when mandela became president he gave brandt a job at the capital.n brandt's son was killed in a car accident, mandela was the first to phone him. the same transformation happened to rory steyn. he was a cup afrikaner cop who enforced apartheid's tough laws. yet president mandela tapped them to lead his security detail. >> and who was i, bill? i was just a dispensable white cop. if there was an issue and there were any doubts, just get of him, move him on, there's a whole queue of guys who will come and take their position. and he chose not to do that. go figure. >> reporter: the prisoner he once despised became the president he admired. steyn says mandela's politics of forgiveness and healing lifted up the country many feared would fall into racial war. >> we could have been down the road of syria or afghanistan by now and we're not and we have him to thank for that. >> reporter: when he heard of mandela's death, the tough cop cried. >> the first emotion, a profound sense of loss and sadness. >> reporter: just like many south africans this week-- cr

jewish community as well as any other faith community across the country looks at ways it can be very brandt and remain effective and meaningful to the community at large. a al organize presents and award each year that is called the sling shot award that honors and recognizes invasion nationally. and this morning, we're happy to present to you four people of that been recipients of the sling shot award. two of them today are arthur -- of a wider bridge that tries to create a bridge between israel. and this is an organization that brings people to summper camps. what is the sling shot award? >> thank you for the opportunity to be with you here this morning. over the last decade, there's been an explosion of new jewish entrepreneurial activities, people particularly in the younger generation building a jewish community. and sling shot is an attempt to honor the best of the best of those. and it's a message to people looking to invest in the cutting age of the jewish community and these are 50 organizations that are worth your time and that represents the future and the vibrantsy of the jewish

and willy brandt writes in the letter i just going to sit there? are you going to let us be divided like this? are you going to let our freedom be taken? kennedy writes a very brilliant albeit wishy-washy noncommittal letter in which he is telling him that we will increase the troops, we will go into deeper negotiations, blah, blah, blah. but we ain't going to war, very clear. willy brandt is not amused, and then kennedy goes to berlin and he stands there and it may be as greatest speech of all. there is no way to measure the impact of that speech around the world. kennedy -- no way to measure the impact on them. he finishes his speech, he turns to bobby and he says, we would never have a better day in our lives than this one. you know? thank god, the microphones pick it up. that's a great question, thank you. what both cbs and the bbc, i'm sure our friends at c-span would add, is his anti, is he still regarded that way? polls are polls but man, do i read polls, and every poll i read right up until a week ago, top five, top three presidents of the

his job was to interact with the celebrities in the audience and this interaction with betsy brandt is evidence that we have gone too far. >> what a great guy. and really funny. >> hash tag why are you thankful? >> god, so many reasons. >> you're not supposed to say hash tag. hash tag is like the upside down question mark at the beginning of a sentence in spanish. it's silent. they made him say it to heinz ward of the pittsburgh steelers. >> going to be a great match up. any time that pittsburgh goes into the lions den, it's hard. >> hash tag, what are you thankful for. >> if you say it outloud it's not a hash tag. i think it turns back into a pound sign. how pissed are the people at pound sign that they lost out on hash tag. hash tag now? hash tag buried. barbara walters revealed the contents of her list of the most fascinating people. robin roberts, jennifer lawrence, the cast of duck dynas dynasty, miley cyrus, kim kardashian and kanye west, edward snowden and pope frances. what an honor it must be for the pope. the other name that really stood out to me is prince george. prince geo

elizabeth brandt is live in washington following this incredible story for us. good morning, elizabeth. he went missing investigating the regime for the u.s. government. reports say no communication or proof of his location sincer 2011 when we saw this undated photo. while even the white house now says he was a private citizen traveling to the region, the a.p. says it held off publishing the story three times because the government said it was working every lead to bring him home. the national security council responded to the most recent article writing in part, we regret that the ap would choose to run a story that does nothing to further the cause of bringing him home. the investigation into mr. levenson's disappearance continues and we remain committed to finding him and bringing him home safely to his family. the cia paid his family more than $2 million in a lawsuit and at the time multiple analysts either fired or disciplined. heather, back to you. >> elizabeth, live from washington. thank you. >>> and ex illinois governor gets his last shot of freedom tod

. >> reporter: but for one-third of christmas sell brandts, it is a calltural holiday.under age 30 are less likely to attend christmas church services. the president of american atheists thinks the real number of americans who see christmas as cultural rather than religious is much tire. this group put up this billboard to show people they didn't need religion to enjoy christmas. >> do something fun, do something festive, you will have a better season. >> reporter: but for shoppers here the season is largely about jesus christ. the owner said shoppers bought 600 of these magnets this year. >> they want people to understand what it is all about. >> reporter: from nativity scenes and decorations, these gifts share the same message. that christmas is more about santa claus and vacation. for shoppers it's about the religious meaning of the holiday. >> it's become more about faith as i got older. >> reporter: but as the face of america changes, so does the approach to christmas, with increasing numbers of americans viewing it as a shared cultural experience outside of church

government is pretty steadfast here that they're not going brandt him any kind of amnesty.ke it to brazil then that might be one out for him, but it's not clear he can. >> all right. michael isikoff, nbc news. we appreciate the time. >> thank you. >> kristen welker talks with the journalist who first reported edward snowden's disclosures that that's at noon eastern today. about an hour from now, and i want to talk more about the nsa and what's going on with healthcare with our panel. joining me now politico senior white house reporter edward isaac, and msnbc.com reporter susie kim. thanks to both of you for being here. >> good morning, brian. >> good morning. >> edward, i'll start with you. president obama supposed to give a statement earlier next month possibly implementing some of the recommendations or one from the outside review panel, in all honesty, how much change might we expect to get and how much change will happen that we actually learn about? >> i think the second question is maybe the more pertinent one here. there is a lot that has to happen in the intelligenc