bush from the oval office, reaction from senate leaders, bob dole and george mitchell on capitol hill, and east german ambassador gerhardt herder from the national press club in washington. we will also hear the speeches that president kennedy and president reagan delivered in berlin in 1963 and 1987 respectively that galvanized berliners and the free world. >> first, we go to the white house where president george h. w. bush held an informal oval office press conference on november 9, 1989. as events unfolded in berlin, he was criticized for not appearing to share in the jubilation. later, his closest aides, together with historians, described a president determined not to provoke a backlash by soviet hardliners. >> well, we just want to make a brief statement here. i have just been briefed by the secretary of state and national security adviser on the later news coming out of germany. and of course, i welcome the decision by the east german leadership to open the borders to those wishing to immigrate or travel. and this,s if the's implemented fully, certainly conforms with the helsi

november 9, 1989 senate minority leader bob dole republican from kansas, and senate majority leader george mitchell, democrat from maine took to the senate floor to voice their thoughts. >> according to news reports, the east german government just announced the opening of its borders to all of its citizens to include the right to free passage of the berlin wall. it appears that the berlin wall and all it represents are crumbling, even as the communist state which built it crumbles too. with breadth of speed, the people of east germany sought to take their up destiny into their own hands. by the hundreds of thousands shall they have taken to the streets, asking only two things, freedom and opportunity. by the tens of thousands, they have fled their homeland seeking only two things, freedom and opportunity. decades of communist rule lie in shambles. the government resides one day the communist politburo the next and now we have today's dramatic announcement. the ragtag bag of communists left trying to regain control are fighting a fight they can't win, a fight against their own people. they are runn

he also studied democrats like george mitchell, who was quite a wizard at it. in a senate himself where they used to really get things done. work in a bipartisan way. he must have some muscle memory left with that, doesn't he, e.j.? >> he started out as a moderate republican way back in 1986. so he has a whole other self back there that he could draw on. >> i think there's a war between mitch mcconnell the instituti institutionalist and the operator. you know, i think he was candid about one thing in that interview, which is what he's hoping to do is load these appropriations bills with lots of new policy, basically rolling back obama policy. and he wants to make the president pick and choose. i think the theory is going to be, the president can't fight us on every single thing. if we load these things up, he's going to insist we take some of the stuff out, which means some of the other policies might survive. so i think it's going to be a, you know, a flood the zone approach to to rolling back obama's agenda. >> he knows he won't be able to override the veto,

jim leonard, maury draper, richard fairbanks, dick murphy, dennis ross, tony zinni, john wolf, george mitchell, martin indyk, and now frank lowenstein. you would expect with this kind of a lineup if we're using our baseball analogy, that the scoreboard would look pretty good. but the scoreboard actually shows no hits, no runs, and lots of errors, which suggests that this is one of the case studies which needs to be undertaken to find out whether or not it's the idea of an envoy in this situation, or the individual selected as the envoy, the conflict itself, or the criteria that the report has suggested. was it an absence of empowerment by a president? was it an absence of authority? were there turf battles in washington? and i think you'd find if we did this case study and we haven't done it yet, but certainly this report should simulate it and i may grab the opportunity and do it myself, i think you'd find that there are a combination of factors at play here that suggest that even some of the smartest and most senior people selected for this job, were not necessarily the right choice, and not

before george mitchell made it famous in the perm january, it was actually happening in russia, believe it or not. so the canadians were fracking away at ukos assets, but yet within just a few short years of taking control of ukos, he became the 16th richest man in the world with a net worth of over $16 billion. this is a prime example of how the oligarchs in russia controlled all aspects of the russian economy and media. that is, however, until putin showed up on december 31, 1999. initially, putin had the support of most of the very powerful oligarchs. that all changed after the first election in early 2000. putin set his eyes on the oligarchs. he recognized that if he needed to move his agenda forward, he needed to get rid of the oligarchs. so he proposed the deal to the oligarchs. if you don't meddle in my politics, in russian politics, i'll let you keep the money that you stole from the russian people. it was a fair deal in putin's eyes. now i'll go back to the most powerful oligarch. he refused, and he didn't just refuse the deal, he actually challenged putin and funded the politi

