captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: on the newshour tonight: hillary clinton and donald trump are set to go head- to-head in the first presidential debate amid a virtual tie in the publiche opinion polls. >> ifill: also ahead this monday: we sit down with theow vice president of south sudan to talk corruption scandals in the world's youngest nation. >> woodruff: and... ♪ maria, maria >> woodruff: the modern tale off star-crossed lovers-- rob kapilow deconstructs the iconic song "maria" from leonard bernstein's "west side story." >> one of the great things about bernstein was that he moved so effortlessly between the worlds

of serious music and popular music, and he spoke both languages absolutely as if they were vernacular. >> ifill: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. o >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helpingt people build immeasurably better lives. >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the well-being ofg humanity around the world byth building resilience and inclusive economies. more at rockefellerfoundation.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> 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: for much of the nation, it's must-see tv tonight, and up to 100 million americans could tune in. the republican and democraticth presidential nominees meet on the same stage, in hempstead, new york, to debate. john yang is there, and begins our coverage. >> reporter: at hofstra university, the stage is set. s earlier, stand-ins for donald trump and hillary clinton helpem technicians work out the final details. the showdown comes as polls show the two locked in a very tight race. clinton running mate tim kaine predicted tonight would be a big test for trump. f >> well tonight, 90 minutes on stage. you know, there's gonna be a great opportunity for theop american public to see if this guy can tell the truth.he i mean-- or maybe, if he recognizes the truth. both sides are trying to managen

expectations: trump calling the moderators unfair, clinton saying the moderator should fact-check.fa this morning, trump campaign manager kellyanne conway pushed back. >> what bothers us, mark, is the very public and very coordinated attempt to game the refs. >> reporter: between them, theep nominees have participated in more than a dozen primary debates. but those were nothing like tonight. anita dunn is a former obama aide who helped prep him for the 2012 debates. >> secretary clinton is a disciplined, experienced candidate who is going to spend her time really thinking about how she communicates her vision for the country in the face of her opponent being on stage with her. donald trump has said he doesn't think he needs to do mock debates.te >> reporter: brett o'donnell was on president george w. bush's 2004 debate prep team. >> donald trump has only done primary debates where he was standing on the stage with o multiple candidates.

he hasn't had to talk about policy issues continuous for 90 minutes. hillary clinton on the other hand, has done extensive one on one debates. she did it in her senate race, she did it when she ran for president against barack obama and she did it against bernie sanders. >> reporter: tonight's face-off is the first of three scheduled clinton-trump debates before election day. the latest nbc news "wall stree journal" poll, 11% of votersrs said they were not committed to any candidate and that these debates would be very importantr in helping h them make up their minds. so with the national polls so close and key battleground states showing the race tightening in each of them, these debates could be crucial. gwen, judy?, >> ifill: john, can i ask you as the witching hour approaches, how have these candidates really been preparing?he we saw some of the spin in your piece about what raising expectations, lowering expectations, what's real. >> i tell you, the debate prep

for the two candidates couldn't be more different than the candidates themselves. if this were college, hillary clinton would be the grind. she's got briefing books, mockk debates, someone sitting in for the moderator, someone sittingme in for donald trump, a very close aide who knows clinton well and knows how to get underr her skin and is comfortable doing it, just in case donald trump does it tonight, and she has been working very hard. h as a matter of fact, aides telli me even up until late this afternoon, she was still at it. donald trump, on the other handh is still gliding in.in he doesn't want to overprepare for these. there have been no mock debates, no mock moderator, no mockat hillary clinton. going over sort of broad themes and maybe a few practice answers, but not rearing.e

he feels confident he's good at these things and going to just sort of almost wing it, maybe. gwen, judy? >> woodruff: give us a sense of the scene a at the universit. all eyes are on this debate.e what does it look like? >> given the sets we've seen in the debates this primary season with all sorts of glitz and lights, it's a very spartan stage, maybe even a throwback to the previous debates, the original debates.eb the lecterns are identical. as far as height, secretary clinton's is a lit local than donaldth trump's.tr >> ifill: how much have they been trying to spin expectations in advance? >> the clinton people are talking about how trump never

