judy: good. -- good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. juneteenth. the united states officially celebrates the anniversary of the end of slavery as the push for social justice persists. then, historic shift. colombia charts a different course as the country elects a former guerrilla fighter as its first leftist president. and remembering our friend. we honor the life, career, and legacy of the long-time newshour political analyst mark shields. >> my favorite moments in television havbeen friday nights with mark shields. judy: all that and more on t't'gh"'s nbsshew

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for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. 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: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines.

kids from six months to five years old are now able to receive a child-size dose of the moderna or pfizer vaccine. white house covid response coordinator dr. ashish jha encouraged parents to get their children vaccinated. >> we're lucky to have two choices. they're both exceedingly safe. they are both effective. but we've got two good choices . stephanie: less than a third of children ages 5 to 11 have been vaccinated since they were given the green light last november. president biden said today that he hopes to make a decision on whether to pause the federal gas tax by the end of this week. the move could save consumers as much as $.18 a gallon. meanwhile, california lawmakers say they will launch an investigation into gas price gouging. the golden state's average price per gallon is currently $6.40, the highest in the nation. republicans lawmakers say democrats' refusal to suspend

the state gas tax is the problem. in ethiopia witnesses now say the gun massacre targeting the ethnic amhara pele over the weekend left at least 260 civilians dead. the attack happened in the western oromia region. it's believed to be one of the deadliest in ethiopia's recent memory. both residents and the regional government blame the oromo liberation army. the rebel group has denied responsibility. meanwhile in west africa. the mali government said islamist militants killed at least 132 villers in the central part of the country over the weekend in multiple attacks. the security situation has been deterioriating there as the decade-long extremist insurgency grows. in ukraine, russian forces have unleashed a fresh barrage of attacks. in the eastern donbas, they captured a town along a river that's y to taking the luhansk region. explosions also hit a food warehouse in the southern port city of odesa, as russia targets

ukraine's food supplies. and in northeastern kharkiv, a russian ballistic missile struck a veterinary academy leaving workers in despair. >> i want to close my eyes and after opening them see that nothing has changed. everything is still like when it was during the old happy days. i cannot convey feelings with words. it is not just emotions, but like my soul is crying. stephanie: a russian journalist awarded the nobel peace prize sold the medal at auction tonight, raising one -- $103.5 million for children fleeing the war in ukraine. dmitry muratov, whose independent newspaper was shut down by the kremlin, was awarded the gold medal last year. it's the most er raised by the sale of a nobel peace prize. severe monsoon flooding has ravaged huge swaths of northeastern india and bangladesh, killing more than

100 people and damaging millions of homes. rainfall submerged entire villages. residents waded through their homes to try and salvage their possessions. >> there is not much to say about the situation. you can see the water with your eyes. the water level inside the room has dropped a bit, but it used to be up to my waist. all in all, we are in a great disaster. stephanie: israel will hold its fifth election in just three years. prime minister naftali bennett and his main coalition partner foreign minister yair lapid agreed today to dissolve parliament. bennett's political coalition had lost its majority in the knesset. lapid will serve as a caretake prime minister until the election is held this fall. and back in this country, the biden administration has reached an unprecedented agreement with fivnative american tribes to co-manage the bears ears national monument in utah.

the bureau of land management and the u.s. forest service signed the deal saturday with tribal leaders. after centuries of living in that area, the tribes will now have more input into the monument's day-to-day still to come. forty years after vincent chin's murder we examine the state of asian american civil rights. tamara keith and amy walter weigh in on the latest political headlines. we remember the life and career of long-time newshour analyst mark shields. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arona state university. judy: today marked just the 2nd time in u.s. history that the federal government has recognized juneteenth. the holiday celebrates june 19th, 1865, when union soldiers

brought word of slavery's end to galveston,exas, freeing the last enslaved. 2.5 years after the emancipation proclamation was signed. amna nawaz looks at the country's remembrances and the conversation around this history. >> in washington d.c. today, vice president kamala harris surprised students visiting the national museum of african american history with a special message for juneteenth. >> let this be a day to celebrate the principle of freedom and to speak about it honestly, and accurately. >> in galveston texas, home to the longest-running juneteenth celebration, the past was alive. the saturday event honored the last enslaved people in galveston in 1865 and one of the men who spent his career making sure their stories were told >> my father, late and former state representative al edwards, was majorly focused on making juneteenth not only a state holiday, but also a national holiday.

