captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. >> whitaker: this was the first face we saw after landing. that's syrian president bashar al-assad. this once was a syrian airport. since the summer, the russians have built barracks, brought in 4,000 personnel, paved roads, rolled in truckloads of equipment and munitions, erecting a bit of russia in the heart of assad-controlled syria. but the relationship between russia and syria is far from perfect, as we found out when the russian admiral we interviewed used a derogatory

speaking russian ) >> pelley: ray hinton stepped out of prison after nearly 30 years on death row, a free man. what was that moment like? >> as though i was walking on clouds. >> pelley: but hinton's story raises serious questions about how we handle unjust convictions. >> 30 years ago, a judge proudly stood up and said, "i sentence you to die." 30 years later, no one had the decency to say, "we sorry for what took place." >> i'm past patiently waitin' i'm passionately smashin' every expectation every action's an act of creation... >> rose: the show has reached the loftiest heights.

rodgers theater, "hamilton" has chalked up nearly $70 million in advance ticket sales. and those lucky enough to get a seat never know who might be next to them. the president of the united states. >> at our sixth preview. it's put my dream to shame. ( laughs ) >> kroft: i'm steve kroft. >> stahl: i'm lesley stahl. >> whitaker: i'm bill whitaker. >> rose: i'm charlie rose. >> pelley: i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." across america, people like basketball hall of famer dominique wilkins... ...are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes... ...with non-insulin victoza . p for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza . he said victoza works differently than pills. and comes in a pen. victoza is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c.

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>> whitaker: the civil war in syria was a powder keg when the russians intervened in september. they put up an airbase and started bombing targets there. russian president vladimir putin said the air strikes were aimed at fighting islamic terrorism, but it quickly became apparent that the majority of the bombs were aimed not t isis, but at other syrian insurgent groups fighting the regime of russia's ally, president bashar al-assad. whatever their motives, the russians have inserted themselves into the syrian conflict and any discussion of how it might end. a few months ago, "60 minutes" reported from the american base in qatar, the command center for u.s. operations in the middle east. we wanted to see the russian base, so we asked and they agreed. we set out on the road to syria, which took us on a detour we

to get to the russian airbase in latakia, syria, you have to start here in moscow. you don't just show up at the gates of the airbase. you have to be invited by the russian ministry of defense, then taken on a russian military transport on a circuitous five- hour flight over territory friendly to russia- the caspian sea, iran, iraq, before finally landing in syria. it was almost midnight when our plane took off from a russian airbase outside moscow. as we started to take pictures nyet-- "no"-- something we heard often during the next three days. >> no, no, no. >> whitaker: this was the first face we saw after landing. that's syrian president bashar al-assad. this once was a syrian airport. since the summer, the russians have built barracks, brought in 4,000 personnel, paved roads, rolled in truckloads of

erecting a bit of russia in the heart of assad-controlled syria. this is mostly friendly territory, at least 20 miles from the closest frontlines, but the russians aren't taking any chances. helicopter gun ships constantly patrolled the perimeter. they took us out along newly extended runways to watch a steady series of planes taking off. the roar was deafening. the russians invited about a dozen news organizations on this tour of the latakia airbase. they especially wanted us to take note of their newest fighter-bomber, the su-34. our russian guide in syria, major general igor konashenkov, is chief spokesman for the ministry of defense. over the previous 24 hours, he

armored vehicles were destroyed. independent monitoring groups told us some of the planes we saw taking off did bomb isis targets, but most bombed more immediate threats to the assad regime, groups like the u.s.- backed free syrian army, and al nusrah, the syrian arm of al qaeda. general konashenkov wouldn't tell us how many planes are flying missions, but american military sources say the russians have 36 fighter planes and 17 helicopters. the russian military says they have flown more than 5,000 sorties, mostly from here, since president putin ordered the bombing campaign in september. what is the primary goal of russia in this intervention? >> vladimir komoyedov ( translated ): the main task is to restore statehood in this region, syrian statehood. >> whitaker: admiral vladimir komoyedov is the chairman of the

committee. he was involved in the planning of the syrian mission. the united states is focused primarily on defeating isis. and russia seems to have other priorities-- supporting the assad regime and helping the assad regime fight its enemies, and that seems to take priority over fighting isis. >> komoyedov: if you cut off the head, you get chaos. there's chaos in libya, chaos essentially in iraq. half the country is under isil. and the head was chopped off there, you see. so, if you want to so stubbornly remove the leaders of syria, it's an enormous mistake. >> whitaker: i'm just wondering if you believe that assad has a role in the future of syria? >> komoyedov: the problem is that he has lost some of his authority.