faced questions of policy before, almost saying he's been grade on a curve, that if he were to come out and not be the bombastic donald trump we've seen in the past, that thatpa might be a win, that pundits and others may declare it a victory. donald trump already sort of gaining the rest as it were as kellyanne conway said in the piece, a warning to the moderators that the moderators shouldn't be fact checking the candidates, the candidates should be doing that. incidentally, janet brown, the the head of the commission for presidential debates sort of agrees with that. she said it's not the moderator's place to check thee facts of each of the candidates. the candidates, she said, should be doing that to each other. >> ifill: in a little while we'll see three people on the stage seeing how that's going to work itself out. johnou yang, see you later tonight.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news: the alleged gunman in a deadly attack at a washington state shoppin mall has confessed, but there's no word on a motive. that's according to court documents filed today. 20-year-old arcan cetin appeared before a judge, to face murder charges. he allegedly gunned down five people at a macy's on saturday. >> ifill: a man opened fire at a houston strip mall today, and wounded six people-- one critically-- before he died in a gun battle with police. afterward, officers canvassed ae nearby condo complex where the shooter lived, and inspected ash car, as neighbors told of their terror. >> i called 9-1-1 because the bullets did not stop. they would not stop and they were getting louder and louder.o as i was looking through the window to try to maybe help the police with the direction of who this person is, did you see him, where did he go, i could just hear the bullets whizzing through my... by my window. >> ifill: police say the gunman was a lawyer who'd had issues with his employer. >> woodruff: authorities inti charlotte, north carolina have lifted a curfew after violence over a police shooting abated. weekend protests over the shooting of keith scott stayed peaceful.

yesterday, demonstrators locked arms outside the stadium where the carolina panthers were playing. police made a handful of arrests. >> ifill: jury selection hasec begun in the federal trial ofn dylann roof, in the killing of nine black worshippers in charleston, south carolina, in 2015. he's accused of hate crimes and obstruction of religion, and he could get the death penalty if convicted. roof faces a separate trial on state murder charges. >> woodruff: the number of murders across america rose 10% last year.ea the f.b.i. also reported today that overall violent crime increased nearly 4%. even so, u.s. attorney general loretta lynch says 2015 was still the third-lowest year for violent crime in two decades. >> ifill: there was no let-up today in the ferocious assault on syria's largest city. russian planes laid waste to parts of aleppo, and the syrian military pressed a new offensive on the ground.

today-- and all through the weekend-- eastern aleppo was hammered from the sky. russian planes dropped huge, bunker-busting bombs that-b reduced neighborhoods to piles of mangled debris. hospitals were overwhelmed, with at least 200 civilians killed.il the offensive began with the collapse last week of the u.s.- russia-negotiated ceasefire. but today, syria's foreign minister blamed washington. >> ( translated ): if the united states had a real intention to find a solution, then it would have been able to do so already. do not tell me that the unitedit states does not have the ability to pressure the countries that follow it and say "enough is enough." >> reporter: the obama administration rejected that r claim, and said syria's president assad and his russian allies bear the blame. >> it's hard to talk about any kind of transition government oi any kind of negotiating process

when, you know, the moderate syrian opposition and civilians in aleppo are being bombed. >> reporter: the diplomatic rift led to bitter exchanges atge sunday's emergency meeting ofnd the u.n. security council. u.s. ambassador samantha power. >> what russia is sponsoring and doing is not counterterrorism,rr it is barbarism. laying waste to what is left of an iconic middle eastern city. these are people who have suffered horribly in the five and a half years of war. >> reporter: in turn, moscow's envoy pushed aside hopes for a renewed truce.we >> ( translated ): in syria, hundreds of groups are being armed, the territory of the country is being bombed indiscriminately, and bringing a peace is almost an impossible task now. >> reporter: amid the destruction of aleppo, a trickle of humanitarian aid is arriving elsewhere. 70 trucks reached four besieged towns yesterday-- in northwestern and southwesternrt

syria-- for the first time in nearly six months. the assault on aleppo means no aid is getting through, to the 250,000 trapped civilian. >> woodruff: back in this country: selling dominated wall street-- led by worries over germany's troubled deutsche bank and nervousness over tonight's presidential debate. the dow jones industrial average lost 166 points to close near 18,095. the nasdaq fell 48 points and the s&p 500 slipped 18. >> ifill: the washington monument is closing to thehe public-- indefinitely. the national park service said today the obelisk will be shut down until its elevator control system can be fixed.fi the elevator has broken down repeatedly in the last two years. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour: we talk to hillary clinton's campaign manager and a donald trump advisor as the candidates prepare to go head to head, plus, pre-debate analysis with amy walter, mark shields, david brooks, and much more.

