the only president not named time magazine's person of the year was gerald ford. since the list began in 1927, every serving u.s. president has been a person of the year at least once except for colvin coolidge, hoover and ford. >> fascinating. >> it's snowing. >>> it's starting to snow across the area. a lot of pictures. thank you

a year and a half later, nixon was gone, gerald ford became president.ald reagan did run in '76. he challenged ford, a fellow republican for the nomination, but ford won. reagan did have to wait another four years for his next chance. >>> the big show in washington tonight, the lighting of the national christmas tree. first lady michelle obama read a visit from st. nicholas and blues legend b.b. king and the trusty lucille and acts including maroon five entertained up until the big moment. the president and his family flipped the switch, illuminated the thousands of bulbs. officially ushering in the christmas season in the nation's capital. look at that. >>> when we come back, a moment some school kids who have been in the national spotlight lately never dreamed they would have, and now they'll never forget it. >>> finally tonight, our "education nation" report and a very special field trip for a group of students who made their star turn earlier this year in a controversial and much talked about documentary out there about america's troubled schools. th

i served under democratic and republican presidents, under both gerald ford and ronald reagan as well as jimmy carter. and democrats lent a hand under republican administration. we voted for quite a lot of the things the republican president wanted simply because they had won a majority of the votes. not the case and president ford's case, but in ronald reagan's case. now we have an opposition party that has publicly announced that it is opposed to everything, everything and anything is president and this administration wants. that may be their so-called base may like that, the haters, but it is not in the interest of this country. and it weakens america, and people simply have to acknowledge that. tavis: the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. president obama met withcall in paul today and a number of former high-ranking officials -- colin powell -- trying to rally the troops around getting a start treaty re-signed. you have written about u.s. and russian relations. your sense of how much of the party this is and can the president get this done in this lame duck congress? >> of course he can. i think

the full committee passed it, the senate passed it, the house passed it, gerald ford signed into law. i signed it, sent it to my constituent and said the congress has acted in a correct way you have brought to my attention. two days later i received, quite a few days later, i received a letter from his wife saying that his husband -- her husband had received the note and he was thrilled this had passed. he died the next day. he died knowing that government could work for even one person. >> if you care about something, write your member of congress? >> the constitution provides for every citizen, preserves the right of every citizen to petition the government for redress of grievances. that person petitioned the government and the grievance was redressed. although he did not reap the benefit, his widow did, he knew that government could work even for one person. >> you spent a lot of time and this committee room over the years. what will you miss the most? >> i will miss the hearing process, the give-and-take, the questioning of witnesses, the seeking of the right answer, the seeking

for instance, when i was running for office against incumbent gerald ford and later four years lateragainst governor reagan we never dreamed of using negative commercials. we just refer to each other's as my distinguished opponent i think that the reason for the escalation and almost universal use of negative advertising on television and radio has become because of enormous influx of money into the campaigns. so if a candidate for congress pockets of $500,000 from oil companies or so forth this been a lot of that $500,000 on destroying the character and reputation of their opponent. it happens on both sides. i don't mean just to blame republicans. democrats do it, too. although the american people disagree with that procedure, it works. one of the candice prevails. both sides have pretty will convince the public that neither can it was worthy of all the office. so by the time they get to washington is still carryover that highly partisan animosity. it did not prevail at all when i was present or when president reagan was first elected. we had a wonderful bipartisan support. now ther

for instance, when i was running for office against incumbent gerald ford, and later, four years later against governor reagan, we never dreamed of using a negative commercial. we just refer to each other as not to become my distinguished opponent. and i think that the reason for the escalation and almost universal now of - five for ties and on television radio has become the us enormous influx of money into the campaign, so a candidate for congress gets a $500,000 from the wheel companies and so forth, then they spend a lot of that $500,000 on destroying the character and reputation of their opponent. and so, and it happened on both sides. i don't mean just to blame the republicans but democrats do it, too. and although the american people disagree with that procedure it works. so by the time of the election is over, one of the candidates prevails, but both sides have pretty well convinced the public that neither candidate was worthy of holding office, and so by the time they get to washington they still carry over that highly partisan animosity almost that didn't prevail at all when

this includes all the presidents from richard nixon forward, gerald ford, jimmy carter, ronald reagan, bill clinton, both presidents bush and barack obama. entertainers, pick one, marlon been dough, who kissed had him on the lips one night. johnny cash, paul mccartney, barbra streisand, anybody in the world of show business and foreign leaders, you bet, all of them. mikhail gorbachev, margaret thatcher, vladimir putin, nelson mandela. impressive doesn't do justice to his resume. he was also very kind to a first-time author when something called "it's getting ugly out there" was published. i have actually known larry king since my days at wnbc television here at new york city when he would occasionally be a guest on my program there "live at 5." he is a class act. he is my friend and i, along with millions of television viewers, are gonna miss him. so, here's the question. what will you remember most about larry king? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and reminisce with me. suzanne? >> jack, you look pretty good in that shot there. >> i was about six months younger. >> just six months. >> a c

. >> gerald ford agreed to debate carter because he was down in the polls. he made mistakes. they make mistakes in those debates. it is hard to get over them. we will get to that in a minute. this was cutting edge technology 50 years ago. i want to ask you a couple of questions. what will we be doing 50 years or two years from now? we have technology we are not using. >> the internet hasraded massif opportunity for people to participate with you to order twitter -- with youtube or twitter. become thet has ti com tivo of our time. they know they do not have to watch it live. it is in the opportunity to break down some of the artificial ways in which to select our candidates. they do not need to be sown negotiated or litigated. the technology can allow everyone to ask questions. they can also allow candidates to answer the questions online and allows citizens to vote, whether or not they a lot of questions. it can open up the process to third-party candidates. it is one of the major reasons why they hardly negotiate with each other in order to block out central or third-party c

