captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> sreenivasan: good evening, i'm hari sreenivasan. on the newshour tonight... >> i have recused myself in matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> sreenivasan: under fire, attorney general sessions removes himself from any investigations of the trump campaign, after he failed to disclose meetings with the russian ambassador. also ahead this thursday, investing in employee happiness. why zappos is betting on work culture to boost the company's longevity. >> the default fate for most companies is actually death. i want this company to still be around 500 years from now. >> sreenivasan: plus, a new exhibit of world war i art reveals the different ways people see a single moment in american history. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the well-being of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at rockefellerfoundation.org

>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: the nation's new attorney general has spent this day under growing fire. and now, jeff sessions says someone else will oversee an investigation of russian meddling in the election, and of

contacts between the trump campaign and the russians. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: the new attorney general, three weeks on the job, came to the justice department briefing room this afternoon to make his statement. >> my staff recommended recusal. they said that since i had involvement with the campaign, i should not be involved in any campaign investigation. i have studied the rules and considered their comments and evaluation. i believe those recommendations are right and just. therefore i have recused myself in the matters that deal with trump campaign. >> desjardins: this after the "washington post" reported that last year, when jeff sessions was a senator and trump campaign advisor, he met with the russian ambassador to the u.s. twice then-senator sessions had more than 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors last year. two of those were with sergey

kislyak, the russian envoy. at his news conference, sessions took issue with any suggestion of impropriety. >> let me be clear: i never had meetings with russian ops or intermediaries with trump campaign part of continuing >> desjardins: he also defended answers he gave during his senate confirmation. minnesota democrat al franken cited u.s. intelligence documents. >> these documents also allegedly say, "there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump's surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government." >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i didn't have, did not have communications with the russians. >> desjardins: this afternoon, sessions said he never meant to be misleading. >> my reply to the question of senator franken was honest and

correct as i understood it at the time. i appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment that is not my intent that is not correct. >> desjardins: but democrats in congress weren't buying it. senate minority leader chuck schumer: >> i don't think that is the way most think people would interpret it and that's why we need a thorough investigation. >> desjardins: instead, schumer and house minority leader nancy pelosi demanded that sessions resign. >> the standard for remaining attorney general and certainly for conducting investigations is not just did you break the law. you have to be above reproach. >> he has proved that he is unqualified and unfit to serve in that position of trust. >> desjardins: 17 democrats on the house judiciary committee formally asked for a criminal investigation of sessions for allegedly lying to congress. democrats are pushing for a special prosecutor in the case. but there was also pressure from republicans.

several called for sessions to recuse himself from the russia investigation, before he eventually did so. but speaker of the house paul ryan played down such talk. >> i think he answered that question this morning. we meet with ambassadors all the time. i mean i did a reception about a 100 yards that way with about a hundred ambassadors last years. i don't even remember all the >> desjardins: the attorney >> desjardins: and this afternoon, sessions' boss weighed in, in newport news, virginia aboard the aircraft carrier "gerald r. ford" >> do you still have confidence in the attorney general? >> total. >> desjardins: the president said he believes sessions "probably did" speak truthfully to senate. he also said he did not think sessions should recuse himself, but 90 minutes later, the attorney general did just that. the revelations come just two weeks after then-national security advisor michael flynn was forced out. he'd told vice president mike pence he didn't meet discuss sanctions with a russian official, when in fact, he had. and, in a further development, "the new york times" reported today officials in the obama

administration rushed to spread intelligence of any contacts between the trump campaign and the russians before leaving office. their goal: to ensure a trail remained for investigators. >> sreenivasan: lisa desjardins joins me now. lisa, this happened late in the afternoon, about a 4:00 press conference. what was the reaction to this from the people on the hill? >> there was a full spectrum of reaction on capitol hill. there are some republicans who say they do not believe that attorney general sessions should have recused himself. there are colleagues that see him as an honest man. they were saying all day long he shouldn't do anything new, but there are other republicans who will tell you privately they are relieved. they saw this as a problem for their party, especially at a time when they're trying to focus on other things like, oh, the affordable care act. those republicans, one told me privately hoping that this means there will be a pause in the daily questions they've been receiving on russia. and that brings us to the third reaction up here, democrats. they have a different plan. they do in the plan on pausing

these questions, and house and senate minority leaders pelosi and schumer instantly sent out responses saying that they are again demanding a special prosecutor. they say that attorney general sessions' recusal just adds to the need for a special prosecutor. and they are still calling for him to resign. >> sreenivasan: it sounds like some critics are doubling down. what about some reports later this afternoon about more meetings between members of the trump camp and russia? >> these were new developments today, as well. "the new york times" reporting, quoting a white house official hope hicks as confirming that jared kushner, pruch's son-in-law and a senior adviser, was at a meeting with the russian ambassador and michael flynn, the former national security adviser, at trump tower. this gets confusing because now we're seeing more and more players here, but this is significant because now we're adding more members of the trump team who were meeting with this russian ambassador. at that point it was kushner, flynn and the ambassador at

