robert kennedy in my alternate history has taken john kennedy's senate seat in massachusetts and teddy would have been too yet. in that year of the robert kennedy of 1960 was more of a cold war kind of guy than he later came to be. there is nobody pushing for the other way out which means not to give away too much the result of the cuban missile crisis are really different from the one that some of us lived through and read about. that is one. the second story, obvious personal connections, another attempt on a life of another kennedy on june 4th lead digital 1968. robert kennedy has finished his victory speech and because of the decision to spare him another rally he goes to the kitchen at the ambassador hotel but unlike reality, something changes. here is another of those discoveries that threw me for a move. i was reading oral history in the john f. kennedy library and cable across steve smith's oral history where i blame myself sometimes because i was always in the habit when i was around the senator of walking in front of him, not for security but to get him through faster. had he

and thought that he was doing fidel castro a favor by going after john kennedy. so indirectly yes, i do think the bay of pigs definitely leads to the assassination of kennedy. mfa more direct link but that's very difficult, maybe impossible, to improve. over here, please. outcome do you any second. second. >> what's confusing to me is after the first day of the invasion it became very clear the u.s. decline, then if it was know that the secondary airstrikes on the 17th, the invasion was doomed, are you basically saying that the cause, kennedy was afraid of lighting the match against the soviet union, that he was willing to sacrifice the 1400 men for the good of the bigger picture? >> it's a haunting question. >> how you portrayed this, whether we are in favor or not in favor of war or in favor are not in favor of getting rid of castro by putting the plan in place, we had already committed. and anything short of that, you said there's no guarantee what were, anything short of that would be a disaster. so it's hard to imagine that 1400 lives would be sacrificed, or

which was the last thing that john kennedy wanted to see. onventional wisdom has it that the cia misled kennedy about the essentials of the operation. that they really tricked him into going ahead by misleading him, for example, about the chances of the cuban population rising up against castro. i don't think the cia was upfront. richard bissell later admitted he was fooled hard. i don't think kennedy was fooled. i think he knew what he was getting into it. he got into it anyway, because he didn't know how not to get into it. by the way, most americans were in the same corner with him. everybody wanted castro gone. the operation moved forward almost immediately through february and march. and finally in early april, after weeking of hemming and hawing, president kennedy gave it the thumb's up. he still held out the possibility of canceling it, but he never did. for reasons that he mentioned, i don't think there was ever a good chance that he would have. and so back to where we began, april 15th, and the opening attack on the cuban airfields.

favored the strike it was the 11th 13 data-processing to work their way through the there was no john kennedy and robert kennedy has taken the senate seat in massachusetts teddy was too young and then in that era the kennedy is much more cold war type of guy then he came to be. nobody is pushing for the other way out which means that the results of the cuban missile crisis are really different from the ones that we live through. that is one. the second story for its obvious personal connections is another attempt on another life june 4th 1968 robert kennedy has finished his victory speech and because of a last-minute flight on the wall decision to spare another rally he goes through the kitchen of the ambassador hotel. but unlike reality something changes here is another discovery that knocked me for a loop was reading the histories in the jfk library and come across steve smith oral history i blame myself sometimes because i was always and haven't when i was around a senator to walk in front of him not for security but to get him through faster and had he been retainer we would have he would

john f. kennedypes, from john donvan. >> we have a liftoff. >> reporter: that moon shot in 1969. it was the perfect match of action to words. >> the eagle has landed. >> reporter: those words up there -- >> that's one small step for man. >> reporter: and years earlier, these down here. >> we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. >> reporter: which were somewhere between a promise and a prediction. >> landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. >> reporter: because we now know we did it. and even if he didn't live to see that, he got to see it started, sending an uncomplicated message about who we are, that we do what we say we'll do. so, surely, jfk himself never worried out loud that a man landing on the moon was a good idea -- well, listen closely. he did. >> do you think the lunar, the manned landing on the moon is a good idea? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: in these latest tapes from the kennedy libra

