judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. the road ahead -- president biden cushing to sell his infrastructure plan. the state of our streets, pipes, and bridges. then, getting a vaccine. new questions around astrazeneca

complicate global efforts to deliver inoculations. and crisis in ethiopia. the military crackdown displaces tens of thousands and prompts accusations of ethnic cleansing. >> above all, i want my own home. peace and my own home. if there andthose desires now so heavy. judy: all that and more in tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ consumer cellular.

johnson & johnson. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. >> the lemelson foundation, committed to improving lives through invention in the u.s. and developing countries. supported by the john dee and catherine t macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. 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.

stephanie: good evening. we will return to judy woodruff at the full program after the latest headlines. the european union's drug regulator has discovered a possible link between the astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine and rare blood clots. several dozen cases have been investigated among the 25 million who received that vaccine in the u.k. and europe, but the agency said the side effects were very rare and insisted the benefits still outweigh the risks. >> covid-19 is a very serious disease, and every day, covid is still causing thousands of deaths across the eu. this vaccine has proven to be highly effective. it prevents severe disease and hospitalization, and it is saving lives. >> britain's vaccine advisory agency said it would offer people under 30 the choice of an alternate vaccine.

astrazeneca's vaccine has been approved for emergency use in more than 70 countries. it is also the main covid inoculation administered throughout most of the developing world, since it is more affordable and easier to store. we will have more on this later in the program. meanwhile, the head of the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention says a highly contagious virus variant first found in britain has now become the most common strain in the u.s. it is more transmissible and infectious among younger americans, which has contributed to a recent spike in cases, and the u.s. treasury department today repord it has issued more than 156 million direct payments as part of president biden's covid relief package. president biden said today he is open to compromise on how to pay for his two point $3 trillion infrastructure package -- 2.3 trillion dollars infrastructure package. at the white house, the president said he is willing to

negotiate with republicans for a lower rate as long as the infrastructure projects are funded. >> we gotta pay for this. we gotta pay for this. there's many other ways we can do it, but i'm willing to negotiate that. i have come forward with the best, most rational way, in my view, the fairest way to pay for it, but there are many other ways as well, and i'm open. stephanie: more on the president's plan and the state of the infrastructure after the news summary. the president is expected to lay out several proposals tomorrow addressing gun violence, including an executive order requiring buyers of so-called ghost gun's -- homemade guns with no serial numbers, to undergo a background -- a background check. a new rule tightening regulations, publishing model legislation to help states enact red flag laws and investment in community violence intervention programs. also, "the newshour" confirms

president biden will nominate david chipman to head the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. he is a retired atf agent and an advisor at gun control group giffords. if confirmed, he would be the agency's first permanent director since 2015. in the derek chauvin trial today, a use of force expert with the los angeles police department testified that derek chauvin had his knee on george floyd's neck on the time he was handcuffed face down paramedics arrived. sergeant jody stiger told prosecutors that restraint was excessive. >> he was not attempting to resist, and the pressure that was being caused by the body weight could cause death. stephanie: he also refuted claims from derek chauvin's attorney that officers at the scene were distracted by angry bystanders. he said from the evidence he had

seen that onlookers did not appear to be a threat to police. overseas in eastern indonesia, at least 140 people are dead and dozens more still missing following days of torrential rainfall that triggered landslides in the region. cleanup efforts began on an island where villagers returned to find their homes damaged and filled with mud. jordin's king said his country is now stable after a rare public rift with his half other. he addressed it for the first time in a statement saying it was the most painful because those who are party to the sedition were from our own home. the prince has denied involvement and is under house arrest. meanwhile, president biden held a call with king abdullah to reaffirm u.s. support. the biden administration announced it is resuming usaid to the palestinians. it will provide $235 million for projects in the west bank and gaza and for the united nations