trump tower in december. that's when the obama administration was working on ramping up sanctions, a very critical time line there, and i think overall it just adds to the map in this entire russia-trump situation. but i will say the white house says that mr. kushner met with many international dignitaries and the russian ambassador was just one. >> sreenivasan: all right. lisa desjardins joining us from capitol hill. thanks so much. in the day's other news, the president carried his call for a major military buildup to a u.s. navy audience. mr. trump spoke aboard the newly built aircraft carrier "gerald r. ford" in newport news, virginia, and touted his plan for naval expansion. >> after years of endless budget cuts, that have impaired our defenses, i am calling for one of the largest defense spending increases in history. our military requires sustained, stable funding to meet our growing needs. >> sreenivasan: the president's draft budget calls for boosting overall defense spending by $54 billion, or 10%.

the u.s. struck hard at al-qaeda militants today in yemen, with more than 20 air strikes. local officials reported at least nine suspected militants were killed. the pentagon says the strikes targeted fighters, weapons and equipment in a remote, mountainous region. it follows a raid in january when a u.s. navy seal died and a number of yemeni civilians were killed. meanwhile, al-qaeda confirmed today that a u.s. drone strike killed its second-in command, abu al-khayr al-masri, in syria, last sunday. a suspected u.s. drone strike killed two taliban militants in northwest pakistan today. they were hit in a tribal region near the afghan border. it would be the first such strike ordered since president trump took office. in syria, the government announced it has fully recaptured the ancient city of palmyra from the islamic state group, again. syrian army troops drove out the militants for the second time in a year. they were backed by hezbollah fighters from lebanon and russian air strikes. isis fighters have already destroyed many of palmyra's ancient roman sites.

an international family planning conference raised nearly $200 million today for family planning initiatives. that's after president trump re- instated a ban on u.s. funding for organizations with any link to abortion. representatives from some 50 nations met in brussels, at a conference dubbed "she decides." >> i think the trump administration decision is a wrong decision and i have never seen any evidence that supports that decision, but we have a voice and we have a choice >> sreenivasan: conference organizers say the u.s. funding cutoff left a global shortfall of about $600 million for family planning efforts. back in this country, the environmental protection agency dropped a requirement that oil and gas interests report information on methane emissions. the obama administration issued that rule in november. in a statement, the new e.p.a. administrator, scott pruitt, said withdrawing the rule will

ease burdens on business, while he conducts a full review. two more cabinet officers took their seats. the senate confirmed ben carson to be secretary of housing and urban development, and rick perry to be energy secretary. they were sworn in this afternoon by vice president pence. carson is a retired neurosurgeon who ran for president last year. perry is a former governor of texas. the new interior secretary, ryan zinke, made a memorable entrance today, for his first day on the job. the former montana congressman rode a national park service horse several blocks to department headquarters. once there, he dismounted to greet hundreds of staffers. and, on wall street, stocks gave back a big chunk of yesterday's big gains, as investors took profits. the dow jones industrial average lost 112 points but still managed to stay above 21,000. the nasdaq fell nearly 43 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 14. still to come on the newshour: a closer look at the implications of jeff sessions' meeting with the russian ambassador.

a shoe company upending the traditional business model with a little fun, and much more. >> sreenivasan: the reaction to attorney general jeff sessions announcement late this afternoon was swift. critics say his decision to recuse himself from any current and future investigations into the trump campaign's dealings with russia doesn't go far enough. one of those critics: democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. he serves on the judiciary and armed service committees and joins us now. senator blumenthal, why isn't it far enough? >> it is nowhere near far enough, because he owes an explanation to the judiciary committee. he should be brought back to the judiciary committee. and give an explanation as to why he omitted and denied key relevant facts in the course of our hearings on his nomination.

if he fails to provide a credible explanation, he should resign. and it's also nowhere near enough because the scope of his recusal is still somewhat undefined. he referred to the campaign, but really the investigation from which he should recuse himself relates to the entire cyber attack and act of cyber warfare on our democratic institutions and the potential complicity, connection, contact between the trump transition as well as the campaign and the administration since the inaugural with the russians. and as more news develops, the jared kushner meeting, for example, the need for that broader recusal becomes all the more necessary. >> sreenivasan: senator, if you could get the attorney general back in front of your committee, what more do you hope to learn from him? >> first and foremost why he denied meetings that clearly he recalled and that were relevant