que dar un apoyo económico hasta que el niño tenga 18 años, shriver sobrina del ex-presidente john kennedydo comenzó su campaña como republicano a pesar de ser ella demócrata. >>> siempre me ha apoyado y sé cuantos votos he recibido gracias a ti dijo en esa época. >>> dijo que este era un momento doloroso y como madre su preocupación eran sus hijos. >>> ella queda como víctima sobre todo si se agrega lado zeus sentimental que implica el mensaje de su hijo hoy en twitter diciendo que hay días en que uno se siente basura, lo pongo elegantemente y además, firma como patrick shriver. el gobernador que dijo que ha cubierto la mantención del su hijo il jay timo asume la responsabilidad y opere ze disculpas a su familia. >>> ex acepte la responsabilidad que tiene su hijo por fuera. >>> que le perdone al marido error hay en todo mundo. >>> el actor que demasiadoing o el cargo en enero y intentará revivir su carrera se vio presionado a admitir su paternidad. amigas han el la mujer había dicho que su hijo era de su esposo, los únicos que dicen no estar sorprendidos eran quienes compitieron políticam

my cohost today is john seigenthaler, a highly respected journalist who also served as special assistant to attorney general robert f. kennedy during the civil rights movement. after retiring from newspapers, john went on to found the first amendment center. john and i are delighted to welcome a pulitzer prize-winning author and journalist whose recent book, called the children, focuses on the work of courageous young people in the civil rights movement, and whose earlier book, the best and the brightest, was the definitive study of american policy in vietnam. david halberstam. [applause] i have to ask the first and most basic question. you graduate from harvard in 1956. five. '55. with great distinction. no, i was a terrible student. [laughter] i was in the bottom third of my class. that was the heart of my question. how badly did you do at harvard? [laughs] i think i had-- i mean, i think it's true of a lot of people in journalism. i had in those days what we didn't know was attention deficit disorder. i did not focus well on schoolwork, but i was good at something called journalism. i was on the undergraduate newspaper. a

i was asked to commemorate john kennedy's famous speech challenging our nation to go to the moon. when president kennedy made his moon shot speech in 1961 there were those who said, and i was a senior in high school, i remember the sense of enthusiasm, but i remember the naysayers. some of the adults in my neighborhood, the development we lived in who said we can't afford this kind of silly commitment. we can't afford at this moment that moment in our history to make such an investment. but just like there are those then, today they are the same people. and there are many of our republican colleagues who are seeking to stay and gain office, who say we can't afford today. literally, this is what they say, we can't afford to make the investments in education, in early education, in access to college, we can't afford to make the investments in innovation and technology and science. we can't afford -- they acknowledge a need, but we can't afford to renovate the infrastructure of america to meet the needs of the 21st century. we can't afford to do that. in 1961 president kennedy answere

. >> that speech by john f. kennedy launching us to the moon was delivered before a joint session of congress 50 years ago today. he set a deadline of 1970, and while he did not live to see it, we made it by the summer of '69, and the kennedy library today released audiotapes on a meeting with the head of nasa on the subject. the president can be heard worrying that will seen lie a stunt. >> but he seems jurally convinced it was for the good of the nation. >> i think it would be an asset, this program. i think it's setting up a lot of things, but a lot of people may say, what are we making the trip for? but at the end of the day, we're glad we made it. >> the irony is, of course, we're about to end the manned space program when the last shuttle launches this july. neil armstrong was one of the three astronauts writing in today's "usa today," quote, john f. kennedy would have been sorely disappointed. >>> and for oprah fans, of course, today is right up there with the end of the space program. today's last oprah winfrey