>> ifill: looking ahead to the debate, we begin by hearing from both campaigns. a short time ago i spoke with clinton campaign manager robby mook and asked him about his claims that hillary clinton is being held to a double standard in advance to tonight's showdown. >> well, gwen, we just want both candidates to be graded according to the sameat criteri first of all, both of these candidates need to demonstrate a command of the issues. that's something hillary clinton has done.ne we just haven't seen that yet from donald trump. we need to hear about some real plans. again, donald trump still hasn'l rolled out, for example, a plan on i.s.i.s., his tax plan changed multiple times, has been ridiculed every time it's come out. lastly, donald trump has to tela

the truth. you can not get a passing grade after telling i would argue etch a single lie in this debate let alone the string of lies he usually tells. we just want to grade the next president of the united states. there shouldn't be a curve at the part in the bedate. >> ifill: major news outlets basically wrote long storieso saying that he's a liar. so how can we make that argument?ar >> well, we're asking for people to judge the performance if hrm the debate tonight. if donald trump doesn't tell one of his normal lies, that's great, but once we get throught that bar, which i would argue is very low, we need to hear a real true command of the issues. can he actually speak for 90 seconds, the length of the answers, in a substantive way about policies, and does he actually have concrete ideas?e we saw him ramble on a couple of

weeks ago, repeat things that tt may or may not be true.ay that's not enough.ot we're picking our next president. it's time to get serious and voters expect him to meet a high bar to become our next president. >> ifill: i am curious about: how much of the time in preparing secretary clinton for this debate you spent talk org thinking about how to get inside donald trump's head.. >> well, look, gwen, one of the things that's very troubling to votersúayout donald trump is his erratic behavior, his lack of good temperament to serve as commander-in-chief. this is not the kind of personality you want controlling our nuclear codes or commandingm our men or women in uniform.fo so we don't know how donald trump would act at this debate. i would argue that is a thrash hold reason he's not qualifiedqu to be president. but hillary clinton is steady, experienced, she has been on the debate stage one on one and will be prepared forl whatever comes

her way.he >> ifill: which audiences is secretary clinton aiming toy speak to aside from criticizing donald trump? >> i'm glad you asked that question because we think this debate is an important opportunity for secretary clinton and this captain. a lot ofai voters will be checkg into this debate for the first time. every time secretary clinton has had the opportunity to talk about proactive plans and ideas on how to make people's lives better, she's done bet on the campaign. there are undecided voters. there are people who are supportive but not motivated to go vote yet. we see this as an opportunity to speak to all those vetters and that's the most important thingh she can do, make the case about a life-long mission she's had to fight for kids and families and how she's going to make a temperatures in peopleas lives as president. >> how worried are you about this latest round of tightening polls? >> you know,en gwen, there are lot of polls out there,

particularly public polls go upr and down.wn the thing is people use a lot of different methodologies. we are just staying focused on running 20 points behind. if there is a voter who isn't registered yet or may not haveav all the information on how to vote, we'll work hard to make sure whether they turn out we're ahead in the polls. >> ifill: this the first of the three one-on-one debates. which one is thes. most ghornt. >> i think all are an important opportunity. there are slightly different formats. but this is the first one. of course,e voters are probablo going to be tuning in to this one more than any other. again, we think this is such a valuable opportunity for secretary clinton to make her proactive case for what she'sa going to do to help everyday people, why people should be excited about turning out to

vote for her, so we'll take advantage of it.va >> ifill: we'll be on the edge of our seats watching it. robby mook, secretary clinton'st campaign manager.ca thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you very much, gwen. >> woodruff: we turn now to jack kingston, a former republicanki congressman from georgia. he's now a senior advisor to donald trump's campaign. jack kingston, welcome. there is been a lot of commentary as we were just's hearing to the effect that b there's a lower bar of expectations tonight for donaldt trump than there is for hillary clinton. do you think that's right? >> no, i think this is a spin. she's a very accomplishedli debater as we should all admit. she's been running for president since 2007. before that, a u.s. senator , had plenty debates, and before, that was coaching her husband as a presidential and cubetorial candidate. of course, she's a very accomplished debater.eb she's very disciplined, very scripted, we know that. donald trump, totally different style of politics.