to the investigation. what was said during those meetings? what does his staff recall, and what do their notes reflect, and what connection was to the russians involving those conversations involving the cyber attack on the united states, our democratic institutions? make no mistakes, this cyber attack was an act of warfare on the united states. and the potential complicity of trump's organization or campaign or administration officials is very, very serious, and the american people deserve the truth. it needs to be uncovered. the cover-up, if there is one, would be as bad or worse than the crime itself, because we need to deter this kind of attack going forward. >> woodruff: what. >> sreenivasan: what about the attorney general's defense that he was answering the question asked and nothing more. >> looking at the record he was asked that question not just once but several times during his testimony. he was asked that question not

just once but several times in writing. and to say that he may have misunderstood the question when, in fact, everybody knows he had to have been prepped for that question. it was an obvious and challenging question that had to be briefed to him, and he had to go through that preparation, and remember also, jeff sessions is a prosecutor, as i was united states attorney for connecticut, the chief federal prosecutor, state attorney general of connecticut, we know the importance of every word under oath. and so i find that explanation inadequate. >> sreenivasan: if the recusal is not enough, is a special counsel necessary? >> a special prosecutor is absolutely necessary. that raises another question: how will that special counsel or prosecutor be chosen, and it should be someone who is completely independent, impartial, objective, a professional who can uncover the truth and follow the facts and

the evidence wherever they lead. and they may lead to the attorney general. they could lead higher and to other administration officials. that appointment or designation will be critical to the trust and credibility of the department of justice. remember, the attorney general of the united states and the department of justice are not just any cabinet position or agency in the government. they are responsible for law enforcement. they are the legal conscience and moral compass of our federal enforcement establishment. and even of the nation in many respects. they need to be beyond doubt or reproach. >> sreenivasan: should there be an investigation into perjury of your former colleague? >> the investigation should be into any violation of law that has occurred by anyone, and it should be by a special prosecutor who will uncover the truth so that the american people know about the cyber attacks on this nation and know about any cooperation or

complicity or support the russians received from anybody in the united states. >> sreenivasan: the attorney general today along with speaker ryan and others said this is part of the job as a senior member of the senate armed services committee. they meet with ambassadors all the time. >> this ambassador was from russia at the height of the political campaign and of the russian interference and cyber attack on this nation through not only hacking into the democratic and republican national committees, but also the campaign propaganda and misinformation and fake news, so the contacts with the ambassador in terms of timing, who it was, what country and what was going on, is certainly more than just routine. i have never met with the russian ambassador. and the meeting here is certainly more than just a

passing occurrence. >> sreenivasan: how do you fix this in the future if members of congress should be meeting with diplomats or foreign dignitaries, when they're interested or in the interest of their constituents, should there be a public record of every one of these meetings? >> the safer course might have been to have a public record or to postpone the meeting. one of the questions to be asked of attorney general sessions is why then, what was discussed, if it was as a member of the armed services committee, what purpose was there in the discussion? was it to discuss the russian's violation of the 1987 ballistic missile treaty, which they are doing now? was it to discuss other acts of aggression in ukraine and elsewhere in the world? what was discussed? we have a right to those explanations. >> sreenivasan: senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> sreenivasan: questions about attorney general session's meetings with the russian ambassador aren't limited to capitol hill. we explore some of those now with: john mclaughlin, a career intelligence official. he was a former deputy director of the c.i.a. he was also acting director of the agency in 2004. and michael mukasay. he served as president george w. bush's attorney general from 2007 to 2009. mr. mukasay, i want the start with you. at those hearings, at the confirmation hearings for jeff sessions, i noticed you sat right behind him. i am assuming you are in support of his recusal today. >> yes. i think that the step he took was quite routine. what he said is if there is a criminal investigation, then i should recuse myself, and i do recuse myself. and he pointed out that there is... there are more regulations and there's law on that subject as contained in the code of federal regulations, and that

was quite supportable and quite routine. >> sreenivasan: staying with you for a second, attorney general sessions is somebody who is known for his specificity of word choice and he expects that, especially of the people testifying in front of him, so what do you think accounts for either the forgetfulness or not answering the question? really what's gotten us into this? >> there was neither forgetfulness or not answering at question. if senator blumenthal is looking for an excla nation of the response, he ought to look in the transcript of the hearing before his committee. i hope he was paying attention. the question that was asked by senator franken was related to contacts between the russians and the trump campaign relating to the campaign. and i have the paper in front of me. he, among other things, quoted a report that said there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries of the russian government. now again, i'm telling you this

pas it's coming out, so you kno, but if it's true, it's obviously extremely serious, and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? it's all related to that kind of communication. his response was, senator franken, i'm not aware of any of these activities. i've been called a sure got a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. i'm unable to comment on it. the kind of communication that senator franken was asked about that other members of the committee asked about he did not have. he had a meeting in september with not only the russian ambassador but with about 20 or 21 other ambassadors from other countries, all discussing what the possible foreign relations of the united states would be in the trump administration going forward. this is only one of a number of meetings. and if he wants the find out what the content of that meeting was, maybe he can get a transcript of the attorney general's press conference today

