captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: happy thanksgiving. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, lebanon's prime minister puts his resignation on hold, weeks after abruptly announcing he was stepping down-- a look at a key middle east country's uncertain status. then, houston's construction worker shortage-- what is causing a serious drought of qualified tradespeople in texas, as the state tries to re-build after hurricane harvey? and, on this thanksgiving day, a look at one of america's dinner staples-- why cranberry farmers are being bogged down by too much of a good thing. >> you go through the whole process of growing them, delivering them, freezing them and then 15% would then be taken out and disposed of. >> woodruff: 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. >> 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. >> woodruff: the united states marked thanksgiving today with added security. officials stepped up precautions in the wake of the truck attack that killed eight people in new york, and the sniper attack that killed 58 in las vegas. in new york, a large police presence kept watch over the annual macy's parade as balloons, floats and bands wound their way through manhattan. >> we have sniper teams up, we have people in high posts. we have a lot of cops, you can't go more than five feet without running into another police officer. but, we have a lot of cops that you're not going to see that are out there, and they're doing what these cops do the best, keeping people safe. >> woodruff: meanwhile, president trump spent

thanksgiving at his mar-a-lago club in south florida. besides a round of golf, he told u.s. troops in afghanistan, via teleconference, that they're making progress. he and the first lady also took a thanksgiving lunch to a nearby coast guard station. the president praised the service's work after hurricane "harvey." two more women have accused u.s. senator al franken of sexual misconduct. they told the "huffington post" that the minnesota democrat touched their buttocks during photo-takings in 2007 and 2008. that was during his first run for the senate. in a statement, franken said he does not recall the incidents. the head of the u.n. nuclear agency reported today that iran is abiding by its 2015 nuclear deal. that contradicts president trump, who refused last month to certify iran's compliance. mr. trump said then the benefits that iran gains from the deal outweigh any concessions it made.

an ominous development today in the hunt for a missing submarine off argentina. the country's navy says an apparent explosion was recorded near the sub's last known position, on november 15. relatives of the 44 crew members have been waiting at a naval base, southeast of buenos aires. some were angry today at the news. >> ( translated ): it was wednesday at 11:00 in the morning and that was when there was an explosion, a fire, everything it was. they did not say they were dead but it's a logical assumption as they have been there since last wednesday. i'm sure they knew about this before. >> woodruff: the argentinian navy says the search will continue until it knows for sure what happened. u.s. and japanese warships searched again today for three american sailors still missing after their transport plane crashed wednesday. it happened in the philippines sea, about 500 nautical miles

southeast of okinawa, japan. eight others on board were rescued. in zimbabwe, officials made ready today to inaugurate a new president, emmerson mnangagwa he'll replace robert mugabe, who stepped down this week after 37 years. the ruling party saitoday mugabe will not be prosecuted for any crimes. meanwhile, the main opposition party said it has not been invited to attend the inauguration. the governments of myanmar and bangladesh have signed an agreement for the return of rohingya muslims. foreign ministers presided at today's ceremony in myanmar's capital. they did not say how many rohingyas will be allowed back into the buddhist nation. more than 620,000 have fled a campaign of violence since august. authorities in papua new guinea removed dozens of refugees today from a decommissioned camp. more than 300 migrants have refused to leave the site,

saying they fear local residents. amateur video today showed police loading people onto buses. the asylum seekers accused authorities of destroying their belongings. and, the opera world is mourning dmitri hvorostovsky, who died wednesday in london, of a brain tumor. the renowned russian baritone was sometimes called the "elvis of opera" and the "siberian express" and captivated audiences around the world. he was just 55 years old. still to come on the newshour: lebanon's prime minister returns home after resigning: what's behind the political turmoil. a campground for families who are homeless. making sense of the current glut in cranberries, and much more. >> woodruff: lebanon is a nation accustomed to political turmoil

and intrigue. but even so, the last several weeks have been headspinning. a regional drama has been playing out, centered on lebanon's prime minister, saad hariri, and his on-again, off- again resignation. for more on this, and its implications across the middle east, i'm joined by newshour special correspondent jane ferguson, from her home office in beirut. jane, welcome. we appreciate your joining us on this thanksgiving. first of all, is prime minister hariri coming back into office after all? and, if so, what was with the announcement of resignation a few weeks ago? >> it was a remarkable turnaround, judy, and one that still has left a lot of questions in its wake. november 4 he appeared open television from saudi arabia with a shock resignation. then he tried to persuade the public through a few tweets he

