captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: defective airbags in nearly 34 million vehicles prompt the largest auto recall in u.s. history. in u.s. history. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is away. also ahead this tuesday: >> i want those emails out. >> ifill: speeding the release of hillary clinton's emails as secretary of state. the candidate and a federal judge call on the state department to move faster. plus, saving syria's priceless antiquities from the ravages of war, smugglers protect relics of history from sale on the black market, or permanent destruction.

>> we feel the deep sorrow and deep feeling of incapacity that you are in front of a heritage that is being destroyed and you cannot do anything. >> ifill: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: "islamic state" fighters in iraq moved today to

consolidate the capture of their newest prize: the city of ramadi. at the same time, a new battle took shape. some shiite militiamen, allied with the iraqi army, massed at a nearby base, to prepare for a counter-attack. in washington, the fall of ramadi struck sparks in congress. house speaker john boehner blamed president obama. >> the president's plan isn't working. it's time for him to come up with a real, overarching strategy to defeat of the ongoing terrorist threat. when a major city in iraq, ramadi, gets overrun by isil and the administration says, "well, it's just a temporary setback." it's 70 miles from baghdad. >> ifill: at the white house, spokesman josh earnest said the president is open to suggestions, but he counseled against over-reacting. >> i think this illustrates how important it is for us to maintain some perspective on this. we've had other periods of

setback too that have been followed by shortly by important progress. this is something that the president is mindful of. and it's something that he's talking about with his national security team just about every day, including today. >> ifill: back in baghdad, prime minister haider al-abadi also came under pressure. sunni lawmakers insisted on arming sunni tribesmen immediately, to battle isis. but shiites argued the tribes have divided loyalties, and they warned the weapons are likely to end up in the hands of the militants. a historic, peace-making gesture played out today in ireland. britain's prince charles and irish nationalist leader gerry adams met in galway and shook hands. then, they met privately for 15 minutes. it came 36 years after an i.r.a. bomb killed lord louis mountbatten, the prince's great- uncle. at the time, adams was reputedly an i.r.a. commander, and he defended the killing. today, he sounded conciliatory.

>> there has been a lot of hurt and thankfully all of that and the conflict is behind us, but the hurt isn't behind us and i'd like to think that today's engagement will be a symbolic but also a practical step of facing into the future. >> ifill: the i.r.a. agreed to a permanent cease-fire in 2005, but splinter groups are still active. adams now leads the irish nationalist sinn fein party. the investigation of a brazen jewelry robbery in london took a sudden, new twist today. more than 200 scotland yard officers swooped down on alleged members of the gang behind the easter weekend heist. rohit kachroo of independent television news reports. >> reporter: these are the figures behind what might be a breakthrough in this investigation. 12 homes raided, nine men arrested, three of them pensioners, one aged 76. audacious doesn't quite describe what happened here. complex doesn't represent the investigation that followed when thieves broke through concrete walls. scene of the diamond trade of

19th century became the scene of the crime of the 21st. today the police defended their work. >> at times we have been portrayed as if we'd acted like keystone cops. but i want to reassure you that in the finest traditions of scotland yard, these detectives have done their utmost to bring justice for the victims of this callous crime. >> reporter: that's a reference to allegations that officers didn't respond to an alarm quickly enough. >> as a result of those searches, a significant amount of high value property has been recovered. again i just urge victims to please stay patient. police officers will be in contact with them in order that we restore this property back to their rightful owners. >> reporter: scotland yard officers are searching through what was found in all of today's raids. on first glance, it seems most of the property has been recovered. and tonight, the arrested men-- average age 62-- are still being

questioned. >> ifill: police have not put a price on how much the thieves got away with, but british news accounts say it could total $300 million. back in this country, new research finds the rate of suicides for young, black children nearly doubled between 1993 and 2012. the rate among white kids was down. the study was based at nationwide children's hospital in columbus, ohio. the authors cited exposure to violence and stress as possible factors. the house gave final approval today to a bill aimed at ending sexual trafficking and slavery, that had delayed the confirmation of attorney general loretta lynch. among other things, the bill creates a fund for victims. the measure already passed the senate, and president obama is expected to sign it. in economic news, los angeles will become the largest city in the nation to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour. the city council voted today to hike the wage for companies with

at least 25 workers. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 13 points to close above 18300. the nasdaq fell eight points. and the s-and-p 500 lost one point. still to come on the newshour: and the new england patriots have decided not to appeal their penalty for using underinflated footballs. team owner bob kraft again criticized the nfl for fining the super bowl champions $1 million and taking away two draft picks but he said he won't pursue the matter. >> i know that a lot of patriot fans are going to be disappointed in that decision, but i hope they trust my judgment and know that i really feel at this point in time that taking this off the agenda, this is the best thing for the new england patriots, our fans and the nfl. >> ifill: the league has also suspended patriots' quarterback

