[applause] i know caroline kennedy says all the time, because it's true, she talks about the impact that president kennedy has had on so many lives. your moderator included. there is one thing i wanted to ask, and that is he is so fascinating, both in what he said and what he did, that it almost seems as though his words have relevant impact today. and they do. i have this tape that shows you how many gems or there are in him. it is a meeting with general douglas macarthur, by then retired in the oval office, in august of 1962. here's president kennedy in 1962 speaking to us today. do you know this fellow romney? [laughter] what you know about romney? have you met him? well, i'm still asking these questions all these years later. [laughter] [applause] we have a tough job up here tonight. the kind time the presses in on us tonight. i will be the best to be the kind of aggressive moderator that you may not have seen on television. [laughter] [applause] last night, in fact. [laughter] [applause] we are going to introduce this fascinating collection of more than 245 hours of tapes plus 17 ho

it is my pleasure to welcome to the stage caroline kennedy. [applause] >> thank you. that is so nice. welcome to all of you. it is wonderful to have you here. it made -- means a great deal 50 years after my father's presidency so many people still share his ideals and vision for america. his greatest legacy assume the inspired to enter public service everyday someone tells me there ran for office, got a ball then their community to volunteer in the inner city are out airspace because he asked them to give back to this country that has given us so much. the generation and he inspired has pass that on two grandchildren for a more peaceful world. as we approach the fifth anniversary we thought how to celebrate an honor my father's service and patriotism. his time is becoming history and not living memory. both parents loved history and passed that on to me and my brother john. myron dad read about civil war and the road for in my mother preferred ancient world and 18th century europe. for them the past is not a dry affair but full of exciting people brave he rose and eve

first, caroline kennedy with her new book on her father's presidency. we'll hear audio from jfk himself inside the oval office. irping ]hon [ buzzing ] bye dad. drive safe. k. love you. [ chirping, buzzing continues ] [ horn honks ] [ buzzing continues ] [ male announcer ] the sprint drive first app. blocks and replies to texts while you drive. we can live without the &. visit sprint.com/drive. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ >>> welcome back to "morning joe." you know, on the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis, caroline kennedy joined us with never-before-released audio recordings from inside her father's white house. >> caroline contributed to the book "listening in: the secret white house recordings of john f. kennedy," which includes more than

i once interviewed caroline kennedy who edited a simple book career mother was writing mostly and tapes from the white house, caroline kennedy is famous for staying on message and talking about certain things but not other things, tend to get off message. have you ever thought about a kennedy bookstore. she would not say anything about it. it is possible to have an entire book store devoted to the kennedys, a serious history, arnold schwarzenegger's book could be there as well. he tells the story going back -- he and maria shows in the house, in los angeles, hollywood. joseph kennedy would appear for a while and there was a tunnel underneath the house to gloria swanson's house and he said maria was the most interested and embarrassed by this story. i asked donald why he put that in the book. he didn't really answer the question. >> here's a question. kennedy's book store. there is a lincoln bookstore in chicago. >> the lincoln bookstore -- i want to try it that. i think a kennedy bookstore would be good. if anything you could fool and all the quote lows by virtue of their s by virtue of

. >> we have somebody like caroline kennedy at the democratic convention go up there on the stage, carolineennedy. identify herself as a catholic woman and launch into a proabortion spiel. not one catholic bishop, not one spoke out against ms. kennedy in public. not one. if you are not going to defend, not you, father morris, but if the structure of christianity in this country isn't going to defend what they believe, in you are going to lose. >> i'm with you, bill. i think bish shoppeds should have been more outspoken in that case. i would point to the example of cardinal dollan going to the democratic national convention as did he to the republic national convention, saying two different prayers. praying in different ways. if you read his prayer at the democratic national convention, he was praying for the outlaw, outlawing of abortion. among other things. >> bill: he is he a good man. dollan is a good man. >> that's why when you bill o'reillys and cardinal dollan. >> bill: here is what he should have done because he was at the democratic convention with ms. kennedy they were there at the

