now rachel robinson continues to keep the legacy alive. she's our "slice of life." e robinson foundation, assistant professor of nursing at yale university, and recipient of 12 honorary doctorates, education has always been at the forefront of rachel robinson's mind. >> i was destined to go to college. there was no doubt about it. my mother and father were going to see to it. and i joined them in that desire. >> it was her freshman year at the university of california where rachel met the senior, jackie robinson. >> he was big man on campus anyway because he played four major sports, and i thought, okay, this is going to be -- this is not going to be so easy. well, i was totally shocked and totally wrong because everything about him was ideal and wonderful. and i was surprised. >> robinson proposed almost immediately. but after being drafted into the army, the couple waited five years to get married. but they knew they wanted to start a family. >> being a planner, i knew that i needed to spend those first five years with the family at home and then i would get a job.

robinson. it's great to see you. thanks for being here. >> it's great to be here, rachel. >> birther donald trump attending the republican convention, being asked to do something very, very major. good idea, gene, do you think? >> i think it's a very, very major bad idea. you know, just, hey, who am i, right? so bring it on, but look, you know, people tuned in to the republican primary freak show, to the reality series, but they didn't vote for newt gingrich except in south carona. they didn't vote for herman cain. they didn't vote for michele bachmann. so what is the purpose of bringing newt back and certainly what is the purpose of bringing donald trump on to the stage except as some sort of court jester. this isn't supposed to be a shakespearean play, but romney is getting a little odd here. >> i mean, when i went back and looked at the debate tape today, i was struck by those debate audiences, obviously republican voters turning out for the 20 republican debates. and every audience, one after the other, just absolutely into it. there's nobody out there holding an applause sign. they were just rabidly into what was go

robinson, he's got a puppy and a box of chocolates for todd akin if he stays in. thank you very much. that's "the ed show." i'm ezra klein in for ed schultz. the "rachel maddow show" starts now. i think it has to come with a warning that you have to keep the puppy and the box of chocolates separate. dogs and chocolate, right? >> a terrible idea. you don't want the puppy inside the box of chocolates. that was not what forrest gump's mom said you want to find in the box of chocolates. >> thank you. thanks to you as well for joining us this hour. the republican party is finalizing its platform tonight. their convention starts next week. that means that this is basically right now the formal end of the republican primary process. and what has just been a wild presidential election year. we should have known it was going to be a wild year when it started off so strangely, right? you remember when mitt romney won the iowa caucuses. he won the iowa caucuses for a second. the iowa republican party, that night of the iowa caucuses announced mitt romney as the winner. but then a little while later, they tried to announce that actually it had been a tie between