everyone deserves to know the truth about the history that happened right here in galveston in texas. reporter: generations of black families like angela milburn's here in houston, texas have long celebrated this day. >> i cherish this day and all the days that follow this one and that came before this because of what a lot of my ancestors went through and those that knew each other and the struggle that they did for us. >> the so-called grandmother of that modern struggle? former teacher and civil rights leader, opal lee who stood by president biden's side as he made juneteenth a federal holiday last year. in fort worth, texas on saturday the 95-year-old lee led her annual two and a half mile march to mark the nearly two and a half years it took between the emancipation proclamation and union troops officially announcing the end of

slavery in texas. the work to end its long legacy, lee said is far from over. >> i want you to make yourself a committee of one. cause you know people who aren't on the same page that you're on, and so you're gonna have to change their minds. reporter: all 50 states and the district of columbia recognize juneteenth in some form. texas was first back in 1980 but only 24 states and d.c. ve made june 19 a public paid holiday, though more states could soon flow. the city of boston marked the holiday with a weekend celebration of black arts and culture. philadelphia marked the day with its first juneteenth parade since the start of the pandemic. a celebration of america's story more fully told. juneteenth becoming a holiday starting conversations. where are those conversations

today? i'm joined by the founding director for the center for the study of democracy at the university of texas in austin. he is the author of the upcoming book, the third reconstruction, america struggle for racial justice in the 21st century. welcome back to the newshour and thank you for joining us on this holiday. i want to reference something you wrote recently marking the second juneteenth we are noting is a federal holiday in the states. you said you found hope in what you call the resurgent interest in black history that followed juneteenth becoming a federal holiday. what was that hope based on? what were you seeing happening? >> the hope is based on the fact that the country, led by grassroots interest in juneteenth in the black community but then president biden and others, is trying to confront slavery and the fact that we are a democracy whose

roots are in racial slavery. that makes this a complex place to live. when people say the country suffers from systemic racism, they are not saying that because somehow they dislike the country. they are saying that because they love the country. juneteenth sort of reflects the complicated history of america and american democracy, but paradoxically it brings us closer to becoming that beloved community that martin luther king jr. wrote and spent his whole life trying to achieve. reporter: you said as a federal holiday, juneteenth offers a window for americans into understanding how the political is personal. what did you mean by that? >> we have now so many great stories about people celebrating juneteenth with their family and friends over the decades. these were real people so these are really personal stories. stories of black people in

galveston celebrating. stories of black people trying to leave plantations in eastern texas and other places to reunite with loved ones. and we think about the personal as the political, this is as important holiday for america as july 4 is. the reason it is so important is that there were 4 million americans who were disallowed to be considered citizens, were disallowed to embody the dignity they knew they had solely because of race and because of slavery. juneteenth offers us the context to understand this is not a story about them, this is a story about us. reporter: i have to point out there are some strong opposing forces at play in a lot of these conversations, right? we have a slew of legislative efforts across the country led mostly by republican lawmakers to stop efforts in schools from people teaching about the

history of american racism in america, about the afterlife as you put it of our system of enslavement slavery in america, punishing teachers who try to talk about these topics. what does that tell you about where we are? >> it tells me we are a comp kid nation. on the one hand we have juneteenth and supporters of multiracial democracy. on the other we have anti-crt legislation and we have the january 6 hearings and supporters of the past racial status quo that existed during the era of jim crow segregation that existed during slavery. we are still caught in that bind of folks who believe and support multiracial democracy and those who think about america as a much less inclusive place. as a place that should be dominated just by white male founders and founders there would be in quotes because we