caroline kennedy is famous for staying on message. and to get off message attack have you for not only can the bookstore? if she was thinking about it, she wouldn't say anything. but you can have the entire bookstore devoted to the kennedys. service history can have a skin of section. arnold schwarzenegger spoke had been there. they are househunting and someone shows from the house, an apartment in los angeles, hollywood and the real estate agent said, you know, just as kennedy the for a while and there is a tunnel underneath the house and went forward to gloria swanson's house. he said rhea was both interested and embarrassed by the story. i asked arnold about why he put them in the book, did he think that would embarrass maria? he didn't really answer the question. kennedy bookstore. there is a link in bookstore in chicago. the link in bookstore. i want to chime in and say that i think a kennedy bookstore would be good. if anything, you could fold in all the cuomo's by virtue of their granted ceasing to exist as to the relationship

kennedy" has a forward by the president's daughter, caroline. irl. >> dearest jackie i'm dividing this letter into two parts. one typewritten and the other handwritten. typewritten part to give you the news of my visit to newport. i went up there last friday afternoon, and caroline looks beautiful. she was a great success on the beach and seemed to love the water. >> what goes through your mind knowing that it's a father talking about his love for his daughter? >> oh, it's great. the scene that he is describing is really familiar, so it's really nice to be able to place both of us in that scene. >> what did you learn about your dad listening in? >> well, i think i got, first of all, i got a much greater appreciation for him at work. i think his -- no kid knows what their parents do all day. for me, this was really in that way incredibly moving. i mean, i feel so lucky that there are so many recordings of him and all of that that give me a way to learn about and connect with him. >> you said something interesting, it's true, no kid really knows wh

. >> caroline kennedy in a discussion in a 1962 recording of the late president. tuesday evening at 7:00 eastern as book tv continues through the holiday on c-span2. >> our sunday round table from last week is back this week with clarity on the fiscal cliff. thank you both for being with us. guest: i guess congress is going to come back and see if they can come up with something that will give everyone enough political confidence so we can avoid the tax increases that are scheduled. i'm skeptical that is going to happen and my guess is we're going to go over the cliff.

we saw it as convention caroline kennedy invoked catholicism and 10 minutes later gave proabortion speech. ms. kennedy was not publicly chastised by any of the bishops in the country. i couldn't believe that it happened. and on the christmas deal why haven't seen christians in rhode island confront the governor there in arkansas we actually had a protestant pastor throw charlie brown under the -- that's not him that's the governor of rhode island. throw charlie brown under the bus. poor charlie brown gets run over by a train because the pulls the play merry christmas charlie brown. there is a problem in america with the christian forces being weak. >> that's right. and i'm telling you, bill. wimpy pastors produce wimpy christians and that is why we are losing this culture war and i believe it's time for pastors to say, you know, i don't care about controversy. i don't care whether i'm going to lose church members. i don't care about building a big church. i'm going to stand for truth regardless of what happens. you know you pointed out very rightly, bill, that what we're seeing happening

we saw it as convention caroline kennedy invoked catholicism and 10 minutes later gave proabortion speech. ms. kennedy was not publicly chastised by any of the bishops in the country. i couldn't believe that it happened. and on the christmas deal why haven't seen christians in rhode island confront the governor there in arkansas we actually had a protestant pastor throw charlie brown under the -- that's not him that's the governor of rhode island. throw charlie brown under the bus. poor charlie brown gets run over by a train because the pulls the play merry christmas charlie brown. there is a problem in america with the christian forces being weak. >> that's right. and i'm telling you, bill. wimpy pastors produce wimpy christians and that is why we are losing this culture war and i believe it's time for pastors to say, you know, i don't care about controversy. i don't care whether i'm going to lose church members. i don't care about building a big church. i'm going to stand for truth regardless of what happens. you know you pointed out very rightly, bill, that what we're seeing happening

. >> caroline kennedy joins "listening in" editor ted widmer in a discussion on the 1962 recordings of the late president in the oval office, tuesday evening at 7:00, as "book tv" continues through the holiday on c-span2. >> i was 9 and i was handing out leaflets for robert kennedy. when i was 10, i made a big decision and broke with the democratic party and went to work for john lindsay, who was running for mayor of new york. i went down to the liberal party. [laughter] i was handing out leaflets on a street corner in new york. and a woman thought this was really cute, this little boy handing out leaflets. she asked me why, and i made the case for lindsey. got an early start on my political consulting career. i made the case against his opponent as well. [laughter] she said, "that's so cute." she said, "this is for you." she hands me a box of what looked to be pastries, a white box with string. i took it back to the liberal party headquarters. we opened it up. there was all these doughnuts and a lot of $10 bills. so in one of my early lessons in politics, the district leader grabbed t