tom brady for the first games of next season. the players' union reaffirmed today that his appeal will go forward. still to come on the newshour: takata recalls air bags for 33.8 million vehicles worldwide. e-mails, money and the hillary clinton controversies that don't seem to go away; protecting the relics of syrian history from looters and destroyers; a late night legend, david letterman, prepares to end three decades on the air; and, a new book on how cherokees embraced democracy, but lost their freedoms, by n.p.r.'s steve inskeep >> ifill: the government announced today that takata, the japanese manufacturer of many automotive airbags, is doubling the size of its recall to nearly 34 million vehicles. the department of transportation has been pushing takata to

expand the recall for months levying daily fines. the airbags can explode when deployed, spewing metal fragments into the chest and body. at least five deaths and more than 100 injuries are linked with the airbags. anthony foxx, the secretary of transportation, spoke of the scope of the recall at a news conference. >> this recall involves 11 auto manufacturers, many different parts suppliers, not just takata, and roughly double the number of vehicles built in the united states every year. it's fair to say this is probably the most complex consumer safety recall in u.s. history. >> ifill: for more on what the massive recall might mean for takata, for automakers and for car owners, i'm joined by mark rosekind, head of the national highway traffic safety administration. thank you for join us. so in the end of all these months of back and forth, what did takata finally concede? >> up until this point, they were denying there was a defect at all some what really is a huge step forward for safety

today is them acknowledging there is a deflect in their inflator, that's for both driver as well as passenger-side air force bases. >> ifill: when you say defect, do we know what the cause is? >> that's critical because what's been going on is the search for that root cause. while we have some hint, we don't know what that is. that was part of the problem. how long do you wait? we may not have the root cause, but now we need to get a solution even if we don't fully understand the root cause at this point. >> ifill: is it fair to say that takata's resistance was about not being able to prove that they had done anything wrong? >> well, i think that's part of what we're hearing, like let's determine what the root cause is. i've just come from the n.t.s.b. as a board member. i can tell you it takes a long time to figure these things out. in this case we don't have that time. >> ifill: if you don't know the cause, the problem that created this, then how do you know that any solution you put in place, any replacements that people apply for to get, how do you know they're safe? >> well the work parts. one is we have hint so we know

there are some issues about chemistry and moisture and things like that. >> ifill: tell me what you mean by that. >> some of the testing that's been done has been found in what everyone is hearing high humidity areas some moisture can get into some of their air bags. that changes the chemistry so it burns faster and hotter than it should. so when it inflates it basically explodes. it goes hotter than it should. that's how you get things with higher pressure, basically breaking out and shredding the metal. >> to remind people, when this first came the light there was widespread discussion that this was only applicable in high humidity areas in the american south for instance and florida. is that no longer the case? >> so that's exactly what the issue, is right, which is everybody identifies it. you think you have a sense of the root cause. can we define it, constrain it to a particular area? the problem is we had two cases that did not occur in high-humidity areas. so that kind of throws that out. that's been part of the problem.

multiple versions of the air bag in multiple makes and models of cars. so that confuses what we're going after. >> ifill: so in the end you have to bet on the idea that it might happen again and that's worth taking them all out. >> and so to... how you originally ask that question, part of what's happened is not just identifying the defect but them signing an agreement with us that we will now be participating and directing and provide oversight to determining that the remedy works. >> ifill: in the past the federal government has intervened with car companies. we've heard of multiple recalls for multiple reason whether it was air bags or ignition safety switches. it always involved the companies themselves. this time your agreement is directly with the supplier. that's different. >> that's part of what the problem was earlier is because takata was denying there was anything going on. it was the ten auto manufacturers who were using their inflators who stepped up to call... to basically recall these vehicles. so it's very different now to have the supplier step up and that triggers... their

identifying a defect now triggers these manufacture there's have to come forward and identified vehicles in all makes and models where they've used the takata inflator. >> does this make takata or companies liable to consumer complaints? >> that's outside our venue. we'll stay focused on the safety part of this. but there is no question that coming and making an official declaration, there was a defect changes the landscape broadly. >> i'. driving one of these cars. what do i do now? >> this is one mofts important things we can do. there is a vehicle identification number on your car. you can look it up. safer car.gov. it's a web site nhtsa runs. you can look it up and see whether or not you have any recalls on your vehicle. if you see there is an air bag problem you need to call your dealer and get it fixed as soon as you can. >> i recall there were some problems with safercar dt governor before. you sent consumers there and they went to the wrong web site. they couldn't get answers to