agency supporting refugees. former president trump had cut off nearly all funding to the palestinians during his tenure. back in this country, virginia became the latest state to legalize marijuana. the new law allows adults to possess and cultivate small amounts of the drug starting this july, but legal retail sales will not begin until january 20 24. marijuana is currently legal in 16 states and washington, d.c. the los angeles county sheriff's department said tiger woods was going 40 miles an hour over the speed limit when he crashed an suv in february. it blamed the accident solely on excessive speed and the golfer's loss of control behind the wheel on a stretch of road that is notorious for crashes. >> there's two factors -- the speed and the failing to maintain the street -- the curvature of the roadway. there's nothing from a cell phone indicating he was distracted. there's no evidence of any impairment or intoxication.

stephanie: woods underwent surgery for multiple breaks in his right leg and is recovering in full. still to come, the crumbling state of u.s. infrastructure, and president biden's push for his plan. new questions around the astrazeneca vaccine complicate global inoculation efforts. teachers face multiple challenges returning to in person classes, plus much more. >> this is "the pbs newshour," from w eta studios from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: as we reported earlier, president biden is floating proposals to pay for his $2 trillion infrastructure package. we have this look at why america's infrastructure is in such need of repair. william: the president's plan

includes funding for many infrastructure priorities. more than $600 billion in transportation infrastructure, more than $100 per drink and water projects, and more than 100 billion dollars to expand broadband. just last month, the american society of civil engineers released its 2021 report card, and it gave america's infrastructure a c minus. i'm joined by the asc's managing director of government relations and infrastructure directives. great to have you. i have to imagine for civil engineers like you, this has got to be an incredibly exciting time, when the president proposes a nearly $2 trillion infrastructure bill, but more seriously, this is meant to address some very serious deficiencies in our country. could you just give us a snapshot of what your report card tells us?

>> this is an exciting time. i think it has been an long time coming where a lot of these issues, you know, the roads we travel on and our transit networks and our water systems have flown under the radar, and it's great to see the national attention to this issue. at the same time, i'm a parent. i would not be happy if mike had brought home a c minus. we have a lot to do. we have 11 categories still in that d range. our legacy systems. >> what kinds of things do you think jump to the top of the priority list of if i had to choose, this is the stuff we have to get done? >> one thing we like is the cover hints of approach looking at 17 categories. it is really a connected system. in a way, our ports are only as good as the roads and rail that connect to them. at the same time, if you look at those categories, there's a few that stand out. our lowest grade in the report card were our transit systems.

our communities across the country are just facing a huge maintenance backlog when it comes to transit, and the pandemic certainly did not help that. agencies have been facing huge revenue declines, so they were kind of kicked while they were already down. wastewater utility is another area where we are in the d's. there's a lot of work we could be doing. when barges have to stop on the mississippi river, it costs -- it causes goods to increase hours on the way, and that is something we need to prioritize. quicthere has been cemented quickly going on where the administration says infrastructure could include broadband and water systems and electric charging stations for uv cars, and republicans say, no, that's not what we traditionally think of as infrastructure. i know the american society

tries to be nonpartisan and apolitical and all this, but do you guys come down on this issue of what is infrastructure and what is not? >> i certainly think one roadmap is, again, our infrastructure report card. people are surprised to know that we look at those 17 categories, and one that i would out that has been in our report card since 1998 -- we have been doing this since 1998, once every four years -- is school facilities. we looked at schools and have not gotten a lot of attention, but when you think about where kids are spending eight or more hours a day and look at the number of kids that are in portable classrooms where hvac systems are not updated, there's a lot of common ground. there are new things in the proposal that might go beyond the 17 categories, but again, we appreciate that it includes core programs like surface transportation, but also water, thenergy grid, inland waterways, and so many of these

