east berlin, i guess, is matching the contours of east germany. i'll talk about checkpoint charlie and the other checkpoint, bravo, which we used one time in this particular exercise. the berlin crisis began in 1958 when khrushchev issued a challenge to the west. he said, i want you to sign a peace treaty for berlin and for germany and when that peace treaty is signed all of the rights that the allies enjoyed will pass to the gdr, the german democratic republic, because they are the ones who are sovereign in berlin and in what he called the gdr. if they do not agree -- if the allies do not agree to sign that, i will sign the treaty with the gdr. the gdr will impose its rules on whoever wants to come into berlin. this was a direct challenge. it created a lot of commotion in the west. it created conferences. one particular conference with eisenhower and khrushchev when khrushchev visited the united states. he did not get to disneyland much to his sorrow. but he got to a lot of other places. between eisenhower and others, they held khrushchev back for

east berlin is matching the contours of east germany and the checkpoint charlie which i'll talk about and then, of course, the other checkpoint bravo with which we use only one time in this particular exercise. the berlin crisis began in 1958, when krusef said sign a peace treaty for berlin and germany and 5u8 the rights that the allies have enjoyed will pass to the gdr, the german democratic republic because they're the ones who are suffering in berlin and what he called the gdr. and if they do not agree, if the allies do not agree to sign that then i will sign the treaty with the gdr and they can impose their rules on whoever wants to come into berlin. this was a direct challenge. it created a lot of commotion in the west. it created conferences, one particular conference between eisenhower and this kruskhev but he got to a lot of other places besides disneyland and between eisenhower and the others they held him back for a while and nothing very much had happened except there was a lot of talk. in 1961, john f. kennedy became president. essentially, others had left the problems for

berlin. on the way out the east german guards pointed their guns at us, but we knew they would not shoot. clay found that kennedy supported him much of the time, not always. but there was a lot of opposition toward clay. clay was trying to do things to demonstrate that the american presence in berlin was something we took seriously. that we weren't going to let ourselves be harassed out of it. but he had a lot of opposition in washington. one was mac bundy. one was dean rusk. secretary of state. he said to clay, you shouldn't react to everything that the soviets and east germans do. you should only react when they affect our vital interest. nobody who exactly what that meant. in any case, clay did not listen to him. the british prime minister, harold mcmillan who wanted us out of berlin and told kennedy that, called clay a senile and bitter old ass, which was not exactly a term of endearment. but which reflected the british policy. i wonder whether the documents that you're releasing shows some of this because the british attitude was different from clay's. checkpoint charlie. on october

. >>> checkpoint charlie, on october 22nd when alan light her was going to east berlin to botch opera he was stopped by the east germans demanding additional identification which he wouldn't show. clay was notified and he sent a squad of soldiers, they escorted light her in and out because they could go american soldiers could go through that checkpoint and the east germans had no authority to stop them and within 24 hours the east germans were no longer at the checkpoint. they were just soviet there is manning it because they weren't going to take a chance. a week earlier, clay had sent kennedy a cable which i saw. he showed me that at the time. and he said, our problem is the soviets are letting the east germans harass us and harass us while they stay mt. background. they beat up on us and they, themselves, appear to take no responsibility. the next time this happened, i'll cobb front them and force the soviets to show their hand. and clay saw this as the ideal opportunity. after all allen wlooirtnor came he sent in them in civilian clothes. low and behold, they were stopped and we

if you cut off east berlin we can live with that, just don't take was berlin are co he signaled to themclearly, take what you have to take to protect your soviet round but you don't want workers going to the west. do what you have to do but no war. it's easy for camp to say. we should have been tough the tough is not a metaphor. it leads to consequences. outside of that, the russians backed down are we back down or neither side ask down. the fear kennedy had gotten from reading barbara tok was wet launches countries and to world war ii and world war iii is each side does what it feels it has to do step-by-step and you create a ruth goldberg situation where both sides find themselves killing each other over something both sides did not want to do. that is where presidents differ from historians. >> host: we will continue on the major points of the presidency but now it differs and back to presentation. i remember going to the news conference. i didn't have the guts to think about asking a question. >> guest: you could wave your hand at that time are co. >> host: we think about the way it

berlin. one area was already known in the east german era. it's still has the original early 1960's styling. tonight is russianized and the mood is just as it was when the first wave arrived in berlin a century ago. many of the new immigrants are students. young russians adapt easily to life in germany. an estimated 100,000 russian speakers now live in berlin. there are russian-language newspapers, magazines, even a radio station broadcasting 12 hours a day. the media company keeps the lines of communication to the old country open. today's russia is very different from the one many expatriates' left many years ago. >> they have come to germany to stay. these are their new homes. most acquired german citizenship. they owned homes here. their children go to school here. most, nearly 95%, stay here permanently. >> a painter and musician did not want to come to germany at all at first. as a child, she had been taught that germans were the villains, the enemy. when the iron curtain fell, she came to berlin to take part in an art project. a deep in

