good day. i'm craig melvin. we're covering the big news from coast to coast. the top story today, pushing the plan. president obama will formally send the american jobs act to congress tonight. this morning, once again, he stressed the importance of passing the bill. >> this is a bill that will put people back to work all across the country. this is the bill that will help

our economy in a moment of national crisis. this is a bill that is based on ideas from both democrats and republicans and this is the bill that congress needs to pass. no games, no politics, no delays. >> in an exclusive interview with nbc's brian williams the president put a different spin on what passage means. >> this buys assurance against double-dip recession and almost certainly helps the economy grow and will put more people back to work. >> reporter: president obama pitching his jobs plan this week, taking his message on the road to ohio and north carolina. last week's speech is already part of a new dnc ad >> some living week-to-week, paycheck to paycheck. >> reporter: it will cost $245 billion in tax cuts, another $140 billion on rebuilding and

modernizing the country and $62 billion to get americans back to work, including extending unemployment benefits. republican rhetoric concerning the bill is moving toward conciliatory with a hint of caution. >> we should be able to work together as responsible people, good people can disagree, but set aside that, don't let that get in the way of finding common ground, so my response to the president is, is he going to work with us. >> reporter: congress don chris von hallen and clyburn think the committee will help. >> the fastest way to reduce deficit over the long-term is get people back to work. >> get people back to work, confidence goes up and people begin to participate and they'll see some fairness in the system. >> reporter: right now what 9% of americans see is the absence of a paycheck. >> i've been out of work for two years since i've had a full time job. >> a lot of folks are hurting

out there and my job as president of the united states is not to worry about my job. my task is to worry about their job and their economic situation. >> reporter: let's get straight to the white house. kristen welker is there with the latest. >> reporter: hey there, craig. you saw the president there today flanked by a bunch of people around him. those were teachers, constr constructi construction workers, firefighters, benefits, all who the white house says will benefit. the white house is making a strong push to congress to pass it, and they're urging the americans to write their congress and urge them to pass the plan so he's really trying to put the pressure on here. he makes the case by saying look a lot of these ideas have had bipartisan support in the past so there's no reason why they shouldn't be supported by congress right now. as you mentioned, the president has been hitting the road already, trying to push this plan. he was in virginia, he'll be in ohio tomorrow and then north

carolina. want to point out that these are all battleground states so he's really putting the pressure on, in states that have a lot of republican strongholds there. so it will be interesting to see how republicans respond. right now they are sounding more conciliatory, open to considering some of the ideas. house speaker john boehner just released a statement saying he is going to send this act to the cbo to get it scored. >> kristen welker from the white house, thank you. as gop candidates gear up for tonight's debate in florida a new poll shows americans pointing the finger at republicans for the sad state of the economic fans. the hill posed the question who do you blame for the current condition of the economy, 40% blame the president but 48% blame republicans in congress. let's bring in our strategist,

karen finney, spokesperson for the democratic national committee, dug hye, former communications director for the republican national committee. good afternoon to you both. >> hey craig. >> good afternoon. >> there has been this perception the president was going to be on the hook for the most part by himself for our economic woes. is this new poll a sign of what's to come? are republicans in the eyes of voters in jeopardy of co-owning this economic mess, karen? >> absolutely this is consistent with what we have seen over the last several months in the market reactions and polling from the american people, which has said they don't like this fighting and partisan bickering. they want to see something get done. they've also seen republicans time and time again who have been unwilling to work with this president. tim pawlenty is endorsing the president this morning, when i woke up, cantor is agreeing, i

thought i was in a parallel time. >> bizarro world. >> how exciting would that be, getting something done. >> is this why we've heard the tone change, do you think the republicans, mr. hye, they've seen polls like this as well? >> well certainly they've seen polls like this. we need to get the country moving in the right direction so i'm happy with the language and tenor speaker boehner and eric cantor had. look at the tone the president had last week to congress. for him this is about politics. >> was the tone angry? >> the tone absolutely was angry. the number of times he said "pass this bill" a bill valerie jarrett admitted hasn't been proposed yet. that's why it's important that speaker boehner and eric cantor have taken the tone they have and it's a good step forward.