figure out, in elections, whom to follow and how to build their lives, which have been essentially ruined in syria. >> whitaker: ruined, in large part, by president assad's own military. we got the sense admiral komoyedov is not crazy about the syrian president, who has dropped bombs on his own people. the admiral used a derogatory term to describe assad, then asked that we not repeat it on tv. >> komoyedov: we know why the opposition was formed. it was formed due to the mistakes of the president of syria himself. >> whitaker: when they launched this mission back in september, the russians said it would be temporary. after months of almost daily bombing, isis and the other insurgent groups fighting the assad regime have barely been budged from the territory they hold. and russia has added more planes and expanded to other bases here in syria. the mission doesn't look so temporary anymore.

power of the syrian army? >> komoyedov: but we have been fulfilling our obligations to syria, and we will go on fulfilling them. president assad shouldn't rest on his laurels. he needs to work on his army and raise its morale, and if necessary, lead the army himself. he needs to unite his forces, which are scattered like they must be clenched into a fist. if you can't beat them, at least you can give them a black eye. >> whitaker: it was the russians who got a black eye when one of their war planes was shot down and a pilot killed by the turkish air force in late november. that incident may have been why we were taken to tartus, two hours south of latakia. this is the russian navy's only foothold in the mediterranean. holding onto this base seems to be one key reason president putin maintained, and now is

bashar al-assad. this day, our destination was the "moscow," a guided missile cruiser that lay a mile offshore. they brought us aboard and did everything short of firing off one of its missiles to demonstrate russia's naval might. the "moscow" is normally the flagship of the black sea fleet. it now has a new mission. when i see all of this, i... i just wonder, who are you fighting? isis doesn't have any capability like this. general konashenkov told us the ship's main mission is not to fight terrorists. after turkey shot down the russian fighter, the "moscow" was reassigned to provide anti- aircraft defense. that a russian guided missile cruiser is providing air defense against turkey, a u.s. ally, in what was supposed to be a war against isis and islamic

complicated this temporary mission has become. >> maria lipman: russia has to be reckoned with, which has been putin's goal all along throughout the 15 years of his leadership. >> whitaker: maria lipman is a political analyst in moscow, one of the few independent voices willing to publicly criticize president putin. >> lipman: seeing russia waging this state-of-the-art military operation in a very important region made the russians feel proud. this began with the annexation of crimea, when russia reinstated historical justice, the way it was seen in russia. >> whitaker: so this is primarily not about syria, but about russia's place in the world? >> lipman: of course, it is also about syria. but i do not think the goal, the primary goal, was to stop the war.

russia's stature in the world. >> whitaker: we wanted to know what they thought of russia's war here in latakia, a coastal province, home to about two million people. this is assad territory. the shops looked full and life seemed normal as we rode through town. we weren't allowed off the bus-- for security reasons, our russian minders said. instead, they took us to a refugee camp at the city's sports complex. while hundreds of thousands of syrians have fled to europe from the bombs and brutality of president assad and his opponents, the russians wanted the safety of the syrian government. millions of refugees from this amid the tents, we found this woman. she's been here three years after fleeing aleppo with her

what was happening in aleppo that made you come here to this camp? "they destroyed our homes," she told us. she said her son was killed. you lost everything? she told us she didn't know who was responsible for the barrel bomb dropped from a plane that destroyed her house. but barrel bombs are a signature weapon of the assad regime. do you hope to go home again? "god willing," she said. she told us she felt safe here in the government-run camp, and she was grateful to the russians for helping out. for those on the receiving end of the russian bombs, it's a different story. the russians have presented this war through a series of videos of precision strikes with intelligence from satellites and drones. yet as we were shown the planes being heavily armed for their

are known as "dumb bombs" being loaded- unguided weapons, which human rights groups say have led to more than 500 civilian deaths. correct me if i'm wrong-- i have read that many of the targets hit by the russians have been selected by the syrians. is that true? >> komoyedov ( translated ): we use our data and syrian data. but i think there's a trick in your question-- that supposedly if we're striking, we're hitting the wrong target. yes, there may be mistakes. but you have to know that such things happen. we know how many times the americans have missed, you know. war is not like going for a stroll somewhere in the park. war is death. it's weaponry, it's fire. >> whitaker: we saw little of that during our trip to syria. by design, the russians showed off their firepower but not the

not been dramatic. according to the defense and intelligence publication "ihs jane's", after three months of russian bombing, the syrian army has managed to take back less than 1% of the territory seized by the insurgents. the flu virus hits big. with aches, chills, and fever, there's no such thing as a