their questions. has that been fixed? >> yes. it's a challenge because even now as we get this information, we have to rely on the auto manufacturers to send us all the information there. and as you started with this, we're talking about going from 17 to at least probably 34 million vehicles. so we're talking about a huge load and we're preparing the system to handle that. >> ifill: let's assume for a moment that everyone goes through the web site and they put in for their replacement air bags and then they get to their dealer and they say, well, they're back ordered. we don't have them in stock what to do then? >> so this is exactly why we have a major concern. this is... we're calling this large and complex. it's not the numbers. the complex piece is making the supplies available as quickly as we can. so that's why in this agreement, nhtsa will have a central role in prioritizing organizing and phasing in to make sure the most high risk get them as soon as possible. so you the individual driver keep driving. keep calling your dealer so as

soon as they have that replacement you get it in your car. >> how do you measure who is at most risk? >> again the little bit of root cause work that's been done. we know age is a problem. we know geography. we know environment and we know driver versus passenger. so there are some things we know where the highest risk would be, just want to make sure those people get it first. mark rosekind head of the national highway traffic safety administration. thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: now to hillary clinton's emails. the former secretary of state and democratic presidential candidate, took questions today for the first time in months. >> i want those e-mails out. nobody has a bigger interest in getting them released than i do. >> ifill: candidate clinton was campaigning in cedar falls, iowa as a federal judge in washington ordered the state department to speed up its plan to release

55,000 e-mails. department, they have their >> i respect the state department, they have their process that they do for everybody, not just for me. but anything that they might do to expedite that process, i heartily support. >> ifill: the wrangling over clinton's emails-- private and public, official and personal-- has continued for months. in early march, clinton revealed she used a private, non- government account for official correspondence during her four years as secretary. days later came news that she'd also used a private server, separate from the state department account, since 2009, shortly before she took office as secretary of state. clinton then announced she had turned over 30,000 work-related e-mails to state, and deleted another 31,000 she deemed "personal." that announcement came at a march news conference. since then, clinton had not addressed the issue again, or taken substantive questions from reporters, until today.

>> i think it will show how hard we worked and what we did, for our country during the time that i was secretary of state where i worked extremely hard on behalf of our values and our interests and our security. and the emails are a part of that. so i have said publicly, i'm repeating it here in front of all of you today, i want them out as soon as they can get out. >> ifill: the state department received the e-mails in paper form and wanted much more time to go through them. but the judge has now ordered a quicker, rolling release. department spokesman jeff rathke. >> we have a large volume of records that cover the entire span of secretary clinton's time at the department. so i'm sure you can imagine this could cover pretty much any topic. it could cover any topic on our and so there would also be a question of if certain things were released early, you could have other records pertinent again, we've got a court order,

an order that says differently, so we're going to comply with it. >> ifill: a separate order involves 300 e-mails on benghazi, the fatal 2012 attack on u.s. diplomats in libya. the state department has until next week to provide a schedule for releasing those. in the meantime, questions continueabout speaking fees the clintons have earned, $25 million just since january of 2014, and potential conflicts of interest. still, polling suggests the lingering questions have not yet dented hillary clinton's popularity among democrats. >> ifill: joining us to discuss what these questions mean for the campaign: matea gold of the washington post and, just outside des moines, peter nicholas of the wall street journal. peter nicholas, you were at that impromptu, rare news conference that hillary clinton gave today in iowa. why the delay as you understand it originally in the release of all these e-mails? >> well, the state department has said it takes time to go through all these e-mails. they have 55,000 pages of documents to go through. it requires a lot of vetting.

input has to come in from other agencies. there has to be an understanding reached about what needs to be redacted, what might be classified or sensitive. so all this takes time. the department head wanted to release all this in january. the judge ordered that it be done on a rolling basis that could begin as early as july. and this can't be seen as good news for the hillary clinton campaign in the sense that whatever message she's trying to put out on a given day about the middle class, about raising wage, about job growth is going to be trumped to some degree by the content of these e-mails. reporters are going to be scouring them. opposition researchers other candidates. these e-mail releases are going to be a big story every time they're released. >> how did the federal court get involved in this at all? >> well there was a lawsuit that was filed. there's been multiple lawsuits freedom of information act request lawsuit, public information act lawsuits filed for these e-mails.