>> karen? >> doug, let's remember way back when, before the president, when he was actually in the car on the way to go meet with the republican caucus on the house side to talk with them about health care legislation, boehner in the caucus meeting said we're against it, don't anybody be for it, before the guy got to him to talk about it. how you can say he's angry saying "pass this bill" i think the president was being very firm and sort of making the point that the time for the games is over. one of the things so powerful in what the president is doing, it's not just about politics but also about let's put these guys on notice. eric cantor if you're going to obstruct, then i'm going to go to your district and let your constituents know what i'm for and let you explain why you're not for that. >> doug, i call your attention to another poll ahead of tonight's tea party debate in florida. in this poll, rick perry, the

front-runner now, 12 percentage point lead over mitt romney, clearly outside the margin of error. at what point should the romney folks go to defcon 2 or 1? >> there are so many different warnings, what color it may be, we don't know. it's something we take seriously. tonight's debate is interesting. mitt romney will engage more and one thing you'll hear is him say two or three times, hopefully not 16 times like president obama said "pass the bill" "and this is why tim pawlenty supports me." it's a good step forward for the romney campaign. >> will the pawlenty endorsement matter at all? he talked about it ad nauseum in south carolina. a lot of folks in that meadow state probably don't know who tim pawlenty is. >> it's good to pick up endorsements, doug knows that

but i don't know that this is the big endorsement that will make the big difference for romney. clearly perry is coming on strong and it will be interested to watch and romney is going to directly engage him on some ideas will be the question. >> last question, social security it appears as if this is going to emerge as the wedge issue for gop candidates, it's an op. ed rick perry wrote about the need for reform. he didn't call it as a ponzi scheme or as a lie. is this smart politically, doug, for rick perry to pursue? >> well, he needs to draw a contrast with mitt romney and that's how you move forward to win primaries, to win caucuses and so as he creates that distinction, this is a great way for him to do so. will it work? we certainly don't know. we know social security is unsustainable and we can't continue to sustain the unsustainable. we have to find a way to keep the commitments we've made to

seniors while allowing younger voters to move forward. >> karen, a smart distinction politically? >> not necessarily. the important thing is you've got to make it clear, i agree with doug, this is about contrast but at the same time social security is a government program that many, many, many people in this country rely on. you've also got to show that you value the program and the ideals and what we're trying to do, even though you believe it needs to make change and i think romney has done a better job of striking that balance thus far than perry has. >> we love social media during the 12:00 at msnbc. i put this question out there earlier, one young lady said "social security needs retooling but not hisis extreme measures" talking about the perry opp ed. if he delivers the message right, some will believe. tweet me @craigmelvin. next time you're on, karen and doug we'll let you mention those as well. thanks for your time on this monday. >> thank you. could be another wild ride

on wall street today. here is a look at what is happening right now. let's look at the boards, all arrows pointing down, the dow about 99.5 points. let's bring in cnbc's melissa francis. is this another week of wild rides on the market? >> it certainly feels like it. all roads lead back to rome right now. the situation in greece, whether or not they're going to default is really at the top of minds. there's a huge hole in their budget, basically growth in greece has been even slower than anyone anticipated. this left a big hole and they decided to collect taxes through the electric bill because they're so afraid of people not paying their taxes. if you don't pay the new property tax bill your lights go out. this is how they're solving the problem in greece. french banks are selling off as well because of their exposure to greece and we saw the euro tanking earlier in the day. european markets tanking but they came back a little bit at the close which is why you have to keep an eye on things which

