a gracious host, no matter who shows up. do you like nuts? do you like nuts? >> this is dr. mehmet oz, america's most popular tv doctor. >> five years now you've been sending in questions you were too embarrassed to ask anyone else. >> now dr. oz is about to reveal his favorite communicators. taboo busters. >> if you have sex, use condoms. >> history makers. >> aspirational message. we're all better than this. >> boundary breakers. >> decision is the ultimate power. >> what are we going to do? >> we're going to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. >> ah! >> each pick will reveal a

little more about the man oprah winfrey named america's doctor. >> i love communicators because i treasure what they're able to do, which is to take off the complex ideas that aren't appealing on first glance and make you realize this is really important stuff to understand. i remember the most effective way we communicate is through story. we all process through story. i thought to myself, the great communicators tell stories. perhaps the greatest of all, steven spielberg made my list. >> steven spielberg from cincinnati, ohio, screenwriter, producer, editor and director, remowned for a midas touch when it comes to creating family friendly blockbuster entertainment. >> i like people to certainly have a reaction to a movie, whether it's a small cry or whether it's, you know, sweating

through your cashmere or sweating through your corduroys. >> spielberg's movies have taken billions in box office respe recements. since the early '70s, he's directed hit movie after hit movie. >> i like taking people into a dark theater with a thousand strangers and giving them an experience they'll never forget. >>' he is gifted at making the stage seem so magnificent and large that everybody has to pay ateps. they become the fables that define our era. >> he can do it all and he makes you feel emotions. when you walk out of a scene of a spielberg film, you feel deep into your soul. >> from adventure and sci-fi to second world war epics and cold war thrillers, spielberg's directed much-loved films across almost every genre.

>> close encounters of third kind, my favorite. it forced us how we fear the unknown but it holds to much promise for us, and if you're brave enough to get past your fear, there's so much out there, a huge vista of opportunities. these are the kind of stories that matter. >> in 1993, 16 years after "close encounters," spielberg had a big year. he broke box office records with jurassi"jurassic park" and relee critically acclaimed "schindler's list." >> how many people learned about the holocaust from "schindler's list," which might seem silly and trite and maybe they should be learning about it in other ways, but just the impact that that film has had on public consciousness is unbelievable. >> his 16th hollywood feature, "schindler's list," was the first to win spielberg a best director oscar, a long way to

his academy recognition and adding to his '70s and '80s commercial success. >> i think to take ideas and spread them as widely as they should be spread, you have to be populist. but the communicators on my list were often on the outside. they were people who were not initially as respected as they have become. >> many think spielberg's early phillips deserved more oscar recognition. today his reputation as a brilliant moviemaker is undisputed. >> hi command of visual language and his command of narrative is extraordinary. it e it's the reason he's been so influential in pop culture. >> spielberg is idolized because he can take us to a magical realm so distant from the real world and still connect to us. but also it reminded me that there's a communicator i treasure who's a document taryn. that's why ken burns is next on

my list. >> ken burns' films are very different to steven spielberg's. but what both filmmakers have in common is an ability to tell stories that grip their audience. >> ken burns was able to tell america about itself in a way that hadn't been done before, whether it was baseball or the second world war or the roosevelts. he was able to take us back in time in a very unique way. >> i bite off really big projects, big topics like the civil war, like jazz, like the second world war, like the national parks. but the constituent building blocks of all of those films are biography. a & moment. >> "the civil war" was shown over five consecutive knights in 1990. it won 40 major television and film awards and became the most watched documentary in pbs history. >> far long time the reason why

history is so boring in school is because it's all top down, all about big leaders and dates and kings and presidents and things like that, when, in fact, the real history that has sort of meaning for us is billion bottom-up history. it's interested in so-called ordinary people. and the first thing you understand when you get into that granular level is there are no ordinary people. >> frederick douglass, the son of a slave and a white man. >> i appear this evening as a thief and robber. i stole this hair and these limbs, this body from my master. >> that's what makes them special. he's not just telling you what happened. he realizes that history is defined by the people and by allowing them to speak to us, by feeling like they're actually talking the moment to us, you begin to really understand what happened and how we came to be who we are. >> nobody's ordinary. we can see relative ordinaririness, i suppose, between abraham lincoln and some

private in his army. but abraham lincoln didn't necessarily have to rush that work of confederate soldiers firing cannon and musket fire at him. i'm interested in his story as well as lincoln's. communication is actually creating an environment where people belong. it's the campfire around which we sit and feel these are my people. i'm safe. it's dark behind me, but as long as i have this fire and these stories going, these songs we're singing together, it's okay. it's going to be okay. >> next -- the creator of a message from all mankind. and a pioneer in sex education. two communicators that inspired a young dr. oz.