wasn't being held against his will in saudi arabia, even though the president of lebanon eventually came out and did say it seemed as though he was. he went on tour after giving a fiery speech against iran and hezbollah in time to return to lebanon for wednesday's independence day military parade here and, at that parade, he spoke. he said that, on the request of the president, he was now postponing his resignation, not completely canceling it, but saying he would postpone it for talks. he gave very little other information at this point. so people now know that they at least have a prime minister for now but have very little other answers to many other questions. >> woodruff: it's not clear why he did this in the first place or turning it around. were the saudis holding him? you told us his children are still in saudi arabia. >> his two youngest children are

still in saudi arabia. the reason for that is being given that they are still in school. there's a lot of speculation, as you can imagine, over here in this part of the world that that could potentially be held as collateral. now what has helped, what seems to have helped in this crisis is the international involvement, french president macron even traveled to meet with those involved to try to push for a solution, and he was eventually allowed to leave with his wife and go to paris, but it is believed that, yes, two of his children are still in saudi arabia. now what's significant as well, judy, is that he gave the reason for resigning -- his post is iran's very strong influence in the region, in lebanon is too strong. talked about things like how this was a huge danger in the region. now, of course, saad hariri being from the sunni block, would have been certainly in

opposition to hezbollah, but he had entered into a government with hezbollah, and this kind of fiery retort was not typical of him and certainly not at this time, just when we get the government up and running here in lebanon. so that has led many to believe that those are really words that could have been even be written by the saudis. >> woodruff: well, and many people are looking at this, experts as part of the larger rivalry between saudi arabia and iran and this clearly seems to be a move by the saudis to take iran's influence down in lebanon. >> it would appear to be that this was a chess move by the very sort of aggressive and very ambitious crown prince in saudi arabia, mohammed bin salman. this is seen as an attempt by the saudis to try to corrupt a government they are frustrated with because hezbollah are so strong, they're represented in

this government. it's something that the saudis are losing patience with, they see as a normalization of hezbollah and iran's influence here. >> woodruff: jane ferguson reporting on this situation, continuing to develop there in remember non. thank you, jane. >> thank you. >> woodruff: it's been three months since hurricane harvey hit houston, dumping more than 50 inches of rain and flooding more than 100,000 homes. now, as residents try to rebuild, a shortage of qualified workers is complicating efforts. houston public media's correspondent, tomeka weatherspoon has our report. >> reporter: you can hardly go anywhere in houston without seeing construction. experts say somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 homes were damaged or destroyed after hurricane harvey, but there are not enough new construction

workers to rebuild all these homes. according to a recent survey, 74% of texas contractors are having a hard time filling hourly craft positions such as dry wall installers, carpenters and electricians. the construction industry has long filled jobs with undocumented workers. the pew research center estimated northwesterly 28% of the state's construction workforce is undocumented. the deportation may be keeping them away. >> this is about managing people. >> reporter: these houston area high schoolsers are in a special program hoping to get ready for a career in this industry fast. >> this industry is easy to get into if you want to work hard and outside. >> these students spent part of their school day shadowing construction workers. their teacher is of jones futures academy says many of his students are personally invested. >> the majority of the students' parents are in the construction

industry. some of these students, by their sophomore or junior years, are on construction sites with their parents. >> reporter: and if they weren't already motivated by family ties -- >> we had severe impact by havery. i particularly have three students that have lost homes. i feel that there is more drive from these particular students because they want to better their conditions. >> reporter: but determination alone is not enough to solve houston's construction labor shortage. >> they have an unsustainable craft workforce. there's more people leaving the industry than joining us. >> reporter: chuck, of the construction career collaborative, is trying to get more people trained. he says hurricane harvey has made a troubling workforce situation even worse. >> all this reconstruction of homes damaged by the flood and businesses damaged by the flood, we were already working at full employment capacity to begin with. there's essentially no one to go

do that work. >> reporter: he says, historically, the construction industry relied on unions to train and develop a workforce. >> houston in the late even ev e '70s and early '80s was a union town and they provide all the pathways and career paths in construction industry. in the early '90s, the first company said i'll treat my employees as independent subcontractors and, when they did that, they cut out benefits, they cut out traditional state and federal employment taxes such as social security, and they instantly had a 35% labor cost advantage when they were bidding work and, so, today, much of the construction industry, i would say as much as 80% of the construction industry, the construction trades in houston, are non-union or merit job. >> reporter: he says there is no quick fix that will suddenly bring more young people into the labor market, but the steady stream the industry relies on,

passing trades through the generations, remains. >> my dad taught me the labor work. >> reporter: mario more rail ease got an official push toward this career through family ties. >> he was not easy on me. he's part of the reason i'm still in the business. >> reporter: with nearly two decades under his belt, mario is generating more workers in the industry. >> i currently have a wroth brother, 23 years old. i don't cut him no slack. i taught him how to read drawings and specs. he's overwhelmed sometimes but it's for his own good. >> reporter: good for the city because houston has a lot of rebuilding to get done. for pbs "newshour", i'm tomeka weatherspoon in houston. >> woodruff: on a day when so many americans gather at home, we are reminded how many thousands are without one.