. >>> the aircraft carrier "john f. kennedybefore it was decommissioned four years ago, today on what would have been president kennedy's 94th birthday, the navy said the next u.s. air carrier will also be named "john f. kennedy" in honor of his service in world war ii. >>> that brings us to the story of veterans of world war ii on this memorial day weekend. recently two dozen service members from tennessee and mississippi ranging in age from 83 to 95 got to make a special pilgrimage to washington to see the world war ii memorial, their memorial, for the first time. they arrived to a hero's welcome, 66 years in the making. marines, army infantrymen, and air 4 gunners, even a few women who served, known as waves and whacks, to the crowd, there was just one name for them, heroes. >> couldn't imagine anything like this before. in fact it was a greater welcome than i got when i came back from europe. >> private parnell, you have not changed a bit. >> reporter: it's been a lifetime since they flew over the targets, stormed the beach

and the sec's discussion, well known that washington had a lot of sex and franklin roosevelt and john kennedy had their affairs but it did not make the press and in that time period we don't have the sex scandals to distract us from the true problems at hand. >> host: you talked about a sea change in the 1970s regarding politician than sex. what happened and the 1970s? you suggest another area where americans attitudes with politicians and sex change once again? >> guest: the reason it changed and david can elaborate more on this is after the cold war, they no longer protected roosevelt or eisenhower or whoever and maybe they weren't doing anything but as far as their private lives they protected him and after the cold war it was not that way anymore. that changed the lot. the political landscape as far as how it would personalize -- >> guest: in the 1970s you have the sexual resolution which is comfortable with the rise of feminism. in kennedy's they what would have been a pass became after the 1970s a sexual harassment as we saw with paula jones and bill clinton. we had a huge change in ame

. >> president john f. kennedy, jfk, and then there was bobby. >> we have to make an effort to understand and get beyond or go beyond these rather difficult times. >> and teddy, the third to reach the u.s. senate. >> too many of our senior citizens are being forced to choose between neglecting their ing aments are or being authorized by them. >> at home there was ted and his wife joan. teddy, jr., kara, and patrick, who was the youngest by six years. it was july of 1967, patrick's birth made headlines. just five days old and people wondered if he would run for president. did you surround the dinner table and the same issues you'd talk about in public, did those sur surround the dinnertime discussion? >> my dad and my uncles always included all our family in anything that he was doing. of course i probably caught less than 10% of what was actually being said, but i caught the sense that there was something being discussed that was big and important. i felt like i had a front row seat to american history. >> i admire

john kennedy have done in the u.s. military entirely? well, we can say yes to that and we had to ask what would have happened afterwards. what if he had done that? what is the marines had gone into cuba in april of 1961? it's hard to know how that would have played out. what we do know is what happened, and what happened was tragedy. thank you all very much for coming tonight. i really appreciate it. thank you. [applause] .. >> this is about an hour. >> the title of the event is "vietnam: an american war in asia." american and vietnamese perspectives. i'd like to call your attention to two things up here. these two canvass, as many of you probably are aware, a program started in 1995 here in charlottesville called the vietnam graffiti project. this is material found on a troop ship. the graffiti left on these birthing canvass was created by young american soldiers going to seat that many in 1966 and '67. it is a tribute to their service. we display them here because the virginia foundation for the humanities has been sported -- supportiv

john f. kennedy arrived. harold wilson at down sting -- mcmillen was still asleep. he -- he slept in. they had to -- john f. kennedy had to sit on downing street reading his newspaper in the waiting room for half an hour. >> is that right? >> if that happened now or -- on any presidential visit, you know, the second nature of these visits, if anything goes wrong like that it would be a national outcry. >> david cameron would have to resign. >> it would be -- then you have the -- where harry truman invited atley across to washington. they were deep in the negotiations that brought about nato and -- march ever marshall plan and everything else. truman was invited to the washington residents of the british ambassador. i think it was near christmas and so they spent the time singing. and -- played the piano. harry truman did the singing. >> did you ever do this? president bush. president bush and you rent a piano? >> i don't think he would appreciate my singing. president bush and i would talk a huge amount about history. he was -- very avid reader of history. the image