and caroline kennedy with secret recordings from inside her father's oval office. ♪ aww man. [ male announcerservice. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪ every signature is unique, and every fingerprint unrepeatable. at sleep number, we've always recognized the incredible diversity of human beings, and know that up there with your social security number and your phone number is another important number. your sleep number. so we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. a collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you your bodies. it began eight million customers ago, and it continues every time one of our sleep professionals rejects the notion of the mass-produced human, and helps another person find their sleep number setting. exclusively at a sleep number store. sleep number. comfort individualized. save 50% on the final closeout of our silver plus special financing through new year's day. yeah, our low prices are e

holiday, we'll look back at some of the most memorable conversations of the year inclulding caroline kennedywe'll revisit everything from great white sharks to mr. potato head. >> but we begin with look at today's eye opener. your world in 90 seconds.

course, the nice things that happened in life today and for the last nine years, i believe, caroline kennedy has been the host of the kennedy center honors. >> rose: succeeding walter cronkite. >> yes. the wonderful walter cronkite. >> rose: let's return to afi. why did you create that and what was its purpose? >> that came out of the creation of the national endowment for the arts. >> rose: right. >> and i was in washington working for murrow when that legislation was-- this during president kennedy's time, was crafted. and when it was written it listed opera, dance, music, all the arts. it did not list film. and i wrote to senator humphrey whom hi come to know a little bit, and said this is the great american art form that should be included. and he included it. and then when the legislation was passed, they knew what to do with dance, music. but nobody quite knew you can't give a grant to warner brothers. so the idea of the american film institute emerged. and i agreed to start it. >> rose: yeah. arthur schlessinger and others said that fill some really, you know, our unique contribution

. >> caroline kennedy joined in on a discussion on the 1962 recordings of the late president in the oval office. tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> there were a number of attributes and memorial services last week for senator daniel inouye of hawaii. his remains have laid in state in d.c., and in the state capital of allied. next, from the rotunda, john boehner, vice-president biden, and others. >> let us pray. gracious god, sovereign lord of history, thank you for the exemplary impact of senator daniel ken inouye on our national history. lord, we are grateful for the excellence that distinguished his significant career, for the quiet grace and dignity with which he represented the aloha state, and for the gift of discernment that enabled him to serve you faithfully for the good of america. as we express gratitude for the laudable footprints he left in the sands of time, give us your power to persevere in promptly doing what is right. made the memory of senator inouye's indefatigable faithfulness provide a benchmark for the lives of all labor for liberty. lord, intensify

. >> that is caroline kennedy on a discussion of the 1952 recordings of the late president in the oval office. that is tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. on c-span2. >> next, prime minister david cameron talks about the 3800 british troops that will be withdrawn from afghanistan by the end of 2013. he added that a small number of troops would remain to return equipment and work at an officer training academy. members also asked about the uk's immigration policy. also proposed health services spending cuts. >> order. questions to the prime minister. >> number one, mr. speaker. >>

. >> caroline kennedy on the 1962 recordings of the late president in the oval office.is tonight as we continue through the holiday on c-span2. >> the west virginia state society honored senator robert byrd last month. the longest living senator in history, robert died in -- robert byrd died in 2010. we will hear from two of his staffers. >> the first speaker is ira shapiro. author of "the last great senate." he played important roles in foreign intelligence surveillance and the completing of the metrorail system. during the clinton administration, he served as a leading u.s. trader and earned the rank of staffman. -- ambassador. he was described as an antidote and he promised to deliver. he practiced international trade law and washington. on behalf of the west virginia state society, i would like to introduce ira shapiro. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for the kind introduction. thank you to the society for giving me the chance to be here. thanks to mike who did so much to organize the event. he is an old friend. thank you, mike. i'm delighted to be here today wit

it was oprah winfrey who worked hard for him and then frozen out of the white house and caroline kennedy and on and on and on. the portrait that i derive from this was here was a president who for a man who felt he deserved, was entitled to all this support and didn't go any thing back in return. >> host: what about michele obama? what is her role in the white house? >> guest: i love that picture of michele obama. of very attractive woman as you can see in that picture. she has been on the cover of fashion magazines, vogue had her on the cover with the headline the first lady the world has been waiting for. michele likes to tell the american public she has no interest in politics, she doesn't like politics and doesn't want to get involved in politics and her main interest is in raising her children, taking care of her husband, doing work for her anti obesity campaign. miley reporting turned up a very different profile of michele obama, a woman who in fact grew up in a household where her father was a political operative of the daily machine in chicago who was actually weened on politics