many cities are looking for new ways to help homeless populations, and one organization in san diego has come up with a particularly unique solution. from pbs station kpbs, susan murphy has the story. >> reporter: for dozens of children in san diego, a city parking lot covered in tents is the best option they have right now for a home. >> they feed us, they give us clothes, they give us shoes. >> reporter: 10-year-old azaura anjos was sleeping in a downtown park before moving to the homeless transitional camp with her parents and six siblings. >> it wasn't very comfortable because we would lay in the grass but then we would have to move off the grass and onto concrete because the, you know what they're called-- >> sprinklers! >> the sprinklers would come on. but the lights at the park never turned off, so it was like, argh, turn off! so we all put our heads under the blankets. >> reporter: at four-and-a-half- feet tall with brown, shoulder-

length hair and big brown eyes, anjos says from the moment she moved into her new green tent she has felt cared for. >> they don't treat us like we're in a bad situation. and i don't act like we're in a bad situation, or think we're in a bad situation. i think we're actually in a house, cause that's how they treat us. >> reporter: the temporary campsite is filled with nearly 150 tents, along with showers and toilets, hand-washing stations, and shuttle transportation. there are also onsite health workers housing navigators and meals. one of the most popular amenities is a play area with toys and games for kids. that's because of the 200 people who live at the camp, almost a quarter of them are children. >> they're safe. that's the key. >> reporter: alpha project c.e.o. bob mcelroy who manages the camp says the large number of children was not expected. >> we had no idea that we'd have 40 kids and ten families or so, but we're making it happen. the kids help out around here, they're dolls and you know, living in not the best case scenario, but they're safe. they have access to health care,

we've got some decent meals in here. >> reporter: mcelroy, who has worked to help homeless people for 30 years, says the children have given him a renewed purpose and somewhat of a new role. >> grandpa. >> reporter: they seem to understand he's the one providing their lifeline. >> inside that door? >> inside that door? oh, i don't go in there, cause those people try to make me work and i'd rather be out here with you. >> reporter: mcelroy says overall, the camp is running smoothly thanks to his staff of 30. they work around the clock taking care of people and keeping resources flowing. >> i'm trying to get the lunches kids, i know everyone is hungry. >> reporter: but he says there have been plenty of challenges, including transporting 200 people to downtown and getting kids to school and back. >> but when i come down and hang out with the kids, it keeps me showing up. >> reporter: children are not the typical face of san diego's homeless population. they're rarely seen panhandling or pushing overstuffed carts. but a count taken in january found nearly 1,000 homeless children in the county with more than 150 sleeping on the streets.

christine wade and her six children, with one on the way, have been struggling with homelessness for three years. the family moved into the camp the morning it opened. >> it was a beautiful moment. because being out there's too hard, you know. so when they came to get us it was like a moment of finally-- you know. >> reporter: wade, a 31-year-old san diego native, says the kids are sleeping pretty well and getting their daily routine down. that includes school and preschool. >> i'm grateful for everything that we get you know because i didn't think i was going to get help ever. i thought i was just going to continue to try to make it on my own. >> reporter: it's a sentiment shared by many at the camp. families say they're pulling together to help one another. >> it's nice for the kids to be able to talk to other kids and the parents to be able to talk to other parents. >> reporter: 35-year-old abbra towe and her family also moved into the campground two weeks ago.

>> w are in a better place than on the streets, but there's still people with issues. and it can be concerning. >> reporter: she and her two daughters ages five and seven sleep in one tent. her husband sleeps in his own tent in a section with other men. during the first few days, towe, who is a certified lifeguard, was worried about how this experience would impact her children. but not so much anymore. >> they are going to change the world. they are learning right now what i'm learning at 35. and they're smart and strong and that's what they're going to get out of it. >> reporter: little azaura anjos has been writing about her camp experience and interviewing people she meets. >> she has blue eyes, only sings for fun. >> reporter: she'll likely live at the campground a couple more months until her family can transition into a place with a front door and walls. she says she'll always remember the friends she made and the time she lived amid rows of tents. >> how grateful i am and how