and john f. kennedy arrived, and howard wilson -- and harold mcmillan was still asleep. he had slept in. and john f. kennedy had to sit in downing street reading his newspaper in the waiting room for half an hour. >> is that right? >> if that had happened now or on any presidential visit that i was involved in or now is happening, you know, the slick second nature of these visits, if anything goes wrong like that, there would be an international outcry. >> he would have had to have resigned. >> and then you have harry truman invited atlee across to washington, and of course they were deep in the nato creation and he was invited by atlee to the washington residence of the british ambassador. and i think it was near christmas. and hthey spent the time singin. atlee played the piano. truman did the singing. >> did you ever do this when president bush and you ever around a piano? >> i don't think he would have appreciated my singing talents. but president bush and i used to talk a huge amount about history.

kennedy and kruschev. very interesting back channel, john f. nnedy approves with this soviet spy and his brother, bobby kennedy the attorney general, so that's the most interesting of the minor characters. the vignettes i added because i wanted berlin to be as rich as a character as my four protagonists. and you can only do that through the people of berlin. so there i had everyone from the miss universe of that year who was an east german refugee to a farmer who tried to escape and was resisting the collectivization at his farm in east germany, tried to escape to the west and was caught and imprisoned. i tell the story of his resistance against east germany, different stories like that throughout that try to bring home the color of this rich story. >> yes, and they certainly do. now, one of the things that i think leaps out from your book is a confirmation of the old adage that all politics is local. we tend to think of kennedy and kruschev as these protagonists on a world stage, but both of them were summit to a lot of -- subject to a lot of d

they were able to track him down to a flight that was able to leave john f. kennedy airport. he has undergone physical and forensic testing. his attorneys say that he denies all the charges and that he will be needing not guilty later on this morning. and now to the dire situation along the mississippi river basin. where residents are being told to leave home as the water rises. >> a tore rent water rushes down the spillway. it opened as part of a plan to divert water to save the cities. >> number one is that public safety is part of the number one priority and always has been an always will be. >> the water could flood out more than 10,000 structures and 25,000 people. >> it is difficult to understand why you are being flooded in situations like this. >> while residents do what they can to save their property. prayers were offered in mississippi a community battling flooding with the mississippi river still rising. >> how are neighbors are facing significant loss and many others being displaced. >> chris lynn makes his living on the water fishing. even he can't believe what

. >>> john f kennedy supo tropezar con otras mujeres que no fueran sus esposa, pero el más sonado con hart encabezaba las encuestas de su partido, pero bastó una foto con una modelo para acabar sus así producto interno bruto pi aspiración presidenciales. en 2>>> mil 9 stanford desapareció estaba bien perdido, en argentina, junto con maría belén una periodista con quien sostenía relación, se divorcio en 2010 fue enjuiciado pero liberado de cargos al dejar el puesto. pero el caso de eliot... es otra cosa w cuando fue gobernador del estado se rebeló que fre kun taba pros ti tu tas. >>> unos terminaron en divorcio otros no, unos perdieron su carrera otros si geerguieron co nada es una larga lista de político que se sabe tuvieron un desliz, pero de los que se sabe porque también están los que nadie sabe, caras vemos y de políticos no sabemos. >>> probablemente nunca sabremos gracias martín por el informe. cambiando de tema defensores de víctimas de sacerdotes pedófilos dicen que el análisis es un intento de culpar a sacerdotes wlel dir la responsabilidad de los o byes tos que permitieron a

the historians have attempted to deify a jfk, i have a sun named john kennedy. i really like him in so many ways but the historians who are biased toward him have tried to argue that eisenhower set this up and kennedy carried it out. i am convinced and one installer sino is convinced eisenhower never would have done it the way kennedy did. he would have withdrawn the support even that plan did not look like the eisenhower intervention. more like lebanon 1958 when he landed 14,000 troops. he believed in overwhelming force. he was open to covert action. he was not an angel when it came to the covert action but it was a strange phenomenon. the cia if they knew the contingency plans they were around some in the new president came in there is every officer does after eight years there quite a few people who were anxious to have a president who would do something different and one of the arguments was about limited war because eisenhower said they were dangerous. she thought they could lead to the holocaust. where maxwell taylor who is the head of the joint chiefs of s