know the founders of the country were actually of multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural -- women as well as men. it just shows me that we are making progress, but we are still caught in the feedback loop of the history that those who do not want us to know about juneteenth seem determined to deny. >> you mentioned the january 6 hearings. what is the parallel between what you see unfolding there and our conversations around black history? >> january 6 is the grassroots cousin of the racial intolerance that we seen used to divide folks politally in the 21st century. so january 6 has real roots in the period of reconstruction right after the civil war where on the one hand, like with juneteenth, we had a move to

reimagine american democracy as on the other hand we have the rise of the ku klux klan, the rise of pull taxes and legislation to deny black voting rights. we had the rise of the convict lease system but we also had the rise of violent coups against duly elected governments. the peak of that is 1898 in north carolina where an interracial black-and-white government is actually violently overthrown. there are all these different versions of january 6 that really led to the end of reconstruction in the 1870's and 1880's. so in a way when we think about juneteenth taking place against the backdrop of january 6 and legislation to deny the teaching of black history and deny the teaching of our history of racial injustice, they are all connted. they are all intimately linked

to read we are an american family collectively even when there are partisan political and ideological divisions. juneteenth allows us context to explore these divisions and also explore what unifies us as americans. reporter: professor joseph, thank you for your time. always good to have you. >> for the first time in its history, colombia has elected a leftist president. gustavpetro is a former guerilla turned mayor of bogota and then a senator. he defeated right wing populist rodolfo hernandez. as nick schifrin reports, his election overturns the right of center political establishment that has long run colombia, and

it could usher in a dramatic change in the u.s. relationship with its closest regional partner. reporter: in colombia's capital last night, a population hungry for change cheered the man who promises transformation. thousands who waved flags and chand yes we did it and hailed the country's first leftist president introduced by the country's first black vice president, president-elect gustavo petro pledged a new path. >> today is undoubtedly a historic day. we are writing history at this moment. new history for colombia, for latin america, for the world. what is coming is a real change. >> for 200 years we have been governed by the same ople but today begins transition to the government of change that will benefit all colombians.

>> never before has colombia elected somebody with petro's past. he fought for m-19, the leftist guerilla group that targeted the coloian state, and spent two years in jail. he became an opposition politician, first mayor of bogota, and now, senator. for a country that long marginalized the left, petro's election is a dramatic departure from decades of right-wing and center-right governments. the 62-year-old became an icon for the country's frustrated youth. >> there has been a rising level of discontent, of sense, of a lack of opportunity, a sense that education was too expense. reporter: cynthia arnson is a woodrow wion center distinguished fellow. she says petro's ctory is part of a regional anti-establishment shift. >> throughout latin america, theris a desire for change to throw out the pele that have been in charge over these last, veryvery complicated, difficult years economically, which have seen rises in inequality and poverty and food

insecurity. and so there's a strong anti-incumbent sentiment. reporter: for decades, colombia has been the united states' strongest regional ally. the two militariesork together. colombia is the u.s. largest regional trading partner. and the u.s. and colombia have teamed up to fight what the u-s has called the war on drugs. but petro calls the drug war a failure and demands to re-examine the tradeeal to focus on climate change. >> colombia and the united states have been partners in efforts to suppress coca and the production and export of cocaine. and so shifting away from that and implanting another strategy that is unproven and unknown, i think is going to create friction. reporter: another change, petro's embrace of the regional left. he met with venezuelan leader hugo chavez, before his death in 2013. today he vows to create what he calls a progressive partnership with current venezuelan president nicolas maduro, and other regional leftists.