vice news in this particular case filed out asking for these e-mail, and that gave rise to the judge's ruling. >> ifill: if hillary clinton says today like she did today that she would like to see these e-mails made public, why can't she just release them? >> well, she says she has given these e-mails to the state department. they're now in the custody of the state department. the state department has to do its review. she can't order or demand the state department do that. they have to do it according to their own procedures and process seize. as a private sits now, she can't influence the department as she once crowd as secretary of state. so she's urging them on, saying she wants this to happen but she's saying it's now a state department-controlled process. >> ifill: matea gold, the other cloud hanging over this campaign that never seems to go away, the money, how the clintons earned their money and in some cases how they spent it, but mostly how they earned it, $30 million in speeches in eight months or something like that. where is the money coming from? >> so friday night we got our

first look at how hillary clinton has been earning her money in the 15-month run-up to her announcing her presidential campaign mostly through speeches. she personally earned $11.7 million on the lecture circuit, an enormous sum of money by any stretch. we looked at the top sectors who are giving her money, and technology companies really were seeking her to come as a speaker for their company events. they were really the prime industry that hired her. >> ifill: were these technology companies who had business before the state department when she was secretary of state? >> these are technology companies that are some of the biggest players in silicon valley and in global internet commerce and software, so we're talking about xerox and cisco and ebay, companies that have myriad of policy concerns and issues, and what's really interesting is they have connections, many of their top executives or senior leadership are also early and avid supporters offer presidential

campaign. >> so they're paying hearse personally one on one for these speeches and raising money for her campaign? >> and what's unique is we have seen former presidents go out on the speaking circuit and earn high fees but it's really rare to see someone directly in the run-up to a presidential campaign speaking before industry groups and commanding such large amounts of money. >> ifill: also rare for a first lady to run for president. in these speech, what does she talk about, things that often become themes in her campaign or do we even know? >> many of these speeches were closed. a few were open. some details have come out. she definitely was testing some themes for her campaign. we saw her talk about income inequality in several speech, and when she went to silicon valley, she was speaking specifically about issues of concern to the tech sector, so talking about issues about government surveillance, which is really hot-button issue in that industry talking about issues of immigration, talking about issues of tax repatriation. these are clearly things that

the next president's going to have in his or her portfolio. >> ifill: as far as we know at this stage, is any of the money she's accepted even borderline illegal? >> there's nothing illegal about her accepting these fees, but i think it raises a lot of questions about potential conflicts of interest as she's also raising money for her campaign and what would happen once she's president and these industries that had paid her personally a lot of money have interests in what the white house does. >> let's go back to pete meet in des moines. in general, i want to ask you both about the cloud that never seems to go away in the clinton campaign. at the root of these e-mails is the bank of england -- benghazi investigation which also never goes away. >> right. the benghazi investigation is being led by trey gowdy a republican house member from south carolina. he's determined to have hillary clinton come testify before his committee, talk about the e-mail issue, her unusual use of e-mail practices where she did not have

a state.gov account. she used a private account and a private server, as you mentioned in your earlier report. he wants the talk to her about this and about the benghazi investigation he's looking into, what role she played, what decisions she made and this is going to be a difficult moment potentially for her. she's going to be testifying before a committee led by republicans who are not friendly to her and don't want to see her in the white house. this could be problematic. >> ifill: as has been mentioned before on this program, she has not given a lot of answers to reporters or answered many questions. today was it a surprise and does it betray any kind of nervousness about these questions? >> it was an interesting moment, gwen. i was there at the event. i was not expecting her the take questions. one of our colleagues in the middle of this roundtable event called out, "mrs. clinton will you take some questions from the press?" he xi was a little coy.

she maid maybe i will. she said well i'll do it if i can learn something. then she came over. she spoke for five minutes, more than five minutes, she took a total of six questions which brings it to a total of 19 since she announced her peace corps. this is different than the republican side, but this is health care. she has 100% name recognition and she has minimal competition. her campaign feels she doesn't have to answer a barrage of questions from the press. she wants the run this campaign on her own terms. that's not always possible. in march she had to do a press conference to answer some of these questions and to appease some donors and some democrats who were nervous about her prospects at that point. >> ifill: and matea, we haven't really seen any effect in the polls. people have said she's rich and she's out of touch and she's keeping secrets, that isn't yet showing up in any early opinion

polling. >> not so much. it's sort of causing republicans the tear their hair out. they're not sure why this isn't damaging her approval rating. i think one thing peter mentioned is so true. she's such a known quantity that many people have ford their opinions about her and have very strongly held views. i think it will take a lot to dislodge, that but i think the money and the e-mail speak to her real competition in this primary, which isn't a huge ream of candidates as there is on the g.o.p. side. she's shadow boxing with herself. >> ifill: we'll be watching her do that. matea gold of the "washington post," peter nicholas at the "wall street journal," thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you gwen. >> ifill: the united nations cultural agency recently expressed alarm over one of the middle east's most treasured historical sites. they reported that the ancient city of palmyra, syria, home of 2,000 yearr-old ruins, and a u.n. world heritage site, is currently under threat, as