where he disclosed that he had an argument with the russian ambassador about russian activities in the ukraine. >> sreenivasan: john mclaghlin, was this recusal enough? >> i think it's the minimum that the attorney general can do in this circumstance. and i think it was the right thing to do. >> sreenivasan: should there be more? >> at this point i wouldn't recommend more. i think attorney general sessions is an honorable man. i think he made a mistake here. one can argue endlessly about whether it was really a mistake or not. the point is the perception has taken root, and i think he had no choice but to do a recusal. i don't think that that is the end of this story. and i don't think that the administration can investigate itself on this issue. >> sreenivasan: michael mukasay, i want to ask you, then-senator sessions was one of a group of trump supporters who took out an op-ed who wanted

then-attorney general loretta lynch investigated for her conversation on the tarmac with president clinton during the campaign. why is this different? >> it's different for a couple reasons. number one, her conversation was anything but routine. he got on to her plane i date of birth know how and had a conversation to which there were no witnesses at a time when his wife was under investigation. this is light years from that. >> sreenivasan: mr. mclaghlin, it's common place for senators to meet with ambassadors. why should this be treated differently? >> i think this is entirely about context. they're right. people meet with ambassadors all the time and all over washington, and certainly senators do. the context here is one of a president who has been elected in an environment where he clearly spoke favorably often about russia where there are questions that remain about his

relationship with russia. those questions are there. there's an evidentiary base for raising them. and it's in that context that the meeting with ambassador kislyak gained prominence and stands out and is worth talking about. i think it's entirely that. and i think ultimately we will need either a special prosecutor or a 9/11-type commission to get to the bottom of this. and i think those options would be ones that would actually favor the fortunes of the republican party and the nation as a whole. >> sreenivasan: how so? >> well, i think, you know, this is going to hang around the party's neck and around the president's neck unless there is an absolutely certain dispassionate view by independent observers of what happened here, a determination. among other things, at some point, and i think the president has the right idea when he says, our relationship with russia needs to be improved, i was in russia in october, and i saw

just how bad it is. it really is very close to a second cold war. at that time i came back and said, look, we're only one miscalculation away from a shooting war somewhere with these people. it's that tense. so the problem is for the president, though, in trying to maneuver into a different kind of relationship, a more effective, cooperative relationship with russia, it's going to hang around his neck and people will not trust whatever he comes up with in that relationship with russia unless this is all put to rest. and i doubt personally that the congress can do this. because it's too politically hot. >> sreenivasan: michael mukasay, what about that point, for the good of the party, for the integrity of the office, should there be an independent counsel or a special prosecutor assigned to this? >> a special prosecutor would have to specially prosecute a crime. so far nobody has identified any crime that was committed here that i'm aware.

we don't have people independent of a government. we have a constitution that establishes three branches of government. one is article one, that's the congress. article two is the executive. article three is the judiciary. you have to be in one or the other. you can have an investigation that's conducted by a special counsel if that's warranted, but first somebody has to identify the commission of a crime and evidence of 2 crime. so far that hasn't happened. the only crime that was committed here was the hacking by the russians. nobody is denying that. but that's not the subject, as i understand it, of the current dispute. >> sreenivasan: mr. mukasay, staying with you for a second, something they sort of asked mr. mclaghlin, as well. the "washington post" reached all 26 members of the senate armed services committee and sexes was the only one that met with kislyak from russia. does that raise any flags? >> no, because he met also with 20 or 25 other ambassadors. i think the reason they sought

out those meetings and it was kislyak who sought out the meeting, as did the other ambassadors, because that time senator sessions was involved in the campaign. they wanted to know what the american foreign policy would be, and all of those ambassadors met sequentially one after another with senator sessions to scope out what the foreign policy of a trump administration would be if mr. trump were elected and to see if they could press their points of view. apparently kislyak pressed his point of view on the subject of ukraine with in great success, as was reported today by the attorney general. >> sreenivasan: mr. mclaghlin, i want to ask you, what about reports that members of the obama administration made sure that certain matters were at different levels of clearance so they could be accessed later on. >> i heard that reporting. of course, we don't know from the reporting precisely what they were leaving, the nature of the reports, other than the allegation by i guess anonymous

sources again that they somehow showed a relationship between campaign officials of trump's campaign and the russians. i think what the obama administration was doing here is... i don't think, this is my view, i don't think they'd come to a firm conclusion that there was complicity, but they saw enough to raise the question in their minds and to convince them that some further investigation was required. and i suspect they believed once again in that context that i described that should trump be elected, someone would have an impulse to not pursue this. so i think they were trying the guarantee that it would continue to be pursued. >> sreenivasan: john mclaghlin, michael mukasay, thank you both. >> sreenivasan: stay with us,