he is a guy who's wide open. he's an element of change. he's non-washington, and ehasha solutions which the american people support. he's a tv personality, if you will, who knows how to connecton with the everyday family. so you're going to see two different styles, but i think, when it comes to stance, hillary clinton is going to be on the defense. she wants to continue barack obama's economic policies which are slow growth, high unemployment, and she thinks that the national security picture is great and she's going to be on the defense to say why those are great policies and we need another third term. >> woodruff: let's talk about what donald trump needs to do. we heard robby mook say he needs to give substantive answers, be concrete in describing what heha needs to do as president.de he also says he needs to tell the truth. is he going to do that tonight?o >> you know, when i hear robby mook or anybody from the clinton campaign talk about telling the

truth, here's a woman who said she was bombed in kosovo, shot, here's a woman who claims she was named after sir edmund hillary, a woman who said she had one email server when she had 13, a woman who said she turned over all her e-mails and they're going to lecture donald trump about truth? it's a little ridiculous. we want to talk about economy, jobs, the fact that there are 94 million people who are underemployed or unemployed u under the clinton-obama economics how householdle dmkle has fallen in the last 15 years the fact that there isis 43 million people on food stamps. that is not an a-plus, robust economy. that's not what people in america want. they want change. that's why donald trump is thei exciting candidate. that's why so many people are tuned in to him. >> politico, just picking up on that, has done a survey of --

actually a detailed examinationt of what mr. trump said over the course of several days and a number of peaches and interviews. they looked at almost five hours of remarksenned a said, in that time, they found an untruth every three and a quarter minutes. this is from politico. >> well, yes, but keep in mind what they do is they select the statement that they want tohe select. if i were to say 20 things and they decided we're going to focus on five for me and five from hillary, then they're going to pick the ones that will be against donald trump. but i think you raise add good point. each cant will have the opportunity to call the other candidate out and say, no, that's not actually accurate. february 16th, 2015, you said such and such, and i think that's what a good, old-facinged debate is about.. that's why tonight is exciting and 100 million people are watching it.e

you know, just kind of a footnote that i heard earlier today, it may be the most famous political debate in history. i think we'll see to reveal which one has a better plan. >> woodruff: there's been speculation, jack kingston, about which donald trump will show up.. we know he's been calmer on the campaign trail recently than heh was early in this election cycle. what do you think we're going to see? >> you know, i think under the team of kellyanne conway, youa will see a lot more steadiness and presidential behavior. he's done wellen and unified the republican party so now he needs to show h he is presidential. as you know, as a very successful businessman, he has built empires and made a lot of people a lot of woney, he's grown lots of successful corporations, and i think we'll

see that part of him tonight. i think it's very important, ifm he talks about national security, his vision, if he talks about his economy, his vision. if he talks about his style, his administration, his business.bu and i think this is going to be a great opportunity for him to showcase that. >> woodruff: we'll be watch along with you. thank you very much.on >> thanks a lot. >> ifill: we get some pre-debate analysis now with: amy walter of the cook political rert, syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. there is so much to dig into from all of that, folks. i want to startth with you mark shields. what does hillary clinton and donald trump have to accomplish tonight? >> hillary clinton, at the end of the debate, what you want viewers to say is she's smart and knowledgeable but she's not a bad egg, you know. you want that sense of a personal identity, reality come true to give usñr a peek, a view

of her soul, her heart. "not a bad egg" is a pretty high compliment in american politicsi given the toxic atmosphere in which we currently dwell, that's what i think she's looking for.o donald trump -- donald trump defies gravity.de i have no idea. i've watched these things since hector was a pup, and pants on fire, four pinocchios, makes no difference. i guess he has to be donald trump. it's gotten him so far. he's going to dance with the girl who brung him.hi >> woodruff: and you have been watching almost as long as hector. >> i was atng the lincoln debat. yes. (laughter) >> woodruff: what do you thinku they need to do. i think it depends on the terrain the debate is taking place. hillary clinton wants to be on the offense, that means putting him on the defense early on

about the two issues that are the most problematic for him, temperament and judgment, so if the debate are on those two issues, who has the ex terrence and temperament to do the job, that's great terrain for her. if the debate is what jack kingston is talk about, change, shaking things up, going against the status quo, that's a very difficult place for her to be. that's where this election wants to go and where it's going. where the election wants to go, slightly more voters than not see this as an election that they want to make a change, andd for hillary clinton to win, they have to believe that change is much too dangerous. >> ifill: what if these 100 viewers tune in for a reality show and get a debate instead? >> we'll all fall out of our chairs. yeah, i don't think it's goingit to happen. it is more like a reality show, it's drama, and especially the

undecided voters, you know, they're not interested in then third plank to have the healthcare plafnlt this is not n going to be plato symposium, not that it's been so far. it's not about what they say, it's about who they are. we had a character debate and they will have to display character traits. does she seem warm, normal, ever thicket, one of us? does he seem in command, basically stable? these are low bars, maybe, but u think it's a visual confrontation between two people who con temp chouse toward each other and how they handle that bole body politic is ass important as any words at come out. >> woodruff: we keep hearing donald trump doesn't like to prepare, doesn't really matterte and, yet, hillary clinton has been seriously preparing every day for a while.wh >> i don't know why the clinton people keep telling us how long she's been preparing.in that really just kind of