. >> some people, like billy mitchell, and george haskins, realize the importance that air travel is going to play. airfare, but in transportation in this country. -- 4, a purdue graduate frederick martin -- was the most experienced pilot in the army air force. she headed up a group -- he headed up a group of four planes. the plan was to fly around the world. they were going to stop every night. they would fly so far, and they were stopped. go through ble to land areas, over oceans, and to various points. it ended up taking them over 140 days to do this. the whole trip was planned and organized by frederick martin. was lost in a he huge blizzard in alaska. and was not able to finish the trip. in a way, he lost his place in aviation history. but he didn't. december 7, 1941. in charge of all airfields in hawaii? frederick martin. and his s out that he counterpart, belanger, had report predicting the attack of the japanese on pearl harbor to the letter. the time it occurred, the day week it would occur. read before the war and -- in 1947, -- 1937, a man comes here from delaware. he want

names like everett dirksen and george mitchell, david pryor, joe lieberman and carl levin. these men molded history. these are senators who shaped world events. these senators were good stewards of what our founding fathers created for us. we should be, too, each and every one of us. the father of our country had a lot to say about partisanship. in his farewell address, he warns us of the continual miss chiefs in the ill-founded jealousies caused by parties. we should take hee. it is the greatest mistake of our time to allow these prophesied mischiefs and jealousies to divide us and damage the american political character. abraham lincoln once famously said a house divided against itself cannot stand. that is so true, and his voice is echoing down through the halls of history to us. if we are divided, we cannot stand, and we won't stand a chance in the future. let lincoln's words be a clarion call to all members of the congress, and that includes all senators. look at what is happening to us. the congress is getting more liberal and more conservative. look at the wild swing

. >> i remember asking george mitchell if he could describe what it is, whatever quality or qualities, dole had that made him succeed. in the leadership position. he said it was a combination of things but almost a sixth sense about what combination of personalities and legislation change. what mix would work. it's not something you can quantify. it is not something you can learn in a textbook. >> not only that it is not really an intellectual exercise. it is more a personality arrangement. you sort of sense these things rather than hear them or understand them. you sort of guess. but if you guess right, you usually win. >> psychological gift. in some ways. >> not based on a check. it's based on how you evaluate the person's basic views, beliefs, prejudice and his oppositions. but that is the quality of leadership. i think dole had it in spades. >> but that suggests that you get to know all of your colleagues? inside-out? >> you got to know them. it is more than that. it's hard for me to tell you what i think about this. i don't think it is just knowing them. in some strange way you h

senator bob dole, george mitchell, tom daschle and the late pat baker. during their times in congress, they worked tirelessly to find solutions to the challenges that confronted the country. they did this through what we call or what i think of as reasoned negotiations and respectable dialogue. if you like the raison d'etre for this organization that they established. yes, to look back on the 20th anniversary of the bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform, but more importantly, to look forward and how these issues can face the upcoming 2016 presidential elections and the new congress coming in. we are joined this afternoon by two very distinguished public service, senator kerry and senator jack danforth. both worked with those senate majority leaders who founded this place. president clinton established the bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform by an executive order in november 1993. chairman gurion vice-chairman danforth took on the herculean task of carrying out the executive order and they were joined by 10 other united state

senator bob dole, george mitchell, don cashel -- tom daschle and the late pat baker.g their times in congress, they worked tirelessly to find solutions to the challenges that confronted the country. they did this through what we call or what i think of as reasoned negotiations and respectable dialogue. if you like the raison d'etre for this organization that they established. yes, to look back on the 20th anniversary of the bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform, but more importantly, to look forward and how these issues can face the upcoming 2016 presidential elections and the new congress coming in. we are joined this afternoon by two very distinguished public service, senator kerry and senator jack danforth. both worked with those senate majority leaders who founded this place. establishedinton the bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform by an executive order in november 1993. chairman gurion vice-chairman on the herculean task of carrying out the executive order and they were joined by 10 other united states senators, two who are still .er