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>> pelley: about ten times a month now, an innocent person is freed from an american prison. they're exonerated, sometimes after decades, because of new evidence, new confessions, or the forensic science of dna. there is joy the day that justice arrives, but we wondered, what happens the day after? you're about to meet three people who have returned to life from unjust convictions. one of them, ray hinton, was on death row. he remembers, too vividly, the alabama electric chair and the scent that permeated the cell block when a man was met by 2,000 volts. hinton waited his turn for nearly 30 years until this past april.

out of the shadow of execution, taking the first steps that he chose for himself since 1985. what was that moment like? >> ray hinton: as though i was walking on clouds. i wanted to get away, in case they changed they mind, you >> pelley: you still didn't believe it. >> hinton: i was not going to allow myself to really believe that i was free until i was actually free. >> pelley: free to visit his mother, who went to her grave believing her son would be executed. the cemetery was hinton's first destination. and he was startled by a world that had moved on without him. >> hinton: we headed toward the graveyard, and a voice come on and said, "at two-point-so-many miles, turn right." and i said, "what the hell?

and he said his gps tracker. i knew i didn't see no white lady get in that car. i wanted to know how did she get in that car and what is she doing in this car. man, come on. >> pelley: any voice tended to be a surprise. on death row, hinton spent most of every day alone. after 30 years inside, mostly by yourself, did you worry about coming back out into the world? >> hinton: you get out and you just out. if you don't have a place to ask yourself, "what am i going to do?" but my best friend stuck by me for 30 years. and he had already told me, "whenever you get out, you come live with me and my wife." >> pelley: what did you have to learn after you got out? >> hinton: i'm still learning. i'm still learning that i can take a bath every day. i'm still learning that i don't

morning and eat breakfast. i'm still learning that life is not always what we think it is. >> pelley: ray hinton's life was never what he thought it would be after 1985, when he was misidentified by a witness who picked him out of a mug shot book. his picture was in there after a theft conviction. when police found a gun in his mother's house, a lieutenant told him that he'd been arrested in three shootings, including the murders of two restaurant managers. >> hinton: i said, "you got the wrong guy." and he said, "i don't care whether you did it or don't." he said, "but you going to be convicted for it. and you know why?" i said, "no." he said, "you got a white man. they going to say you shot him. going to have a white d.a. we going to have a white judge. you going to have a white jury, more than likely." and he said, "all of that spell conviction, conviction,

i said, "well, does it matter that i didn't do it?" he said, "not to me." >> pelley: the lieutenant denied saying that. but hinton was convicted at age 30. he was 57 when the u.s. supreme court ruled nine to zero that his defense had been ineffective. a new ballistics test found that the gun was not the murder weapon. >> hinton: 30 years ago, a judge proudly stood up and said, "i sentence you to die." 30 years later, no one had the decency to say, "mr. hinton, we sorry for... we sorry for what took place." no one have said it. >> pelley: what did the state of

back up on your feet? >> hinton: they dropped all charges and that was it. >> pelley: no money? >> hinton: no. >> pelley: no suit of clothes? >> hinton: nothing. no. >> pelley: and that is where many states are failing the growing number of exonerated prisoners. it turns out, in alabama, if ray hinton had committed murder and was released on parole, he would have been eligible for job training, housing assistance, and a bus ticket home. but most states offer no immediate help to the innocent who's convictions can be embarrassing because of misconduct or incompetence by police or prosecutors. >> bryan stevenson: you can't traumatize someone, try to kill someone, condemn someone, lock someone down for 30 years, and not feel some responsibility for what you've done. >> pelley: attorney bryan stevenson worked on ray hinton's case for 16 years. stevenson started the equal justice initiative, one of a growing number of legal

convictions. >> stevenson: they need support- - they need economic support, they need housing support, they need medical support, they need mental health care. they need to know that their victimization, their abuse has been taken seriously. >> ken ireland: it was just couldn't even explain the horror of it. >> pelley: ken ireland lost 21 years. he was misidentified by witnesses who collected a $20,000 reward. convicted in a 1986 rape and murder, dna proved his innocence. >> good morning. >> good morning, sir. because of the rare perspective of an innocent man who's done hard time, the governor put ireland on connecticut's parole board. >> at some point in your life, sir, you have to step up. >> pelley: so this is your new cell? >> ireland: well, yeah, for eight hours a day. >> pelley: it took five years to get this job. at first, he lived with his sister and he found work as a