reinforces this process-driven character. we know she knows the issues incredibly well. we know that he doesl. not know the issues incredibly well -- does not know the issues well, an it's not hindered him thus far. i agree, the temperament is a question. you do want to get under his skin. i would have elizabeth warrenet sitting in his eyesight, whoes obviously bothers him, and, you know, i would try and say the republican i admired and worked most closely with in the senatee that hillary clinton did and has written is john mccain, and iin think he is a hero, unlike my opponent who doesn't think john mccain is a hero, to remind him what he has said, of the embarrassing things he's said, the khans, the mccains, his

incitement to violence.nt i would try and put hill on the defensive. >> ifill: not only that, but also there is been a lot of discussion in this debate, amy, about lies and truth and consequences. we heard jack kingston make a comment, talking to judy, about 13 servers she had. she didn't, but they slide that in. >> it's devices she had versus servers. how does that work.t >> ifill: how does it work and does it matter to people if truth be told? >> if you ask people from the nbc "wall street journal" pollre who do you think is the most honest and trust worsey, donalde trump wins that question. not like a lot of people believe either are honest and trustworthy, but comparativelyor he wins that, and especially among some of the groups sheh needs to get like white voters. but i think the question and you know this better than anybody,

moderateo ago debate, but these candidates have made so many contradictory statements, hest more than her, over the course of the campaign, and the way to start a fact checking is to say, he said this, this, this and this, and which one is yourur position on this issue, rather than actually saying, you're not telling the truth.te >> ifill: string it together. yes. he is tied.s this is a tied race. how that exists, i have no idea. so the normal rules of physics suggest it should not be that. >> ifill: hillary clinton saidai as much the other day. it depends on the polling. >> she's maybe acedi by 2. but this is a very close race, and why that is happening and how he's been able to do this, it's very hard to predict the debate because none of the rules are applying.

i think the word is cruelty. if he appears cruel, i think we'll see something shift. >> can i make a point about the laws of physics? i think that's what the laws of physics at this time and place in politics suggest we should always have a 2 or 3 point race. the reason it's this close is reps have now accepted donald trump. when the race, there was a big gap, it was because so many reps were standing on the sideline. this tells us we're much more aligned by our jerseys than anything else.yt >> woodruff: mark, we awake tomorrow morning, six weeks to go in this election. will things have changed? >> judy, what is confounding and i hope gets resolved tonight is 70% of hillary clinton ice voters believe she would be a good president.e

nearly half of donald trump's voters believe he would be a good president, the majority of whom are voting against hillary clinton. so the change element that amy addressed is so significant.si i mean, they are angry, they feel abandoned, they feel all sorts of things, and the fact that donald trump can't name the n.a.t.o. countries, whatever else, the five presidents, thei first half of the 20t 20th century, make no difference to them. so i think it is, as david put, temperament. he does come across as cruel, mean-spirited and a bully. i mean, don't forget, it's the first time a man has debated with a woman for president. >> ifill: thank you, mark shields, david brooks, amy walter. a mega montelli "politics monda" join us at 9:00 p.m. eastern for special live coverage of the debate.

and tune in online for in-depth analysis, where the newshour team will put what the candidates say in context. that's all at pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: stay with us.ta coming up on the newshour: remembering arnold palmer-- the man who brought golf intot america's living rooms-- and what makes songs from "west side story" so remarkable. but first, two weeks ago, the newshour reported on an investigation into corruption of the top leaders of south sudan. the investigation by the sentrye group, a washington non-profit, alleged insider dealing by the president and former vice president of the country, as well as their top generals. after our report, the new vice president of south sudan reached out to newshour. hari sreenivasan spoke with him last week, about the report and also what has been a longep violent summer in the world's youngest nation. >> reporter: this summer,

clashes between forces supporting the president of south sudan and the former vice president have turned violent, pushing the nation toward the brink of a civil war. on july 7th, troops loyal to th president fired between 50 to 100 rounds of ammunition at a convoy of american diplomats.. one group of americans had to be rescued from the scene of the attack by u.s. marines. no one was hurt. some reports said it was the president's own guards who led the assault.e that same week, a group of government soldiers stormed the terrain hotel, targeting american aid workers with beatings and sexual abuse.us eyewitnesses told the associated press that many of the soldiers wore the insignia of the presidential guard. former vice president riek mashaar left the capitol, and in his absence president salva kiir recently appointed this man taban deng gai as vice president in his place. are presidential guard under the president's control? >> yes, yeah. >> reporter: so they don't do anything without his orders?