coming up on the newshour: why the stock market just keeps going up. seeing world war one through the lens of art. and a brief take on what it's like to be a female comedian. but first, you might know retailer zappos for the shoes it sells and its emphasis on customer service. what you may not know about is its quirky corporate culture, and why the company is banking on that for its long-term success. our economics correspondent paul solman reports, as part of his weekly series "making sense" which airs every thursday. >> definitely the best porta potty experience i've ever had >> reporter: from its porta- party p.r. to its campus in downtown vegas, zappos, the online shoe monger, is devoted to "different." >> let me give you these three rules about wearing wallflowers, as we like to call them. >> reporter: wallflowers. >> wallflowers, because you see we've got the wall and we call them wallflowers. >> reporter: front desk dress code enforcer jason brown gives

visitors three options. >> first one is to take it off if it holds sentimental value to you, the next one is to wear it around your head in a bandana, john rambo style, and then the last one is to cut and it becomes part of the collection. >> reporter: thankfully my tie was deemed passably peculiar and thus spared a spot on the wall, amidst decor both seasonal, lanterns for chinese new year, and longstanding, like the shoe- zaphone. >> it came from the blue man group actually. >> reporter: btony hsieh took over zappos 17 years ago after selling his online ad network, link exchange to microsoft for a cool $265 million. >> what a lot of people actually don't know is the real reason why we ended up selling the company. >> reporter: and that is? >> and it's because the company culture just ended up going completely downhill. i myself dreaded getting out of bed in the morning to go to my own company. >> reporter: history would not repeat itself, hsieh vowed. so at zappos, culture comes first. and that starts with hiring

people who'll fit. >> i remember coming in and one of the things was we're not trying to hire based off of your education. we want to hire based off of someone i would want to go have a beer with after lunch. >> reporter: well, i would want to have a beer with you and i barely know you. >> i wouldn't have a beer. we could have a shot. >> reporter: zappos core values are an obsession: embrace change, be humble "create fun and a little weirdness." >> it's a family that loves to play. >> reporter: musician tyler williams heard it was harder to get into zappos than harvard. so to be more than a face in the crowd, he sent a video valentine. and when it earned him an interview. >> i think one of the craziest questions is they asked: on a scale of one to ten, how weird are you? so i'm a definitely a ten on that scale, so i was worried i was a little too weird for zappos. >> reporter: nope, williams, is

now a "fungineer," the brains behind company galas and other so-called experiences, like" tutu tuesdays." >> we probably at the pinnacle of its popularity we had 50, 60 people that would wear tutus on tuesday. >> reporter: another core valu"" build a positive team and family spirit." >> so we put these games on the elevator... >> reporter: ahhh! >> that was good. to hopefully stop and play the game, have collisions, have conversations and get off on the wrong floor so people would visit different areas that they normally wouldn't. >> reporter: zappos invests lavishly in morale. impress a colleague and hr will pay you "zollars" to redeem for zappos swag. each month employees can reward a coworker with a $50 company bonus for going above and beyond. and company largesse begets acts of random kindness. >> i took a picture of a

particular bouquet that i liked and i posted on facebook: i love flowers. >> reporter: letha myles started in customer service nine years ago. >> the next day, there was a bouquet of flowers sitting on my desk, along with a note saying: you make us smile, so we thought we would make you smile. >> reporter: birthday balloons abound; cubicle self-expression is de rigueur. but what can the business rationale be for all this? why would amazon pay more than a billion dollars for zappo's in 2009 and then let it spend so generously for so long to make its employees happy? >> i think it's pretty hard to give great, amazing service if you're an unhappy employee. >> reporter: turns out zappos' business is service. it started with shoes, as amazon did with books, aims to branch out. >> we've talked about one day there could be a zappos airlines or a zappos hotel that's just about the very best customer service and customer experience. >> reporter: well-known service

like the 365-day free shipping return policy, managed by customer service reps who start at $14 an hour and comprise a third of all employees. and above-and-beyond service. two flight attendants told me zappos, when asked, sent pizza to an auditorium full of new jetblue hires. >> in fact we just had our longest phone call ever, which was well over 10 hours long. >> reporter: 10 hours? what were they talking about? >> i was not there, but i think they bonded. >> reporter: so for you, to hear that somebody spent 10 hours on the phone with a customer bonding, that's a good thing, not a waste of time. >> that's an amazing thing. >> reporter: but what's the payoff? >> 2008 was the first year we hit a billion dollars in gross merchandise sales. we're doing several times that now. and the number one driver through all that history has been through repeat customers and word of mouth. >> reporter: so amazon has kept hands off while zappos

proselytizes its happy weird ways, offering daily tours and advising companies that want to emulate it. now c.e.o. hsieh can be impish. >> rachel! do you want me to leave? leave? get it? >> reporter: but he can also be seriously controversial. he's introduced a system called" holacracy" that among other things does away with bosses entirely. all zappos' 1,500 employees now belong to some 500 self- governing teams called" circles." >> we're going to start like we do every holacracy meeting with a check-in round. just call out your distractions. get here, get ready to process some tensions today and share what you know with others. >> i'm only distracted because i have a super long day of meetings. >> i'm super, super distracted because the application window is open again for intern candidates again for the summer which means we have thousands and thousands of applicants. in the span of a week we're up to like 5,000.