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dr. oz is revealing his list of america's greatest communicators. >> without question i would love to be on this list, maybe one day with a little more hard work and innovation i'll be a better communicator. but the people that i picked have already got it done. >> mehmet oz excelled in sciences in school. harvard, a biology degree and place on its football team were coming up. followed by medical school and a lauded career as a heart surgeon at columbia. it was there in theater dr. oz realized his gifts as a communicator might save even more lives than his surgical skills. >> i realized that oftentimes i was walking down that long hallway towards the operating room and getting a saw in my hand and literally sawing through your chest bone to fix your heart all the while knowing that if i could have just got on the you a couple weeks or months

earlier you wouldn't have needed that service. and that's why i decide to focus more on communicating than anything else. >> the idea that prevention is better than cure isn't new. and mehmet oz isn't the only communicator who's take on the tv to try to educate america about its health. >> of all the doctors i could have justifiably put on my list, i put the smallest one out there on it, dr. ruth. >> after you finish talking with me, write her a letter say you want to be her friend and call me back next week to tell me what happened. okay? >> dr. ruth and her radio show "sexually speaking" hit the late-night new york airwaves in september 1980. in a decade when sexuality was becoming a political issue, america discovered an appetite for discussing its most intimate details with dr. ruth. >> dr. ruth, petite that she is, is a ball of energy like mighty

mouse. and ruth westheimer is on my list because she was able to crack a code of conduct barrier around sex. >> i have a doctorate in the study of the fam ily. itch a masters in sociology. i studied psychology at the sorbonne in paris. so i was able with this accent of mine to talk specifically about those things that nobody has ever talked about before. >> she really opened up this channel of communication about our sex lives and our sexual health that so was not happening in a mainstream form. >> we weren't allowed to talk about something that's so important to every single person. and the fact that we could take something that's so much a part of who we are biologically and ignore it shocked me. >> first of all, i want you to continue to be such a good lovering. >> when people like dr. ruth come to the forefront and nudge us and push us and shovp us forward and talk about something

that we really should be addressing, it's a wonderful healing opportunity. >> first came a relationship. then have sex. if you do have sex, use condoms. i started before aids was known. and then i did get a lot of questions from gay people, and i could warn everybody, the gay community and the heterosexual community, about using condoms, about being careful, about not just hopping into bed with anybody they meet in the street. >> i think if someone like her hadn't been so public about talking about sex, i don't know if, you know, the tumbler generation would have been as comfortable opening up about it, and frankly i don't know if they would have been able to get to the point where education allowed that to happen. you needed a pioneer like dr. ruth to be publicly talking about sex. >> dr. ruth was a taboo breaker, taking a subject that a lot of

people were embarrassed by and making it accessible and fun. dr. oz's next pick is someone who shows that more complex science can have mass appeal if you get the delivery right. >> when i think about all of the communicators out there who told stories, the man who changed me the most was carl sager. >> seguin is probably most famous for his 1980s tv sere "cosmos" which explored everything from man's place in the universe to the origins of life. >> this star just above me is beta beta, 75 light-years from the earth. >> a pulitzer prize winner and author of 20 best-selling popular science book, carl seguin was a pioneer who helped switch america onto the idea