things that go out of sight/out of mind. >> i hear everything you say about the importance these projects, but we know that many people look at this and think it is too much money to spend. the true trillion dollar infrastructure bill is too high a price. what is your response to that? >> i can absolutely understand how sometimes it seems like sticker shock, but what people don't realize is that we are already paying. it is almost a hidden tax from this gradually declining, deteriorating infrastructure that does not work the way it should. in addition to the poor grade, we know it costs american households on average, $33,000 a year in personal disposable income. it is a takeout dinner for a family of four each week, and that is significant. it is things we know intuitively. when a pothole messes with your alignment that you have driven over five or six times on the way to work, when a blackout, as

we saw in texas, wreaks havoc, these things cost money. they add up to make our economy less productive, and i think there actually is strong voter support for these investments. they passed in overwhelming margins at the local and state level. what we need is a strong federal partner. william: thank you very much for being here. >> thanks so much. judy: we explore some of the politics of the president's infrastructure plan now. one of the things president biden said he was going to do with this infrastructure plan was include efforts to promote racial equity. how exactly does he do that? >> president biden has said he wants to make racial equity a central part of the infrastructure plan, and to do that, he is investing billions

and billions of dollars on initiatives to impact specifically black communities and communities of color. when you walk through the plan, you see a number of things that are targeting communities that have historically had issues, that have historically been targeted and have had some troubles. i want to walk you through some of what is in that plan. $400 billion is dedicated to in-home care for older disabled americans. the white house says it will wait -- it will raise wages of workers who work in those homes and who are predominantly women,

often women of color. there's $100 million to expand broadband. the white house says this will disproportionately help black and latino families with lower access to broadband. there's $400 billion to eliminate all lead pipes in our drinking water systems. that will impact children, specifically children of color, and there's $20 million to invest in communities historically hurt by infrastructure plans, communities that in the past have had highways and infrastructure plans built through their neighborhood that then lead to black-owned businesses and playgrounds and all sorts of economic hurt to those neighborhoods. those are just some of the things the plan is doing, specifically targeted to communities of color. judy: how does the president make the case that racial justice is part of infrastructure? >> all of this, judy, president biden says is really targeted at

racial equality. he says the access to clean water, lead pipes being eliminated -- he says the ability to have a living wage, having access to broadband, which is key to society now that is relying more and more on internet -- all this is about how people survive and thrive in america. he says that has to be part of what we consider infrastructure. he said the idea of infrastructure has been evolving for generations, and he said this would be another generation that devolves that. he said part of this is making sure families can have a new generation of americans who can say there is a way to survive in this country. i pressed the white house on that. they also said this is a jobs plan we should be thinking about, not just infrastructure but how we are impacting people's lives across the country related not just infrastructure but to the way they can survive. judy: so many parts to this big and complex infrastructure plan the president has proposed and ♪thanks so much. look at each judy: the global push to get people vaccinated for covid hit a new set of concerns today. a new shift in reports on why the astrazeneca shots are critical around the world.

>> today, the european medicines agency said a very rare side effect of the astrazeneca vaccine is "unusual blood clots with low blood platelets." that could be a blow to global vaccine efforts, especially in low and middle income countries, because astrazeneca is relatively inexpensive and easy to store and transport. it is 79% effective at preventing symptomatic infections and 29 million people in europe have already received it. for more on today's news, we turn to the medical director of the special packages unit at boston medical center and associate professor of infectious diseases at boston university school of medicine. thank. welcome back to "the newshour." the european medicines agency concluded that unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as a very rare side effect of astrazeneca. how significant is that announcement? >> thanks so much. they are saying there is a plausible link -- not confirmed

but plausible link between the astrazeneca vaccine and what they are seeing, which is blood clots that do not manifest similar to what we see in patients that are high risk, but these are blood clots seen in younger patients, and the proposed mechanism is that after you get the vaccine, you may develop antibodies that attack part of your blood, that allows your blood to clot, the platelets, and it leads to the risk of clots in some areas and risk of bleeding in others. the reasonhy this plausible link exists is because they are seeing those higher rates of of what may be seen in the general population, but the numbers are still very small. just to put this into perspective, the numbers at the european medical agency has listed one in 100,000 people who receive the vaccine may see this. according to u.k. regulators, they release the numbers saying one in 250,000 people may potentially see this. compare that to the risk of blood clots from flying, which

