on the broadcast tonight, our exclusive interview with president obama on what has happened to him while he's been in office and his latest attempt at an economic fix. treating alzheimer's. a promising story. there is new hope for the first time in a long time because doctors may have found a way to slow memory loss. jackie kennedy, the once secret recorded conversations with the former first lady that are now public that will result in a lot of americans seeing her differently from now on. and america remembers. the 9/11 memorial in new york welcoming the public for the first time. welcoming the public for the first time. "nbc nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. this is not what you want to have happen when you are trying to launch a recovery. today, bank of america announced a plan to slash 30,000 american jobs and reportedly close a lot of branches in cities and across the countryside all over this country. the plan is designed to make sure bank of america survives and stays healthy, but it's the largest single u.s. lay-off of the year. at the same time, the president was out there again today selling his new jobs plan. he's fighting his own downward numbers and questions about becoming a one-term president. it's what we talked about in our exclusive conversation with the president at the white house at a critical time for him and this country. >> occurs to me we are sitting 30 feet from harry truman's official white house portrait.

members of your base are asking when are you going to get your harry truman on. >> well, look, harry truman ran against a do-nothing congress. this congress hasn't done much so far, but it still has an opportunity over the next several months to do something that helps the american people. and i want to give them a chance. i'm pleased to see that so far speaker boehner and some of the other republican leadership have said that some of the proposals i put forward deserve serious consideration. and i'm going to be open to any ideas they have in addition to how we are going to grow this economy, but what is not an option is doing nothing. >> did you come to a decision that what the country needs is in large part a good old public works bill? >> what i came to the conclusion is that given all the headwinds we have been seeing this year -- high gas prices as a result of the arab spring, the tsunami in japan which disrupted supply lines but probably most

significantly what's been happening in europe and the turmoil that's taken place there, financial markets that are affecting what businesses are making decisions about here in the united states, that we need a boost. the plan that i put forward -- the american jobs act -- puts construction workers back to work, puts teachers back to work, puts our veterans who are coming home looking for a job back to work, the long-term unemployed back to work. it provides tax breaks for small businesses when they hire new employees. so this package, it's estimated, would help the economy grow by as much as an additional 2%. that could mean an additional 2 million jobs. >> all of this, of course, is if you get what you want in a highly toxic atmosphere and it sure looked to me from the outside like you went into the debt ceiling fight thinking, surely they will do the statesman-like thing, surely they won't go there.

and it seemed to me as if speaker boehner was coming to you saying, look, if it were up to me, we would do this, but i've got this membership problem. >> right. >> and they went there. now that marks our politics. >> well, there is no doubt that we went to the brink in a way that was unacceptable. we are in an economic crisis and the fact that we made it worse here in washington is inexcusable. we can't sit back and squabble while the country is suffering. >> your approval, 44%. on your handling of the economy, 37%. voters now prefer a generic, as-yet-unnamed republican. and most americans now say that you are in something that you can't likely recover from. do you accept those numbers? do you have to wear those? >> well, look, you know, one of

the things that i learned very early on is not to worry about polls. if i was worrying about polls i wouldn't be sitting here interviewing with you. as i recall when i was running for president, i was down about 30 points around this time in my first run for presidency. you know, the truth of the matter is the american people have gone through the worst economic crisis since the great depression. and they are understandably impatient and i can say to them, look, all the actions we have taken have been the right actions. if we hadn't taken those actions, things would be much worse, but the bottom line is unemployment is still at 9%. and there are still a lot of folks hurting out there. my job as president of the united states is not to worry about my job. my task is to worry about their job and their economic situation. >> you see what's out there. you see what's being said about you. what do you say to those americans who voted for that man on the poster that said "hope"? >> well, what i would say is that for the last two and a half

to three years, we have been working tirelessly and nonstop to deal with the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. ultimately, i'm going to be judged by, you know, whether we have stayed focused on making sure that this economy is moving in the right direction. and like the captain of a ship in a storm, you know, when the ship is rocking and people are getting hurt, they're not going to be happy, no matter how good the captain's doing. now, my hope is that when we are on the other side of it, folks will look back and say, you know, he wasn't a bad captain of the ship. what i tell everybody i meet whether they voted for me or they didn't is this country always gets through these storms. we always right the ship. and we will this time as well. >> part of our conversation with the president at the white house. there is more on our website. today, by the way, the administration announced how they plan to pay for his new jobs plan through a series of