>> ireland: i got a little small apartment in town. i mean, there was the nights where i just barricaded myself in a big walk-in closet and slept in there. just thinking, you know, someone's going to come kick down my door and drag me back. >> pelley: you slept in a closet? >> ireland: yeah, yeah, a few times, i have. >> pelley: are you over that now, six years later? >> ireland: yeah, i don't have them issues now. it gets easier and easier every day. >> pelley: one thing that made it easier was connecticut's new law that compensates the wrongly convicted. a year ago, ireland was the first to get a check. >> pelley: what did the state give you? >> ireland: $6 million. >> pelley: $6 million!? >> ireland: right, and... >> pelley: wow. >> ireland: that's more than most states are giving. >> pelley: well, it comes to something like $300,000 a year for every year you spent in prison. and you say it's not worth it? >> ireland: oh, absolutely not. absolutely not. they could give me $5 million for every year and it still wouldn't be worth it. >> pelley: ken ireland was fortunate, if you can call it that.

at all. one is julie baumer's home, michigan. other than the time, what have you lost? >> julie baumer: everything. everything. my life is nothing as it was. >> pelley: in 2003, baumer was a mortgage broker raising her sister's baby. he became ill, so she took him to an emergency room. doctors there suspected the boy had been shaken until his brain was damaged. baumer was convicted of child abuse. she was in her fifth year in prison when new evidence showed that the boy had suffered a natural stroke. she was retried, acquitted, and the judge apologized. after she was released, for a time, she was homeless. how did you start over? >> baumer: it was very, very, very rough. you start from the bottom reclaiming your identity. i didn't have an i.d. and then, after i jumped over that hurdle, then you start applying for jobs. and then you have to go through

why is this?" and then, you tell your potential employer the truth. in my case, i never got phone calls back. >> pelley: there was no support for you of any kind. >> baumer: no. ( phone rings ) our lady of redemption. >> pelley: julie baumer now works for a detroit-area parish. >> baumer: thank you. god bless. hopefully, my testimony as an exoneree... >> pelley: in her spare time she's lobbying michigan's legislature for a compensation law. >> baumer: no amount of money can ever bring back everything that i've lost. >> pelley: no one can fail to see the injustice in these cases. but when it comes to compensation, there are people watching this interview who are saying, "you know, it was just bad luck, and we don't necessarily owe them for the life that they lost." >> stevenson: this isn't luck, this was a system. this was actually our justice system. it was our tax dollars who paid for the police officers who arrested mr. hinton; our tax dollars that paid for

that prosecuted him; that paid for the experts who got it wrong; that paid to keep him on death row for 30 years for a crime he didn't commit. this has nothing to do with luck. this has everything to do with the way we treat those who are vulnerable in our criminal justice system. >> pelley: ray hinton is considering applying for compensation, but alabama has paid only one exoneree after 41 claims. in the meantime, attorney bryan stevenson has been hinton's guide to advances like a.t.m.s and smart phones, and to frustrations that never change, like getting a license at the d.m.v. >> hinton: whether i ever catch up with the world, i don't know, but i'm going to try. >> pelley: hinton is working part-time now, speaking about justice and faith. >> hinton: i just never, never believed that god would allow me to die for something that i

i didn't know how he was going to work it out, but i believed that he would work it out. i can't get over the fact that, just because i was born black, and someone that had the authority who happened to be white felt the need to send me to a cage and try to take my life for something that they knew that i didn't do. >> pelley: of course, they did take ray hinton's life. a false conviction isn't about lost time-- it's the loss of an education, a marriage, the chance to start a family, settle into a job and build a pension. the only thing alabama didn't take was the breath from his body. are you angry? >> hinton: no.