>> reporter: so-called" tactical" meetings are run by a facilitator according to a rigid format, using holacratic lingo. >> let's move on to triage you guys. you can go ahead and just yell those tensions out and then rachel, as our secretary, will go ahead and capture those items for you. >> reporter: in the closing round, kudos for efficiency. >> a ton of actions. we covered seven items in less than a half an hour and we have like a zillion outputs which is really great but with that everyone have a great day. >> reporter: chris peake helped with the holacracy rollout. >> i would say the best thing about this process is the commitment to action and projects and the transparency to those. i would say probably the most challenging with zappos' culture, you introduced a really rigid process within meeting spaces. >> reporter: hsieh believes self-management is key to zappos' longevity, allowing it to grow not like a top-down corporation, but a city. >> most companies, as they get bigger, they become less nimble, less innovative, less productive. every time the size of a city

doubles, innovation or productivity per resident increases by 15%. when you get more people in a relatively smaller area in a city, then you get this crossover of ideas from different creative types and entrepreneurs and businesses. >> reporter: but self- organization wasn't for everyone, so two years ago hsieh offered a liberal severance package to those not sold on the new structure-- in fact, to everyone. 18% took buyouts, hiking the firm's yearly turnover rate for 2015 to almost 30%, though there's plenty of turnover at customer service firms, and plenty in las vegas. but letha myles is sticking with it. >> the people who stayed are pretty much saying that they're willing to commit to learning it and practicing it. you know, let's still remember, we're friends, we're family and i think that helps us stay true to the process. >> it felt like it took the humanity out of it.

but we've worked that back into the process, i feel. and everybody's voice gets heard, which usually in the past it was just the loudest person in the room, right. >> reporter: williams points out that zappos is now canine- friendly because it was deemed" safe enough to try," a key idea in holacracy. >> in the past that had been shut down multiple times and through holacracy we were able to push that through. i know that's not a huge deal, but it's a big deal to our employees. >> reporter: but hsieh thinks self management will accomplish something much bigger: saving zappos from the fate of most large companies. >> if you look at the fortune 500 list, which i think came out in 1955 originally, something like 85% maybe more are no longer on that list. the default fate for most companies is actually death. i want this company to still be around 500 years from now. >> reporter: this is economics correspondent paul solman, still

wearing my tie, reporting from las vegas. >> sreenivasan: now, let's turn to the markets and the remarkable rally of late, one that's led to new records since president trump was elected. william brangham has the story. >> brangham: the dow jones and other indexes were already doing well when donald trump won the presidential election. in fact, from the lows during the 2008 financial crisis, through president obama's time in office, the dow climbed back by about 150%. and while markets closed lower today, the overall jump of recent weeks has accelerated mightily, rising from just over 18,000 on election day, to breaking 21,000 this week. in fact, it jumped by 1,000 points in just 24 days. that's the quickest rise since 1999. for some analysis of what's happening, i'm joined by neil irwin. he's an economics writer for the

"new york times." welcome. >> thanks. >> brangham: pretty amazing market out there right now. can you explain, what is going on? >> the simplest version is donald trump is president, his agenda is to cut corporate taxes. his agenda is to deregulate. these are things that are good for the bottom line for major companies. throw in some more military spending, maybe some infrastructure spending, that's good for the bottom line of corporate america. and this is a global economy getting on its feet after a rough couple years. you combine those things into one period of a few months, and that's how you get these kinds of rallies we've seen. >> brangham: as you say, donald trump would like the take credit and has taken credit for. this does he deserve credit for? >> there is no question the trump agenda is something that's making stock investors confident, that's leading them the leave after-tax profits which is what matters, will be on the rise in the years ahead. the math is simple: if you're a bank and your capital gets dropped, if you're a military contractor and your military

spending gets increased, that goes to the bottom line. that's all good for stocks. that's part of the trump agenda. that said, most of those policies haven't happened yet. so there is still the question, will the trump deliver the things wall street is now expecting. >> an anticipatory effect. >> exactly. >> brangham: you wrote recently, "how many slack is there in the economy." what do you mean by "slack"? >> every country has a economic speed limit. there's only so many people. they can only produce so much stuff. how low can the unemployment rate go? how many more... how much unused capacity is there in the manufacturing seconder? that's the big question? is there room for the economy to grow 3% or 4% like donald trump said he wanted to see, or are we growing as fast as we can, something like 2%? that's the big question of whether this kind of outstanding growth has been priced into financial markets can be delivered in years ahead.