that science was something anyone could enjoy and understand. >> carl seguin was able to open my eyes and i think an entire generation to the wisdom and the beauty of sipes. he made science cool. >> i think that he really opened the floodgates for people realizing that science wasn't this thing that's locked away in laboratories or in academic institutions. it's really for everyone. it's the experience of our species on our planet. and anyone can be involved in it. >> there are stars which are billions of years older than our sun. some of them very likely have planets, and therefore i can imagine civilizations immensely beyond the capabilities of our own. >> the great communicator gets you curious so you keep following along and you want more and more. if you're watching carl seguin, you want to be a scientist. >> carl seguin was seen as such a gifted communicator that in 1977, nasa asked him to compile the golden record, a message from mankind carried on the

voinler probes that could be understood by any intelligent life that came across it. >> the first interstellar spacecraft of mankind. we thought it would be a nice idea to have a kind of cosmic greeting card on it in the remote contingency that it were at some future time to be intercepted by some advanced civilization. >> he was a role model, an opportunity to emulate somebody, so much that i learned in my life and done in my life about communication, took wisdom with what carl seguin was able to accomplish by being very open and curious about what's happening in the universe around us. >> dr. oz's approach to medical science may be less high brow than carl seguin's. >> how are you? >> hi, dr. oz. >> but his ambition is the same -- to inform and educate. >> so please tell us if bowel

movements of that color are a major concern. >> that doesn't stop some from poking fun at the populist approach. >> my next great communicator is a team. trey parker and matt stone from southpark. >> the essence of "southpark" is about throwing people off balance kind of disguing them or making them disgusted with themselves but also bringing up issues that are maybe underexamined in the media. ? they're so on target with parodying the sacred cows of our society. once they have you in their crosshairs they're going to take you down. i remember a scene in "southpark" where they had the cartoon play me with hair all over them. by the way, i wear a sweater. i'm turkish. i have hair everywhere. >> i'm joined by the film's director and the weak little boy. congratulations on all your success. >> they ridiculed what i look like but also the approach i use. >> how about you? what would you like to say to your bully out there? come on.

this is for everyone who's been a victim. >> they actually watched and understand what's good and could be done better and they married together to make a wonderful pie that's really palatable even for me and i was the butt of the joke. >> what do you want to say to bullies all across america? go ahead. stay it. >> stop trying to make things i don't want to on your tv show. >> do you hear that, bullies? stop making kids say things on your temperature sho your tv show. >> making fun of important parts of our culture. "southpark" forces us to re-examine the world around us. >> trey parker and matt stone show no sign of slowing up in their sat tirrizing of american life, but they have a good few years to go to catch the next producer and comedian on oz's list. >> one comedian above all others, lauren michaels. and i decided to pick lauren michaels because i want to know how do you take dan akroyd through tina fey and continue to

supply us with people who make us laugh, make fun of life, and become part of the zeitgeist every single saturday night. >> since it first season in 1975, "saturday night live" has had more than 140 cast members. for all but one season, lauren michaels has overseen them all. >> he became superbly efficient at taking other great communicators and lifting them even higher. there are so many "snl" elements that stick out in my mind but it's hard to ignore the one that parodied me. >> welcome back. welcome back to the dr. oz show. >> almost perfect rendition of my show. with a few comedic elements aed to it. i grab someone from the audience who doesn't want to be grabbed out of the audience and i start a thing about a leaky stool syndrome he has. >> watch and the pool goes through the rectum. right into his boxer shorts.

>> to be able to poke fun at some of the ridiculous things we do to cope with life. that at its very core is what normal was saying to us year after year on "saturday night live," folks, this is crazy, but then again, life is crazy so, let's have a little fun with it. >> next, communicators who inspired the young mehmet oz long before he became america's favorite tv doctor.

when i was asked to make the list of the best communicators, i thought back and said who are the folks? when i came up with each of the name, it was an aha moment. my irss were dilated. i said, yes, that's exactly who i need to put on there next. >> before he became dr. oz, mehmet oz was the eldest son of a turkish immigrant family growing up in suburban delaware. back then in the 1960s, tv sets were starting to appear in many family front rooms. and it was on that mehmet encountered the next communicator on his list. >> the next person on my list is

mr. rogers. ♪ it's a beautiful day in this neighborhood a beautiful day for a neighbor would you be mine ♪ ♪ could you be mine >> even to this day, i wake up my kids, some of who are full-grown, by singing "it's a wonderful day in the neighborhood." ♪ won't you be my neighbor >> he would come into my room, flip on all my light, open all the shades. he knew it would drive me insane to have this flood of sunshine in my face. then he would start whistling it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. >> i think you've grown too. i'm sure you have. >> fred rogers children's television show began in 1963 and went national as "mr. rogers neighborhood" in 1968. it ran continuously for another 33 years. >> see you tomorrow. bye. >> he innovated and created a way of talking to kids that has been copied for generations.

