable person you have met with during this program? >> i think frank has asked joe earlier about meeting the president. brian has talked about this to groups. when you need a president, or head of state, it does not matter what your politics are. there is something almost sacred in american politics regarding american democracy. it is always an interesting moment. no matter what your situation is