. >> caroline kennedy in a discussion in the 1962 recordings of the late president in the oval office. tuesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern as a book tv continues on c-span2. >> the senate returns for legislative session on thursday. the house has a pro forma session scheduled that day. it will work on two bills. the first is on the fisa act. the other is a relief package for those areas affected by hurricane sandy. live work on the senate are companion network c-span2. and discussions continue over the so-called fiscal cliff. negotiations continue. nobel laureate and a burmese opposition leader aung san suu kyi accepted the congressional gold medal in september. she said it represents the aspirations of the burmese people for a democratic transition. we will also hear from secretary of state hillary clinton and former first lady laura bush. >> ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the united states house of representatives, the honorable john boehner. >> ladies and all men, good afternoon and welcome to the capital. this is a great day for the american people, and we are happy to welcome you

. >> caroline kennedy joins "listening in" editor on the discussion on the 1962 recordings of the late president from office. tuesday evening at 7:00 in eastern on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome back to our table, bill bennett. let's just continue the conversation we were having with our viewers. does religion and flow of your politics? guest: sure, i think it influences a lot of people's politics. daniel patrick moynihan, a democrat senator from new york, one of the great men of the senate -- george will things he was the model of will a senator should be -- taught us all that culture is more important than politics and terms of moving a society. political leaders in politics can alter the culture. we can see that effect, too. but culture really affects politics more than a big part of the culture is religion, what people believe. the best example i can think of would be martin luther king, jr.. he was a minister of the christian faith. he had a profound political -- political effect. and the religious beliefs, he said, he could do no other than f

caroline kennedy, on and on and on.the portrait that are derived from all of this -- here's a president and a man who felt that he deserved it was entitled to all the support and didn't know anything back in return. >> what about michelle obama. what is your role as far as she's concerned? >> i love that picture of her. she has been on the cover of many fashion magazines. the first lady but the world has been waiting for. she likes to show that she has no interest in politics, that she doesn't like politics and doesn't want to get involved in politics. that her main interest is in raising her children, taking care of her husband, doing some work, like her anti-obesity campaign. a very different profile of michelle obama, a woman who grew up in a household where her father was a political operative of the machine in chicago. .. >> it's a great story. it's a story of a woman who doesn't seem to have any ambitions either for herself or her husband, but in fact that is not the michelle obama that i found when i interviewed

. >> caroline kennedy and a discussion on the 1962 recordings of the late president in the oval office. as we continue to the holiday on c-span2. >> as president obama begins his second term in office, what are the most important issues to consider for 2013? >> make a short message for the president. >> joined the student can competition -- student cam competition. for more information go to studentcam.org. >> supreme court justice stephen breyer was recently at the brookings institution to talk about his new book. he also discussed china and the history of the u.s. constitution. this is just over an hour. >> ok. concepts. for 20 years i have been advising -- roughly half of that on financial economic matters. the other half a variety of topics. about 10 years ago, um we started -- about 10 years ago, we started talking about role of law. i said to him at the time, what strikes me about this topic was that other than the occasion i can think of, other than when paul worked at the state department and bill clinton was president, this topic in my view has never gotten the attention it de

macaroni, every little girl wanted a pony after seeing caroline kennedy with macaroni.l while at the white house. >> gretchen: wow. today she would have a twitter account. president ford and liberty. >> my favorite is liberty when she was expecting nine puppies, woke up president ford at 9:00 a.m. to go out. so president ford found his bath robe and slippers, took her out to the south lawn. she did her business, they turned around to come in and they were locked out of the white house at 3 a.m they had to go up three stories, still all the way locked out. had to go back downstairs before the secret service realized the president was -- >> brian: truman didn't have a balcony. what about president reagan? >> president reagan had two dogs, luck entry rex. they were fabulous. lucky was daunting. so she went to live at the western white house where she could run free and have more fun. >> steve: let's talk about 41's ranger. >> absolutely. ranger and millie, there is no greater -- >> steve: she wrote a book! >> she did. millie, she was the only truly presidential dog. she wa