is why you come on the air at 11:30, the european markets close, the rest of the day here, a little bit at the close, it looked like things were settling out, our markets have come back a little bit. like you said the dow is down 100 points on the day and looks like it's going to be another volatile ride this week and until they get the situation in europe straightened out, who knows when that will be. back to you craig. >> melissa, thank you. increased sensitivity on the 9/11 anniversary led to a number of incidents on airplanes. officials have now cleared everyone suspected of wrongdoing in two separate incidents. fighter jets scrambled to escort both planes, one headed for new york when three passengers made people very suspicious by making repeated trips to the bathroom. some people said the trio was communicating using hand signals, that turned out not to be true. the fbi says three other people detained on a flight to detroit yesterday did nothing wrong. they were also questioned for taking repeated trips to the

bathroom together. the taliban is claiming responsibility for massive explosion that injured 77 u.s. troops and killed five afghans. nbc's atia abawi is live this afternoon. >> reporter: this incursion head in the late afternoon southwest of kabul. we know a truck laden with explosives pulled up to the gate of this combat outpost in that district, detonated possibly nine tons of explosives, injuring these 77 americans, but what we understand from u.s. officials here, none of those injuries are life-threatening injuries, and many of these soldiers will head back to their posts very soon but we also learned that there were afghans who were killed including a security guard and an afghan interpreter. craig? >> atia, thank you for that report. one day after it was filled with 9/11 families, new york city's memorial plaza is now

open to the public. security was tight this morning and it will remain that way. visitors will have to preregister, they'll have to go through metal detectors as well. more than 7,000 will visit the eight-acre plaza today alone to see the waterfalls and all those names etched in bronze. the 9/11 museum is scheduled to open on next year's anniversary of the attacks. the district that anthony weiner used to represent in congress has not been represented by a republican in nearly 90 years. that could be about to change. we'll talk about that plus serena williams, her latest outburst at the u.s. open, what it could cost her. my doctor told me calcium

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no end in sight to the devastation from those texas wildfires, with the number of homes destroyed, now climbing to 1,534, and that number, that number is also expected to go up as firefighters get more access to the scorched areas southeast of austin. at least two people have been killed in the blazes and 17 are skill unaccounted for. the martin luther king jr. memorial will officially be dedicated on october 16th. the original ceremony on the national mall had to be canceled because the hurricane irene. grelsed democrats unhappy with the president could give the gop if they stay home in a special election if they stay home for the replacement of anthony weiner. >> democrats will win at the end of the day but you're right, this is a special election, turnout is key, which means you need energy, and right now, when you look at the race, it's going

to be a challenge to get some of the democrats out. >> the latest siena poll put report robert turner ahead of david weprin. charles, is this purely a referendum on president obama or more at work here? >> clearly the president is a problem in the district, but there's not just one poll, there's two polls out that show turner up by six points and if you look inside the numbers for both polls they show the president is a problem. disapproval ratings are very high in the district but keep in mind that when you have a solid district like this, falling away from the party that usually holds it, it's often a perfect storm of factors. here i think that's the case. you have a candidate perceived as a little bit weak, maybe not up to standards. you've got some particulars in the district unique to that district, for example of all the new york city districts that have a special election, this is

maybe one of the more socially conservative ones, much more middle class, so you have these other factors i think are complicating this. >> where is the district, for folks who are not familiar? >> it's in a queens and brooklyn-based district, a different demographic than the manhattan people are thinking about. middle class, a very ethnic environment there. the other factor there, too, this is a district that was profoundly affected by 9/11, that's something that the republicans have certainly played on during this campaign, not only has the obama administration's israel policy been a big issue but so has 9/11 and 9/11 national security policy, we saw a flier come out yesterday, a very inflammatory flier released by the republican party there, and this is the district that was affected in a great way, many firefighters and police officers from that district that lost their lives that day. you could see it in the presidential election numbers that dramatically changed from george bush's election from 20 0