>> reporter: the concern is that there was an attack on u.s. a diplomats in july and that came from the presidential guard. so was it under the president's orders? >> reporter: as for the july attack on the terrain hotel, deng says that the presidentay immediately ordered an investigation, led by one of south sudan's most respected judges. >> reporter: i ask these questions partly because is it safe for an american to visit south sudan?

>> reporter: earlier this month, the u.n. security council authorized an additional 4,000 peacekeepers to south sudan. this in addition to the nearly 14,000 already in the country. u.s. ambassador samantha powersa traveled to juba for the announcement with president kiir.. despite the joint appearance, the south sudanese are hesitant to accept additional peacekeepers. >> reporter: this most recent

cycle of violence is once againi forcing civilians to flee the capital city of juba. the u.n. says that more than a m million people have been displaced since the country's founding. just last week the u.s. announced $133 million inil humanitarian aid. this makes nearly $2 billion in u.s. aid to south sudan sinceh its birth. there is growing concern as to how these dollars, as well asar the nation's oil revenues are being spent. a recent report by the sentry group, a washington based non-n- profit, documented widespread corruption at the upper levels of south sudanese government and military. it detailed lavish spending on mansions and luxury hotels around the world. it says that president kiir and reik mashar have expensive homes in an exclusive neighborhood inb nairobi kenya, while the president built a massive compound in south sudan, far i away from the capital. vice president deng says he hass not read the report, but is still critical of the conclusions it draws about the president.

>> reporter: what does the president make in south sudan? what's the salary? >> reporter: let's put the president aside for a second. what about all the other different leaders they have documented? family members of the generals, sometimes their kids who run the businesses they get pretty big contracts. >> reporter: vice president deng acknowledges that the sentry group led partly by jon prendegrast and george clooney are friends of the nation, but disagrees with how the information was presented. >> reporter: the vice president says he aims to meet with the sentry group this week inou washington. for the pbs newshour, i'm harim

sreenivasan. >> ifill: the tributes have poured in all day for golfing legend, arnold palmer. from his friend and rival, jack nicklaus, to recent champions,en like tiger woods, to dignitaries like president obama. a handful of other champions won more tournaments and titles, but palmer set a standard for attracting public attention to the sport. william brangham has a look back at "the king". >> the u.s. open, played in the shadow of the rockies, saw arnold palmer sink an incredibll putt. >> reporter: june 1960, denver: an improbable win in the u.s. open became the stuff of golfing legend, >> coming from seven strokes behind, palmer showed nerves of steel and a will of granite, asn he battled to win the u.s. open. >> reporter: ...and defined the style of arnold palmer.

it was, perhaps, palmer's greatest year. he had won the masters just two months earlier, and all told, won eight times that season. he followed up with victories at the next two british opens, and two mores, masters in 1962 and '64. he reflected on his success in a 2011 interview with charlie rose. >> any time i got close, i felt i had to win. i had to. i couldn't lose. i couldn't let that happen to me. and it worked. >> reporter: arnold daniel palmer was born on september 10th, 1929, in latrobe, pennsylvania, outsidets pittsburgh. he began swinging a club at age four, and practically lived at the area country club, where his dad was first the greenskeeper, and later, the club pro. t palmer won the u.s. amateur in 1954, turned pro the next yearex and quickly began piling up victories: 62 over his career,ie including seven major championships. he had a ferocious, muscular swing that made him one ofad

golf's greatest drivers.go and, his magnetic personality drew an energetic fan-base, dubbed "arnie's army." he helped turn golf into a major television sport. >> the game is so fantastic and people who get into it love it so much, and the fact that if i had a little bit to do with some of the enjoyment that i've seena today, i'm pleased with that. >> reporter: the fans had a lot to enjoy, especially in thepe 1960's, when palmer was named the associated press athlete of the decade. he was so popular, he ended up with his own drink: the lemonade-iced tea combo named for him. along the way, he famously forged a bond with presidentd dwight eisenhower-- himself an avid golfer-- as palmer recalled at the world golf hall of fameld in 2009. >> my relationship with eisenhower is one of the great relationships that i have ever had in my life. >> reporter: arnold palmer's own contributions to the game were enormous, helping to transformen

golf into a major television sport. but his success extended far beyond his play. he developed a passion for course design, putting his stamp on more than 300 worldwide, and creating the arnold palmer design company. he was also a sports marketing pioneer, advertising everything from cadillac, to the blood- thinner xarelto, in his later years. palmer made time, as well, for philanthropy, opening a children's hospital and investing in youth development.h in 2004, he became the first golfer to receive the presidential medal of freedom. and in 2012, he was awarded the. congressional gold medal. even in his later years, he stayed active in golf, taking a the role of honorary starter at the masters in 2007. after that, his friends and long-time rivals jack nicklaus and gary player joined him. and, his legacy continues: a arnold palmer died sunday in pittsburgh.. he was 87 years old. and for more on palmer's legacy, i'm joined now by george savaricas of the golf channel, who's covered palmer's career, and just interviewed him a week ago.