three decades of your life, most all of your life. >> hinton: they took 30 years of my life, as you said. what joy i have, i cannot afford to give that to them. and so, being angry is... would be giving them... letting them win. >> pelley: you'd still be in prison. >> hinton: oh absolutely. i am a person that love to laugh. i love to see other people smile. and how can i smile when i'm full of hate? and so, the 30 years that they got from me, i count today... i count every day as a joy. >> this is adam zuker with the cbs sports update brought to you by the lip con motor company. seattle defeated minnesota 10-ed in their n.f.c. wild card

minnesota's blair walsh missed a 27-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds remains. the seahawks will travel to carolina next week to face the panthers. in college basketball, michigan state won, smu remains one of only two undefeated teams in division one. for more sports news and information, go to cbs sports.com. you just gotta find that balance. where taking care of yourself takes care of more than just yourself. lease a 2016 lincoln mkz for $289 a month only at your lincoln dealer. if you're looking to save money on your medicare part d prescriptions, walgreens says, carpe med diem. seize the day to get more out of life and medicare part d.

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>> rose: over the last five months, "hamilton" has become part of broadway lore. it is one of the most critically acclaimed shows ever staged, and one of the toughest tickets to get, already sold out until summer. the story of founding father alexander hamilton and his contemporaries is played by a young, multi-racial cast-- dancing, singing, and rapping to hip-hop and popular music. as we first reported last fall, the man behind it, 35-year-old lin-manuel miranda, wrote the music, lyrics, and book, and plays the title character, one of the most audacious and brilliant figures in american history.

about hamilton is he spoke in paragraphs, so the opening sentence of our show is this crazy run-on sentence. "how does a bastard orphan, son of a whore and a scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the caribbean by providence, impoverished in squalor, comma, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?" to answer for the next two hours and 45 minutes. i'm past patiently waitin' i'm passionately smashin' every expectation every action's an act of creation... >> rose: in "hamilton," the answers come fast. first time i'm thinking past tomorrow! and i'm not throwing away my shot! >> rose: "my shot" is the show's anthem. the "young, scrappy and hungry" immigrant arrives in new york just before the american revolution. rise up! rise up, take a shot rise up! take a shot, not throwing away my shot!

>> miranda: it took me a year to write "my shot." >> rose: it took you a year. >> miranda: yeah. because every couplet needed to be the best couplet i ever wrote. that's how... that's how seriously i was taking it. >> rose: hamilton demands lots from you. >> miranda: he's calling on my best. sir, entrust me with a command. >> rose: hamilton was front and center at nearly every major event in early american history. >> man, the man is non-stop! >> rose: he never became president, but had a bigger impact than many who did. >> let me tell you what i wished i'd known... >> rose: his mentor was george washington, played by chris jackson, who plucked hamilton out of the ranks and relied on him for 20 years. so what did i miss? what did i miss? >> rose: rapper daveed diggs plays thomas jefferson. he is hamilton's primary the bullets out your gun the bullets out your gun...

miranda's broad musical taste, but hip-hop and rap define it. your music is rap. >> miranda: yes. and i also believe that form is uniquely suited to tell hamilton's story. because it has more words per measure than any other musical genre. it has rhythm and it has density. and if hamilton had anything in his writings, it was this density. >> renee-ese goldsberry: i'm a girl in a world in which my only job is to marry rich my father has no sons, so i'm the one who has to social climb for one, so i'm the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in new york city is insidious... >> rose: miranda wrote this for hamilton's sister-in-law, angelica schyuler, played by renee-elise goldsberry. in "hamilton," women get equal >> just you wait... >> rose: the idea to cast black and latino actors to play the founders was deliberate. miranda wanted to connect

you can never back down and never learn to take your time! ooh! >> rose: "hamilton" blossomed during an extended run at new york's public theater. and it was greeted with fireworks over the hudson when it opened on broadway. >> miranda: i come up here in the opening number. >> rose: the show has reached the loftiest heights. in five months at the richard rodgers theater, "hamilton" has chalked up nearly $70 million in advanced ticket sales. and those lucky enough to get a seat never know who might be next to them. the president of the united states. >> miranda: at our sixth preview. >> rose: the vice president of the united states. >> miranda: yes. it's put my dreams to shame, yeah. ( laughter ) it's super, super humbling, and when you list those boldface names that have come to see the