by some studies is one in 1000. still, a very rare side effect, but definitely something to look out for if that link exists and more studies are required. >> understanding the risk is rare, is there a way to mitigate it? >> one of the ways researchers have addressed this is decreased availability to those under 80 -- those under 30. because in younger patients, one of the ways these clots manifest is something called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, a condition sometimes seen in young women who are on birth control. i think what they are trying to do is mitigate the risk by potentially making only those over 30 eligible for. is that the right way to go about it? i still think the benefits outweigh the risks because it is both the who as well as european

medical agency have said, the risk of mortality from covid still outweighs the risk of mortality from these rare blood clots that we have seen. >> we saw the eu and the u.k. ultimately say the benefits outweigh the risks. we know how this compares to other vaccines? -- do we know how this compares to other vaccines? >> i think the denominator is different. i think you have seen small numbers, two or three cases reported in johnson & johnson in the 4.5 million that might have been released of vaccines. i think you are seeing a handful of these again in vaccines of the millions that are released. you are not seeing it at the same rate. i think you are seeing almost a threefold increase also in terms of the way we have been looking for them, but i think it raises the importance of if there is a link, particularly with astrazeneca, what we should do with next steps is put that

guidance up. about four to 20 days after you get this vaccine, if you see these types of side effect -- headaches, slowing -- swelling in your feet, and one of the other side effects is if there is a blood clot in the abdomen, there might be abdominal pain, to keep an eye out because that will help identify people who may be at risk earlier as well. >> as we described, astrazeneca is going to be distributed all over the world, especially low and middle income countries. what is the impact on today's news on fighting covid globally? >> i'm hoping not a lot because again, i do think the benefits outweigh the risks, but it does raise the question of if there are these side effects -- again, pretty rare, but if they do end up existing, how do we in a system that is already strapped ensure there's surveillance for these incidences and find people who potentially have these side effects and bri them to care early? it will be interesting to see if other countries take the same

stance u.k. did, which is decrease eligibility to those above 30. it will also be interesting to see how the u.s. fda is going to respond to that, both the ema data as well as the take by u.k. regulators. >> you just mentioned the u.s. fda. astrazeneca has not yet been approved by the u.s. fda. where do things stand? >> as far as we know, they are on target in submitting for approval. it will be interesting to see because in the u.s. trials for astrazeneca, it was about 30,000 people, these were not seen, again, because these are such rare side effect that in that group, blood clots, at least from the topline results that were shared so far, there did not seem to be a difference in blood clots between people who got the vaccine compared to those who did not. i think it is unclear.

if i were to bet, just as an opinion rather than a known fact, i think it is likely to end up approving the vaccine. the question is -- will we have widespread distribution of those vaccines, given that we already have so many candidates under production and in distribution here in the u.s.? >> thank. >> thank you. ♪ judy: more and more children are returning to class in person in schools around the country. teachers are getting vaccinated, too. roughly 80% of teachers and staff are now at least rtially vaccinated. but stress remains high for some . in chicago, the teachers union announced today that it wants to delay further reopening in hopes of allowing more time for others

to get vaccinated. jeffrey brown reports on the latest challenges teachers face as they try to balance in person and virtual learning. jeffrey: outside douglas macarthur elementary school in alexandria, virginia, recently, students arrived for an unusual first week back in school. complete with choreographed carpool drop-off, temperature checks upon entry, socially distant car was, and signs to remind students to mask up. >> to see the teachers, to see everyone smile -- that's the best part. >> happy children and very high-stakes for first-year principal. >> i don't want to make a mistake. it's my own anxieties. >> in the midst of the pandemic, she is tasked with creating and maintaining a safe phase