even today the programs you watch are touched, influenced by what he was able to do so many years ago. >> i think a what's great about him as a communicator is how he never talked down to his audience. his audience was children and he always made them feel like equals. >> it's how i thought my day started in many ways, someone would greet me with this flowerfuly, beautiful, elevating song and then communicate to me about things that a little kid, maybe not so little child, should understand. >> take a look at the aquarium. do you see a dead fish? a dead fish would be one that isn't swimming or breathing or anything at all. >> much of what mr. rogers communicated to us wasn't said through his words. it was through the atmosphere he created. he appreciated you learned the best when we're calm. >> the influence he had on generations of americans was clear when he collected his lifetime achievement award at the 1997 emmys. >> would you just take along

with me ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. >> mr. rogers is like a holy man to me. if you've ever met fred rogers you would be stunned at what a great almost spiritual teacher he was. >> special thanks to my family and this academy for encouraging me, allowing me all these years to be your neighbor. may god be with you. >> i was fortunate enough to meet him before he passed away. i mean, just interseconding with him a couple of times made me realize what an extraordinary human being he was. >> the '60s became the '70s and the teenaged oz oz excelled at school. he got great grades, made all the sports teams. then when he was 14, he heard a

song on the radio that started a deep connection with the next communicator on hi list. >> next on my list, bruce springsteen. i remember vividly in middle school in wilmington, delaware, right next to jersey, where of course bruce springsteen is a god and he came out with "born to run." hearing it, thinking this guy, he knows what i'm feeling. this is the ballad for my generation. ♪ because tramps like us, baby, we were born to run ♪ >> for anyone who's not seen bruce springsteen in concert, it's another reason for my communicator list. >> in 1975, springsteen was on his third album. despite critical acclaim, he hadn't yet cracked the big time. "born to run" was the game changer, the starting gun on his

run to becoming the boss. >> springsteen really tapped into what it felt like to -- what it feels like to come of age and what it feels like to be in love and what it feels like to kind of feel on the cusp of something new. >> our ugliest emotions, our saddest emotions and also our most elevated emotions and the way he mixes them up every song feels like it was written for you. >> made me feel like someone understood and could see exactly what i was going through, and that's what a great communicator can do. >> the next choice on dr. oz's list is arguably the greatest orator of the 20th century. >> i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed. we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

created equal. >> what inspired me the most about plipg is he could take an issue, race equality, that should have been tense, filled with anger, and plipg violence and take it down a notch. he could capture your attention with his words. >> one of the most masterful or thes in history. the "i have a dream" speech arguably his crowning achievement. >> we can never be satisfied as long as the negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. >> what makes martin luther king a great speaker, he speaks to the best in human nature and drives people towards that. >> even if you weren't born black in america and witnessed what he had gone through, you still felt uplifted. he was aspirational, the message. we're all better than this.

we can all get there together only if we do it together. and it was that unifying part of his message that captured my attention. i still remember sitting, i was in grade school in wilmington, dell away, and over the p.a. system, the teacher came on and said martin luther king was just shot in memphis. and it was very emotional and nothing else was said. and i don't think we spoke again the rest of the day. that's the kind of impact that he was having, because he was such a brilliant communicator. >> next, an ips participatiinsp strategist and a fearless athlete poet. >> if he keeps talking jive, i'm going to -- freshness, you've got a few more tricks up your cozy sleeve. because with every touch, tug, or tender hug you release a