>> george mitchell referred to it as herding 9 cats. i worked in the senate in 1999 mitch mcconnell was a juneor senator. he's interested in restoring the value and significance of the committee process. he's going to allow the amendments on the floor and he will keep the senate in session a lot longer than others have. molly: he has had the opportunity to see how other majority leaders operate. will that experience help him out? >> absolutely. he's been there for a long time. i think he has been waiting for this moment for a long time. i think he will hold the republicans in line at the same time work together in bringing democrats forward. i weo -- i remember this one st. it was senator membership mcconnell who called over and said does anybody want a deal over there with tax cuts. he will need to bring along the senator ted cruzs and the mike lees. but he understands one of the important keys will be the budget reconciliation process. we can push forward a republican agenda. they want congress and the snoot govern and h -- --congress

he is the honorable george mitchell chair here. he went to yale as an undergraduate as well as yale law school. he has been described as one of the country's great legal voices for civil liberties today. these were cases on flag burning. humanitarian law project which challenged statutes regarding material support as well as a canadian citizen rendered to syria by u.s. officials. david has received two honorary degrees and awards as well. welcome. >> thank you. >> now we're going to get into the discussion. and the first thing i would like to note, this conference was really set up as a dialogue between panels, between panelists, between everybody in attendance and those of us who are on panels. we will be referring back to previous panels. to start out one of the things that was emphasized was the direction of technology for 2020. we heard we will see consolidation, increasing use of computers and connections between them. andy noted that by 2017, 66% increase in mobile devices we would see by then. dino noted they would be cheape

senator levin's philosophy of public service is a word that he himself used in an interview for the george mitchell oral history project at boden college in maine. that word is "fiduciary." it is a word that embraces the concepts of trust and confiden confidence, of ethics and responsibility. in that interview, senator levin elaborated on what the word means to him as a public serva servant. he said it meant to be accessible and open, to listen to other points of views and to be well informed. then when it is time to decide, to use his best judgment and vote for what is best for his state and his country, even though it may not be the popular choice at the time. fiduciary may, indeed, be the best word to describe our colleague, senator levin, but to me, based upon decades of firsthand experience, there is another phrase that also comes to mind. he is truly a senator's senator. my colleagues may be surprised to learn that i have known senator levin far longer than most of the members of this chamber. you see, when he was first elected to the senate in 1978, the same year as maine senator bill cohen,

senator bob dole, george mitchell, tom daschle and the late howard baker.eoughout their time senate and in congress they worked tirelessly to find a solution to the challenges that confronted the country. this through what we call what i think of as reasoned negotiations and respectable dialogue. thethat's the, if you like, rain for this organization that they established and that's why theave joined here at bipartisan policy center this thernoon, to look back on 20th anniversary of the bipartisan commission on tax reform, but more importantly to look forward issuesthis could, these upcoming 2016 presidential elections and the new congress coming in. joined this afternoon by two very distinguished public senator bob kerrey danforth.r jack both worked with those senate majority leaders i mentioned earlier who founded this place. president clinton established bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform by an in november of 1993. kerrey and vice chairman danforth took on the outulean task of carrying the executive order and they were joined by 10 other

senator bob dole, george mitchell, tom daschle and the late howard baker.out their time in the senate and in congress, they worked tirelessly to find a solution and challenges that come from to the country. they did this through what i think of as reasoned negotiations and respectable dialogue. that is in this organization that they established and that's why we have joined here the bipartisan policy center with the coalition. this first to yes first to look back on the 20th anniversary of the bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform but more importantly to look forward on how these issues can paste the upcoming 2016 presidential elections and the congress coming in. we are joined this afternoon by the two very distinguished public servants, senator bob kerrey and senator jack danforth. both worked with the senate majority leaders i mentioned earlier and who founded this place. president clinton established the bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform by an executive order in november 1993. chairman terry and vice president danforth to