well they took care of me. and how well they took care of my family, and treated us. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm susan murphy in san diego. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour, just how did the presidential turkey pardon come to be an annual tradition? from the newshour bookshelf-- how american politics has changed and led to the rise of donald trump. and a brief but spectacular take on turning kindness into action. but first, they're a thanksgiving staple and may be on your dinner table at this very moment: cranberries. but as economics correspondent paul solman found out, the industry is facing tough times and wants to nix the notion that the super fruit is just for the holidays. it's part of our weekly series,

making sense. >> oh i like your socks! >> reporter: it's harvest time at edgewood bogs in carver, massachusetts, where matt and cindy rhodes grow about a billion cranberries a year on more than 200 acres. what's happening in the cranberry business these days? >> for most of the independent growers, the price that they're being paid is below the cost of operation. there's a lot of nights when you lay in bed staring at the ceiling wondering if you've made the right decision. >> reporter: it's kind of squishy underfoot. >> reporter: wading in and slogging on, as their family has for most of a century, despite today's prices, sinking for five-plus years now, because of a classic problem in market economies: periodic overproduction. this is the classic agricultural cycle, right? overoptimism; more production because prices are pretty good;

too much production, prices crash. same old story? >> exactly. >> same old story. >> reporter: a story older than the bogs, old as the hills, in wheat... corn... hogs. you name it. each has a cycle all its own. (cow mooing) just this year, prices curdled in the u.s. dairy industry because of oversupply. and further afield, there are cycles in the auto industry, the insurance industry, and of course real estate. but farmers are unusually vulnerable, and this year cranberry farmers in particular, in part due to new bogs in western states and canada, in part to more efficient production techniques. it's so weird to someone like me, the consumer, to think farmers are looking for good weather, a bumper crop, but then a bumper crop destroys you. >> it could, it could. you gotta have a bumper crop at the right time.

>> reporter: just ahead of everybody else. >> yeah. >> and continue to seek out other markets for that bumper crop. >> reporter: we'll get to cindy rhodes' entrepreneurial remedy in a moment. but for almost a century, farmers have looked to government to protect them: by buying up oversupply or paying farmers to produce less. during the dust bowl and great depression, an act was passed to boost farm prices via agricultural "set asides." they exist to this very day. and so that's the proposed panacea for the cranberry crisis: literally dump part of next year's crop. >> you go through the whole process of growing them, delivering them, freezing them and then 15% would then be taken out and disposed of. >> reporter: destroyed? >> yes. >> reporter: even though the rhodes' have buyers for all of their berries. four truckloads were shipping out to britain the day we were there.

they've broken ranks with the big cranberry cooperative, ocean spray, and started branding their own berries. >> we started cape cod select. we realized if we were going to stay in the business we had to control our own destiny and the only way to do that was to come up with other ideas. well, i couldn't understand why you couldn't find frozen cranberries in the grocery store, this was back in 2009. we actually built the entire category and now we're the number one selling cranberry in the country. >> hi we're ocean spray cranberry growers. >> and this is our 100% juice. >> reporter: so while ocean spray spent decades, and millions, goosing demand for the juice, the rhodes' sold off bogs and ploughed the money into their plant to package berries. >> reporter: three sons are the fourth generation of rhodes growers. james, jarrod and patrick, help run every cranny of the operation today. >> when we were downsizing we actually became one of the most high-tech cranberry companies in the industry.

>> it's probably got a slight dent in it. >> berry consumers care about looks. >> the machine is broken. it's slightly colored. exactly. you got it. you're hired! >> the rhodes think their best job is to stay in business and grow while commodity growers close up box. a grower like steve is forced to harvest pretty much by himself, who harvests to turn theberries into juice. >> many nights in the early spring and cranberry harvest season i'm working all night. >> does he know the rhodes?

i think i'll have to model myself after them as i go into the future. i'm behind the eight ball compared to them. >> reporter: so you're looking at what they're doing? >> definitely. and i'm looking heavily towards ag-tourism. is there an opportunity with ag- tourism? >> reporter: people walking into the bogs? >> people coming to the bog and actually picking their own berries, possibly picking berries, possibly having a hayride, having some products here for them to buy. >> reporter: to stay afloat today, he may also grow a more productive variety of berry, even though he knows that will only make the glut worse. >> the problem for me is if i don't convert to the newer varieties and produce more per acre, i'll be in trouble in the next five, maybe even less years. >> reporter: trouble meaning? >> my cost of production per barrel will be too high for me to survive. >> reporter: and it's not just ocean spray co-op members who face the merciless market.

so do independent growers like the rhodes. because the problem behind this episode of overproduction turns out to be a glut of cranberry juice, the staple for which growers like steve ward provide the bulk of the crop. a problem not lost on the oldest rhodes son, james. >> now you got the growers who have met the demands of their suppliers and planted the crops, and now they don't know what to do with the fruit that they've planted. everyone in the industry is suffering. >> reporter: but by trying to build new demand for the berries themselves, at least he and his family are trying. for the pbs newshour, this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting knee-deep in the bogs of carver, massachusetts.