>> brangham: do you know the answer the that question? if you had to guess, where are we? >> we're getting close. we're under 5% unemployment. people outside the labor market might come back in. so there is slack out there. there is room to grow, but probably not as much as a year or two ago. that will become the binding constraint in the next couple years. >> brangham: a booming market is certainly great if you're in that market, but not all seconders are booming equally. how does this booming market translate for people... does it add to growth that makes a real impact? >> stock wealth is held predemeanor manly by the affluent, so the distributional effects of a higher stock market are definitely not even across the population. that said, to the degree that a higher stock market, a rising sense of confidence leads to more hiring, more capital expenditures, so that can have broad impact. if these numbers hold up, if what markets are pricing in the trump administration actually happen, that's a good sign for

growth, for job growth, for expansion of all kinds of businesses. >> given this economy and what you know of trump's proposed policies, what specifically about those policies are you looking most closely at? >> i think it's execution is. this big corporate income tax cut the president says he wants to see, is that going to happen, how soon will it happen? how big will it be? on the regulatory front, how much of the shift away from regulation will be things that benefit dorm rat america? is there going to be new infrastructure spending? is that going to happen. congress isn't so sure. so seeing if some of these things go from an idea on a chalkboard to actual legislation, actual policy, that's the big question right now. >> i know you're an analyst and an economics writer and you buy and sell stocks, so if you had to be advising me, do you think this rally will continue? can it keep up? >> stocks are priced for protection. they're highly priced relative to earnings. you're not buying current

earn,ings. you're buying the future. that said, is there plenty of reason to think earnings could grow as the market is now predicting? certainly. count on it. it's assured. it makes a bit of a risky investment. >> sreenivasan:>> brangham: neie "new york times," thank you very much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: this april marks 100 years since the united states joined the side of the allies in world war one. the great war was not only joined in the trenches, but in the culture in different ways as well. an exhibit in philadelphia explores how american artists grappled with a divisive conflict that produced powerful images for and against it. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: "i want you" -- about as direct as it gets. an iconic image from world war one." the flower of death"-- an evocative title for a painting by an american soldier named claggett wilson, that captures some of the close-up horror of

the war. just one of the many ways american artists responded to a cataclysmic world-shattering and -shaping event. the subject of a major new exhibition at the pennsylvania academy of fine arts in philadelphia titled "world war one and american art." >> i think that at heart this is a human interest story. >> brown: you mean, the whole war? as big as it was? >> you have these artists who are thinking basically, "here's this huge global conflict going on. how do i make sense of it? how do i also bring it down to a human level and express either dissent, an urgency for america to take part in it or to just express what's at stake in the >> brown: the great war began in europe in 1914. the u.s. didn't join until three years later, after an intense public debate over entering a foreign conflict. artists weighed in on both sides.

john sloan's "after the war, a medal a maybe a job" in 1914 was one of the earliest anti-war drawings. marsden hartley was conflicted: he lived in germany and fell in love with a german military officer, killed in the war, who hartley depicted in a series of paintings. childe hassam on the other hand, active in the pro- interventionist movement in new york, streamed flags across his canvasses in support of the allies. and george bellows, an early opponent of the war, was moved to support it by a u.s. government report, later disputed, of german atrocities. >> he's swayed big time. this is an ¡atrocity painting' on a large scale. >> yeah, he makes these history paintings about this contemporary event and he's showing the brutality of these atrocities being committed to citizens, kids, women. he's showing it at it's most visceral. >> brown: more directly, the u.s. government commissioned artists to create propaganda posters as part of an agency to

influence public opinion. calls to enlist in the military, and invest in the war effort. questioning the masculinity of fighting age men, and the consequences of inaction. anne classen knutson is another of the show's curators. >> you've seen this image a hundred different times, and this is where it begins. james montgomery flagg, a famous illustrator, created uncle sam. he loved himself so much, he created uncle sam in his own visage, so this is james montgomery flagg as uncle sam and it was so well known it was reused over and over again in the 20th century. >> brown: right next to it, though, a very different kind of image. >> one of the subtexts of this, people before the war were very worried that immigrants were going to come and, these are their words, and "dilute our white american bloodlines" so this is an image of that, that fear of immigrants. >> brown: immigrants, and also african-americans? >> also using, tarzan was a hot topic at the time, the novels were coming out, and he was using caricatures of african-

americans as well, and they were very feared during the war and not treated well. >> brown: other work from the era countered that imagery, showing a normalized, patriotic black life in a culture that continued to discriminate against it. kelly morgan is a curatorial fellow with academy. >> to say that we have families. african american people are, like i said, a very integral piece of the american fabric. that we are meant to be here. this is our country just as much as it is anybody else's. also to really show or to play up that narrative of these are america's sons. these are america's husbands. these are america's fathers just like their white counterparts. >> brown: blacks served with distinction abroad, but faced renewed discrimination back home. and soon after the war, race riots broke out around the country-- a kind of backlash, says morgan. >> there was a sense that african american men, particularly veterans, had kind of gotten out of their place.

