jill abramson is the executive editor of the "new york times." he also has written a piece that's gotten a lot of attention in the "new york times" book review called "an elusive president." and joining us from washington, michael beschloss. he is a presidential historian and regular contributor to pbs newshour and nbc news. i am pleased to have all of them here this evening to reflect on president john f. kennedy. let me begin with jill abramson because she wrote a piece that captured my attention and set out to talk about 50 years of books being written about this man. give me a sense of what we know and what these books tell us and whether-- because i'm fascinated by the fact-- that you think a great biography remains to be written. >> i think a truly great book about john f. kennedy remains to be written. >> rose: even though there's been 40,000 written. >> i know. more than almost anyone except for lincoln. i think his story is the quintessential great american life story and the material is surely there and there have been many very, very g

. >> reporter: we showed the report to ed abramson. >> sometimes there's a crowd mentality as though people feel the need. they become anonymous if they're in a group or they feel the need to go along with whoever is kind of the ring leader. >> reporter: in this report one student denied having any problems with black people. but abrahamson says the students behavior tells a different story. >> it's a manifestation of a racist attitude. i don't know any other way of conceptionizing it. >> reporter: the 17-year-old victim revealed he always locked his door at night because he feared the suspects would do something to him. but abramson says it's not especially surprising the victim was reluctant to report what was happening. >> some of us are going to be more passive than others. and that's not a sign they want. >>> pumping water out of the earth causing the ground to subside. i'll show you dramatic new evidence that shows we are in water trouble. >> transition from windy to warm. how high you can expect temperatures to be where you live this weekend. >> see these hands? they gripped t

. >> reporter: we showed the report to ed abramson. >> sometimes there's a crowd mentality as though people feel the need. they become anonymous if they're in a group or they feel the need to go along with whoever is kind of the ring leader. >> reporter: in this report one student denied having any problems with black people. but abrahamson says the students behavior tells a different story. >> it's a manifestation of a racist attitude. i don't know any other way of conceptionizing it. >> reporter: the 17-year-old victim revealed he always locked his door at night because he feared the suspects would do something to him. but abramson says it's not especially surprising the victim was reluctant to report what was happening. >> some of us are going to be more passive than others. and that's not a sign they want. >>> pumping water out of the earth causing the ground to subside. i'll show you dramatic new evidence that shows we are in water trouble. >> transition from windy to warm. how high you can expect temperatures to be where you live this weekend. >> and in two minutes, huge jet, t

. >> jill abramson, who's executive director of "the new york times," wrote ten days ago that an estimated 40,000 books have been published since the president's death. so given the broad scope of the subjects you have tackled, why president kennedy and why now? >> well, you know, it was my conviction before i started project that one could probably tell more about john f. kennedy, the man, john f. kennedy, the president, and the incredibly turbulent times in which he lived through letters, through the letters that he received from every walk of life and the letters that he answered. all the books, i don't care if it's 40,000 or 50,000. i mean, you know, thank god i didn't try to write this book ten years from now because it would be the e-mails of president kennedy or the sound bites of -- or it would be the twitters of barack obama. tsa lost art. -- it's a lost art. i don't know, people in the audience, when the last time anybody here wrote a real letter. you know, words are my business, and i haven't written a letter in eight years. so that the thing that's extraordinary is that there's

i notice that jill abramson, who i know, a friend of mine, a talented women, editor of "the new york times" had an article written about her, and a whole bunch of other people row, wait a second, she's saying she's too aggressive. that happens to women, not men. >> said the ability for the credit to krauser is the response mitigated to some degree. >> i am hoping "lean in" and things people are doing help to change that. before you start from scratch and they appreciated. what are the ways into aggressive? you know, we are getting help. training managers is so important. there's a man who works for me at facebook is started this conversation by saying i didn't read your book. which is a little weird if you work for me, wouldn't you at least pretend you read my book? [laughter] is that i haven't read your book, but i have listened to you for the last five years and they listen to what you say. we just did our performance fees and he got feedback that a woman who worked for him was too aggressive. rather than write down too aggressive, he went back to the people who gave the feedback i