. >> caroline kennedy talks about the 1962 recordings of the late president and the oval office.uesday evening at 7:00 eastern. >> when i first came to washington in 1968 as a staff member to the democrat, chairman of the rules committee, one of the things they would do on thursday night, they would play gin rummy in the capital and what they would call the madison room. my job was to pour the bourbon and by the cigars. you remember these names. there was camaraderie. john has made the point many times. when you are friends with somebody and you got with their families, you are a lot less inclined to cut their throat, politically. >> and then jack kemp became the ranking member. jack and i would go out and have meals together and talk football halftime, and then budgets. even though we disagree significantly on almost everything, we learn to like each other. he was not evil and i was not evil. out and have the problem now, people think that the guy on the other side is pure evil. my job is to blow them up. >> former members of congress look at how the lack of french across the ai

the president and first lady attended the evening hosted by caroline kennedy which featured tributesnnie raitt. the president quipped about the lifetime achievement awards. >> we continue a tradition by honoring extraordinary people who have no business being on the same stage together. we've got dave letterman alongside one of the greatest ballerinas of all time. i don't think dave dances. i worked with the speechwriters, there's no smooth transition from ballet to led zeppelin. we are trying to work the stairway to heaven metaphor and it didn't work. of course these guys also redefined the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. we do not have video of this. there were some hotel rooms trashed and mayhem all around. so it's fit that go we're doing this in a room with windows about three inches thick. >> pretty good. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? with the spark cash card from capital one, sven gets great rewards for his small business! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten

caroline kennedy's pony, macaroni was an all time favorite f favorite.millie, barbara bush's springer spaniel who wrote her own book and she's an all-time favorite and first lady barbara bush actually wrote the forward to this. >> kelly: what about our recent president george w. bush. >> george w. bush of course spot, one of millie's puppy, the only white house pet to live in the the white house under two different administrations and then of course, they had barney and all time favorites with the barney cam and first lady laura bush, uniquely used barney as a tool to open up the white house, in my opinion, to more people than ever before and the world because every could go into the white house and see the barney cam and enjoy the white house firsthand up close and personal. >> alisyn: the barney cam was funny. i remember some white house correspondent dinners they made light of that. >> absolutely. >> alisyn: you say the roles of the pets is not just companionship, but serves to humanize the presidents. how do they do that? >> i think it gives them a g

. >> caroline kennedy joins in a discussion on the 1963 recordings of the late president in the oval-span-2. >> as president obama begins his second term in office, what is the most important issue we should consider? >> tell us. make a short video about your message. >> it is c-span's student cam video competition. it is your chance to win the grand prize of $50,000. the deadline is january 18. for more information, go to studentcam.org. >> the first lady and two white house chefs recently held a demonstration with children in the state dining room. >> showing these flags. and all of the other ornaments on the tree here have been from previous years. we try to reuse them in a different format. the rest of the ornaments came from other trees in the white house. 60% of the ornaments are recycled from previous years. pardon me? >> [inaudible] >> all trees in the house. [inaudible conversations] ♪ [inaudible conversations] >> you take a red and you string it through. you put it through. can you do that? twist the upper, have you threaded the needle before? >> do you want to make one? >>

they had a story about white caroline kennedy did not get the nomination, and that was when it was something about her not paying her taxes. nobody ever put taxes down on attributed sources. this has been a problem at times they lost their credibility. let's go back a little bit in time or they had their main capability. it was a very important even did not just for the time but for the first amendment. they really risked the closing of the times and going to jail. the publisher at that time was author auks bergen. maybe we have to have a brief review course, because it is so very hard. it is a lot like system mary's street when a lot name them cost per. a brief history. he was succeeded by his son-in- law who was called authors say is bird who it -- there was another son and law who succeeded from 1951 through 1953. excuse me, 1961 through 1963. he dropped dead after two years but was succeeded by another son the known as arthur. this was difficult. now, we have authors sulzberger jr.. this is not easy. it will be a quiz at the end of the election. we basically on the newspaper -- we will c