200202002 to 2004 in this district. >> president obama won this in 2004. >> the president is underwater and this district should be troublesome. this isn't the only signal district where you've got this problem. there's another special election in nevada occurring at the same time that is a republican-friendly district that republicans have the edge in but again, it's a district where the president's numbers are really bad, even worse than in new york so i think all of a sudden you'll have a lot of nervous democrats, i think you're seeing signs of panic already in new york city. >> ten seconds, if you were a betting man, what do you think happens here tomorrow in the special election? >> i think nevada looks good for the republicans right now. in new york when you see the numbers they're not good for the democrats. turner is ahead. if i had to place money on it,

the thing to keep in mind in that district republicans have a thin presence, they don't have the infrastructure you need to get out your voters in this situation so a six-point lead even on the eve of a election isn't a six-point lead it's much closer. >> charles, thank you. new surveillance video of robyn gardner, what could it mean for the investigation? these could be her final moments. plus the first interview with casey anthony's parents since her shocking acquittal, no restrictions, anything and everything was on the table. we'll talk about that as well. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker...

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and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctors approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion,stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke. for more information or help paying for pradaxa, visit pradaxa.com. casey anthony's parents are speaking publicly for the first time since their daughter, casey, was acquitted of murder. they sat down for an interview on "the dr. phil show" and got asked some pretty tough

questions about their granddaughter kay lee's death. >> reporter: florida correction officials say casey anthony is in the state but at an undisclosed state. she's here because she has a probation for passing bad checks. she has not been to this location where her daughter's remains were found, as far as anybody knows but her parents were here five weeks ago and they said they've had no contact with their daughter since she's walked out of jail to freedom. dr. phil's team says the exclusive interview was set up with no restrictions. >> she continued to lie. >> she continued to lie. >> reporter: he was free to ask any question he wanted, including why did cindy post a message on the internet that caylee was missed 12 days before she dialed 911 and first alerted authorities about her granddaughter's disappearance. >> it was on july 3rd that you wrote something on myspace. you said "my caylee is missing.

she came into my life unexpected just as she has left me. jealousy has taken her away, jealousy from the one person that should be thankful for all of the love and support given to her. >> caylee was missing in my heart that day. she wasn't missing physically in the sense, because i thought i knew where she was at. >> did you know something then that you hadn't even admitted to your consciousness? because what jumps out to me about this is the title of this is "my caylee is missing." you said, "this mother gave chance after chance for her daughter to change, but instead more lies, more betrayal." >> i wanted casey to know how much she was hurting me, and i thought she was purposely keeping caylee away from me. >> reporter: in his opening statement at trial, defense attorney jose baez said caylee was not murdered which would explain when caylee went missing

no one called 911 for a month. >> how in the world can a mother wait 30 days before ever reporting her child missing? it's insane. it's bizarre. something's just not right about that. well the answer is actually relatively simple. she never was missing. caylee anthony died on june 16th, 2008, when she drowned in her family's swimming pool. >> reporter: prosecutors said, among their key evidence was what they said was the stench of death coming from casey's car, a smell even george and cindy anthony choked on before dialing 911. >> it smells like there's been a dead body in the damned car. >> what do you believe the smell was from? >> truthfully i don't know. >> she wants to believe caylee was back there, i don't want to believe that.

investigators want me to believe that but i don't. all i know caylees anot with us anymore. >> do you believe that she was in that trunk? >> reporter: dr. phil says he did not pay casey's parents for that interview but he did make a donation to caylee's fund, which is their non-profit. now, dr. phil says it's his understanding that they will not derive any income from his donation, but records supplied to the state indicate that employees of the fund can draw reasonable salaries. kerry sanders, nbc news, orlando. a pharmacist foils a late night robbery at his store, so why is the guy out of a job now? plus a whole new side of former first lady jackie kennedy that has never been seen or heard before. [ groans ] you okay? i'm not looking forward to my flight. try this. bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back.