>> woodruff: at the intersection of theater, tradition and washington politics you will find the annual white house turkey pardon. earlier this week, president trump took his first run at pardoning a bird. but why? here's lisa desjardins with an explanation. >> drumstick, you are hereby pardoned. >> desjardins: call it a feather in his cap. the new president carried on an old thanksgiving custom, sparing two lucky birds from the dinner table, only one is selected to star in the ceremony. >> we are here today to continue a wonderful american tradition. >> desjardins: that tradition has happened every november for the past quarter century, but there are some, let's say, ruffled feathers about how it got started. >> president truman was the first president to pardon an turkey. >> desjardins: but that's not true. in fact, the truman presidential

library says truman sometimes indicated to reporters that the turkeys he received were destined for the family dinner table. >> he was a tough cookie. >> desjardins: truman was actually the first president to receive a turkey from the national turkey federation several years ago. so who was the first president to pardon a turkey? lincoln, it appears, was the first on record, but you have to a christmas turkey his son had taken a liking to. president john f. kennedy was the first to pardon a thanksgiving turkey in 1963, despite a sign hanging around the turkey's neck that read "good eating, mr. president," kennedy still sent the bird back to the farm. richard nixon sent his turkeys to a nearby petting zoo. ronald reagan was the first to use the word "pardon" when talking turkey in 1987. the turkey pardoning became formalized in 1989 with president george h.w. bush. >> let me assure you that this

fine turkey will not end up on yip one's dinner table, not this guy. >> desjardins: exactly, these turkeys are no sitting ducks. they road 1,000 miles for their freedom this year from minnesota to washington and spent a few days to a luxury hotel. from the white house they will be sent to virginia tech university where they had a prominent gobble mascot on campus. this has become a white house tradition. >> this is the eighth i've had the privilege to set free in the rose garden. >> desjardins: jerry sported a white house pass around his neck and four years later the bush administration had fun with the event, the names of the turkeyys chosen in a vote on the white house site. >> it's an election year and biscuits had to herb a spot at the white house, biscuits and his running mate gravy prevailed over the ticket of patience and

fortitude. >> desjardins: when president obama pardoned tater and tot last year, he said he couldn't stop even after leaving office. >> we are going to do this every year from now on! (laughter) no cameras, just us, every year. no way i'm cutting this habit cold turkey. >> desjardins: president trump picked up the humor, joking about the obama pardons. >> as many of you know, i have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor. however, i have been informed by the white house counsel's office that tater and tot's pardons cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked. >> desjardins: for president trump's first pardoning, the winning bird and his wing man were selected from a flock of eleven finalists during a turkey pageant. the winners drumstick and wishbone, they know turkey dinners are for the birds.

for the pbs "newshour", i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: bruce springsteen has been filling stadiums, arenas and the airwaves with rock and roll for decades. now his one-man show, "springsteen on broadway," is the hottest ticket in new york. late last year, our jeffrey brown sat down with the artist, shortly after the release of his autobiography. we bring you this second look at an american icon. ♪ ♪ >> brown: in his new memoir, bruce springsteen looks back at his young, struggling and then little known self and writes:" i was not modest in the assessment of my abilities. of course, i thought i was a phony. that is the way of the artist. ♪ ♪ but i also thought i was the realest thing you'd ever seen."

>> that's right. most artists i know consider themselves to be phonies. along with the feeling that just something that you're doing is essential, essential to communicate, and deeply, deeply real. ♪ ♪ >> brown: springsteen has been rocking his way through marathon, arena-sized concerts for decades. a kind of working-class rock 'n roll hero to millions of devoted fans. in the recording studio he built at this rural new jersey home, we talked about becoming bruce springsteen the story he tells in his book, "born to run." >> it was a very different type of writing from songwriting. >> brown: in what way? >> a pop song is a condensed version of a life in three minutes. whereas, when you go to write your prose, you have to find the rhythm in your words, and you have to find the rhythm in the

voice that you've found and the way you're speaking. >> brown: what about that voice, though? because in songs-- i think of writers i've talked to, or poets, and there's always the question of how much of that is you? >> i'd say, in your memoir, it's you. i think that when you're writing your songs, there's always a debate about whether is that you in the song? is that not you in the song? what's the answer? >> every song has a piece of you in it. just general regret, love. you have to basically zero in on the truth of those particular emotions. then you can fill it out in any character and in any circumstance that you want. if you've written really well, people will swear that it happened to you. >> brown: springsteen grew up in the working class town of freehold, new jersey, of italian and irish stock, adored and spoiled by his mother and grandparents, ignored and denigrated by a brooding, drinking, distant father-- a