opportunity to see the show with fresh eyes while i'm doing it. >> rose: oh, yeah. >> miranda: when dick cheney's sitting in the audience, i think, "what is he thinking when he hears the lyric, 'history has its eyes on you'," you know? when the president is here, what is he thinking as he sees george washington say, "i have to step down so the country can move on." >> rose: hamilton was a complicated figure-- war hero, famous philanderer, political thinker, mud-slinging politician, and the nation's first treasury secretary. >> ron chernow: he creates the first fiscal system, first monetary system, first customs service, first central bank, on and on and on. >> rose: ron chernow wrote the biography that inspired the musical and is the show's historical advisor. >> chernow: lin-manuel miranda, i think, was smart enough to know that the best way to dramatize a story was to stick as close to the facts as possible. here's the story of a penniless, orphaned, immigrant kid who

achievements were absolutely monumental. >> rose: you say he came out of nowhere. >> chernow: he was born on the island of nevis. he spent his adolescence on st. croix. when he came to north america, he didn't know a soul. >> miranda: we're still playing dominoes on the street. >> rose: it is a story miranda can relate to. his father moved from puerto rico when he was 18. they settled in inwood on the northern tip of manhattan. today, luis miranda is a prominent political consultant. his wife luz is a psychologist. >> luis miranda: luz and i, we have always known that this kid was destined for greatness. >> rose: he's looking down. >> luis miranda: my only concern was always, "is his greatness going to come with money, so he can survive forever?" >> rose: when did you see the musical talent? >> luis miranda: always. >> luz towns-miranda: from the time he was tiny... >> luis miranda: always. ( laughter ) >> luz towns-miranda: ...he loved to sing.

loved words and songs. lin-manuel was something of a prodigy. he gained admission into a school for gifted children. >> miranda: you know, i went to a school where everyone was smarter than me. and i'm not blowing smoke. i... i was surrounded by genius, genius kids. what's interesting about growing up in a culture like that is you go, "all right, i got to figure out what my thing is. because i'm not smarter than these kids. i'm not funnier than half of them, so i better figure out what it is i want to do and work really hard at that." and because, intellectually, i'm treading water to... to be here. >> rose: so why do you think i'm sitting here talking to you and not sitting here talking to one of your classmates? >> miranda: because i picked a lane and i started running ahead of everybody else. ( laughs ) so i... that's the honest answer. it was like, i was like, "all right-- this." >> rose: "this" was theater. he was in practically every school play. >> miranda: this is upstairs. this is really where we grew up.

shows. but they did collect cast albums, and miranda consumed them. "camelot," "follow me," "the lusty month of may." >> miranda: "lusty month of may." all of the wordplay. "if you may take me to the fair." "you'll thrash and bash him?" "i'll smash and mash him?" you'll, you know, "he will be trouble." "he will be rubble." ( laughter ) >> rose: if ever i would leave you. >> miranda: it would not be in springtime knowing how in spring i'm bewitched by you so... >> rose: how can you have so many songs in your head?! >> miranda: because i had a lot of time on my hands. >> rose: so many songs in your head. >> miranda: um, yeah, well these were... >> rose: do you have room for anything else in your head? >> miranda: i mean, i don't know my social security number. >> stahl: he graduated from wesleyan university in 2002 with a degree in theater arts. that's where he began working on a show about his old neighborhood. >> miranda: lottery ticket, just part of the routine everybody's got a job, everybody's got a dream... >> rose: it turned into miranda's first broadway show.

tony for best musical. two months later, he picked up ron chernow's book during a vacation. >> miranda: this is what i knew from high school. i knew hamilton died in a duel with the vice president. i knew he was on the $10 bill. but really, i just was browsing the biography section. it could have been truman. >> rose: and as you read it, what happened? >> miranda: i was thunderstruck. i got to the part where, you know, a hurricane destroys st. croix, where hamilton is living. and he writes a poem about the carnage, and this poem gets him off the island. >> rose: you saw a rap artist in him. >> miranda: yes. i drew a direct line between hamilton's writing his way out of his circumstances and the rappers i'd grown up adoring. >> miranda: i'm thrilled the white house called me... >> rose: nine months after reading the book, he was invited to the white house to perform a song from "in the heights." he decided to take a risk. >> miranda: i'm actually working on a hip-hop album. it's a concept album about the life of someone who i think embodies hip hop, treasury secretary alexander hamilton. ( laughter

