author of "the soul of america" and rogers professor of the presidency at vanderbilt university john meacham, an nbc news and msnbc contributor. we'll start with the latest on the catastrophic fire at notre dame. officials say the structure has been saved. while the fire spread to one of two famous bell tower, they have been spared. around 500 firefighters battled the blaze for hours and prevented it from spreading to the northern belfry. one firefighter suffered serious injuries and there are no fatalities. most of the roof of 12th and 13th century gothic cathedral has been destroyed and a spire collapsed after being ungulfed in flames. the exact cause is currently unknown, but french media is quoting the paris fire brigade as saying it is, quote, potentially linked to a major renovation project on the church's spire and its 250 tons of lead. what a disaster. i mean, just watching this yesterday was about as heart breaking as it gets. >> it really was. you know, when we watched the twin towers fall, the tragedy was felt not on the united states but across the world and it was a body blow. >

still with us michael beschloss and john meacham. michael, no mention, no reverence.e was blocks away from the hanoi hilton where so many americans were tortured in vietnam. no visit. it's not his thing. >> it is gross and disrespectful to the memory of john mccain, and self-knowledge by name is not donald trump. you sort of wonder if it occurred to him when he was approving the idea of national pow day this was not exactly in sync with the terrible comments he made about john mccain four years ago when he was beginning to run for president and those he made even after john mccain passed. i just don't get it. this doesn't help him in any way i can see. >> john meacham, last night on this broadcast we aired part of a speech delivered sunday by mayor pete, ft. wayne, indiana. the last item on a long resume, as i said last night he's a lot of things. he's a harvard grad, a road scholar, veteran of the u.s. navy. also all but declared running for president. we made the comparison to the obama race speech in that it might live on past its moment. do you see the potential f

next, pulitzer prize winning presidential historian john meacham talks about what we can learn from history and how it can provide context for current events. "theiscusses his book, america," which slick set the civil war and argues that the nation has survived and improve. this talk was part of the american civil war museums annual symposium at the library cohosted by the university of virginia center for civil war history. now, i need to perform a more pleasurable duty of introducing a special guest. one of america's preeminent historians, jon meacham. many of you know him as the author of several

john mccain. soipds like p.o.w.s have not been his thing. he did what others have done on this date by declaring it as -- still with us, beschloss and meacham.o mention, no renchs. he was blocks away from the hanoi hilton. no visit. it's not his thing. >> rts gross and disrespectful to the memory of john mccain and self-knowledge is not donald trump. you wonder it occurred to him when he was approving the idea of a national p.o.w. gay that this was not exactly in sync where the terrible kmengts he made about john mccain four years ago when he was begin inning to run for president. i just don't get it. this doesn't help him in any way that i can see. >> john meacham, last night we aired part of a speech, fort wayne indiana. it was about his life in large part as a gay man in this country. the last item on a long resume, he's a lot of things. he's a harvard dprad, a rhoads scholar. he's also declared running for. . we made the comparison to the obama race speech in that it might live past its moment. do you see the potential for echoes in what he said? >> absolutely. as we've discussed before, the soeshology on this -- >> south bend, not ford

john meacham thank you as well. erica" co-written with tim mcgraw. up next amazon makes another move in hopes of dominating the retail industry. in the wake of that major college admissions scandal, the "new york times" asks is this the final straw for standardized tests? we'll dig into that question next on "morning joe". >> tech: at safelite autoglass,. we really pride ourselves on making it easy to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ i like to make my life easy. ( ♪ ) romo mode. (beep) (b

patrick's cathedral and john meacham. chris, are there any updates today on how this fire broke out? >> reporter: we are going to hear more from president emmanuel macron when he gives a news conference at the top of the next hour. in the meantime, we are already learning some of the things that investigators believe in these early hours, just 24 hours since this fire broke out. they believe it may have happened in the attic. it's a place where not many people would venture, but it's where those wooden trusses that date back to the 1200s seemed to catch fire. one of the things that's happening right now is they have 100 firefighters who are on call just in case there is an ember that sparks there. you can also see if we can take a live look back here at the cathedral. to my left here, that is the north transcept and the main part of the church, the nave, there could be some concerns. they're going to concentrate on those and figure out what is structurally sound and what isn't. even things that look like they may bow e in