figure who would obsess him personally and musically. >> initially i had my conversations with him through my music. that was the most effective, not the greatest way to do it, but it was certainly, it was the most effective for us. >> brown: i mean, but you write early on, "when my dad looked at me, he didn't see what he needed to see." >> yeah. >> brown: well, you're going yeah now, but, i mean, that's hard when you're a young boy. >> it is hard. it is hard. i think that it's a natural thing for parents to look for reflections of themselves in their children and feel a certain pride there. so if your child is very, very different, or perhaps if he's very, very similar, it makes you uncomfortable. there was a lot of that when i was young, and it took a long time to get through. ♪ ♪ >> brown: reconciliation would

come later, along with an understanding of the role of depression in his father's and his own life. from the beginning, though, the young springsteen showed a ferocious drive and sense of his own mission. first, as a king of the bar bands in central and south jersey. i started to make a list of the clubs you played early on. these are not high rent places, right? the angle inn trailer park, cavitelli's pizza, the i.b. club, surf and the sea beach club, long branch italian american club, the pandemonium club. you probably remember each and every one of the, right? >> i remember those a lot more than some of the madison square gardens and other things. >> brown: is that right? >> of course. they were all so distinctive in their own way, and they all drew their own little clique of kids. it was such a formative moment in your life that, you know, you were just coming into being. >> brown: you write about your voice. you say, "about my voice, first of all, i don't have much of one."

>> yeah. >> brown: but you worked at it. >> initially just sounded awful, just so terribly awful, but there was nothing i could do about it. i just kept singing and kept singing and kept singing. i studied other singers so i'd learn how to phrase, and learn how to breathe. the main thing was i learned how to inhabit my song. >> brown: which means what? >> what you were singing about was believable and convincing. that's the key to a great singer. a great singer has to learn how to inhabit a song. you may not be able to hit all the notes. that's okay. you may not have the clearest tone. you may not have the greatest range. but if you can inhabit your song, you can communicate. ♪ ♪ >> brown: the early songs, though, are what i would call word drunk. they're so many words in there that you're barely catching your breath as you're singing them. ♪ ♪

>> well, i was influenced by dylan very intensely, i had a rhyming dictionary. a man armed with a rhyming dictionary is a dangerous man. so, the words came fast and furious. >> brown: a dictionary and, more important, a great band: the e street band, which includes patti scialfa, springsteen's wife since 1991. >> i had no credit cards. i had no checks. i was cash only till i was probably 30 years old. >> brown: but the boss is what he became, deciding early on that to endure, he would have to treat music like a business. >> well, that has to happen. if you're a band leader, you need that type of discipline and dedication in the guys you're playing with. we came from where professionalism was not a dirty word, as i say.

we worked like the old soul bands worked, very intensely, and very methodically, in great detail. >> brown: you even call it a benevolent dictatorship. >> that's what it is. >> brown: that's what it is. >> small unit democracy, i found early on, didn't work for me. the band contributes enormously. i wouldn't have gotten anywhere near where i was without them. but it's basically, the buck stops here sort of situation. >> brown: but are you a control freak? that's sort of the what-- i think you say that. >> yes, i am. probably less now than i used to be. i think when i was young, because you're insecure, you really, you're very controlling. now i'm moderately controlling, i would say. >> brown: but you use that word insecure, because, frankly, i'm reading this thing, and it's such a mix of insecurities and sense of self. >> that's the artist's way. >> brown: that's the artist's way. explain that to me.

>> most of the artists i know had one person in their life that told them they were the second coming of the baby jesus, and another person that told them they weren't worth anything, and they believed them both. you go through the rest of your life in pursuit of both of those things, proving that both of those things are true. you feel like the burden of proof is on you. it doesn't matter what happened last night or tomorrow night. it's all about what you're doing with this audience right now. insecurity, natural part of being an artist. >> brown: it is always there. >> along with a driving, driving, driving ego, a vanity, and the self-confidence. so you've got to have both of those things. that's what makes it interesting. that's what makes someone, that's what makes you want to watch someone, or want to listen to someone, are those particular complexities. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> brown: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: now to the newshour bookshelf. this holiday season comes after a year of sharp political divide. in their book "one nation after trump," political scientists e.j. dionne, norm ornstein and thomas mann look at how we became so divided and where they believe the nation should look now. our lisa desjardins spoke with two of the authors, e.j. dionne and norm ornstein. >> desjardins: let me start with you, norm, then. what do you think led to this place where we have so many disillusioned americans who voted for and against trump and so much divide? >> so, the first third of the books really, is about how we