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welcome back to msnbc. another message from moammar gadhafi but not anything new, vowing to continue to fight and accuses rebels of being traitors. we do not know where he is. we do know one of his sons fled to niger. andy whitfield, actor of "spartacus" died. he suffered from nonhodgkins lymphoma. the u.s. tennis association will decide weather to fine williams for her outburst, losing her cool and yelling at the umpire. we are seeing the first video of missing maryland woman robyn gardner who disappeared five weeks now. now we have the video that investigators are looking at for

clues. nbc's jeff rossen shows us the tape. >> reporter: we've seen the still images of robyn gardner in aruba, moments frozen in time. now for the very first time we see robyn on videotape in vacation mode looking care free, just minutes before her mysterious disappearance, and there's the man by her side, her travel companion, gary giordano who would soon become the prime suspect. >> for law enforcement this is the holy grail. you want to see the missing person, the victim and the last person that she was known to be with. >> reporter: 3:07 p.m., robyn and gary arrive for lunch at a restaurant by the beach. gary is walking a few steps ahead, they look normal like any other couple and don't appear to be fighting. another camera picks them up, each holding a plastic blue cup as they're about to be seated. they walk out of frame. just one minute later, robyn gets up and walks to the

bathroom alone. she gets all the way to the door, wearing high heels, carrying a large purse. then suddenly stops, turns around and walks back toward the bar. seconds later she walks back to the bathroom and goes in for two minutes. when she comes out, our first look at robyn's full face, no sunglasses, as she walks back to her table, off camera. 3:57 p.m., gary giordano walks out of the restaurant, holding the plastic blue cup. witnesses say he went to his rental car and refilled their drinks with his own stash of vodka and orange juice. 4:00 p.m., gary walks back inside, holding the cup. >> with the alcohol he was just trying not to pay for drinks or was it something far more sinister that could have had something to do with her disappearance? >> reporter: 4:07 p.m., robby makes another trip to the bathroom. one witness said she appeared

sober but groggy. when she comes out robyn heads back to the table. 4:13 p.m., one hour after they arrived, robyn and gary leave the restaurant. gary is walking several steps ahead. they're talking normally. gary even stops and waits for robyn to catch up. he's still holding the plastic blue cup. >> there's not a happy ending to the end of this tape. >> reporter: what happened in the next two hours remains an unsolved mystery. giordano says after lunch he and robyn went snorkeling near the restaurant. giordano claims robyn disappeared underwater and he did nothing wrong and reported her missing around 6:00 p.m. the surveillance tape licensed by nbc news captures gary's behavior after robyn vanished. at 6:16 p.m. he reappears alone and walks up the steps, shirtless, wearing what appears to be a bathing suit and sneakers. he bangs on the restaurant door, then bangs on another door

looking for help. after working with police for days, investigators would arrest giordano at the airport, trying to leave aruba, locked up ever since. >> i'm hopeful that justice will be served. i can't lose hope. i can't lose faith. >> a judge in aruba ruled that gary giordano can remain in jail for another 60 days and again, still no sign of robyn gardner. a pharmacist confronted by armed robbers on the job is now suing walgreens. he was fired for fighting back. surveillance tape shows the moments when two masked men, gunmen burst into the store, one guy leaps over the counter, pointed the counter at jeremy hoven working the night shift. the point is he had a weapon, too. john, how did it play out? >> reporter: well, craig, this is where it happened at this walgreens here in benton harbor.

two men burst in, 4:30 in the morning. one of the men held another employee at gunpoint with the gun in his back. the one who leat over the counter not only pointed the gun, he pulled the trigger three times but for some reason the gun didn't go off. hoven told what happened next. >> i feared for my life, and in self-defense, i fired my weapon as i continued to move from him. >> he was exercising his reasonable right of self-defense in the face of a gunman who attempted to pull the trigger three times and shoot him, presumably shoot him dead. >> reporter: now hoven bought that gun after the store was robbed in 2007. he had a concealed weapons permit, but he acknowledges he didn't tell store owners or store managers that he had the gun with him at work. five days after this incident, hoven was fired. he says he was told that he