islamic state forces move in, fighting against government troops in the area. at this point, the militants have been held at bay, but the destruction and looting of antiquities is one of the turmoil's many casualties. newshour special correspondent marcia biggs reports tonight on the fight to save them. it's part of our series on "culture at risk." >> reporter: it's as stark as night and day. this satellite photo from before and after the war. both are from the ancient city of apamea, founded in 300 bc. it was a hub of commerce and culture in the roman era. and it boasted one of the largest theaters in the ancient world, seating 20,000 people. today it is pockmarked with craters, evidence of massive looting on an industrial scale. syria's cultural heritage sites have been devastated by four years of war. some in the region are battling to save the country's history,

but it's often times a life threatening race against the clock. we traveled to turkey to meet a syrian archaeologist who is at the forefront. he asked that we not show you his face or use his real name. we'll call him said. early in the war, said was part of a team called the syrian heritage task force, which sandbagged historic sites like this museum in ma'ara, to protect them from bashar al assad's airstrikes. >> it's not a war on our present, that's what i believe. the war is targeting the human being that is alive now, who is also part of a history of roots. so we are fighting on more than one front. i chose to fight on the front that is that of history. >> reporter: when the islamic state came in, they took said's village. he says the punishment for protecting secular objects is now death. said has moved his wife and three children to turkey, fearing for their safety. is your work worth this risk? >> there is nothing to gain from

this, most of the time i don't get money. but at the end of the day, i'm a syrian citizen and it's my duty. some syrians are fighting the regime, some are fighting against is. i would rather work in my field, which is protecting antiquities. >> reporter: while looting is occurring on all sides of the conflict, both the u.n. and the us treasury department consider it a source of funding for the islamic state, which said says has even established a bureau of antiquities. looters are required to fill out permission forms like this one and hand over a percentage of their proceeds. so if you want to loot antiquities you have to buy a license from the islamic state? >> yes, of course. >> reporter: and then i.s. takes a cut of 20%? >> ( translated ): of course. if they didn't offer any help or equipment, they just take 20%, if they offer help and equipment, they take more, 50%. >> reporter: publicly, the group has made a campaign of destroying un-islamic cultural relics.

two months ago, this video surfaced, which appears to show i.s. fighters destroying priceless artifacts in iraq's mosul museum. it later emerged that some of the pieces were not original. do you think that this is a bit for show, and that they are actually selling pieces? >> for sure. i mean they destroyed the pieces that we saw they are destroying, but of course we know that in mosul museum there are many pieces and it's very possible that the other pieces were sold on the illicit market. >> reporter: dr. assad seif is an archaeologist with lebanon's directorate general of antiquities, working with local police to stop the trafficking of illegal antiquities across syria's border with lebanon. how much money have you seen in illicit trafficked antiquities that have come through this museum? >> if we just calculate the sum the total amount of objects, if we calculate the sum of them we could reach $5-$10 million. >> reporter: that's quite a lot of money. >> that's quite a lot of money, yes, but not as much as we think

is looted from syria. >> reporter: antiquities are smuggled from syria through two main transit points: turkey and lebanon. they're not being sold on the open market, which makes verifying their number difficult. according to the u.n., the scale of looting is enormous. lebanese authorities say stolen antiquities make their way from here by sea to cypress, then on to turkey, and finally to europe. experts believe that objects are most likely going underground to storage facilities and private collections. they may re-appear in several years. colonel nicholas saad leads the investigations on the lebanese side and knows well the routes and the players involved. >> there is an intermediary in syria, there's the expert who searches for the antiquities, there is the smuggler who brings it from syria to lebanon and there is the smuggler who have it in lebanon and takes it to the port of lebanon. there is also the smuggler who has the ship to the europe. >> reporter: this cell phone video shows suspected regime

soldiers loading sculptures stolen from palmyra, syria's crown jewel and a world heritage site. smugglers in beirut were caught after they advertised them on the internet for $200,000 a piece. how often are you busting these guys? >> perhaps once a month. >> reporter: and before the war? >> before the war it was once every five or six months, eight months, once a year. >> reporter: once smugglers are caught, their wares are brought here to the basement of lebanon's national museum, where dr. seif's team is in charge of housing and authenticating them. today, he is preparing to send back a series of genuine religious artifacts from the town of ma'aloula. a u.n. resolution adopted in 1970 requires that any illicitly trafficked antiquities be returned to their country of origin.