previously proposed tax hikes that have all been raised by the white house in the past and rejected by republicans. now to a big health news story. as we mentioned earlier tonight we have the first glimmer of hope in the fight against alzheimer's in a long time. while there, of course, is no cure and while it's hard to find an american family without some connection to alzheimer's, a new study funded by the national institutes of health has found that an insulin nasal spray, of all things, has shown memory improvement in some patients. research like this is a prong of the administration's effort to develop the first so-called national alzheimer's plan and we get our report tonight from our chief science correspondent robert bazell. >> what we're going to do is i'm going to demonstrate for you how to -- >> reporter: it could be a dramatic new treatment for alzheimer's disease. >> it's very promising. we're very excited about it. we'd like to see it move forward into a larger trial. >> hold it up to your nostril. >> reporter: dr. suzanne craft and her team gave volunteers a daily dose of a special insulin

nasal spray or a placebo. >> relax your leg. >> reporter: the 104 participants had alzheimer's or, like john martin, pre-alzheimer's memory problems. >> tell the story back to me. >> reporter: after four months, three-quarters of people getting the insulin spray did better on memory tests. >> children saw lions -- >> reporter: and on scans showing brain changes that signal memory loss. >> we were surprised by how many of the participants benefitted. >> reporter: why insulin? recent studies show a strong connection between insulin resistance typical of type 2 diabetes and many symptoms of alzheimer's disease. insulin helps the body use sugar. if that doesn't happen properly in the brain it can lead to memory loss. in this experiment the scientists used a special device that gets the insulin into the upper sinuses where it travels along nerves into the brain. >> it reaches the brain very rapidly, likely within a 15 to 30-minute time frame.

>> reporter: the experts strongly warn that patients or their caregivers should not try to treat alzheimer's with the type of insulin used to treat diabetes. that could be dangerous, even life-threatening. a longer study should begin in months and reveal whether this hopeful beginning marks genuine progress against a heart-breaking disease that so far has been unstoppable. >> here's the device. >> reporter: robert bazell, nbc news, new york. >> important story. we want to spend a bit more time talking with one of the researchers in that report, suzanne craft of the university of washington and the veterans administration with us from seattle tonight. dr. craft, while i understand that this study needs to be extended and repeated and compounded as we know more, is there evidence that it works on both established symptoms and preemptively in patients? >> well, thank you, brian.

there is evidence that it does improve memory which is the cardinal symptom of alzheimer's disease. in patients with alzheimer's disease as well as in patients who have the condition that precedes alzheimer's disease known as mild cognitive impairment. >> you know that people will do just about anything to try to get a product and avoid the long frustrating wait while people suffer and it comes to market and while there is that strong caution that people shouldn't freelance and while i understand that there's been insulin research regarding alzheimer's, how did someone come up with a nasal spray as a delivery system here? >> well, we wanted to deliver insulin to the brain without raising insulin levels in the body as that can cause dangerous drops in blood sugar.

we took advantage of a device that's being developed by a small company here in seattle that targets the nose-to-brain pathways. through that, we were able to successfully deliver the insulin. >> and we have time for just a final word here. you must regard this as the most positive incremental step development in quite a while. >> well, we have to be cautious. it is a pilot study. i would say it's a first very important step and we do need the larger, longer trial to really see whether or not this is going to be a viable therapy for alzheimer's disease. >> suzanne craft, university of washington, thank you so much for joining us here on the broadcast tonight. from around the country tonight, a quick update on just how many places are burning across this country in a very harsh wildfire season so far. today's fire map shows a lot of activity still in central texas. also in the northwest now, oregon, washington, idaho, montana, southern california all reporting major fires including one near bakersfield started by lightning originally. there are smaller fires burning in oklahoma and even the state

of minnesota. we'll take a break. when we come back, the newly released jackie kennedy tapes and why none of us may ever think of the former first lady in quite the same way again. and later, another day of remembrance as an important new memorial now goes public for the first time.

we are back now with the voice of former first lady of the united states jacqueline kennedy recorded and kept secret for decades until now. jackie kennedy was famously

private. unlike even minor celebrities today, she never wrote a memoir. shortly after the assassination of her husband, the president, she sat down with historian arthur schlesinger, jr., and spoke with candor about her husband and other major figures of the era. the recordings are a part of the new book, "jacqueline kennedy: historic conversations on life with john f. kennedy." on friday, after we purchased a copy at a bookstore we shared early excerpts with you. tonight on what would have been the kennedys 58th wedding anniversary. andrea mitchell has more. >> reporter: she was still in what her daughter caroline described as the extreme stages of grief. speaking publically only once. >> the knowledge of the affection in which my husband was held by all of you has sustained me. >> reporter: while famously private, the young widow sat down with historian arthur schlesinger, jr., and secretly recorded her most personal thoughts for posterity.