violated company policy. walgreens issued a statement that said "store employees receive comprehensive training on how to react and respond to a potential robbery situation. law enforcement strongly advises against confrontation of crime suspects." hoven is now suing walgreens in federal court charging wrongful termination. police say there are no arrests in this incident, the gunmen are still at large and hoven's attorney says he's coping with the emotional toll of not only the attempted robbery but of losing his job. >> john yang, thanks. you might not see the connection between the pledge of allegiance but in school bullying but in brookline, massachusetts, there are critics who say the pledge should be banned because it divides people. it goes against tolerance, as you might imagine, supporters of the pledge are up in arms there in brookline. marty rosenthal is the co-chair

of brookline pacts, and jeff jacoby, good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: marty, of all the causes to adopt, including those related to the first amendment, why this one? >> well, this was thrust upon us by the school committee last year which decided to make the pledge more uniform in brookline schools so we didn't pick the timing. we're being blamed for doing this during the 9/11 anniversary. i went to the anniversary yesterday in our town and i stood and did the pledge so the timing was not our choice. we worked with the school committee last winter and spring trying to get to do it in a less coercive setting. we told them we'd put it on the warrant for the fall town meeting and did so. it's being called a ban. we are not asking for a ban. we just want to take it out of the classroom which we find -- >> how is that different from a

ban? >> because we're trying to ban it in the classroom, that's true, but we're asking it be done in less coercive settings like group assemblies like last spring, we proposed an opt-in procedure, kids who want to do a pledge go to an auditorium before school, recess, after school and do it as an opt in. >> jeff, the argument, one of the arguments that i've heard from marty's side is that bullying can happen when kids opt out of the pledge, if a kid, one kid is saying the pledge, another kid not, all of the sudden the kids pick at you. do you buy that argument at all? >> seems to try to compare the pledge of allegiance and link it to bullying is linking apples and tin cans. one of the biggest reasons that our support of public schools in the first place is kids from different backgrounds and different ideas, diverse family philosophies learn how to live together in common as citizens of a community and one of the

most important things you can teach a child is that part of being a good citizen, part of being a respectful member of a community is that you show respect for other people's traditions, even if you yourself choose not to participate in them. nobody in brookline, no student, no adult, nobody is required to say the pledge of allegiance. nobody in the state of massachusetts is required to say the pledge of allegiance but to say as marty rosenthal does there's something totalitarian, something that makes their "skin crawl" that's the term they use, allowing a voluntary saying of the pledge once a week in brookline's public schools, that's something that an awful lot of us in the town of brookline, and i've lived there more than 25 years have an awfully tough time hearing. >> did you say that? makes their "skin crawl"? >> what's going on makes my skin crawl for two reasons. it cannot be voluntary for 6 and 7 years old. the anti-defamation league has

made that point. you've got the younger kids doing it by rote which i don't think it good for patriotism and the older kids half of them sitting down which i don't think is good for patriotism. that makes my skin crawl the pressure put on kids. >> i want to talk about the pressure. the school district put out a statement, i want to read a snippet of what the school district said. "we have had no reported incidents of any kind related to this policy. our principal its have not brought any problems to the superintendent related to the pledge. we have not heard from any parents about this issue." if that is the case, if the school district is saying you no he what? we haven't had any problems so far, then why is this such a big deal to you? >> just because nobody's reported it to the school officials, who are being rigid on the policy doesn't mean nobody's bothered by it. i've spoken personally with dozens of people in the community.

we have a lot of foreign nationals in our community that are uncomfortable, they're not going to call the school committee, they're going to call me and ask me and the people -- seven former school committee people who have signed this petition, they're calling's and asking us to do something. they've come to meetings and spoken out. the school committee knows that there are parents, including myself, i have a daughter just graduated eighth grade, gone to brookline high, if i went, by the way, they know there are parents upset. >> marty thank you, jeff jacoby thank you as well. appreciate your time, gentlemen. >> thank you. >> thank you. who lives in a pineapple under the sea? who apparently is to blame for turning our kids' brain to mush? spongebob square pants, of course. a new study found 4 years old' attention spans were negatively affected by watching just a snippet of the cartoon. nickelodeon says it's not spongebob's fault. the show is produced for 6 to 11 years old, not 4.

