was or not snowing his own name. setou can see the entire tonight starting at 8:00 eastern. the alzheimer's foundation of america estimates that over 5 million america's are living -- americans are living with alzheimer's disease. this week on q&a, historian david mccullough on his book the american spirit, a we are and what we stand for. it's a selection of his speeches going back to 1989. there are doesn't books about joe mccarthy, yet there is no biography about the senator that had the backbone to stand up to him first. margit j smith. >> do you remember how you went about preparing for that speech. >> hardest i've ever worked on anything i've ever delivered from a podium. david mccullough on his book, the american spirit, a selection of his speeches going back to 1989. sunday night on 8:00 eastern.

♪ . . . lazar is homeschooled in the seventh-grade, mia lazar is in the ninth-grade. their documentary is called the tempest tossed. >> is not about what political party you are, it's about values and helping these people. >> as parents, this topic was particularly personal because both my parents were refugees. i

think that also drove them a little bit. when they do some video on a topic that's personal for them, that helps a lot. i think you so the energy and that's. >> the reason we named the documentary the tempest tossed is because inside the museum of the statue, there is a plaque that has a following saying send these the homeless, tempest tossed to me. it was written specifically for me, and we -- specifically for the statue of liberty, and we include it so we could show the values that america was founded on -- principles that everyone needs to understand it today. >> on a more personal scale i would suggest that the people that think that refugees are all terrorists, or who were afraid of them should spend a while meeting one. they are really amazing people. they have just the right to be people in the

united states as everyone else does very. >> the solution is not just changing the policy, which is would be amazing. but also by acting locally. >> how do the sisters plan to use their money? >> we are going to save some for college. >> we're donating $1000 locally, and then we want to go backpacking in europe when we are older. some of the money is going to go for that. >> congratulations to our grand prize winners. take a look at their winning documentary. >> america is a nation of refugees and immigrants. most of the 325 million people living in the united states have stories of immigration somewhere in their heritage. >> much as been lost to history. each day, there were 30,000 people are forced to flee their countries because of persecution, not knowing if they

are ever going to return. people are forced to make a difficult choice, to leave, or risk their life to stay. it's estimated that 6.5 million people are forced to leave this place worldwide, but they are not all defined as refugees. a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence, and cannot return safely. with so many people desperate, fleeing their countries, politicians are arguing over whether the united states should let more refugees in the country. president trump: we don't know who they are, there's no paperwork, no documentation. >> many people fear that bringing in refugees will increase the risk of terrorism, they believe that bringing in refugees can reduce terrorism. >> we invited 3 million refugees, and not a single one of them has killed anyone in an

act of terrorism. i think we are inflating the risk of terrorism. >> obviously, the united states is always going to have an openness and a willingness to accommodate people who are fleeing for their lives because of their political beliefs. however, there are limits to how many can be accommodated here in the united states because of the economic and fiscal cost to all our communities. there always the fears of terrorism and so on that come with refugee flows. >> we're opening up our countries from regions filled with terrorists. terrorists with the express intent to kill us. >> pushed out that we should be scared of refugees, but it is so important to understand the refugees themselves, when they are fleeing, it's because they are fleeing violence. to turn around and call them terrorists when they are running from

terrorists, i think it's a bit of a contradiction. >> most refugees come from somalia, afghanistan, and syria. over half of them are children. these people trying to seek asylum in nearby countries, will he end up in refugee camps. over 2.6 million refugees currently live in camps throughout the world. overcrowding and disease plague many of the camps. >> my grandmother latour first four years as the only toddler in a refugee camp, where the mortality rate was nearly 4%. year due to lack of medical care. >> when you're putting refugees in camp's for years and years, you're not letting them live up to their human potential area -- human potential. you make them dependent rather than contributing. it's a huge problem. i think there is a major downside keeping refugees in refugee camps for a long time. because you have a generation of individuals growing up without access to education, without access to jobs. that ultimately leads them to seek out radical solutions to those problems.

that can lead to political turmoil, more violence, more war . exactly the types of problems we are seeing. seeing. >> in the late 1940's, people all over the world realized something needed to be done and the many displaced people who fled their homes in europe after world war ii. >> why should we help these people? is a charity, is it human kindness, or is america a sucker to bother with these europeans now that we have been hitler? a little human kindness, but not suckers. we realize that our half of the world, the american half, cannot remain well if the other half is sick. >> the office of the united nations office refugees was created in 1950. throughout history it helped , refugees find food, clean water, and shelter. in order to live in the united states, all refugees are thoroughly screened by a process called vetting. the united states checks for

medical issues, takes fingerprints, and interviews the refugees. >> the united states government handpicks each refugee that comes into the united states and individually interviews all of them. i believe it's important for people to understand how rigorous and long this process is. >> the fbi, the department of homeland security, and others are involved in the process. vetting usually takes 18 to 24 months to complete and only half of the refugees make it through. many things have changed in the past century, many beliefs haven't. in a poll in 1939, only 30% of americans want to accept 10,000 jewish refugee children to live in the united states. in 2016, only a similar percentage supported letting syrian refugees into the u.s. >> we have to remember we are always on our weakest when we have shut our door on refugees, when we have been afraid of them. and that are greatest when we let them in. never has this country really suffered any kind

of security consequences due to letting in refugees, yet we use that as an excuse many times to keep them out. we did it in the john adams administration, and we've been doing it time and time again. every time we do it, we look back on that in shame. it did it in the 1920's, and it resulted in turning away many jews that tried to flee europe. not a proud moment. >> i have a natural empathy for people who have been persecuted. it's the reason i came to the u.s. and the reason i left my family, had to do with persecution. >> one really positive thing the refugees bring to the united states is an opportunity to interact with the countries overseas from which they come, where there are a lot of misconceptions about the united states, what our intentions are in the region, what we are trying to do, what freedom of religion we have here, are we

are to persecute muslims and other religious minorities, and the reality of religious freedom in the united states really does change minds, both in the united states and overseas. >> safety is important, but right now, we need to make a choice. should we bar people out for a fear of terrorism, or should we welcome them in? we think the question shouldn't be asking is not should we help refugees, but how can we help them. we should make history. not repeated. >> to watch all the prize-winning documentaries, visit studentcam.org. >> dr. is a jewel