before george mitchell made it famous it was happening in russia believe it or not.so the canadians were fracking away at yukos assets but yet within just a few short years of taking control khodorkovsky became the 16th richest man in the world with a net worth of over $16 million. this is a prime example of how the oligarchs in russia controlled all aspects of the russian economy and media. that is however until putin showed up on december 31, 1999. initially putin have the support of most of the powerful oligarchs. that all changed after the first election in early 2000. putin said his eyes on the oligarchs. he recognized that if he needed to move his agenda forward he need to get rid of the oligarchs so he proposed a deal to the oligarchs. if you don't meddle in my politics in russian politics i will let you keep the money that you stole from the russian people. it's a fair deal in putin's eyes. now go back to the most powerful oligarchs, khodorkovsky. he refused and he didn't just refuse to deal the challenge putin and funded the political components to putin but

all-star list donald rumsfeld, general leonard , richard fairbanks, dennis ross, tony, john wolf, george mitchell you would expect if we were using our baseball and now the now achieved at the scoreboard with a would look pretty good but the scoreboard shows no hits or runs or errors which suggests that this is one of the case studies which needs to be undertaken to find out whether or not it is the idea of an envoy in the situation or the individual selected as the envoy, the conflict itself for the criteria that the report has suggested. was it an absence of empowerment by the president or absence of authority. i think you'll find if we did a case study and we have not done it yet but it's certainly certainly not report it should stimulate it and i am a granted the opportunity to do it myself, there are a combination of factors that suggest even some of the smartest and most senior people selected for this job were not necessarily the right choice and not necessarily the right choice for this conflict. if you look back at the last 35 years and conflict resolution process for there have been thr

jim leonard, maury draper, richard fairbanks, dick murphy, dennis ross, tony zinni, john wolf, george mitchell, martin endick, and now frank leon steen. you would expect with this kind of a lineup if we're using our baseball anal joy, that the scoreboard would look pretty good. but the scoreboard actually shows no hits, no runs, and lots of errors, which suggests that this is one of the case studies which needs to be undertaken to find out whether or not it's the idea of an envoy in this situation, or the individual selected as the envoy, the conflict itself, or the criteria that the report has suggested. was it an absence of empowerment by a president? was it an absence of authority? were there turf battles in washington? and i think you'd find if we did this case study and we haven't done it yet, but certainly this report should simulate it and i may grab the opportunity and do it myself, i think you'd find that there are a combination of factors at play here that suggest that even some of the smartest and most senior people selected for this job, were not necessarily the right choice, and n

. >> some people, like willie mitchell -- billy mitchell and george haskins, realized the importance that air travel was going to play not only in warfare, but in transportation in the country. as we go on, you know, it just continues and continues with purdue graduates. by 1924 a purdue graduate, frederick martin from indiana, was the most experienced pilot in the army air force. he headed up a group of four planes. the plan was to fly around the world. this is three years before lindbergh. they were going to stop every night. they'd fly so far, and they'd stop. they were able to go through land areas as the aleutians s and over to various points. it ended up taking them over 150 days to do this. the whole trip was planned and organized by frederick martin. unfortunately, he was lost in a huge blizzard in alaska and was not able to finish trip. and in a way, you might have thought he lost his place in aviation history, but he didn't. december 7, 1941, guess who's in charge of all air corps in hawaii? frederick martin. and it turns out that frederick martin and his counterpart in the

. >> some people like billy mitchell and george haskins airized the importance that travel was going to play not only in warfare, but in transportation in this country. as we go on it continues with , purdue graduates. by 1924, a purdue graduate named frederick martin, from indiana, was the most experienced pilot in the army air force. he headed up a group of four planes. the plan was to fly around the world. this was three years before lindbergh. they were going to stop every night. they would fly so far, and they would stop. they were able to go through land areas like the aleutians. over to various points. it ended up taking them over 150 days to do this. the whole trip was planned and organized by frederick martin. unfortunately, he was lost in a huge blizzard in alaska and was not able to finish the trip. and in a way, he thought he lost his place in aviation history. but he did not. december 7, 1941, guess who was in charge of all of the air corps in hawaii? frederick martin. and it turns out frederick martin and his counterpart in bellinger hadd , written a report predicting t