>> we have a major visitor here in berlin, the palestinian authority president, mahmoud abbas, is in germany for talks focusing on efforts to resume the middle easteace process. abbas was locked on to berlin by president christian wulff. he's due for talks with chancellor merkel on thursday. he is looking for international support to stop israel from building settlements in the west bank. that is the main palestinian condition for the resumption of full peace talks. meanwhile, lawyers for christian wulff said it will publish the catalog of answers to journalist questions of the president's personal loan scandal. some 240-pages of answers will be uploaded on the internet. the president has been under fire over a private home loan and vacation stays at the homes of wealthy business friends. he promised full disclosure in a television interview last month, but until now, his lawyers have blocked the move. the berlin fashion week has kicked off, and alongside the traditional mainstay in fashion, a lot of petition will be played to green where an ethical levels. it is a trend that more and more designers are falling. includes a sequim material, applyi

as fires reached the middle east, in russia moscow's red square erupted in revelry. berlincelebration as more than 1 million gathered. and the city of lights, paris, truly sparkled. londonners welcomed a new year that will bring them the summer olympics. and south america rang in the new year rio style. lady gaga hoined the entertainment. >> and there they go. >> the pop singer also helped the city's mayor hit the button to lower the iconic ball. as the world said hello to 2012. in time ds square. >> cutting your calories is just one of the steps that can lead to a healthier you. >> plus getting healthier could start with breaking bad habits. how you can break the smoking habit. >> and getting a handle on your finances a resolution, the geek squad with tips to help you turn your gadget into a money aving >> 35 digs. in this morning's medical alert did you know just one cigarette a day increases a woman's risk of a deadly heart attack? a new study found those who smoked 1-1 cigarettes every day had almost double the risk compared to nonsmokers. smoking more than 25 a day mor

berlin, she urged both sides to resume negotiations. the palestinians have withdrawn from peace talks in protest that continued israeli settlement activity in the west bank. >> middle easteace talks have been stalled for more than three years. the german chancellor would consider it a success of current meetings restarting formal negotiations did not collapse. she was cautiously optimistic after meeting the palestinian president. >> there have been many attempts already, so we will not be discouraged. both sides are at least talking to each other again. that was not the case for many months, and we want to take advantage of this opportunity. >> mahmoud abbas welcomed the talks under way in jordan, but he accused israel of undermining the peace process by continuing settlement construction. together with the eu and u.s., angela merkel has called on israel to stop on building in the west bank and east jerusalem. the host of the preparatory talks, the king of jordan, was in washington this week to brief president obama on their progress. both emphasized their wish to see progress on the seemingly intractable issue of settlements. >> a suicide attack in southern afghanistan

the berlin crisis is considered a milestone of the cold war by many historians. built in august of 1961, the wall straighted is the city in two parts. east and west. two months later in october of 1961, soviet and u.s. tanks

when the berlin wall fell, i remember writing that in the television age, there were no secrets on the other side of the tracks. people in the east see a better way of life in the west on television and they wanted it and the wall came down. in the age of the internet, we see not only just beyond the tracks but over the mountains behind the tracks. and behind the house. and under the bed. a television ad runs in iowa and in seconds it's being seen in bangor, maine and waco texas. this is probably better overall but not always. social media has redefined the idea of privacy. everything is out there now. and i can't get very excited about extending the reach of negative ads. but as a friend of mine who used to work here once said, "that's the way it is." that's it for us today. join us next week when jody cantor, author of the explosive new book, "the obamas" will join us on "face the nation" and look for us on the web on wednesday for our new midweek face the nation extra, face to face at www.cbsnews.come slash face the nation. we'll see you tomorrow morning from new hampshire on cbs this morning. captioning sponsored by cbs capti