got to this place and about how donald trump was not really someone who emerged from the swamp on his own. there were decades that built towards the trumpism that led to all of this. some of it goes back to the decline of community, something robert putnam wrote about eloquently in the book "bowling alone." people clustering together surrounded by like-minded individuals creating greater divides for example between the metropolitan areas that thrive with highly educated people and the rural areas that have fallen behind athand people have grown disillusioned and we've seen all kinds of bad behavior that results. we have the political tribalism that emerged in the '70s with newt gingrich and on through where people saw the other side as the enemy and not the adversaries and all of that, then, topped by the populism that emerged after the bailout following the financial crisis led to an anger level and a

division that could enable a trump to win a nomination against his own party's establishment and a closely divided enough electorate that could load us to this point where the divisions are even deeper. >> how much is the republican party responsible for the rise of donald trump? >> in the book we quote the great line from john f. kennedy in his inaugural address, he who foolishly rides to power on the back of the tiger ends up inside, and i think the republican party was willing to play the establishment of the republican party was willing to play with a lot of divisive themes over a long period of time, and they assumed that they could keep this radicalism under control. they could get votes out of it but eventually they would end up on top. so for example when donald trump was being a birther, was charging falsely that brac barak obama had not really been born in the united states and was, therefore, ineligible to be president, a lot of republicans said, oh, we don't believe that,

but very few just denounced it, already willing to denounce it. john boehner we quote in the book who certainly was not a birther but who said, well, people are entitled to their own opinion. no. when people did that sort of thing, when there was this harsh anti-immigration sentiment, the republican leadership needed to speak up and they didn't. and you saw, also as we talk about in the book, that the first inkling you got of what trouble the establishment was in is when eric cantor lost a primary he never expected to lose, and here is someone who welcomed the tea party and said this is great stuff, then the tea party beat him in the primary so is republicans laid the groundwork for what they got. >> desjardins: eric cantor beaten by an unknown professor in richmond. i want to to you, norm, do democrats have an answer to donald trump? do they have a strong

alternative they have presented? >> we believe and we lay out in the book a set of policy prescriptions that could cut across a lot of divides on economics and other areas that democrats, many have put forward, some of them, but there hasn't been as coherent a message and a good part of that to us is it has to be a message to, among others, the working class people of america and families. one of the things we talked about a lot as we were writing the book and e.j. pointed out the marvelous book by the african-american sociologist william julius wilson a long time ago about the decline of the black working class in cities, the problems cut across all of these lines, and if we can find common-sense policies -- and we have some of them, democrats have some of them -- focus on them, then there's a greater opportunity both to bring them together and provide a constructive alternative and not just be on the attack.

>> when tom norm and i were writing we talked about identity politics versus i a peel to the white working class, we thought that was a bad formulation because the working class is white, black, latino, all theme who have been really set back by deindustrialization and economic change, and you ought to be able to bring them together. and the democratic party should be very proud of its record on civil rights and not begin to back away from its stance on civil rights or women's rights or immigrant rights. the picture that comes to mind a lot when we are talking about this is of posters of the slogan of the 1963 march on washington where martin luther king gave his famous speech. the slogan of that march was jobs and freedom, and the message was, if you care about economic justice, you've got to care about racial justice, and if you care about racial justice

you've not to care about economic justice. so we very emphatic opposing anyone who would put down the white working class but also emphatic in insisting that you don't support the white working class by holding their pain against the pain of african-americans. we need politicians and leaders who will create empathy across the lines, not try to drive wedges between two groups of americans. >> desjardins: how do you think you empathize with trump voters? and do you think those who oppose the president are doing enough to understand why trump voters supported him? >> it's a really tricky business here, lisa. one part of it is that there are some individuals out there, including many around trump, who have promoted really evil things, and that includes racists and anti-semitic things and autocratic tendencies as well. they need to be condemned, but the tendency to throw everybody

who supported and voted for trump into that basket, as it were, is a big mistake. there are real problems that exist in the society as families have struggled to make it in a new world with a different global economy, struggle with all of the changes taking place in the society, and what we want is a clarion call to say we need to show empathy, and we also talk about the new patriotism. what donald trump talks about is a nationalism, but the darker side of nationalism. a patriotism that celebrates what we are as americans, which is a melting pot, that we are greater because of all the temperatures -- of all the differences we have, then you can argue over the positions but create a unified force in the country again. >> desjardins: you are two of the trio of premier american political scientists who have