>> he is very close to maduro. he has been very close to the venezuelan dictatorship. i think he's going to play on that side of the game from now. reporter: francisco santos calderon was colombia's former vice president from 2002-2010. he says petro is on the opposite side of history from the united states. >> colombia will probably be more on the side of the autocracies than the democracy. the u.s. will will will take a back door in policies changing and and putting an end to a relationship, a very close relationship between colombia and the u.s. for the past 30 years. reporter: petro also vows to upend colombia's decades-old dependence on fossil fuels, and raise taxes on the rh. his victory comes six years after the armed leftist rebel group farc agreed to stop its guerilla warfare, and embrace the political process. another first in this year's election, vice president francia marqz, a former maid, miner, and farmer turned environmental activist. >> i was really struck at her

acceptance speech last night when she talked about, this was a government now for the people with callused hands, for the nobody's in columbia -- colombia . reporter: petro promises a government for the people. but his sweeping reforms may be hard to implement as colombia ventures into the unknown. for the pbs newshour, i am nick schifrin. judy: this month marks forty years since the brutal killing of vincent chin in a suburb of detroit. the 27-year-old was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two men, who were fined $3000 and received area the killing sparked calls for justice in his name and a national movement among asian americans. amna nawaz is back with a closer

look at the legacy of vincent chin today, part of our ongoing coverage of race matters. reporter: judy on june 19 in 1982 vincent chijust days away from his wedding went out to celebrate with friends in detroit. later that night, two white men ronald evans and his stepson michael nutsttack chin and beat him to death. a 1998 documenta who killed vincent chin? dove into his story, and it s later nominated for an academy award. it is getting a special airing on pov tonight. >> it was a hot night in detroit and the men from the auto plants were out for a night on the town. somebody started a fight. when it was over, vincent chin was dead. his head split open with a baseball bat. >> vincent shin would be alive today if he were not asian. >> was it a case of racism or a barroom brawl?

>> it is hard to explain. 's not something you plan on happening, but it happens. i -- it happens. >> i want jusce for vincent. my son. thank you. reporter: to mark 40 years since vincentians death that documentary will re air tonight on pbs stations across the country. for more than what followed -- more on what followed chin's death i am joined by author -- welcome back to the newshour. thank you for making the time. there are a number of remembrance and rededication services in vincent chin's name and memory around the country. torrow, those 40 years, people are remembering what happened that night. there is still a story that very much resonates with millions of people today. why do you think that is 40 years later? >> right now it is one of the worst timeso be asian or asian-american in the united states and that is primarily

demonstrated with data we have seen that since the onset of the pandemic over 11,000 incidents of hate have occurred and have been reported in a little over a year and a half. that is what is going on and that ishe experience of asians and asian americans today. >> today asian americans are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic demographic group in america, also the most diverse in terms of ethnicity and language and faith. before the death of vincent chin there was not a real asian-american identity. i think it is fair to say his death and the calls for justice that followed helps to form and shape a community. what should we understand about that? >> i think what's really interesting is exactly what you just said. asian american as a political identity was really formed around his era. and i think that after his terribly tragic murder, what ended up happening was people felt like we need to become more

politically important and powerful and that has occurred and i think that that's a beautiful legacy of a very tragic event. it's also really -- event. reporter: fascinating to me when you look at the historical footage, you see people like helen zia, who we saw there in the clip who was an asian american civil rights icon. you also see people like jesse jackson. there were a number of black civil rights leaders who showed up with vincent chin's mother and called for justice in his name. what do we need to understand about how the asian american movement for justice was builton lhe >> oh, the extraordinary debt that asian americans as well as white women, all oppressed minorities in this country have for african american civil rights movement cannote understated. i think that when african american civil rights leaders took up their time and energy and their resources and the political connections to come and support to get justice for vincent chin, that's the reason why it became more

remembered. i think helen zia who is one of the executors of estates as a -- of his estate and his memory has really highlighted this point. reporter: you talked earlier about how you think it's a terrible time to be asian american. you wrote a piece for the new york times earlier this year that was called asian americans have always lived with fear. i wonder if you as you reflect back on that is the fear today, the same as it was 40 years ago, at the time of institutions -- the time of vincent chin's death or earlier, there is a different view. >> i think ironically, asians and asian americans have faced great hostility since their arrival in this country. that said, there have been moments of great peace as well, the past year and a half in the past. i guess since the pandemic almost over two years, we saw a greater rise of incidents of violence against asians and asian americans primarily because since the trump administration and people who supported his organization have