globlgeorge, thank you so much r being here.. what made him such a tremendous talent on the golf course itself? >> on the golf course, it was clearly his style of play because if you look all time, he wasn't the winningest golfer. that honor would go to jack thinks lack and tiger woods is also in the conversation but for arnold, his style of play was fearless and bordering reckless at times, but fans could relate because he had a go-for-broke mentality that there was a shot he could pull off even if the percentage play was to be a little more conservative, he would always go for broke, for ther gusto, and that appealed to the crowds back then and helped build upon what became just a brand not just on the golfbr course but a brand off the golf course as well.

>> seems like he came along at a time when golf had a stodgy image of the country club set and he sort of gave it this charisma and blue-collar appeal that seemed pretty novel at the time. >> yeah, he was a guy who t had fairly humble beginnings. definitely part of middle class america. his phat was c a greens keeper d he grew up playing at latrobe country club so he was a guy who understood earning a dollar andr an honest-day's paycheck, so when he really burst on the scene and golf was first being televised, it didn't hurt he had movie star looks and was a guygu who was at the top of the game from about 1957 to 1963 and in the mid to late '60s, so he was able to pile up seven major victories, which was remarkablei at that 250eu78 and did it in a short period of time, so he transitioned from being a figurehead on the course to almost a secondary career wherh he was able to become just as

successful if not more so a successful businessman.bu >> one of the things i have bee struck by today in a lot of the tributes to him is not only talking about his talent bute also he just seemed to be an apparently incredibly magnanimous person outside of the sport.e did you see that? >> clearly. for instance today, i was at bay hill club and lodge, a private country club he bought in 1974, moved the tournament, the pga tour event that's held inin orlando to there in 1979, and i was just hanging outer with the members and getting theirge stories, and he was the most unassuming global celebrity that you could ever come across. he had a specific table he would sit at every day and play cards with the guys or play a game of golf or have a bite to eat or have a cocktail with them and just tell stories, and everyone the first time they would meet him, be it if you're an a-list celebrity or just a guy off the

street, would be nervous becaus you're approaching arnold palmer, and that's a name that resonates not just with my mom or my or my grandparents' generation, but all of those because he's been an a-list-plus celebrity for 50, 60 years.ye it was amazing to hear their stories and from guys on the pga tour, tiger woods, jack nicholas, phil mickelson, observe rickie fowler or jordan spieth, just what it meant to them to share moments or big chunks of their life where they were lucky enough to call arnold palmer a friend. >> we take it for granted now that celebrities who excel get endorsement deals and that's a big part of their career, but he was really a pioneer in that regard as well, right? >> it's kind of a forgotten story when you look at the lasting legacy arnold palmer will leave behind, what he and mark mccormick were able to do

with a.i.g. and it's not lost on the modern player. i spoke to a member of the bay hill club and said she washe trying to figure out what move to make. m a few years ago she talked to t arnold palmer around asked for advice and he told a story of how he and mark mccormack started a.i.g. together and he was able to build his brandd office coarse by gaining endorsements and spinning thatng to a secondary career when his game days were over, he's as successful as he was when he was an a-list golfer and one of the top draws on the tour.. so it's something players can be thankful for and learn lessons from. >> i understand you interviewedo him not too long and asked him what he thought his lasting legacy of the game could be. what did he tell you? >> it's a week and a half ago. it's amazing to think i went

from laughing and joking with him, it was part of the latrobe classic he hosted four years in a row for arnie's army foundation. and what he's done for healthcare in the orlando area for the arnold palmer hospital, theho winners hospital which has delivered more than 150,000 babies, you can tell that's what got him excited at this stage in his life and career. it was two days after his 87t 87th birthday when we hads this interview what his goals werere going forward and raising money for that hospital. there's a $2 million goal they're well en route to. that was at the forefront of his mind, and you can see a twinkle in his eye that's what was getting him excited to push forward. >> george savaricas of the golf channel, thank you so much for sharing your memories of the man. >> of course. >> woodruff: finally tonight, ow

