. >> jack kerouac became like a godfather for the counter culture. >> the village has a life and cultureig it, you're hip. if you don't, man, you're square. coffeehouses. the neighborhood bars of bow people yeah. the coffeehouse poet is the sperkt speciality eveof the hou. >> beatniks had coffeehouses where they'd go in and read poetry. and those same coffeehouses became a proving ground for folk singers, and all the kids were running out to buy guitars and banjos. >> folk music gives me a lot more than the popular music of the time does. >> they should be sung because we don't do nianything. >> there's got to be an alternative to whatever ways of life are offered, democrat, republican, and i would like to offer some kind of alternative, somehow, you know? >> folk revival scene had a big part of politics. you can't get left politics out of woody guthrie or pete seeger. so the greenwich village movement was there to celebrate people's culture. >> if you liked the music, you were signing on for their ways of looking at the world, too. and eventually, one guy emerges as being special. ♪ a b

he has a jack kerouac novel in the back of his pocket that he doesn't read. version of phoebe from friends. every time he shows up, you were just waiting for her to get off screen. exactly. [laughter] >> juan: all right. go, dana, go. but the public, in terms of what the polls show, the public likes red flag laws, likes background checks, even a higher cap on magazines and assault weapons. republicans and nra members say yes. >> what you are citing as the majority of the public being open to legislation moving forward. that makes sense. beto o'rourke came up with a plan that will not work legally or financially for his overall definition of -- right. for his definition of assault weapons. for me, it's not about opening the right wing to attack. it's about radical versus reasonable. >> juan: you think that the nra is reasonable? >> 36% of the nra members are democrats. >> juan: i don't think the nra likes it. i don't know about that. speak i don't know. i forgot where i was. no, it's okay. to me, mayor pete is wasting his time. he's engaging with beto's inflam

he befriended "beat" writer jack kerouac shortly after compiling "the americans," and kerouac later wrotebook's forward. and, frank's black-and-white photos were featured on the cover of the rolling stones' critically-acclaimed 1972 album "exile on main street." later in his career, frank continued to shoot photos and film, largely focusing his lens on america's least privileged, rather than the powerful. robert frank died monday, in nova scotia. he was 94 years old. >> woodruff: and there's more online, where we take a closer look at one of frank's most enduring images from his book "the americans."at on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. ord that ithe newshour night. i'm judy woodruff.at for all of uhe we'll see you soonk you, and >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided :f >> bnsrailway. >> consumer cellular. >> financial servicejafirm raymond mes. >> the ford fodation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of internatial p

he was bornoductory -- introducn of the book was written by jack kerouac who wrote with that little cameraca on to film. annie liebovitz who was a younger photographer called the book, "the americans," her bible. she said he looked at america as no one else had before even if it wasn't pretty. frank said i was tired of romanticism, i wanted to present what i saw, pure and simple. he did. and that book, you know, more than 50 years later is still a landmark for almost every photographer i meet. >> a landmark today. a classic. at the time, initially -- >> a lot of people didn't like it. america was in the post-war period of prostator, didn't want to see -- prostator, didn't want to see it that way. >> in an interview, robert frank, age 90, was still angry. some things you don't forget. >> that's the beauty of photography, though. you can't change -- once it's there, you can't change it. good we have documentation. tony? >> i am -- i want to highlight a program in boston. the city is giving every student starti ing kindergarten this we $50 for college savings as part of a program called bosto