often said that the virus for the pandemic came from china and then that virus became associated with asians and asian americans. and unfortunately, asian americans are often seen as a monolith. we don't even have a distinct ethnicity or identity and we are often considered disease carriers and stereotyped as foreigners. reporter: we're talking now 40 years marked from the death of vincent chin and i wonder as you look back on everything that's happened in our community and more broadly among marginalized communities here, if there is something good or a lesson that can come out of such a tragic event. what do you think that is today especially for the next generation? >> i think that the greater politicization of asian americans and civic engagement to support democracy in this country is a beautiful thing. i think that unfortunately, you don't want bad things to happen for you to really pay attention to voting. but if we can all be more engaged as as good citizens in this country, i's wonderful

news out of a tragedy. reporter: finally, i know the work you do in your writing, you say you try to humanize people, to make sure you are building bridges in your work. tell us about the importance of that narrative work you do. >> i think that within story, it's possible for the reader as well is a writer to feel a greater sense of identification with each other and to find empathy. when we find empathy, we realize that asians and asian americans are not a great horde or a mob but rather individuals and human beings. and we can feel empathy and sympathy for human beings. that's a very important role of storytelng and i hope to be part of that. reporter: thank you so much for your time. always good to have you. >> thank you.

judy: even on this holiday, it's primary election eve in several states. and midterm election politics never stop. republican campaigns are ramping up their rhetoric to appeal to base voters. our lisa desjardins breaks down the battle over gop messaging. >> this is a familiar fight. what should the republican party values be in november to regain control of congress? that is playing out at campaign rallies, in ads, and across social media in some new ways. to discuss the political stas of the moment, i am joined now by amy walter of the cook political report and tamara keith of npr. thank you both. let's start with two things that happened this weekend. i want to play two pieces of sound and i need to warn our viewers both pieces of sound deal with threats, potentially threats of violence. first we are going to hear adam kinzinger, one of two republicans on the january 6 committee, about new threats to his family.

then we are going to hear from eric greitens with a new ad directed at what he calls republicans in name only or rinos. >> this threat was mailed to my house. we got it a couple days ago and it threatens to execute me as well as my wife and five-month-old child. there is violence in the future am going to tellou. until we get a grip on telling people the truth we cannot expect any differently. ♪ >> joined the maga crew in a rino hunt. there is no limit and it does not end until we reclaim our country. >> amy, is this another dangerous inflection point in our political rhetoric? is this more of the same? what is this? amy: it feels like an inflection

point. we are hearing this week about threats made to election officials and course we have been hearing in the weeks and months after the 2020 election, stories from election officials, even high-level officials. folks who are at the most basic county level offices who are nonpartisan, who found themselves targeted by many of the same sorts of threats of violence. the one thing i will say about missouri which is the final clip you showed, this is somebody who -- really the fact he is running at all is quite remarkable. he was forced to resign from office in 2018 as governor after he was accused by a woman he was having an affair with of being aggressive and assaulting her. most recently, his ex-wife, they

are in divorce proceedings right now accusing him of abusing her and their son. this is somebody with a history already of being accused of violence who decides i'm going to run for the senate. then keeps playing this violent rhetoric and is leaning into this. the unfortunate tng about our politics right now is that this sort of stuff, going over the top extreme, outrageous, it raises you money, it gets you attention. and until voters say that is not ok, this is not what we do, then those outrages are going to continue to reap benefits. they see more of a reward than a risk doing this. >> he is a contender in the primary. >> he is leading in the polling. >> we should say facebook has taken the ad down, twitter is putting a warning on it. and yet it is blowing up on

social media, it is all over the airwaves because it is so outrageous. if you are talking about his outrageous ad where he is talking about going hunting, you are not talking about the credible allegations against him. you put him in a position of both fighting against disloyal republicans and fighting against the media who are now out here criticizing him. so it works well for someone in a crowded primary field who is trying to consolidate the primary. the language around adam kinzinger and the threat against him, the useecutn. othis is a theme that comes upa lot. there is a glorification of violence and a hunger for executions in the mythology of qanon for whatever you want to call it. you see this language coming up again and again and again. there is almost a mainstreaming