reopening plan for students and staff. >> i love my teachers. i feel for them, their family, and they have families -- they are family, and they have families. they are doing a lot right now. they are working hard and going home, and some of them have to do that second job. >> douglas macarthur is using a hybrid model, dividing 550 students into two groups, which alternate attending classes in person, each two days a week, but families can still choose to remain 100% virtual, making it all the more challenging for teachers to keep a steady work/life balance. >> we had to get to know what their tablets look like compared to what we see. >> she teaches first grade at douglas macarthur. >> everything we would do normally in a classroom as far as setting up routines or even having projects for the kids to do -- we had to switch it now for everything on the computer. i come here early in the morning and get my computer set up, and

i do have a family at home with two little ones, so when they go to bed, i am up on my computer working after hours just to make sure my lessons are accurate and engaging for my sdents for the next day. >> longer hours are just one way the pandemic has taken a toll on america's teachers. from the beginning, without much federal guidance, the country's 13,000 school district have largely determined their own standards in deciding when and how to reopen. tonya tedious special education at a high school in cobb county, georgia. >> there are five times a day where you got over 50 kids in the same cafeteria with no masks on, eating and talking. >> while she has worried about safety protocols inside, her biggest frustration has been the lack of training with new technology, which she uses to keep students outside connected. >> i had to figure out how to get my virtual kids control the

remote so they could also interact with the smartboard or interact with whatever lesson. my kids in the room could not hear my kids on zoom and my zoom kids could not hear my kids in the room, so i had to get microphones and just different things, and i think that is what we are seeing all over the country. you know, teachers have no idea how to do this, and we have had zero training. >> with demands constantly shifting, gaps in access to school resources have been magnified by the pandemic. teachers, particularly those in low income communities, have struggled to manage technology, engage students, and provide basic instruction. some families who can afford it, are leaving publix cool systems. according to a december analysis in the associated press, this fall, public k-12 enrollment dropped by 2% compared to the year before. teachers are also leaving public schools.

>> i was excited but i was also nervous. >> khalil mack baltimore city public schools and now teaches fourth grade at rundle christian, a private school in maryland where students have been learning fully in person since september. this school year, he had just one student continue to study remotely. >> i was a little anxious, but i'm also feeling better. like, ok, this is possible because we have small class sizes. we have a system where if somebody tests positive, the whole class will quarantine and things of that nature. the school really did a great job making me feel that everything would be taken care of. >> private schools often with smaller class sizes and newer buildings with better ventilation systems have greater flexibility in reoping and implementing costly safety protocols. some small successes but in the wider picture, especially for public schools, multiple

stresses and overall hardship, suggesting a potential crisis for the teaching profession. >> what we found is that teachers cited stress as a reason for leaving the profession more often than they cited pay. >> and assistant policy researcher at the rand corporation focuses on education. >> there's always burnout, and there are always teachers who feel forced to leave the profession, but you are seeing this exacerbated now? we did see this increase in burnout between spring and fall, so about three in 10 teachers were burned out back in the spring, and now that level is up to about six in 10. we also see that teachers say that they just have more negative feelings toward the profession now this school year than they did before the pandemic started. >> a national teacher shortage for for the pandemic now potentially even worse. some have opted for early retirement while others way leaving the profession altogether. how serious has the morale

problem been this year? >> back in october, a quarter of the teachers we surveyed said they were likely to leave the profession by the end of this school year. the bulk of whom said they were unlikely to leave before the pandemic started. >> back at douglas macarthur in virginia, ashley told us she has seen the strain and stress on fellow teachers, but right now, especially students finally returning to class, she is doing what she loves. no thoughts of leaving teaching? >> i plan to be a teacher, so i am -- until i'm 78 years old. no, this is the career i've chosen, and that is where i would like to stay. >> and if she needed it, there was plenty of encouragement. >> my teachers, they help me all the time.