c-span: in the middle of all that, though, you also say that she met john f. kennedy, the son of joseph kennedy, and it had something to do with her daughter. >> guest: yes. her daughter was not actually a debutante, but she came out at the time that john kennedy was making the rounds, you know, escorting young ladies about new york and, in fact, took out her daughter on several occasions. but ann always got the feeling that her beaus were really more interested in her mother, who was--just had so much more charm and was better looking, too. c-span: who was sir charles? >> guest: sir charles was general charles willoughby, who was intelligence chief to general douglas macarthur in the philippines. and clare was always interested in military men and particularly if they had anything to do with spying. and since he was the intelligence chief, she was incredibly drawn to him. he was also rather taciturn--the strong, silent type and tall and striking looking, and she said to me that he was the mo--one man that she might have liked to run away with. but it turned out that

he w arrested aboa a plane john f. kennedy airpo. why is he such an influential gure on the wld sge? the head o the i, he is in charge o an organizaon tt overes the gbal economy. he pyed pivotal re in leading t i to the global -- thrgh t global financial meltdown. he was due to qt the imfo runor t fnch esidcy next yea that ambition looks havbeen dashed. in france, a second won has come forwa ying she is considering tangegal action ainstr. strauss-kahn in connectionith a sexual sault 10 years ago. r motrsto. >> i got an agent call from he e said he had jumped oner. >> in a statement his wife id, i do not lievfor a singl set and e accution levelegain my husband. i doot doubt that his incence will be establisd. inance ministers fromuro meet in brusls t discuhe bailout of portugal. in court, the prosecuon aues that t imf cef shouldot be granted blecau he might flee theountry never to return. theudge order that he be remanded in policeustody until his xt crt appearae on friday. >> i think it is impornt that you understandhat thibatt has o

john f. kennedy once asked what are you doing as a priority and he said we're doing everything we can as fast as we can. i think they'll be doing everything they can as fast as they can to go after other leaders and indeed to secure the country this the period of extreme -- in the period of extreme high danger after the death of osama bin laden bin. >> i know you and jack did not support not troops in afghanistan -- >> we support the troops, but we don't support the war. there's a big difference. >> basically the reason he doesn't alan is i don't want to say far left, but pretty far down the left continuum. i'm frankly pretty far down the right continuum. far left and far right in this country unite on that. they don't support in the center, republicans and democrats in the center do support the war is basically how it breaks down. i do think the next few months will be one of the most important periods for u.s. policy in the mideast ever because i think going back to where we started with this, all

. >> president john f. kennedy. jfk. and then, there was bobby. >> we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond or go beyond these rather difficult times. >> and teddy, the third to reach the u.s. senate. the three handsome brothers carved a legend in the stone of national politics. >> too many of our senior citizens are being forced to choose between neglecting their ailments or being pulverized by them. >> at home, there was ted and his wife, joan. teddy junior, kara, and patrick. who was the youngest by six years. there were many bright days to remember. and dark ones too. by the time patrick was born, his uncle, the president, had been murdered. and before he was 2, his uncle robert had been murdered as well. >> saw a wrong and tried to right it. saw suffering and tried to heal it. saw war and tried to stop it. >> it was july of 1967, patrick's birth made headlines. just five days old, and people wondered if he would run for president. >> did you sit around the dinner table, i mean the same issues that he w