of extreme ideas and language and those clips today bridge that in a way. >> we had to discuss do we want to play that full ad or not? we ended up saying a lot of times we do not want to give oxygen to that but neither do we want to sanitize it. also happening over the weekend, a texas republican party met. i want to show things they voted -- the agreed in one resolution, a resolution that rejected the certified results of 2020 in those words and referred to president biden as the acting president, not legitimate. at the same time it took a court order to force certification of results in new mexico. you talk about the power of trump, why there is not more courage to stand up from republicans who oppose him. what is it going to take, these kinds of things, rejecting elections, when is it going to compel republicans to be more

public about this problem that is not just a political problem? >> and at the same convention, they went after senator john cornyn who is working on a bipartisan bill on guns, and dan crenshaw, who is a congressman widely regarded as a rising star within the republican ranks. those two are more likely to have a future in congress and setting policy in congress than the folks who are sitting at the convention this weekend in texas. the parties themselves have become so hollowed out this is part of the challenge not only in texas, but in the states and nationally. the parties have become so hollowed out that a credible candidate can take that party over or you can have people who are not particularly credible, who do not have the interests of the party in mind, to take that party over.

they have become almost less relevant than ever even though they get a lot of attention. >> a state party is there to protect and promote the incumbents and to serve the better interests of the party and its establishment. but state parties -- and i should say in both parties, state parties have become sort of the outpost of the extreme. they are censuring their members who have done relatively normal mainstream things where they pass these resolutions that are completely untethered from the mainstream of the party -- or their voters come out of line th their voters. they are farrom the center of gravity of their party. that said there are lot of people whose views are reflected in those resolutions. >> one person who advocated from civil talk for everyone was the great mark shields.

he sat in these very seats. we are heartbroken at his loss. i waed you to talk about his memories. you have known him a long time. >> yes, i have done a number of conventions and eltion nights. everybody who watched him on the show knows how smart he was. and how incredibly gracious h was. to me, the mark of a really good human, which is what he was, is somebody who treats people w are not as important or famous as they are with respect and reverence. if you walked into this building and watched how he treated every single person on staff from desk assistance tonterns, you would know what a really good person this was. >> he enjoyed conversation with every single person. he could bring out the best in everyone. >> a good reporter, too. beyond it being a good thing to do

you learn a lot by talking to all kinds of people. that is where you learn. >> we do not pick favorites in politics or sports teams but i had to use my own tribute to put on our mutual favorite baseball hat for the boston red sox. amy walter and tamara keith, thank you both. >> you are welcome. judy: thank you, lisa, for that. we love that cap. and a minder we will have live coverage of the january 6 hearings tomorrow where the focus is expected to be on the pressure former president trump put on state election officials to change election results. that starts at 1:00 p.m. eastern here on pbs.

>> we wanted to devote the rest of the program to the memory of our dear friend and newshour colleague mark shields who passed away this weekend at the age of 85. >> finally tonight, some friday night conversation. >> analysis of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields and new york times columnist david brooks. >> for 33 years, mark shields brought his decades of political expertise, unapologetic liberal views, and quick irish wit to our airwaves, providing critical context and perspective to some of the most historic moments in american politics. impeachments. >> the attitude in the country remains that bill clinton lied. they don't want him to leave. >> war. >> war should not be the first resort. it has to be the last resort. >> white house first. >> this is a person of enormous

talent. >> and the 2020 election. >> donald trump is going out as a sore loser. reporter: a native of weymouth, massachusetts and red sox diehard, mark graduated from the university of notre dame in 1959 and for the next two years, served in the marine corps. he cut his teeth in democratic politics on capitol hill and the campaign trail workingor his political hero robert kennedy in 1968, edmund muskie in 1972, and mo udall four years later. he channeled all of those lessons into a column. >> as seen by the gergen/shields 1988 politics observation team. >> and as a guest on the macneil / lehrer newshour, starting weekly during the 1988 presidential election. there from the beginning, his wife of 55 years, anne shields. >> whenever there was big political news, they would call mark. it just kind of migrated