ma'aloula, a christian village with monasteries going back to the 4th century, where they still speak aramic, the language of jesus. it was seized by the al qaeda linked jabhat al nusra in the fall of 2013. it remained a battleground between opposition and government forces for months. do you have any concern about sending these pieces back to an unstable area, to a warzone? >> it's always difficult to know that a piece could be in a danger zone, of course, but we have to respect the wish of the country of origin. >> reporter: it's a scene that seif knows all too well. lebanon was locked in its own bitter civil war from 1975 to 1991. >> in lebanon we have lived this trauma before, we feel the deep sorrow and deep feeling of incapacity that you are in front of a heritage that is being

destroyed and you cannot do anything. it's very hard feeling to have. >> reporter: in the chaos of war, not even lebanon's museum was sacred. militias used it as a military base, even creating a sniper's nest in this 1,500 year old mosaic. lebanese archaeologists raced to protect the pieces that couldn't be moved by surrounding them with concrete. >> we had armed forces here, sometimes inside the museum. so they used to make a small fire, in order to make tea or coffee. so you see the burning spots that were outside. >> reporter: when the war ended the concrete was removed. these 3,000 year old sarcophagi are now the centerpiece of the national museum. >> reporter: all of these marks here are shrapnel. they would have been destroyed. >> yeah of course. >> reporter: and they made it. >> yeah, they made it. >> reporter: but the battle for history in syria is much harder to fight. >> in lebanon, the conflicting

parties were not trying to erase the memory and the past of the other, but in syria the i.s. or they are trying to erase all the memory of the history of the other and this is very, very dangerous. it's like eradicating the whole past of a community. >> reporter: and with 200,000 people killed and nine million people displaced from their homes, a future for syria is dying alongside its past. >> ( translated ): sometimes the issue of antiquities tortures us more than when bashar al assad strikes with barrel bombs or isis kills because we can change the conversation and we can rebuild in the future when we get rid of bashar or isis, but history, we can't remake. this one kills and that one kills. this one destroys civilizations and that one destroys civilizations. >> reporter: for said, he told me it's pain on top of pain on top of pain. marcia biggs, for pbs newshour, beirut.

>> ifill: david letterman will sign off for the last time tomorrow, capping a late night career that lasted more than three decades, even longer than the late-night titan johnny carson. letterman, and now a generation of younger comedians, drastically changed the landscape carson left behind. and now, it's set to change again. jeffrey brown looks at letterman's enduring influence. >> because this is my last time i want to give you the dress so you can keep it. >> brown: in the final days of his program, david letterman has heard raves and roasts. >> how long have we been friends? i guess you eluded to 33-- you go back to the morning show. >> the morning show, yeah, i was on the morning show then, but that doesn't make us friends. >> brown: from a parade of stars, many of whom have joined him often in his 33 year network

career. even the president made an appearance his eighth on the show. >> i know you like michelle a little bit more than me. >> she was here last week. >> brown: eric deggans, n.p.r.'s tv critic, calls letterman's "late night" legacy massive: >> it came out of nowhere and really rewrote some of the rules of late night tv comedy, and allowed more of an acerbic, more in a sense of the absurd, poking fun at the hypocrisy of television. >> brown: indeed, from the outset, letterman brought a new voice to late night, one attuned to current events, but with a real edge. sometimes, letterman would go to

the edge. >> throwing stuff off the roof of where they were doing the show just to see how it looks when it splattered on the ground, to letterman being in a drive through at a taco bell or mcdonalds and messing with the people who were trying to order their food. >> brown: there were the signature segments, like stupid pet tricks. ♪ ♪ and top ten lists, where the payoff might elicit a groan as much as a laugh. >> top ten things that sound creepy when said by john malkovich. >> does this look infected to you? >> brown: longtime sidekick and bandleader paul shaffer was part of the routine. >> in the new millenium people will freak out! >> brown: as was the odd-ball everyman larry "bud" mellman. letterman was known for an

engaged and, on occasion, confrontational interviewing style. >> have your friends treated you differently since you have been out of the slammer? >> no people think that i was really strong that i went through it. >> god it was just ugly wasn't it. and have you made-- >> but i've moved on with my life so i don't really want to talk about it anymore. >> see this is where you and i are different. >> one of the things letterman loved to do was to, get celebrities on the show and get them off of their talking point. and tried to get them to talk about something that was either uncomfortable or that revealed something about themselves or that whether it was some sort of real interaction. >> i'm going on to the next question. >> brown: one of those famously "real" interactions came with

cher in 2013. >> you must have had a change of heart about something. >> no, actually, i don't know because i thought i would never want to do this show with you. >> now why? let's explore this a little. because you thought i was-- >> an ( bleep ) >> brown: early in his career letterman hosted local talk and children's programs and served as a local news anchor and weatherman. his big break as a comedian came when he began appearing on the johnny carson show in the 1970's. and in 1982 he was given the slot that followed carson, turning that traditionally sleepy time into a suddenly energetic romp. eleven years later, though, he was passed over as carson's replacement when nbc chose jay leno instead. a disappointed letterman moved to cbs to host "late show with david letterman" airing opposite leno. >> let me just start with a question here.