♪ judy: now, two looks at the brutal conflict in northern ethiopia's tigre region. allegations of ethnic cleansing began last fall amid a military crackdown that threatened to engulf the surrounding region and permanently tarnish the reputation of the country's nobel prize-winning prime minister. thousands are dead. tens of thousands have and displaced. the ethiopian government is on the defensive, but it has also decided to slightly open the door to outside observers. our special correspondent is one of a handful of correspondence who has been allowed into tigre and its capital. this report is based on what she saw d what the government of ethiopia wanted the outside world to see. a caution to viewers -- images and accounts in these reports may disturb some viewers.

>> scars of war are not hard to find in the capital of tigre this is one of the schools here converted into temporary shelter for the internally displaced. she walked for more than four days with her children to get here, hopping onto any truck willing to take them away. for four months now, this classroom which they share with five other families, is what they have been forced to call home. >> i fled here with five of my children. othersled to sudan. this is troubling me a lot. since we arrived, we have had so many problems. >> people like her are trying to outrun a conflict spreading through ethiopia. the region's powerful political party used to lead the government, but they clashed with the current prime minister. the party entrenched in their

home region defied him by holding regional elections. in response, government troops arrived in the north, aided by neighboring eritrea. fighting here has led to accusations that the government and troops are committing human rights abuses against civilians. after months of denials, the prime minister has admitted troops from neighboring eritrea have entered tigre. >> the reason they show their presence is because they have a national security concern. we also informed the eritrean government they are being accused of wrongdoings, looting, and other things. the eritrean government strongly denounced these allegations and said it will take strong measures on any of its soldiers who are found guilty of these accusations. >> the decision by the government to allow us and other foreign journalists cover the conflict follows months of international pressure. aid agencies were blocked from

delivering humanitarian aid for four months to nearly 3 million people still on the brink of starvation. many in the camps are in the sprit need of more support. >> we started on food, on nutrition. the most important need for these people is to get psychosocial support. >> the government is keen to stress that its soldiers have paid a hidden price, to. at its northern headquarters, government military officers, soldiers loyal to the political party attacked the barracks where much of the country's equipment and other military assets are kept. >> when they attacked us, we fought back with what we had,

but they had already taken the weapons, and they had control of the armory. we did not have enough weapons. many died from our side. there were many women soldiers who died, our friends. they did not even. those who died respectfully. it was tragic. >> in another part of the city, we are taking -- taken to meet wounded soldiers. he claims he was attacked by some of his colleagues who challenged the government four months ago. >> some of us have no affiliation to any political party. they chopped off my arm with an ax. i'm lucky to be alive. >> this military hospital is yet to return to full operations. the government says it was looted. the united nations human rights board says it has received reports of sexual gender-based violence -- rate, extrajudicial killings, among other crimes committed in the period of fighting -- rape, extrajudicial

killings, among other crimes. the captain says any soldier found guilty of rape will be held accountable. given united nations agencies and international organizations for access to all parts of the region to offer much-needed humanitarian assistance, but they move around at their own risk. eight agencies say movement around the region is still tough, partly because of security and many security checks by government soldiers along the way. >> this is now our third cargo plane of supplies coming from the united states. those planes have delivered nutritional supplement referred for children, and that is what is on this plane behind me. >> but distribution of much-needed assistance to some areas remains a challenge,

mainly because of insecurity. the government says there is sporadic fighting in the region. hundreds of thousands more have been unable to flee to the safety of such camps. altogether, millions of people are facing the very real threat of starvation. although being in these camps may feel safer, they do not feel like home for many here. >> i'm just alive because of the assistance from the residence of this city, but above all, i want my own home. peace and my own home. >> the faith that one day the guns will go silent in th region and she will be reunited with her children keeps her hopes alive. for "the pbs newshour." judy: the ethiopian government allowed journalists into tigre in part because of international pressure following reports of atrocities committed by the government and its allies.