. >> people like billy mitchell and george haskins realized the role that air travel would play in warfarend transportation in this country. it continues with purdue graduates. by 1924, a purdue graduate named frederick martin from indiana , was the most experienced pilot in the army air force. he headed up a group of four planes. the plan was to fly around the world. this was three years before lindbergh. they were going to stop every night. they would fly and stop. they went through land areas like the aleutians. it took them over 150 days. the whole trip was planned and organized by frederick martin. unfortunately, he was lost in a huge blizzard in alaska and was not able to finish the trip. in a way he thought he lost his place in aviation history. but he did not. december 7, 1941 guess who was in charge of all of the air corps in hawaii? frederick martin. it turns out frederick martin and his counterpart in the navy had written a report predicting the japanese attack on pearl harbor to the letter. exactly what was going to happen, what time, what day of the week it would occur. they h

one of the things mitchell told me -- first of all, he knows that they didn't speak to him. >> they didn't talk to jose rodriguez, mike hayden, george. we spent all this time criticizing "rolling stone" for not talking to the people you're accusing and dianne feinstein did the same thing as "rolling stone." >> one of the things that mitchell said to me was that khalid sheikh mohammed turned to him during the interrogation and se head at some point the american people will turn on you. he said the liberal media, this is a quote from ksm, according to mitchell, the liberal media will turn on you and the people will turn on you. when they do, you'll be left all alone. >> the good thing is that people haven't turned on him. and the polls today show that dianne feinstein has utterly failed in her objective with this report. her goal was to convince the american people that the interrogation tactics were wrong, that they didn't work, and they should never be used again. the polls actually show that the vast majority of americans side with the cia. they think the tactics worked. they think she new not have released the report and 70% would

mitchell) oh. if i could get everyone to raise their glass as i quote from one of our nation's great fathers-- jefferson. george dreamed that one of my own "would be going off to a university, "but here i stand, a proud black man, knowing that all those hours i put in at the dry cleaner--" - phil. - not now, weezie. - where was i? - quoting that president. okay, if she's the future of america, we should start using chinese money now. (scoffs) we already are. my arm is tired. to haley. - to haley! - (glasses clink) and before everyone puts their glasses down, uh, uh, we're also very proud of lily. tomorrow is her first day of kindergarten. - to lily. - (gloria) oh, lily.

mitchell) oh. if i could get everyone to raise their glass as i quote from one of our nation's great fathers-- jefferson. georgerson. "i never dreamed that one of my own "would be going off to a university, "but here i stand, a proud black man, knowing that all those hours i put in at the dry cleaner--" - phil. - not now, weezie. - where was i? - quoting that president. okay, if she's the future of america, we should start using chinese money now. (scoffs) we already are. my arm is tired. to haley. - to haley! - (glasses clink) and before everyone puts their glasses down, uh, uh, we're also very proud of lily. tomorrow is her first day of kindergarten. - to lily. - (gloria) oh, lily.

bush from the oval office, reaction from senate leaders, bob dole and george mitchell on capitol hilland east german ambassador gerhardt herder from the national press club in washington. we will also hear the speeches that president kennedy and president reagan delivered in berlin in 1963 and 1987 respectively that galvanized berliners and the free world. >> first, we go to the white house where president george h. w. bush held an informal oval office press conference on november 9, 1989. as events unfolded in berlin, he was criticized for not appearing to share in the jubilation. later, his closest aides, together with historians, described a president determined not to provoke a backlash by soviet hardliners. >> well, we just want to make a brief statement here. i have just been briefed by the secretary of state and national security