you laugh?! but it's true! >> rose: so when you did it, and you look at the video now... >> miranda: i see a terrified young puerto rican man. >> rose: do you, really? >> miranda: terrified. because there's the leader of the free world... newly-elected leader of the free world, his entire family. there's biden. >> miranda: the ten dollar founding father without a father... >> rose: but as he began the story, the room was mesmerized. >> miranda: moved in with a cousin the cousin committed suicide left him with nothing but ruined pride something new inside a voice saying "alex, you gotta fend for yourself" he started retreatin' and readin' every treatise on the shelf there would have been nothin' left to do for someone less astute he woulda been dead or destitute without a cent or restitution, started workin', clerkin' for his late mother's landlord tradin' sugarcane and all the things he can't afford... that video's a microcosm of my entire hamilton experience. i say, "hip hop, alexander hamilton," and everyone laughs. and then, by the end, they're not laughing.

because they've been sucked into the story, just like i got sucked into the story. >> rose: miranda's gift is making that story come alive. >> miranda: are you ready for a cabinet meeting, huh? >> rose: witness hamilton's battle with jefferson over how to pay off the revolutionary war debt. >> in virginia, we plant seeds in the ground. we create. you just want to move our money around. this financial plan is an outrageous demand and it's too many damn pages for any man to understand. >> miranda: thomas, that was a real nice declaration. welcome to the present we're running a real nation would you like to join us, or stay mellow, doing whatever the hell it is you do in monticello. a civics lesson from a slaver, hey, neighbor. your debts are paid because you don't pay for labor. "we plant seeds in the south. we create!" keep ranting. we know who's really doing the planting! >> miranda: i think the secret sauce of this show is that, i can't believe this story is true. it's such an improbable and

about it while i was writing it. and i think that enthusiasm is baked into the recipe. >> leslie odom, jr.: hamilton doesn't hesitate he exhibits no restraint and he takes and he takes and he takes... >> rose: aaron burr is another key ingredient, the show's narrator. he is hamilton's cautious alter ego. >> odom: if there's a reason he seems to thrive so few survive then, goddamit, i'm willing to wait for it. i'm willing to wait for it! >> rose: played by leslie odom, jr., burr's jealousy builds throughout the show until their fateful meeting on the dueling ground. >> chernow: the bullet hit him actually on the right side just above the hip. it lodged in the spine. >> rose: by the time they faced off in weehawkin, new jersey, burr was a lame duck vice president, and hamilton, just shy of his 50th birthday, was practicing law. how could that happen? >> chernow: think of duels, charlie, as a violent form of conflict resolution.

frustrated. it seemed like at every turn, alexander hamilton was there, you know, blocking his path. >> miranda: he writes in a letter before the duel. he said, "there was no way this could have been avoided. we have been circling each other for a while. it was always going to come to this." >> rose: this was going to happen. >> miranda: this was going to happen. they're fundamentally different men. and they run in concentric circles until they meet. >> tommy kail: and everything around them is moving. >> rose: miranda and his director, tommy kail, staged the intensifying rivalry between the two men. >> miranda: yeah, it's pretty cool, right? >> rose: really cool. the turntable was essential. >> miranda: i imagine death so much it feels more like a memory... >> rose: many historians, including chernow, believe hamilton deliberately fired into the air, throwing away his shot. >> miranda: wait! >> rose: it is a fatal miscalculation. >> miranda: i hear wailing in the streets

hide... here's the thing about hamilton. i think hamilton was ready to die from the time he was 14 years old. i think what he has is what i have, which is that thing of, "tomorrow's not promised. i got to get as much done as i can." ( applause ) >> rose: people are saying it's transformative. >> miranda: it certainly changes my life. but i think it's because, when great people cross our path-- and i'm talking about hamilton here-- it forces us to reckon with what we're doing with our lives, you know? at my age, hamilton was treasury secretary and creating our financial system from scratch. >> rose: and building a country? >> miranda: yeah. i wrote two plays. >> miranda: i'm not throwing away my shot... >> the making of the "hamilton" cast album. go to 60minutesovertime.com. sponsored by lyrica.

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>> whitaker: now, an update on the story we called "agro- mafia." we reported on italian law enforcement's battle against adulterated and inferior oils sold as extra virgin olive oil by organized crime. for our story, we bought three random, unidentified samples of italian extra virgin from american grocery stores and asked an italian tasting panel to do a test. only one out of the three bottles passed. after our story aired, we heard from marco farchioni, president

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