. >> gerald ford agreed to debate today carter because he was way down in the polls. he made mistakes. they make mistakes in the debates. it is hard to get over them. i want to bring in andrew. this was cutting edge technology 50 years ago. it is not cutting edge right now. what are we going to be doing 50 years from now? we have technology we're not using? >> the internet has creative a way for people to participate. the entire political media has changed. the internet has become the tivo of our time. people know they can watch it later. the internet provides an opportunity to break down some of its artificial ways in which we select our candidates. they do not need to be so scripted. they do not need to be so litigated or negotiated because the technology can allow everyone to ask questions and vote which questions they want answered. they can also allow the candidates to answer the questions on-line. then even allow citizens to vote on whether the canada answer the question. more important it could open up the process to third-party candidates, which is one of the

let me read this from 1976 from gerald ford. the message of christmas has not changed over the course of 20 centuries. peace on earth, good will toward men, that message is as inspiring today as it was when it was first proclaimed to the shepherds near bethlehem. it was first proclaimed as we all know then in 1976 -- as we all know, then. in 1976, america has been blessed with peace and restoration of domestic harmony. but true peace is more than an absence of battle. it's also the absence of prejudice and the triumph of understanding. brotherhood of all peoples must be the solid cornerstone of a sulastaining force the celebration of the birth of jesus is observed on every continent. the customs and traditions are not always the same.ween friends and family members are equally strong and equally warm. and warm. god bless you. this is from president bush's message december 8, 1992, the christmas season, millions of people around the world gather with family and friends to recall the events that took lace place 2,000 years ago as

. >> guest: port gerald ford had a reason to do well, i gave is meant a pardon, which is almost the samee of that chapter. i think that was a terrible mistake. >> host: so you are not, i think it's probably safe to say, in the interest of full disclosure, president ford, that was one of the libraries iran. we had a personal relationship. i think it's safe to say, he lived long enough to have the satisfaction of knowing that most americans had come to the point of view that what he did was necessary and, indeed, an act of political courage. the kennedy library gave him the profile, courage of or. but i take it you question that consensus among you still think it was a mistake. >> guest: yes, i think it's a terrible mistake. i think richard nixon was one of the most dangerous presidents we have ever had. i think he was truly close to being a madman. >> host: you can. both johnson and nixon to caligula, which is -- >> guest: johnson, in terms of his private life, i mean, we haven't mentioned that but each of these presidents has a private life for a love life, and they are often at complete

. >> gerald ford agreed to debate carter because he was down in the polls. he made mistakes. cutting edge technology 50 years ago. i want to ask you a couple of questions. what will we be doing 50 years or two years from now? we have technology we are not using. >> the internet has traded massif opportunity for people to participate with you to order twitter -- with youtube or twitter. become thet has ti com tivo of our time. they know they do not have to watch it live. it is in the opportunity to break down some of the artificial ways in which to select our candidates. they do not need to be sown negotiated or litigated. the technology can allow everyone to ask questions. they can also allow candidates to answer the questions online and allows citizens to vote, whether or not they a lot of questions. it can open up the process to third-party candidates. it is one of the major reasons why they hardly negotiate with each other in order to block out central or third-party candidates coming in to participate in the debate. the internet -- the technology offers an abundance. this

special assistant to gerald ford talks about the election, why mr. ford decided to run. from the naval academy, a feel the south peaked militarily. telling the american story every weekend on c-span-3. >> canal, an event with the national counter-terrorism center. this is a speech called, "and the changing terrorist threat." this is about 40 minutes. >> thank you, juan. i would be remiss if i did not note that he served this country with amazing grace. i think i just got up on his last e-mail from two years ago. today, what i would like to talk about is really in three areas, and i will do my best to keep us to 25 minutes. first, i do want to released briefly give you a sense of how i see the changing nature -- at least briefly give you a sense of how i see the changing nature of the threat. i think the threat is moving rapidly enough that we cannot do this often enough. second, i would like to give you a sense of where i think we are in our effectiveness against the multifaceted terrorist threat, and also an important point, where i think we should aim to be, which is t

. >> gerald ford agreed to debate jimmy carter because he was way down in the polls. but he made mistakes. they make mistakes in debates and it is hard to get -- we will get to that. i want to bring in german do here. this technology was on the cutting edge. i want ask you a couple of questions. but what will we be doing 50 years from now or even two years from now. we have technology we're not using. >> the internet gives people an opportunity to participate on twitter on blogs. the psychology has changed. one other reason we did not get 7 million people is because the internet have become the -- >> of our times. if people do not have to be there watching a real time. -- has become the tivo of our times. people do not have to be there watching real-time. they do not have to be descriptive, but they do have to be so negotiator litigated. technology can allow everyone to ask questions and vote which questions they want answered. they can allow that candidates to answer the questions on line, not necessarily on television. and then you can vote on whether the candidate

the 2003 pulitzer prize for history in 1999 for national reporting and the 2007 gerald r. fordard. for distinguished reporting on national defense. please join me in welcoming the 2010 recipient of the pritzker military library literature award for lifetime achievement in military writing, rick atkinson. [applause] it may be very easy to just keep giving you a word for your work. >> i'll take you. >> you would take them. this has been a fascinating, fascinating career. have you ever wondered if you wake up in something also have been? >> i'm afraid i might wake up in something else might have been. i've been very lucky. as with many people are blundered into what may turn out to be a real passion and that was the newspaper business and not provided me with the tools and experience and wind at my back to become a full-time narrative historian. and so the art has been unpredictable at times, but i couldn't be luckier. >> i wanted to think of a creative way to talk about all the things that you've done tonight. i asked a lot of very mutual friends to submit questions to me over th