john f. kennedy was of white northern european heritage. george herbert walker bush is of white northern european heritage. but michael dukakis? bush. he's whiter. chris: bush attacked four years later on clinton. >> this kind of attack shows just how separate the bush campaign has become. yes, i did go to moscow by train in 1969. i struck up a conversation with the man on the seat next to me. he gave me a package to take to moscow and leave it across from lenin's tomb. >> isn't it true that you burned an american flag in red square? >> i tried to burn an american flag once. i didn't like it. gave off toxic fumes so i didn't inhail. chris: ask and when bush 43 was running against john kerry, there was those infamous swift vote ads. saturday night life was on the case. >> i started taking sniper fire. three of us were pinned down. that's when john kerry turned to me and said you know, i don't think americans pay enough taxes. >> kerry ordered us not to shoot the enemy because he was against the death penalty. >> everyone thought it was an am

passengers have been evacuated as far as we know and according to the airport from the airport's john kennedy runways are clear and normal operations continue at the airport. we'll continue to follow this breaking news and give you more pictures but again it is news that has ended well as this plane landed here at atlanta hartsfield jackson airport. >>> another attack on nato forces in afghanistan. the taliban taking credit. among targets was nato commander of coalition forces in north afghanistan. he was wounded. seven others are dead. stan grant has the latest on how a suicide bomber once again was able to get in and get close to nato forces. >> reporter: the taliban says it specifically targeted this high level meeting between international and afghan officials in northern afghanistan. the militants saying they wanted to disrupt plans to launch a military offensive against it. inside the meeting was the head of all of nato forces in northern afghanistan, german john marcus kneip. he has survived. some of his troops german's foreign minister describe this attack as barbaric. there's is a si

did john f. kennedyut the budget -- >> thank you very much. >> this is absurd. >> thank you very much. >> it shouldn't happen. you should fight and get your guts together. >> thank you very much. >> we should have a meeting and discuss this resolution. >> thank you. >> i'd like your comments on it. thank you. >> next speakers. next speaker. [speaking foreign language] >> thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm from chinatown. i'm happy through these programs i also get to light rain english, also known the resource for training for the families, and we hope that you can save the resources for families, for children, for all of us here today. thank you. >> hi. my name is mimi. my son's been going to the asian human resource center for a couple of years. the family workshop is very important for all the families, whether it's for the kids, nutritional, or talk about what the discipline. so i want the city to consider to extend the budget for us. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is gloria. i represent the as

on this day in 1962, monroe sang happy birthday to then president john f. kennedy. >>> all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." >>> and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. find out the latest details on al qaeda's newly released audio tape of osama bin laden recorded just one week before his death. >>> and new details on the maid who had a secret child with former california governor arnold schwarzenegger. >>> now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

did john f. kennedyut the budget -- >> thank you very much. >> this is absurd. >> thank you very much. >> it shouldn't happen. you should fight and get your guts together. >> thank you very much. >> we should have a meeting and discuss this resolution. >> thank you. >> i'd like your comments on it. thank you. >> next speakers. next speaker. [speaking foreign language]

caroline kennedy is the president of the john f. kennedy foundation.ll. a privilege to have you on the program. those two are so humble. they don't want to talk about themselves. first of all, tell us how you come about winning the award and a little bit about the two recipients. >> we initiated this award to celebrate courage. when people stand up for the national interests without regard for the personal consequences, it's a wonderful example for all of us. the winners this year share really a belief in citizen activism and the importance of the individual to bring about positive change. in the xhupt, one is from halfway around the world. one is from a community here in the united states. so they, elizabeth stood up for the right to every child to have an education. and wael is one of many courageous egyptians that fought to bring democracy and hope to his country. >> they're both very deserving. elizabeth, a story about how you found out you were going to be the recipient? >> yes, i had received an e-mail there the kennedy library foundation asking