this idea of bravery and subjectivity and autonomy in particular couldn't stand. >> brown: the war would be represented in numerous other ways: georgia o'keefe, conflicted about the u.s. role and worried about a brother about to be sent to fight, painted this red flag enveloped in smoke. official artists, including george harding, were embedded in the fighting, a first for the u.s. military in a foreign war. >> you get this heightened sense of what it must have felt like to have a tank moving towards the trench you're in. >> brown: edward steichen served as an aerial photographer, as planes were used on a wide scale in war for the first time. photographs like these, shown in newspapers, influenced abstract paintings by the likes of john marin. one strikingly direct-- and haunting-- use of art in the war: masks made by sculptor anna coleman ladd for disfigured soldiers. the painter horace pippin fought, was injured, and wrestled with the aftermath of his experience for years to

come. an african-american, he rved with the famed harlem hellfighters, a renowned infantry of black soldiers. >> the war has these echoes for all the people who lived through it into the 1920s and '30s, it stays with them and it becomes an integral part to the kinds of art that they're making, even >> brown: perhaps the most famous artistic image of world war one is the epic, 20 foot long painting by john singer sargent titled "gassed": a line of wounded soldiers blinded in a gas attack... a mustard yellow pallor... a game of soccer in the background, as life goes on... while figures writhe in the foreground. >> it seemed to him the perfect analogy for the way people have been talking about the first world war, the blind leading the blind. >> brown: sargent, who everybody in all, some 17 million soldiers and civilians would die in the war, including more than 100,000 american military personnel.

it brought huge changes, but wasn't, as first claimed, the¡ war to end all wars.' the exhibition's final room shows work from its aftermath, and two that bookend its heights and depths: the flag waving celebration of george benjamin luks, "armistice night"... and john steuart curry's "parade to war, allegory" from 1938, as soldiers again march toward a great foreign war, their faces already becoming skeletons. images of war that reverberate to today. from the pennsylvania academy of fine arts, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> sreenivasan: the world war one exhibition will travel next to new york in the spring and then to nashville in the fall. >> sreenivasan: finally, our brief but spectacular series where we ask interesting people to share their passions. tonight comedian michelle collins on the abundance of white men hosting late night talk shows.

>> i'm tall. i come from tallish people. i'm 6 foot 1. in roller blades i'm like 6 foot 9. its great for dating i just find a lot of guys who are like we love that she's so big? what if i just had a meltdown and went barbara walters started sobbing i am so happy with how life turned out for me its great. i found a place that sells long jeans, you know ever since then its been really, really wonderful. i love all cbs reality shows. i love makeup, i'm a sephora rouge member that means they just take it directly out of my paycheck always when people are like what's your look. i always say slutty panda. like smoke me out here to the the nose up and do like a poppa gloss amadeus style center of the lips and just push me into traffic. i love a contour. men are very unlucky because if you look like a bloated man well you're pretty much ( bleep ).

you have to bleep it it's pbs. women we can paint a day of the dead skull on top of our own face and pretend that is what we look like. my mom is my biggest publicist she lives in miami she used to work at j crew. her names judy. they used to call her judy crew. every time people came into j crew shed with their pants like submit a headshot of mine enjoy your cashmeres this is my daughter she lives in new york she's very successful. the big picture for me has always been having my own late night show. let me do that again late nighty. it's all white guys hosting late night shows right now. it's fine. i don't think its a problem. i love that samantha bee is hosting full frontal on t.b.s. i have to be honest i just feel like talking about white guys in late night is the new white guy on late night it's so boring it's so played out we all know what's happening lets just move on and change it. if you're a really funny woman of course its a great time right now. i think it was a great time ten years ago when you had tina and amy kathy griffen then 20 years ago you had joan rivers there can i be honest i find it annoying that funny women always have to talk about being a funny woman. it's frustrating to be because i feel like i'm above that i'm a

funny person like why do i have to harp on how many funny women there are we're not charity cases were talented it's like done. my name is michelle collins and this is my brief but spectacular take on stop asking me what it feels like to be a woman in comedy. >> sreenivasan: you can find more brief but spectacular videos on our website. that's at pbs.org/newshour/brief. on the newshour online right now, with an historic rise in fatal drug overdoses and a new president in the white house, the future is uncertain for programs trying to combat a growing public health crisis. we offer an overview of how the trump administration might change the war on opioids. on our web site, pbs/org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivassan. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> 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. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

boom! hello, i'm julia child. welcome to my house. what fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen. today, norman love executive pastry chef for ritz carlton hotels adds a dollop of his own special artistry to a classic choux pastry as he teaches us how to make these chocolate-cinnamon beignets.