. >> caroline kennedy on the 1962 recordings of the late president. that is at on c-span2. >> aerospace engineer burt rutan spoke in jacksonville, fla. at the world affairs council. he compared today's space program to the early days of space travel. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> i am going to talk about meanly two things. there is inspiration. inspiration for our kids so they can be innovative. and i am going to talk a lot about manned space flight. we are on the space coast, i guess, right? we will talk quite a bit about the history of manned space flight. pretty much that. i really welcome your questions when i am done. my first job out of college was a government job. i worked for the air force. flight testing airplanes during the vietnam war. i did that for seven years. it was a wonderful thing for future airplane designer to do, and that is test brand new airplanes on their initial flights. after that, i became an entrepreneur. i was not involved in the manned space flight of the 1960's. i was an observer and i did my own thing with a

they also had a story about why caroline kennedy did not get the nomination, and that is when they also mentioned that she did not pay her taxes or something, but nobody put any records down a unattributed sources to back this up. this was a problem for "the times." further back a little back in time to when they gained credibility. the publication of the pentagon papers was a very important events, not only for "the times," but for the first amendment. they really risked going to jail. the publisher at that time was arthur. maybe we need a brief review course. it is hard. it is like sesame street when everyone is named oscar. how do you keep them apart? a brief family history. oaks was succeeded by his son- in-law who was named arthur hays salisbury. then there was another son named dreyfus who succeeded from 1951 until 1961 -- excuse me, 1961 until 1963. he was succeeded by another saul's berger, a son of arthur hays sulzberger, known as arthur ochs sulzberger. now we have arthur sulzberger jr.. this is not easy. there will be a quiz at the end of the elections. so, the sulzberger's b

official holiday theme began in the 1960's went first lady jacqueline kennedy created in nutcracker themed christmas for her daughter caroline. in -- this year's theme is joy to all. it celebrates the joy of giving and service to others. the joy of sharing our blessings with one another and of course the joy of welcoming our friends and family as guests into our homes over the -- over these next several weeks. we have continued the tradition of decorating trees throughout the house. we have 54 trees in the white house. that is a lot of trees. they reflect the theme, including four trees in the grand foyer, the area out here, trimmed with ornaments paying tribute to the holiday legacies ladiesformer prr first dating back to jackie kennedy. some of them are replicas but there are a few that are original ornaments and they are tagged. some of them are mine, some of and the laura bushs's key is sense of what christmas felt like in other administrations. of course keeping with past holiday traditions, we have our annual white house gingerbread house. have you guys seen that yet? our executive pastry chef and his team did a phenom

they have power, they don't make us all eat cake oo anything 92 caroline, of course, fancy pants does, we have royalty here, we have kennedy without the title. every country has it. but having said that, what -- what is wrong with then you know, cavalier business types then atthing their name or their you know, very symbols th the royal family? this is a home run? >> well, it is using a baby to make money. in a crass way. i guess i'm attacking the whole notion of celebrity culture that we live in. where you know it distractions us from more important issue like poverty and human trafficking. neil: what about those celebrities that areddressing it like angina jolie, they are looking at hunger and they look at violence, they do good work. >> some are, and i know you do as well, if terms of philanthropy. neil: but i'm not beautiful. >>e're fascinated with pretty people, and why, what does that say about that. neil: it -- don't get me going. >> a lot o women objectivey you as well, i assume. neil: your point is the whole thing is a mistake, it just keeps this whole thing going, that is a hervetion. >eh . >> it is a distraction

i also want to recognize another one of president kennedy's amazing legacy, and that is his wonderful daughter, carolinewho is here tonight. [applause] none of this would be possible without the co-chairs of the president's committee on arts and humanities, george stevens. there he is. [applause] and his son, michael. where did michael go? there he is. they have produced the kennedy center honors for 35 years now. tonight we continue a tradition of the white house by honoring extraordinary people who have no business being on the same stage together. [laughter] uy sitting nextot dustin hoffman. all three living members of led zeppelin in one place. so this is a remarkable evening and speaks to something that has always made this country great, the idea that here in america, more than any other place on earth, we are free to follow passions, explore our own gifts and people from all over the world come here to make sure that they, too, can be provided this incredible gift. tonight honoree's did not take up the craft to make a living, but they did it because they could not imagine living in the other way.