>> it's just not as simple as that story sounds. >> reporter: in sharp contrast to the formal white house guide. >> i think every first lady should do something in this position to help the things she cares about. >> reporter: this jacqueline kennedy paints an intimate family portrait. jfk kneeling on the edge of the bed to say his prayers each night -- a habit she describes as both childish and sweet. the president crying in his bedroom over the bay of pigs fiasco, and being privately dismissive of lyndon johnson, his successor. >> bobby told me this later and i know jack said it to me sometimes. he said, oh, god, can you ever imagine what would happen to the country if lyndon was president. so many times he'd say if there was ever a problem. >> reporter: her view of lbj was also influenced, historians say, by this call a month after her husband's death, two days before christmas, 1963. >> i hope that you are doing all right. >> oh, i'm doing fine. thank you. >> you know how much we love you. you have a good christmas, dear.

>> thank you. the same to you. >> good night. >> reporter: hours later she learned he was showing off for a room full of reporters. other snapshots. remember how she charmed french president de gaulle? >> i am the man who accompanied jacqueline kennedy to paris and i enjoyed it. >> reporter: in private she called de gaulle an egomaniac and martin luther king, jr., a phony. at the time, fbi director j. edgar hoover was trying to incite divisions between the kennedys and dr. king saying he was overheard on wiretaps making crude comments about jackie kennedy kissing her husband's casket on the day of the funeral. and she talks about politics. >> in politics, things do change quickly. jack would never -- he would often say that. never get in anything so deep that you have lost all chance of conciliation. >> reporter: the book's most poignant moments are about family. a 3-year-old john, jr., is asked

what happened to your father. he answers, he's gone to heaven. and jackie, at the height of the cuban missile crisis, described pleading with her husband not to evacuate the family to camp david, telling him she wants to die with him rather than live without him. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. when we come back, we'll remember two names from hollywood tonight.

on the campaign trail the republicans debating tonight in florida, cosponsored by the tea party express. and there were some big endorsements today. tim pawlenty, no longer a candidate, went for mitt romney and louisiana governor bobby jindal threw his support to a fellow governor, rick perry of texas. well, a few more parts and the aircraft will be complete again and will finally become a museum piece.

the wings of the u.s. air airbus that sully sullenberger landed in the hudson are making their way by truck to be attached to the fuselage in charlotte, north carolina, and put on permanent display. we wanted to catch up tonight with word from over the weekend that cliff robertson died. he was an oscar winner for the film "charlie," a product of the actors studio in new york he was a veteran of stage, tv and film. he played john f. kennedy in "p.t. 109" and he creepily played hugh hefner in the movie "star 80." cliff robertson died a day after his 88th birthday. and fans are mourning andy whitfield who died of nonhodgkin's lymphoma at just 39 years of age. born in wales, he lived in australia, came to fame playing spartacus in the series "blood & sand." he leaves behind a wife and two children. we have extraordinary pictures from the southern california coast tonight where they have spotted a pod of blue

whales looking for food apparently, and putting on quite a show for whale watchers. they are the largest creatures on earth, up to 85 feet and 80 tons. because they were hunted almost to extinction, this is always a welcome sight in any waters. when we come back, ten years later now, the memorial at ground zero is officially open to the public for the first time.

now that september 11th is behind us, along with the 10th anniversary and the tension of the terror alert is loosening, new york mayor michael bloomberg is asking that we turn a page. he's requesting that people no longer call it ground zero, for a lot of reasons and prefers the world trade center and the national september 11th memorial and museum. the facility actually opened to the public today by appointment. so people got to see for themselves, in person today, just what a powerful place it is. our report tonight from nbc's rehema ellis in lower manhattan. >> reporter: the design called reflecting absence includes two enormous pools in the footprint of the twin towers, each about an acre in size with 30-foot

cascading waterfalls. the names of all the victims killed in the terror attacked are inscribed into bronze panels surrounding the pools. for many it's turned the site into a heartfelt touchstone. >> i actually saw my brother's name. it really just was so powerful for me. >> reporter: the memorial evokes tears and sadness, but some say it also gives them a feeling of peace. >> it's quiet. you cannot hear the outside noise coming in from the city. and what you hear most is just the falling water. >> reporter: the architect intentionally left space between the etched names so people could leave something behind for their loved ones. maria's son alex worked on the 90th floor. >> i left a little note for him how much we love him. >> reporter: people also spent time at the site making memories of victims' names.

jason lost his cousin neil david levin who worked for the port authority. >> it's a way to get something tangible out of the site, bring him home with us. >> reporter: florida firefighter lieutenant orlando siguera was inspired to seek out robert david peraz's name after seeing the touching image of robert's father in the newspapers today. you found robert's relative at the memorial. >> yes, we did. >> reporter: what was it like? >> we all started crying. 13 big men started crying. it's emotional. >> reporter: emotional with so many lives cut short. now a memorial to remember them forever. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. and that's our broadcast for this monday night as we begin a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

good evening. thanks for joining us on this monday. i'm raj mathai. and i'm janelle wang. another sign our tough kmeconom times aren't going away any time soon. bank of america plans to cut 30,000 jobs over the next few years. also this afternoon, economic analysts slash their growt