just how pissed off are you? >> brown: it, too, was a showcase and launching pad for new stars and an inspiration to younger comedians, says al madrigal of "the daily show with jon stewart." >> so i grew up watching letterman as a comedy nerd, comedy fan i really was excited about the opportunities that he gave comics and years and years later, friends of mine. the show was unpredictable and that's what i really enjoyed about it. >> brown: among the many comedians who appeared often with letterman on their way to stardom: jerry seinfeld, martin short and jimmy kimmel who now has own late night show. >> one thing i will say, you know i was here before the show started and i really feel like you led me astray by not telling me how much lying i would be doing. >> brown: one star who gives letterman credit for launching his career is ray romano, of "everyone loves raymond" fame, who hosted a tribute to

letterman recently. >> i'm only here because of david letterman. without him i'd be at home with a three legged dog and a tattoo on my chest that said, "almost made it." >> brown: along the way letterman also had to deal publicly with some personal issues, including his quintuple heart bypass surgery in 2000. >> i couldn't have been more proud then when they carved their initials in me. >> brown: and an affair with an assistant, that led to a blackmail attempt. >> i have had sex with women who work for me on this show. >> one of letterman's strengths as a broadcaster that i think people underestimate or don't talk much about is his ability to face the camera and talk about something that's really serious in a way that is compelling, heartfelt. >> any enormous uprooting change in my life has petrified me. really petrified me.

but once i've come through the other side, the reward has been unimaginable. >> brown: in the fall, stephen colbert will take over letterman's time slot for cbs. joining a crowd of newer faces who now vie for attention. as david letterman says goodbye after more than 6,000 "late night" broadcasts. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> ifill: now, another addition of the newshour bookshelf. it's a story somewhat lost to history. how the united states expanded after the revolutionary war into the deep south. steve inskeep, co-host of npr's morning edition, has the details in "jacksonland: president andrew jackson, cherokee chief john ross, and a great american land grab." judy woodruff talked to him last week at bus boys and poets, a bookstore and restaurant in the d.c. area.

welcome. >> it's a delight to be here. >> woodruff: so you report from all over the world. you tell stories from so many parts of the globe, and yet you also really love american history. that comes through in this book. >> well, thank you. i wanted to go back to the beginning in a sense and i ended up doing this story which is set in the 1820s and '30s, a period when democracy as we know it, the democratic institutions we know began the take shape. and so it's a really exciting period of american history even though i found a really dark story there. >> woodruff: but it's a particular part of that period that obviously had to do with a moment when the leaders of our country realized they had to make a decision about what to do about the indians. why was that important? >> well, it was an epic moment really because the united states was expanding. the u.s. had won its independence the revolutionary generation that had won that independence was aging and dying off. a second generation was coming

to the stage. settlers were pushing west into what was legally indian territory. they were indian nations. they were not really legally under the control of the united states. and so there was a basic conflict there. was white settlement going to win or were indian rights going to be upheld? that was the question that people were wrestling with. and fundamentally people who were running the united states in that generation were trying to find a way to displace the indians humanely they hoped, but they really really wanted the real estate. >> well there are two central figures in the story, of course. one is andrew jackson. we think we know so much about this man, seventh president of the united states. he was a great general during the war of 1812. father of the democratic party. but you paint a portrait of him that's not so attractive. >> a much darker side of andrew jackson involves the fact that he was a slave owner. that he ran multiple plantations that he displaced indians not just once in the trail of tears in 1838 which is

what everybody learns about in elementary school, but throughout his career through a period of more than 20 years as a general defeating them in battle, again as a general out negotiating them in treaties and bullying them in treaties really and then finally as president signing something called the indian removal act, which set up the conditions to force the movement of further indian nations to the west, to what is now oklahoma. and that dark side is completely connected to andrew jackson's bright side. he was about the expansion of the united states, the security of the united states, the growth of the united states, but he saw that as connected with pushing indians native americans out of the way. there were native americans who wanted to be part of the united states, not all of them by any means, but john ross, this other main character certainly did. >> he's really the central other figure here, not nearly as well-known as jackson and yet he was a huge player in what happened in that period.