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poe. a vote is scheduled for tomorrow morning. a dangerous blast of ash tick air has produced a series of record low temperatures across south dakota, northwestern iowa and southwest minnesota. bismarck, north dakota, windchills expected to reach 42 degrees below zero. back to "iconoclist." >> this is dr. oz's rundown of great communicators. >> next person on my list, muhammad ali. you might think he's a great boxer. i think of him as a poet. >> 15 rounds i have told the clown what round he's going down and this no different. he'll fall in eight to prove that i'm great. if he keeps talking jive, i'll cut it to five. >> the reason muhammad ali is on my list because he put everything at risk to honor what he really was fighting for, which is race equality. when he changed his name,

converted his religion, refused to go to vietnam, all because he didn't think it was the right thing to do, he realized he was in a unique position to inspire other americans, especially if they were like him, to do the same. and great communicators are willing to put everything at risk because they see the truth so crisply, so clearly. >> we look at jesus, we see a white map with blond hair and blue eyes. we look at all the angel, white with blond hair and blue eyes. i'm sure if there's a heavy en in the sky and the colored folks go and go to heaven, where are the colored angels? they must be in the kitchen preparing the milk and honey. >> muhamad ali declared himself "the greatest," and many consider him the greatest hakt boxer of all time. but he's celebrated today not just for the genius of his fists but for the power of his words, wit, and courage. >> i'm the champ. he's no champ. he's a -- >> the people that endears so many people to him is he was

1,000% himself and the person that he was was brash, cocky, fun, and funny. he really took all of those different parts of himself and he forced people to look at them. >> when muhammad ali said i'm going to fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee, everyone had to stop. where did he come up with that? that's what life should be about. i'm going to float around, having a great time, flamboyant, colorful. flighty if need be. almost effervescent, floating away to the sky. when you need to, boom, you stay. >> today america lauds ali as a hero but his baiting and style of trash talk made a few enemies in the 1960s. >> when ali saw in justijusticee was put in a situation, had to compromise himself, he's like there's no amount of money you could offer him, no amount of olympic medals you could give

him, he would never waver who he was. >> no question muhammad ali influenced me directly because i could look up to him as a man who's physically confident in himself but trusted his intellect, his ability to articulate a wisdom. >> ali never seemed to doubt his motives or his message. he communicated like he fought in the ring -- strong, proud, and with total conviction. >> i'm over here. >> in 2014, oz had to lean heavily on his own communication skills in order to explain his promotion of diet pills and alternative medicines on air. oz later said he wished he'd not used such laudatory words about his pills but continues to defend the overall approach of his show. >> what i want to do more than anything else is impact people positively. right now television is the best place to do that. >> the next communicator on oz's list is someone who used his own

tough times as a springboard to success and now helps others to do the same. >> i've had obsession basically for 30 years and that obsession has been what makes the difference in the quality of people's lives? >> he's the real thing, the real deal, because he figured out what allowed him to change, his life from being a disaster, to being the incredibly successful man he is now. >> despite a challenging childhood, tony robbins transformed himself into a hugely successful life strategist, speaker, and author. >> you can know something intellectually, know what to do, and not apply it. really, decision is the ultimate power. that's what it really is. >> the tools he used were changing your psychology and your approach towards life. that's not easy to do. >> tony robbins uses a technique called neuroassociative condition. at its heart, the idea that it's

fear and self-doubt that holds people back. at his seminars, robbins coaches and inspires thousands at a time in how to overcome those fears. >> if we get the right emotion, we can get ourselves to do anything. we can do it. you're creative enough, playful enough, fun enough, can you get through to anybody, yes or no? >> yes. >> tony robbins has the skill for focusing attention on you and you feel like you're the only person in the room even if the room holds 10,000 other tony robbins devotees. >> give because that's what's going to fill you up. secondly, so you can appreciate, not just understand -- that's intellectual, the mind, but appreciate what's driving other people. the only way the world will change. >> i was at a seminar with him once, thousands of people. he calls on a guy who's a couple rows behind me and he says, hey, you, what's going on with you? guy's name is bob. bob says last night my wife left

me. tony robbins looked at him and said, bob, you see that shelf up there behind you? there's a large shelf there with two balls. bob's balls are up there. that's a harsh thing to say to a man who's just confided to you he's on the edge. then he went down the road of teaching bob how to get his balls back. and by the time we were done the seminar, we were calling him "big balls" bob. >> tony has always said that if you can get to the heart of the matter, then you are really helping people. if you don't, you're going to be talking around the issue and people will turn you off. >> do tony robbins' techniques work? serena williams says he helped her reach the top again after injury. he helped hue jackman overcome a fear of camera close-ups. and then there are the thousands of other people who claim tony has turned their life around. >> use his motivational techniques that are his and unique, may not be the ones you

want to always see used in your life, there's no way you can argue that he's not darn good at getting people to wake up. >> next, a 19th century showman and the charismatic president. as oz continues his rundown of great communicators. i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. both made me turn around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis

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[burke] hot dog. seen it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ dr. oz is revealing his personal picks of the great communicators. the storytellers and activists, comedians and educators that inspired him on his crusade to get america discussing its health. >> i suspect america perceives dr. oz as a pretty effective communicator. i think they appreciate the

passion i have for the topic. but we still have to make inmajor inroads on how we lose weight, fight chronic illness, depression, drugs. these are all factors we struggle with in america that i focus on as a communicator. >> next on oz's list is a 19th century showman who would probably agree, as he famously once said sh "the foundation of success in life is good health." p.t. barnum. >> people talk about p.t. barnum all the time because he was a showman and he was making a lot out of maybe not that much. >> in the late 19th century, p.t. barnum ran the great american theater in new york with a huge lineup of exhibits and curiosity and later hi famous big tent circuses that he proclaimed the greatest show on earth. >> p.t. barnum takes the american concept and value of the self-made man to perhaps an extreme in that he knew not only

how to make something of himself but to sell it and make sure you never freaking forgot about it. >> barnum was by no means the only circus impresario in america, but he quickly became the best known and most successful. much of that success came from his genius for publicity and self-promotion. >> he was the original look at me guy, look at this spectacle. he was the original spectacle creator. >> he needed to get your attention, because if you're not paying attention you're not going to be coming in for the show. >> barnum was infamous for his fantastical claims and all the tales. two hoaxes in particular came to define him. the fiji mermaid, which was, in fact, the head of a monkey stitched to a fish, and general tom thumb marketed as the world's smallest adult, who was really a well-trained 4-year-old boy. >> he wanted people to enjoy a good show so whether it was watching kind of a sideshow and making people think that

something was real when maybe it wasn't, they had a good time. that's what mattered. >> one of my favorite stories about p.t. barnum is he had to get people out of his circus and he put up a sign that said to the egress. and in people's minds the egress was, well, i'm not sure what that is but it sounds like some great prehistoric bird or some other exotic thing. they wept to the egress and they were outside of the tent immediately. >> little wonder barnum was credited with the phrase "there's a sucker born every minute." he may never have said it, but his gift for publicity and putting on a great show have ensured he has become an icon in american business history. >> salesmen have to be great communicators if they're going to be good at their jobs. they have to convince people to buy their product, to believe in their product, to trust in their product. that is no easy task. >> it's a good thing to be able to get people's attention. you have to do it the right way and you have to deliver on the

promise. >> dr. oz's next pick is a u.s. president with a reputation for doing just that -- delivering what he promised. >> i put teddy roosevelt, president teddy roosevelt, as next on my list. president roosevelt changed the way americans saw the federal government. he made the federal government activists. teddy roosevelt got us to realize it was our right to be able to fly no matter what we had when we were born. >> theodore roosevelt returned from the spanish american war a national idol and when mckinley was asass nuclear facilitied he became our youngest president. >> not quite 43 when he became president, roosevelt's drive and energy in both foreign and domestic policy left a lasting legacy. the panama canal was built. his square deal defended workers and natural resources from exploitation. millions of acres of wilderness were allocated and protected as national park.

>> the dynamic old roughrider steered the ship of state with a rez lult, forceful hand. >> i think teddy roosevelt was engaged with his own country engaged with his country on a level that many presidents are not. he explored it. he loved it. he would go outdoors and enjoy the beauty of this country and that informed him as a politician. >> he busted the big trust. he took huge business and made them competitive. because of that i believe he was the greatest political leader of the 20th century. >> reporter: during his presidency and after he inspired crowds with his sheer energy and enthusiasm. >> he was compelling, loud, boisterous child. someone said you must understand the president is 6. that's great. right? it is really greatment he had the energy of a child.