eventually to a friday night regular venue. >> it's the absolute authenticity of the guy. >> m shield -- reporter: to our co-founder, robin macneil, mark embodied the goal of the program. >> jim lehrer and i set out to say, hey, talking heads are some of the most valuable ways human beings communicate and why not make the most of it and get the best talking heads we can? and so mark fitted perfectly into that. >> david is wrong in this one instance and it is the first time tonight. reporter: he challenged his conservative counterpart >> my favorite moments in television have been friday nights with mark shields. reporter: david gergen was his first sparring partner, sharing the desk with mark for six years. what is it about him that you think makes him different? >> he knows a heck of a lot more about politics than i do. but he had a humility about him as well as that irish wit that

just made him a great partner. judy, something else on television, as you know, it can be a highly competitive field. and often you may be paired with somebody who you can't trust. you never know when you're going to get a knife in the back. i always knew with mark, i could totally trust him. reporter: there were heated moments. >> mark and i went at it last week because we passionately disagree. reporter: like during the war in iraq. >> what are we going to do afterwards? who is going to be with us? are we going to be the first western christian pro-israeli military occupation force of an arab nation in that region? >> there's about 12 questions there, david. >> i'd say they're all irrelevant. >> still, he always kept it fun. judy: mark, they spent three hours talking. so what do we assume has taken place here? mark: well we assume, first of all judy, that this week will be a. judy: so we can all go home. mark: well. judy: you're not supposed to say that, mark.

and stayed civil, whether with us at the newshour or at cnn's capital gang, where he debated the late robert novak, alongside a good friend, my husband, al hunt. >> he is interested in a lot of things but those things he's really interested in, politics and family and faith and sports, he gets deeply engaged. he's not a passive observer. we don't need passive observers for things that matter. sports matters. reporter: that love of sports even inspired a shields and brooks spinoff. >> it was the newsroom, very casual, no scripts, no notes. they sat down and riffed. >> this is where we talk about the sports of politics and politics of sport. >> he could drop the velvet hammer on just about anything, not just politics. >> that's typical of you. you like everything except america. i like american sports. basketball.

reporter: through the decades, he guided us through elections and presidencies, always with an enduring optimism about public service. >> i don't know, in a nation as big and brawling, this great continent which we occupy, and diverse as ours, how we would resolve our differences, except through the commitment, the passion, the intelligence,he courage, of those who are willing to practice the political process and achieve compromise. reporter: and he was beloved in the newsroom for his genuine and cheerful spirit, big heart and one-liners. >> he caved like a $2 suitcase. reporter: mark will be missed by our entire newshour family, by his wife, anne, daughter amy doyle, son in law christo, grandchildren jack and francis, and also i know by all of you. mark shields was 85 years old. here with more remembrances of mark are two people who knew him

well. his daughter amy doyle and david brooks of the new york times, mark's sparring partner for nearly 20 years. it means so much to have both of you with us tonight to think about, to talk about mark shields. amy, i knew him, i was lucky to know your family for 40 years. your whole life. your dad, we knew the mark shields. the mark shields that the public does not know. >> that is the most interesting thing, who he wasn television and who he was walking around the office, 's the same person. a very warm, loving, hilarious, charming person. he would make -- he always made us laugh. he loved games, as al mentioned, he leapt sports.

but he made up games. my kids joked he would make up games just to drive him -- drive them home from his house. sometimes he would turn the games toward himself or he would win, then lose. judy: it was clear he was somebody who loved politics. he loved politicians. where do you think that came from? >> his parents. they really believed in politics as a way to solve problems. they believed in public service. my grandfather, i never met h, but he was on the school board. he worked at a paper company. i think he grew up knowing that was very important and it became a love of his very early. judy: he did not get discouraged. the last few years it was different, but all the years watching the ups and downs of american politics, he maintained that optimism.