a "light note:" on this day in 1957, "west side story" debuted on broadway. composer and musician rob kapilow is back to tell us why the music has withstood the test of time. jeffrey brown sat down with kapilow recently. >> reporter: ron kapilow, welcome back.we >> it's great to be here. >> reporter: so "west side story," one of the most famous musicals in history, but nothi quite what it was intended to be, i guess. >> i think that's true. t you know, leonard bernstein had already written two his musicals, on the town, and wonderful town, and those shows are filled with bernstein's love, facility, and affection for the popular music of the day. but they're light heartedey musicals, fundamentally, and now he wanted to do something serious, and he got together ano incredibly serious crew of guys. i mean we had jerome robins who did serious ballets, we had arthur lawrence who wroteot serious plays, we had leonard bernstein, and they wanted to do something serious.ri that was the amazing thing about bernstein, he could actually do, both, and he crossed over, and

this whole piece is reallyho about, in a way, the conflict between those two worlds, between the serious world-- this is going to be, he called a tragic musical comedy, if that's not an oxymoron. >> reporter: tragedies get turned into operas all the timem >> all the time, and in fact tragedy is the lifeblood of opera, it's not really an opera unless somebody dies at the end, but people don't usually die at the end in a broadway musical. and this one had a body count oe three, with two of them dead at the first act curtain. i mean, that is not the stuff ot a broadway musical, not to mention a classic shakespeare play, "romeo and juliet," as thm background. >> reporter: most people of course know "west side story" from the film, the musical version, so use the songve "maria," a famous song, show us what turned out there. >> well there's a great moment in the middle of "maria," which shows this battle intention between opera and broadway. the orchestra is playing the music of the opening as if it's become somehow tony's subconscious mind, like this. ♪ maria

i've just kissed a girl named maria beautiful chord, and all theho warmth. now that's what the orchestra is doing, but above it, in the film, tony, as if rhapsodizing about this maria, the sound and the single word gets higher and higher in pitch ♪ maria maria until finally climaxes up here. ♪ ♪ maria and in the film sings this ♪ maria maria maria ♪ maria >> now that's kind of operatic, but it's lower in pitch. no one's vocal chords are straining, no one's blood

vessels are bursting, it's doable eight times a week, and for the public it was perfectly successful. >> reporter: right, but that's not the opera version that bernstein wanted. >> that's not what he wanted. he comes from the world of being one of the great opera conductors. i mean was there ever a more over the top, larger than life, operatic personality than bernstein? so he writes a version that goes higher, and higher, and higher, ♪ maria maria ♪ maria >> and finally climaxes on a high b flat held for ten beats. ♪ maria >> i mean this is something right out of "la boheme," or "la traviata," you literally see the vocal chords bursting. now eventually they had to get rid of it, and bernstein was so depressed because he was constantly writing to his wife, "they're getting rid of all my favorite parts, the operaticat parts," but he realized that for

a tenor to sing a high b flat for ten beats, eight times a week, would be material. >> reporter: so that's gone from the musical. >> that's gone, they lowered it in pitch, he doesn't have to sing the high notes, but interestingly later in his life, in his head, he thought, "i really do want to hear this with opera singers," and he actually went back later and recorded it with opera singers, with thepe incredibly high b flat. >> reporter: your argument is that somehow in the tension between this opera and musical, high and low i guess, something great happened. >> one of the great things about bernstein's entire career-- both as a composer, and as an educator, and as a conductor-- one of the great things about bernstein was that he moved so effortlessly between the worlds of serious music and popular music, and he spoke bothmu languages absolutely as if they were vernacular. and what's interesting is the tension between what he brought to the world of the broadway musical was the entire world of serious classical music, yet he also spoke it in a natural way that other classical composers

didn't, and the end of this piece is a perfect example. ♪ the most beautiful song i ever heard >> it ends with opera, but not the high opera that we think of opera, but the intimate world of opera, a floated voice, a falsetto voice. not the first maria, maria, not the second one, maria, but a final one that resolves mariaa for the first time in the piece. ♪ maria ♪ maria >> and while a tenor, only an operatic tenor can do it well, floats this high note, the orchestra goes... ♪ and we end, the perfect merging of the broadway musical, and the world of opera. >> reporter: "west side story," rob kapilow, thank you very much.

>> thanks, jeff. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here at 9:00 p.m. eastern for special coverage of the presidential debate. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: n lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial

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>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and aruba tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here, in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the