>> i'd like him to be better known, judy. she's someone you see his name in history books, a couple of biographys have been written but more should be written about him because he is parted of the development of american democracy, too. he's part of a great democratic story. you have andrew jackson this man who was a very modest beginnings. no one so poor at the beginning of his life had ever become president before. john ross at the same time was being opposed by this man and used democratic tools to fight back. unlike other native american leaders, he didn't fight in a rebelon that would have been hopeless because the indians were outnumbered, he used propaganda, the cherokees started a newspaper. the cherokee phoenix. the articles were spread across the united states. supporters of cherokee rights figured out ways to make the news go viral in the 19th century media. they fought in congress they even sued in the u.s. supreme

court. >> woodruff: did andrew jackson have a choice? did he have to do what he did? >> it would have been hard to find another choice if you were going to continue the expansion of the united states. there were other alternatives. one was simply stop this. stop doing this. recognize this native american nations have rights and leave them alone until such time that they feel they're willing to incorporate with the u.s. or sell their land without being coerced. that was an option. it would have been a very difficult option, though, because white settler, many of them were slaves who wanted to start plantations, were pushing on that land at the same time, particularly settlers from the state of georgia, which was the absolute heartland of the cherokee nation. >> woodruff: so, steve, what is it you want americans to know to learn from this period? >> a couple vital things. one is simply that we've been at democracy for a long time, and when you go back to the 1820s and 1830s you notice people speaking in the same way speaking in recognizable ways and acting in recognizable ways

and you realize there's something we can learn from this as we study our politics today. another thing that's really specific that i'd like people to know, that i think hasn't been realized, is the role of native americans and cherokees specifically in helping to develop american democracy at this vital point. even people sympathetic to the native american pilot of view have tended to see them mainly as victims and they were, but they also fought back, fought within the democratic process, and added to our democratic tradition. there's much to be proud of. >> that's a side of the native american story that so many of us don't recognize. steve inskeep, jacksonland: president andrew jackson, cherokee chief john ross, and a great american land grab. steve inskeep, thank you so much. >> it's an honor to be here. thanks.

>> ifill: tune in later this evening for a frontline investigation into america's use of enhanced interrogation, what many have deemed torture. a senate report late last year charged the c.i.a. crossed the line. the agency strongly disagrees. in this excerpt, top c.i.a. officials, including lead attorney john rizzo, discuss the moment they received a request from a contractor to employ harsher tactics. >> reporter: they drew up a wish list and sent it to washington. it made its way to rizzo on the seventh floor. >> i immediately recognized that this had big time trouble for c.i.a. written all over it. i didn't know when, i didn't know how. >> reporter: they called them enhanced interrogation techniques or e.i.t.'s, rizzo later wrote that the name was deceptively bland. >> provided a list for possible use by the cia: the attention grasp, walling, facial hold facial slap, cramped

confinement. >> it includes sleep deprivation, it includes waterboarding, being strapped to a board and doused with water to make you feel like you're drowning, and a host of other excruciating methods. >> reporter: after the five o'clock meeting director george tenet was shown the list. >> george tenet's first reaction was to turn to me, as was his wont, and say, "is any of this stuff legal?" so that was his focus. i do not recall, him expressing revulsion or enthusiasm about doing this. as i say, his first reaction was to turn to me and say, "can we do this legally?" >> reporter: rizzo faced a daunting challenge: >> there's an international treaty that prohibits torture and any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. the law clearly says you cannot subject people to water

boarding, ten days straight of sleep deprivation, slamming them into walls and the like. >> reporter: but inside the c.i.a. bureaucracy it was rizzo's job to get them authorized. >> i fully realized that either way, some day, somehow, we would be screwed. >> reporter: and the morality of it? >> honestly, honestly, my main focus was to attempt to ascertain, to clarify with certainty whether or not any or all of these techniques crossed that legal line into torture. that was my primary focus at that point. the morality of it, sure, i had views about that. but i did not view that as my primary role. >> the c.i.a. faced a real dilemma here. on the one hand, we knew this program would be contentious. on the other hand, we asked ourselves, wouldn't it be

equally immoral if we failed to get this information and thousands of americans died? there was another 9/11? how immoral would that be? that's the dilemma we were up against. and we felt a moral commitment to protect the united states. >> ifill: that's tonight on frontline. and on charlie rose, eurasia group's ian bremmer on the need to reconsider america's role in the world. on the newshour online, it was a casual remark from an astronomer, that scientists are all just "boys with toys." but it inspired women in the field to respond. they did it online, tweeting photos of themselves with "toys" like robots and power tools, to remind us that smart girls just want to have fun, too. you can read the full story and see some of their tweets, on our home page. this weekend meshes will kick off the unofficial start of the summer vacation season. before that happen, join us

thursday for a twitter chat on safety tips for the road the water and the sun. details are on our home page. that's pbs.org/newshour. that's at pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, do robots threaten your job? the final installment in our artificial intelligence series. i'm gwen ifill, we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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