>> that is what was so amazing and i still think it is amazing because people my age are a lot more disillusioned now unfortunately. it has bn a rough six years of politics. there's been serious ups and downs and people are so partisan and separate and i think that is what people loved about my dad and david's interactions and everything you have done on the show forever. there was real conversation and bate, but it was not ugly and it was not partisan and it was not like i cannot like you because you are a republican. judy: david brooks, you are joining us from ireland. tell us what you are thinking right now. >> there was a lot of ireland in mark. wmth,he cpletlackfth pretension, always rooting for the underdog. i am really struck by the outpouring of warmth that people have especially since he died. the reaction has been overwhelming to me and i'm sure a lot of people. people just responded well

because they loved and they got the sense of his own personal warmth and generosity. i think the thing that strikes me is how much he formed all of those of us who worked around him. i remember one time we had not seen footage of katrina. we happened to be on the air live and we saw footage for the first time. mark reacted with just astonishment that this was america. through that lesson and threw 20 years of lessons, he taught me not to just think with my head, not to be a pundit through my head or some party position, but to let your heart be there a to react with your heart, with the moral emotions you feel. and that was how he improved us all, how he lifted assault. -- lifted us all. judy: when he retired from the newshour you said he represented the best of american liberalism. what did you mean by that? >> he grew up at a time when

liberalism was expanding opportunities successfully. the fair housing act, the civil rights act. he thought bobby kennedy would have been the best president of his lifetime. it was a moment of confidence in what government could do ed markey never lost that. -- and mark never lost that. mark was part of a generation we are not going to see the likes of again. but when i spoke to him about the times, he rejected that. he was optimistic for america. there is a lot of talent, a lot of moral passion that people want to do good for the country. he really admired politicians who were willing to lose, willing to be humiliated. he left udall. -- he loved udall. so many of these politicians who are ambitious. judy: what was it like to debate him or sit next tofere views on

friday nights? >> we started with very different views. in a 2002 clip debating the iraq war, what a punk i was. he improved me, as i said. it was fun. he was prepared evy time. he had those blue pages. he was taking notes. here is us at our most sober. he came to play everything will time. he had the depth of background knowledge of american history, of political history. he brought it to bear. it was not a debate, it was a discussion. we were trying to figure out the world. as donald trump came along we scarcely disagreed at all to be honest. judy where would he dig into that well and find any optimism?

what do you think you would be saying to us about trying to see the light out of this dark period? >> god gave him a golden heart. he never got cross with me. he used to -- i don't member -- remember, he came to my kids bar mitzvah, he sat down on the floor eating crosslegged on the floor. he believed in america, believed in unpretentious america. he believed in regular americans, in all of us. that faith has never gone away and will never go away. the mark we know is living somewhere. judy: how does that sound when you hear that? >> the word unpretentious came up. my dad actually left on's crippled papers some things he would like for his funeral and

he mentioned at the end he wanted to invite everyone back to make sure we had unpretentious nibbles. judy: including i'm told pigs in a blanket. >> exactly. it is very true. >> what do you hope -- what do you want his legacy to be for his grandchildren jack and francis and further generation? >> do not give up on politics, on politicians. believe that government can help people and can help people that are a lot less fortunate than we are. that is the most important thing to my dad. many people have said that throughout the program. judy: it is tempting just to be so sad right now. can you give us a little bit of light as we close out these days thinking about mark? >> i have sadness, but what a great life. we would all be fortunate.

he was active in politics in a golden age of politics, he was a commentator during the reagan, clinton, through trump, consuential times in america. an amazing wife, a marvelous family. left a wide legacy, was beloved. what a great and tremendous life mark shields lived. judy: and countless friends who will miss him so much. david brooks joining us tonight from ireland. mark shields' home country. and amy shields doyle, the daughter of mark. thank you so much. we all have so many wonderful memories of mar there was nobody like him. all of us here and i mean everyone here loved him. we will miss him deeply. rest in peace, dear mark. that is the newshour for tonight. join us online.

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitche" lan makes bridget dan dan mian, adam reviews mortars and pestles, and dan makes julia lion's head meatballs. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." ♪♪