>> don't flinch. don't fold. >> roosevelt was certainly brave. in 1912 on the campaign trail he was shot the chest at point blank range. rather than head to the hospital he insisted on delivering his full 90-minute speech. afterward he said in the very unlikely event of the wound being mortal, i wish to die with my boots on. >> teddy roosevelt was in a class by himself. he didn't just say things that needed to be said but changed the way government worked and that made it ease fer for the precedents to change it and make it better. >> still ahead, dr. oz reveals who he thinks is the greatest communicator of all. >> it was hard enough too pick

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dr. oz is running through his choices of the greatest kmub caters. how they influenced his career and inspired him to want to talk about to america about health on tv. >> the most satisfying moments of miff life when someone walks up to me on the street and literally says thank you for saving many i live. i get goose bumps. i didn't save their life. they saved their life. it is something that captivated them and changed their life for the better. >> dr. oz's final pick is the person who's helped and encouraged him on his mission, more than anyone else. >> the greatest communicator i've ever met and i've thought about this a lot is oprah winfrey who happens to be my best friend on the list, as well but that's not why i picked her.

>> i loved books. when i was growing up when i didn't have friends i had books. >> reporter: in 2004, oprah invited oz to guest host on the show and her company harpo studio produced the dr. oz show. >> when i first started to go on the oprah show i realized how powerful it was. as soon as you walked off the set, perfect strangers would walk up and make comments about things they had figured out because of the interaction i had with them. >> reporter: by 1973 oprah was the first african-american news correspondent. in 1984 she arrived in chicago to launch the show that was to become the highest rated talk show in tv history. >> i have been doing shows like

this for so long and i have shed a lot of tears for children who have been raped, stolen, murdered, i'm tired of crying my eyes out. i'm really tired of crying my eyes out. >> no matter what subject she seems enable to engage with their audience. >> she focuses on letting other people talk and picking up on the right things to follow up questions. >> most important thing people taught me is to talk to the person sitting at home. don't talk to your guests like it is only a conversation but talk to the person inviting you in to their house. >> oprah is recognizable as a celebrity and human being. she is the the embodiment of every woman. >> reporter: oprah has never shied away from you can taing about problems in her life, challenges in childhood. her struggles with her health

and weight are openly discussed with her audience. >> a lot of oprah's brilliance is her ability to harvest the pain she had growing up. by using her personal story which made her vulnerable but real at the same time she changed the way we communicate with each. >> she speaks openly about her life and i think that's a way for people to connect with her. she does something else, too. to find meaning in those experiences. she does that and shows how to do that with her struggles. that is powerful for her viewers. >> we're going to read together and then have jacqueline on. invite her to dinner and pick people from this audience who read the book. >> call it the oprah effect. what she says whether it is about what book you should be reading or what book you should be voting for is powerful to millions of americans. >> for the first time, i'm stepping out of my cube because i have been inspired.

>> reporter: her backing of barack obama in 2008 is seen by many as a key moment in his journey to the white house. >> i've been inspired to believe that a new vision is possible for america. >> she is a teacher. i think deep in her heart that's what she wants to be. >> the reason i love barack obama is because he speaks to the potential inside of every one of us. >> the final edition of the oprah winfrey show aired in 2011. now a new generation of talk show hosts is getting america talking. >> i remember when oprah called me america's doctor, i'm humbled by it but i don't think that america has one doctor but i'm proud of that moniker and feel a responsibility to try to deliver on it. >> dr. oz's list included

filmmakers, comedians, scientists, athletes and politicians, each voice different and unique but one thing in common -- their ability to communicate their ideas with us all. i don't know what it is about my mom that has captured the heart of so many people. there's just something to her that people connect with. what was so beautiful about her, it made her a target, too. >> she was the queen of the million dollar listing, the real estate broker who sealed the deal. >> her customers love her. >> hands downs most genuine person you ever met. >> she headed out to show a house that day and never made it home. >> i'm texting her, i'm calling