nick schifrin is back and begins with the anatomy of an event that amnesty international calls a possible crime against humanity. nick: in ethiopia, gunshots broke the morning quiet. and did not stop until the shooters committed a massacre. oxen is in northern ethiopia, and town of 70,000 residents in 10 square miles. the soldiers who arrived in november were from neighboring eritrea, allies of the ethiopian government. filmed black and white video of a local militia fighting back. >> of people were given a gun, i don't know by who, but they are fighting. it's really amazing. >> the person describes fighting

a few hundred meters away from the main hotels and the main churches of the city. they were able to geo-locate the video and find where it was shot. >> scanned satellite images and interviewed survivors. the report revls what happened next. eritrean soldiers opened fire and killed hundreds of civilians. this man, a bank teller, killed outside a church. that whole house became an epicenter of death. >> eritrean soldiers called reinforcements and proceeded to shoot at civilians running in the streets, rounding up men and shooting them, but also carrying out house to house searches, looking for teenage and adult men to kill. >> the clues of their crimes. outside churches.

amnesty found disturbed earth, evidence of mass graves. >> witnesses describe victims of the massacre being buried in mass graves in these churches. 10 bodies at a time. according to witnesses, hundreds of bodies were buried here alone. >> the bernal hotel -- the burner hotel was one of the hotspots, but amnesty found debris outside. a video obtained by human rights watch shows heavy damage and looting. >> the massacre was an attempt to terrorize the population into submission. the indiscriminate shelling and wanton shooting carried out by the eritrean and ethiopian military could represent war crimes.

>> what we have published is just sad. >> researchers have documented similar attacks nearby. in late march, doctors without borders say staffers witnessed ethiopian soldiers dragging 4 men off a public bus and executing them. >> the situation, i just could not deal with it. >> ethiopia's former deputy ambassador to the united nations is a tigre and diplomat -- took ryan -- tigrean diplomat. he accused ahmed of a campaign of genocide against tigre and a campaign of persecution of his political opponents. >> the war is targeting the young and general public. they want to maintain power.

>> acts of the cleansing which we have seen in tigre, that has to stop. >> few details have been confirmed of ethiopian officials d their allies. a senior official said the u.s. has confirmed with a great deal of certainty there have been mass killing's, the use of rape as a tool of war. he recently admitted eritrean soldiers were in ethiopia but has not admitted what they did and rejected requests for a cease-fire and dialogue. meanwhile, survivors are trying to recover from trauma. many are in sudan. these are the people whom amnesty interviewed to discover what happened. they need help and humanitarians cannot reach them. >> despite their improvement,

there is still limited access and limit security. >> limited access and limited visibility, but what appears to be evidence of atrocities. ♪ judy: jimmy carter is the rare u.s. president who was most lauded for his work after the oval office, but jonathan alter argues in his latest book that former president carter's influence inside the white house might be the most misunderstood in our history. jonathan alter, thank you very much for joining us to talk about your book. you call jimmy carter perhaps the most misunderstood president in american history.

i have covered him for a long time. i even covered him before he came to washington to be president. what made you so interested in him? >> what happened is i learned some of the details of his achievements at camp david. this was a virtuoso performance, the most enduring and significant peace treaty for the world since world war ii. i started to think, you know, if he could pull that off, maybe there is more to jimmy carter than this easy shorthand inept president, great former president, and it just got me curious to get beyond that cliche. when i started to do the research five years ago, i found that he actually achieved much more as president than i or a lot of other people understood and that he was a political failure but a substantive and farsighted success. judy: talk about that for a

minute. what was it that made him the consequential president that he was? you write about how he was ahead of his time in many regards. >> he signed 14 major pieces of environmental legislation, and he was also the first leader anywhere in the world to think about climate change, which at that time was just in the scientific community, but it really goes across the board. accomplishments by jimmy carter who got past the government act, setting up fisa courts. he established fema, did some of the first emergency planning. i think people know he created the departments of education and energy, but the list goes on and on and in the foreign policy area, despite the failures in terms of getting hostages out of iran before the election, which