nearby stand trees planted by past visits by bill clinton and john f. kennedy. it has been a tradition there. one planted just last week by the queen of england as well. from ireland president obama will travel to england, france, and poland. >>> before president obama leaves ireland he's making a stop in the tiny village of moneygall. they have been sprucing up in anticipation of the president. >>> former minnesota governor tim pi lenti is officially in the race for the presidential nomination. he announced his run in an internet video. >> we have to do more than give fancy speeches. we've had three years of that. it's not working. >> pawlenty also says he will tell the american people the truth suggesting president obama does not. today pawlenty will formerly announce his candidacy in a town hall appearance in iowa. >>> san francisco has a new suicide prevention hot line housed in the castro district. the trevor project is named for a film about a 13-year-old boy's suicide a feelings when he learned he was gay. in 1978 milk and then san ancisco mayor were assa

president john f. kennedyndsome, brilliant, wanting to be a great historical president like lincoln and roosevelt, but fearful they only became that through war, and in that age, nuclear war. against him, 43 years old, 67-year-old son of peasants, ill lat rat until his 20s, tough, formed through war, survived world war ii, but very insecure, and resentful of american millionaires, and then other characters you talked about, the west conrad leader at 85 years old, a great hero of history, founded west germany, brought germany back from the ashes of world war ii, and walter, the last standing stalinist. both of them distrusted their powerful opposites. conrad distrusted kennedy. thought he was not experienced enough, didn't have enough backbone to handle the soviets, and walter distrusted crus chef and that's about overcoaxing and leveraging weakness into forcing kruschev to build the wall. it's a great cast of characters that hollywood couldn't give me. >> host: there's interesting minor characters in the book.

police say dominic strauss was pulled off an air france fright to paris this afternoon at john f. kennedy airport shortly after leaving the manhattan hotel. the maid told police she entered his room at 1:00 p.m. and he tried to sexually assault her and she called police. he is the managing director of the imf and has not been charged. >> mike huckabee says he will not run for in the 2012. he made the announcement moments ago on his show. only three republican candidates have officially declared their running for in the 2012. that's ron paul, newt gingrich and mitt romney. speculation about a dozen other continues. 45% of republicans say they're dissatisfied with the g.o.p. candidates, up from 33% two months ago. >>> president obama has ordered several steps aimed at increasing oil production. those measures include extending existing oil leases in the gulf of mexico, and off the alaskan coast. the government will hold more frequent lease sales in alaska's oil reserve. the president admits these steps won't immediately bring down gas prices, topping $4 a gallon. an oil industry group place

it's about young american women who followed the call of john f. kennedy and many others since and join the peace corps to make the world better. today, they testified about being brutally attacked while on assignment and what happened when they spoke out about it. the story from nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: their faces, once filled with wide-eyed optimism about changing the world. today before congress -- >> i'm a former peace corps volunteer and a peace corps rape survivor. >> reporter: -- their hearts were heavy. chilling accounts of rape, beating, and mistreatment while overseas in the peace corps. jessica smochik volunteered in bangladesh in 2004. she says she reported to peace corps officials there and in washington that local men terrorized her. they were not prosecuted. >> the men dragged me into an abandoned courtyard, and the violence began. they started by raping me, and they forced other objects inside of my body. >> reporter: carol clark served in nepal in the late '80s and reported being repeatedly raped b

are they comparisons to be made between barack obama and john kennedy? >> well, there's a simple lesson and there's a complex lesson. the simple lesson is when american presidents show weakness and indecisions to their adversaries and their friends you can very often end up paying that. whether it wiese the soviet union of that time or whether it's iran now. the more complex thing is when is it that presidents really learn and how do they learn and when do they become presidents? did president obama become president last week with the killing of osama bin laden? was that his cuban miltz crisis? president kennedy didn't live long enough for us to know... he had the cuban missile crisis, then he went to this triumphant berlin speech. he turned tougher toward the soviet union. so in some ways i'm watching obama now to see whether this osama bin laden moment has a larger impact on his presidency but i do think that even though we have very, very periods of time, half century apart, young, inexperienced, relatively inexperienced brilliant charismatic presiden