as midnight reached the middle east, fireworks thrilled those gathered at the world's tallest building in dubai. in russia, moscow's red square erupted in revelry. berlind in a huge celebration as more than a million gathered at the famous gate. and the city of light, paris, truly sparkled. londoners welcomed a new year that will bring them the summer olympics. and south america rang in the new year rio style. lady gaga headlined the entertainment before more than a million people enjoyed the unseasonable mild temperatures. the pop singer helped the city's mayor hit the button to lower the iconic ball. as the world said hello to 2012. in times square, wendy gillette, nbc news. >>> the governor of a state in southern argentina has died after being shot in the head. a spokesman for the state said governor carlos arilla was celebrating near the city of general rocca when he was killed. he was 61 years old was a member of the nation's governing party. >>> iraq celebrated two holidays with the coming of the new year. nuri al malaki declared december 31st a national holiday to end the u.s. military presence. he called it a new dawn for iraq and called out ir

november 9th, 1989, with the leaders of the east german opposition and they said maybe within a year is a will be free passage back and forth across the berlin wall. with a matter of hours the berlin wall, its impediment to human traffic no lottery system. that was a huge lesson for me. even those closely associated with a movement don't know where they're going or what their potential is. so i put my faith in movement. karl popper in the open society and his enemies were right. the question is not how you get good people to rule. that is the wrong question. most people who are attracted power are at best mediocre which is obama or venal which is bush. the question is how do you make those in power frightened of you. that comes through movement. the destruction of those movements, labor movement and all sorts of social movements including communist unions which were the first integrated organization in the countrywide great public intellectuals join them because it was the only place a black man with any dignity could often go. these have all been decimated and that has been catastrophic to our democracy. we have to put our faith back in mov

berlin. >> guest: he wanted to avoid his number one goal. >> host: august the 6120 cents every message possible, we are going to normalize it. unrecognized east germans and all of that. and now here comes the wall. better wall than they were. he's written a book called them and 61, in which he tries to make the case that kennedy was ruled by khrushchev once again. we should knock down the wall. just go as we watch this presidential election we are now covering, the most important question is you have to ask whether we always ask whether it's okay to bomb iran. what is the second step? we had 15,000 by nato forces. the french come in to. guess how many of the russians had? 350,000. the minute they rolled into berlin,, we would have a choice to give in to west berlin in a matter of hours, which would have been horrific for europe, or go to some kind of nuclear weapons and stop them in their tribe. kennedy said i'm not going to that step because that stuff is horrible. to put them in the position of lunch in a third world war. kennedy knew this. i could say with a tremendous sense of command to just say no to them. got my work and i might not. a

as midnight reached the middle east, fireworks thrilled those gathered at the world's tallest building in dubai. in russia, moscow's red square erupted in revelry. berlin basked in a huge celebration as more than a million gathered at the famous gate. and the city of light, paris, truly sparkled. londoners welcomed a new year that will bring them the summer olympics. and south america ran rang in the new year rio style. more than a million people enjoyed the unseasonable mild temperatures. the pop singer helped the city's mayor hit the button to lower the iconic ball. as the world said hello to 2012. in times square, wendy gillette, nbc news. >>> meanwhile, a controversial new defense bill is now law after getting president obama's signature. the wide-ranging bill includes a provision that includes military custody for suspected terror suspects with ties to al qaeda or who are involved in plotting or carrying out attacks in the u.s. the president signed the bill yesterday in hawaii despite the fact that he has quote, unquote serious reservations about these terrorism measures. >>> a long-time military detention center in virginia is now closed. . the m

east german opposition. and they said, well, maybe within a year, there will be free passage back and forth across the berlin wall, within a matter of hours, the berlin wall at least as an impediment to human traffic no longer existed and that was a huge lesson for me. that even those most closely associated with these movements don't know where they're going. and oftentimes don't even know what their potential is. so i put my faith in movements. i think carl popper in the open society and its enemies was right. the question is not how do you get good people to rule. that's the wrong question. most people, popper writes, who are attracted to power are at best mediocre but how do you make those in power frightened of you and that comes through movements and the destruction of those movements, labor movements, all sorts of social movements including commist unions which were the first sort of integrated organizations in the country why great public intellectuals and artists like paul robeson joined them because it was the only place a blackman with any dignity could often go. these have all been decimated and