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and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. i'm andrea mitchell, coming up next, the president's new sales pitch for his jobs bill. why he's calling it an insurance policy against a double dip recession. nbc's brian williams with his exclusive interview and alan simpson joins us. plus texas size perks. rick perry's lavish lifestyle bought and paid for by his supporters and it's all legal. and mob violence boils over in egypt against israel's embassy over the weekend, pushing israeli-egyptian relations over the limit. we'll see you in 15 minutes here on "andrea mitchell rorz." jackie kennedy was constantly in the public eye while in the white house and after she left as well but she was able to remain a private

person. now recently new book and videotapes, the tapes include 8 1/2 hours of uncensored recollections, recorded just months after her husband was assassinated and the first lady shares what the president thought about his vice president, lyndon b. johnson. >> bobby told me this later, and i know jack said it to me sometimes, he said, oh, god can you ever imagine what would happen to the country if lyndon was president? >> alan lichton, refers to charles degaulle as an ego maniac, refers not so kindly to

mlk jr. not so nicely. how does that compare to the jacqueline yen kennedy onassis we knew? >> she said all they ever talked about was politics and she was much more immersed than anyone suspected and she didn't like most of the people she knew in politics. it's sad to hear her denigrate such a great figure like martin luther king. after all, jackie o. was one of the most revered figures, beloved in 1964 and she could have done great things for the world. she could have been a princess diana before there was a princess diana. instead she told to enrich herself in a life of luxury. i found it sad to see king

denigrated here. >> when these recordings were made, those say she was very young, she was still grieving a great deal as well, that this is a very different person than the jackie o. we came to know in the '70s and '80s and up to her death in 1994. do you think that what we hear on the tapes might be the product of just some of that, that she was young and that she was still very, very sad about losing her husband? >> well she's sternly still grieving, wasn't that young, in her mid-30s. of course part of that is a product of it. there's also one interesting thing no one has talked about that's come out here. she suggests that john f. kennedy thought that the situation in vietnam was hopeless, and i've uncovered some new information suggesting that once jfk cleared the 1964 election, he was ready to begin withdrawal from vietnam which of course would have changed the whole course of u.s. and asian

history. >> allan lictman, thank you. >> my pleasure. does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. for the efficient absorption my body needs. somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again.

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the airlines are showing some signs of improvement when it comes to their on time performance. phil lebeau is here with a best and worst. >> this is the report card for the month of july. what it shows, things improved from june to july, and the top five airlines are the ones that we usually see at the top in terms of on time performance, hawaiian, alaska, southwest, airtran. the bottom five is similar to what we tend to see month in, month out, jetblue, united, frontier, express jet and asa. bottom line is this, you're starting to see a gradual improvement in terms of on time performance. overall the last 17 years, so far the first seven months of this year have been right about in the middle compared to where we were 17 years ago, so an improvement but we still have a

ways to go. >> phil lebeau, thank you. >> you bet. >> i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. up next "andrea mitchell reports." >> thanks, craig. i'm here indeed. up next, president obama sends congress his jobs bill with a warning. don't play games with it. how are republicans responding? we'll talk to nbc's brian williams about his exclusive interview with the president and former senator alan simpson. a new look inside the kennedy white house through the eyes of jacqueline kennedy herself in her own words. to challenge ourselves on the most demanding track in the world. with us, in spirit, was every great car that we'd ever competed with. the bmw m5. and the mercedes-benz e63. for it was their amazing abilities that pushed us to refine, improve and, ultimately, develop the world's fastest production sedan. the cts-v, from cadillac. we don't just make luxury cars.

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