written the book "one nation after trump." thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: now to another in our brief but spectacular series, where we ask people about their passions. tonight, we hear from mexican- american author and entrepreneur daniel lubetzky. he is the founder and c.e.o. of the snack company kind, and author of the book "do the kind thing." on this thanksgiving day he reminds us all just how far an act of kindness can go. >> one of th magical things about kindness is that it's what we nerds call that happiness aggregator. people confused kindness with being nice. and they're very different. you can be nice and be passive. but kindness requires action. when you're nice, you're not bullying people. but when you're kind, you stand up against the bully. my dad had this incredible kindness that basically goes

through every part of his body. he had the ability to look at life positively in spite of what he went through. he was a holocaust survivor. when he was 15 and a half years old, he was liberated from the dachau concentration camp by american soldiers who risked a lot to save people they had never met. he would make sure to not just remind us about the horrible stuff he went through, but also about how people rose up where there was a german soldier who people were not watching through a potato by my dad's feet. and he-- it never was lost in him that he was living on-- on borrowed time and that he lived because of the kindness of others. when i applied to law school, i wrote them my application that i wanted to do two things. one was to solve antitrust laws irregularities and problems and the second was to solve the arab israeli conflict. and my adviser came to him. he's like, "um, do you think you might wanna just choose one." i ended up trying to create something called peace works, which is till today still exist.

it's a business, but to bring neighbors and conflict regions together and help us the power of business to shatter culture stereotypes. as i was doing my research late at night, i went to a store on gordon street and i bought this obscure looking jar of sun-dried tomato spread. i down the jar. and i went back to start to buy some more. and they didn't have anymore. i started looking for that product. something was telling me that that product would be a conduit to actually turn the theory from college and law school into practice. and it ended up leading into the first product line of peaceworks where we would buy the sundried tomatoes from turkey instead of buying them from italy, the glass jars from egypt instead of buying them from portugal. and we buy olives and olive oil from palestinian farmers. and it was israelis that were making them. and then that's how peaceworks got off the ground. i think the best way to discover the humanity of other beings is just to meet them.

in my experience, it's much harder for you to have absolute hatred for any human being when you interact with them when you have that human connection. my name is daniel lubetsky, and this is my brief but spectacular take on what it means to have the courage to be kind. >> woodruff: you can watch additional brief but spectacular episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. finally tonight, the power of a wave. in a story originally brought to us by the "des moines register," nsikan akpan explains. >> are you comfy? >> do you think there's going to be a lot of people at the game, that we can wave at down there. >> reporter: six-year-old william kohn was born with a severely underdeveloped heart. at six-days-old, he had his first operation. after months in and out of

surgery, he landed at the university of iowa stead family children's hospital, waiting for a heart transplant. >> i think when you're in here for a long time i don't think they realize how like... sorry... removed you are from just the outside world. >> reporter: william received a donor heart, but there have been complications. his kidneys failed and he hasn't spoken in months, since he underwent a tracheotomy to help him breathe. in total, will and his mom have spent more than 300 days in the hospital. in may, a fan suggested on a hawkeyes facebook page that everyone take a minute during games to wave at a new wing of the hospital, which overlooks the stadium. >> the fact it's just a simple gesture to wave to somebody to acknowledge that they're there that they have feelings and that just by doing something as simple as waving or saying hey we see you we know you're there we know you guys are going through a hard time but we support you.

>> reporter: now, 68,000 rise and wave at william and other patients gathered on the hospital's 12th floor between the first and second quarters of each game. you watch it on tv and say that's pretty cool. then you go up there and watch your child want to stay for that. you watch your kid and others doing it. things stop up there. >> just the smallest gesture or being able to be a part of something happening outside the walls means a lot to them because it gives them a feeling they're a little bit normal like the other kids going to game. >> reporter: this fall, iowa football fans let william and other kids know they're not alone. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, tomorrow millions of americans will go shopping in search of black friday deals. newshour producer richard coolidge makes the case for skipping those crowded malls and, instead, getting outdoors.

find that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, have a happy thanksgiving. >> 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 newsho

>> narrator: tonight on frontlinthe epic story of football's concussion crisis. >> these players come down with dementia and then alzheimer's, and then they're gone. >> narrator: a major frontline investigation of what the nfl knew and when it knew it. >> the level of denial was just profound. >> we don't know who is at risk for it. we don't know if concussion in and of itself is what causes the abnormalities. >> narrator: a decades-long battle between scientists, players, and the nation's most powerful sports league. >> you can't go against the nfl. they will squash you.