hurt him badly, not only camp david, but establishing diplomatic relations with china, which created the bilateral relationship that our world economy is now based on -- that was jimmy carter. the panama canal treaties prevented a major war in central america. human rights policy was historic, helped kick off the democratic revolution around the world. helped end the cold war, which a lot of cold war conservatives admitted later on. but much of it w hard to understand at the time, so his political mistakes kind of overwhelmed these achievements. judy: it's a remarkable list, but despite all this, there were a lot of mistakes. there were embarrassments. mistakes of his own doing, and then an lot of bad luck along with all that. >> absolutely. jimmy carter has led this almost

novelistic life. it is a real american epic. he was born on a farm where they had no running water, no electricity, essentially in the 19th century, so carter is covering this great distance, and he runs this campaign from 0% of the polls, gets to the presidency, has a lot of good luck as well as good timing because he was running after watergate as an ethical, moral candidate, but he has good luck and when he gets to the presidency, especially in the second half of his term, 1979 and 1980, he is essentially swamped by events, including economic problems that were very serious and contributed in a major way to his not getting reelected. he did, though, appoint paul volker, who weighs -- who raised interest rates way above 15%, which hurt carter when he was

running for reelection, but essentially, that ended inflation, so reagan got the credit for that, but it was carter's appointee who accomplished it. just to go to the political problems, he could not unify the democratic party, and that challenge by ted kennedy from the left in the 1980 primaries, that was very hurtful to jimmy carter. judy: it was almost everywhere you looked between the iran hostage crisis, the spike in oil prices, the long gas lines, and as you mentioned, the political problems. did you ever figure out what drives him? we should say, the man is still alive well into his 90's. >> yeah, 96. his faith definitely drives him. i devote a fair amount of attention to that. i think even that is very misunderstood. he's a strong believer in the separation of church and state.

he would not allow any religious-tinged events at the white house, but i also think a sense of atonement drives him. he comes back to georgia to take over his father's business, and he is duckinghe civil rights movement. right through that 1970 campaign, even using some code words in that 1970 campaign, and, judy, you were there for one of the most important events of his political career when he took the oath and gave his inaugural address as governor of georgia and said, "the time for racial discrimination is over." you said later you could feel the electricity going through the crowd. doesn't sound like anything, but it was a huge decision. then he went on to integrate georgia. then i think he spent the second

half of his life from that moment on essentially making up for what he did not do in the first half of his life on civil rights, and that can be an inspiration for us. this sense of wanting to do as much as he can for as many people as he can with whatever time he had left. judy: it certainly seems to be driving him. does he finally become like harry truman, a president who is appreciated but decades after he is president or not? what do you think? >> harry truman was his favorite president. he put a sign "the buck stops here" right on his desk, and i'm hoping that i and other authors can contribute to a real reassessment of his presidency. he's not going to be the first rank of presidents. he made plenty of mistakes, but i do think historians are starting to recognize that he

got slimed in some ways after he left office and that there was much more he achieved then people recognize, and of course, we have not even spoken about his achievements as a former president. he revolutionized the role of first lady. rosalynn carter was enormously promotable. she did much more, for instance, than eleanor roosevelt, as first lady. after he left office, he revolutionized the role of former president, but i'm just trying to kind of correct the balance here and end this notion that, you know, he was a lousy president, which is just not true. judy: john alter, the book is "his very best," a play on jimmy carter saying when he was running for president, "why not the best?"

big contribution to our study of this presidency. i came to washington to cover his presidency. the book is very much worth reading. on "the newshour" online, the u.s. spends billions of dollars every year putting people behind bars, but not nearly enough to help those who are released. activists say when we look at the challenges state and local programs face to raise money to support people after incarceration. all that and more at pbs.org/newshour. that's "the newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening for all of us at "the pbs." thank you. please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour was court has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans to help people do more of what they like. our customer service team can

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