>> well, let me start by kind of going all john meacham.if he's going to raise the specter of macbeth, you have to pull the approximate line out of it that life as yet a tale of sound and fury told by an idiot signifying nothing. we feel rear arriving at that point. and here's the national security concern, joe, is this idea that it's okay. not everything has to rise to a level of criminal behavior before it starts to threaten our national security. norway to put that is if this is not against the law, we ought to pass a law to make sure it doesn't happen, although we shouldn't have to do that. the question is what should we be doing in the wake of the mule are report in addition to the political questions you unpack so well here. we ought to do a reveal in showing the world what happened and how we were attacked if even more detail than was in the report and reforming our defense of ability to push this back in the sogs networks, hardening or electoral system and lastly and most controversially, joe, we ought to be thinking about retaliate

supposed to talk about america's challenge this morning i went to the jackson panel then and now and john meacham said he basically remembered e-mailing that title in from somewhere in the backseat of a car so i think america's challenge is similarly broad. so here is what i propose to do. and where we ought to be focused and then answer your questions. [laughter] we really are in a weird place as a country. is not the first time we have been here but were at a place where politics seemed broken and we are undergoing a moment of populism so we really have gone through the period of 17 years which our trust has been declining in particularly after the financial crisis that somehow the relationship between the ordinary person in the government has been broken and needs to be rebalanced. and the little man is screwed to rebalance that relationship but on the right the government is in bed with those who have a loophole. and then to take money out of the pockets to give it to deserving institutions. so these concerns have grown worse not just economic in nature that which is seen on the left but it a

but i like what john meacham said today, that history illuminates. it does not agitate. and so, i begin. fremont told them, when the war had first begun, how to save the union and the way it should be done, but kentucky swore so hard and old ap had his fears until every hope was lost, but colored volunteers. rally, boys, rally, never mind the past. we had a hard road to travel, but our day is coming fast. for god is for the right, and we have no need to fear. the union must be saved by the colored volunteer. oh, give us a flag, all free without a slave. we will fight to defend it, as our fathers did so brave. the gallant company a will make the rebels dance, and we will stand by the union if we only have a chance. published in "the liberator" magazine on june 19, 1863, this excerpt of the song "give us a flag" was written by an unknown private in the 54th massachusetts regiment. by the way, the majority of people who served in the 54th massachusetts regiment were either themselves from virginia or were the descendents of virginians. so this particular regiment, this song

. >> that's why john meacham finally showed up. >> a country music fan.g out of a cold medicine coma, thank you for showing up. >> thank you. >> we're going to give you an option. we can either talk about the avengers, t-swift and the hypocrisy of criticizing pete buttigieg for being gay. >> franklin graham has called for presidential candidate pete buttigieg to repent for being gay. >> just shut up, graham. you are a disgrace. you are a disgrace for normalizing donald trump's behavior and for using your position to suggest -- well, john meacham, i will just let you go. here's a man along with so many people in my community, the evangelical community, attacked bill clinton for his personal failings. they are now using these positions, these evangelical leaders, they are now using their positions to gain political power and apologize for donald trump. now suddenly franklin graham's talking about lifestyles and sinning and a guy who has gone through a very difficult personal journey to figure out who he really is, he's criticizing them for that? it's not a

eugene and john meacham, author, presidential historwherein and now we learn country music enthusiastktie enthusiast. he's co authored a book. it comes out on june 11th no doubt followed by john's next book on june 12th. gentlemen, welcome to you both. and john i will begin with you despite you being out of uniform for this broadcast. the presidents have wallowed in self-pity, we have learned they've eaten their young and lashed out against their enemies through the capable eyes and hands of historians like you. seldom in realtime are we treated to as mr. baker put it victim and victor often in the same sentence. >> it's another example of how president trump is the most vivid manifestation of many of our least attractive forces. he's that in a broad political sense, and in this case one of the darker and more disorienting possibilities of presidential temperament. as you say linden johnson talked about teddy white writing about johnson, talked about the politicians optic, how they could read a story and it would be 90% positive and the eyes would go to the 10%. words leaping off the

about america's challenge, i went to the jackson panel, the title was jackson, then and now and john meacham said he vaguely remembered having emailed that title from somewhere in the backseat of a car someplace so i feel america's challenge is similarly broad. with jamie's advice and counsel i am going to talk about where we are and where we ought to be focused and then answer a couple questions. we really are in a weird place as a country. not the first time we have been here but we are at a place where our politics seem broken and we are undergoing a moment of populism. i talked about it in the previous panel. i will shut my remarks for those re. we have gone through a period of 15, 16, 17 years in which trust in our institutions of government have been declining, particularly after the financial crisis, there's a belief that the relationship between the ordinary person and the government has been broken and needs to be rebalanced. on the left it is the big boys, the banks and the billionaires getting their piece of the action and the little man is getting screwed and we have to rebalance

author of "the soul of america" and rogers professor of the presidency at vanderbilt university john meachamth the latest on the catastrophic fire at notre dame. officials say the

today we noticed john meacham responded to a tweet from you and here is what he wrote. i keep thinking about how far the party of reagan fell to become the party of trump. from "tear down this wall" to it."it's what you say i love ambassador, that's kind of an immutable truth. a lot of republicans have a lot to answer for. >> well, it is just shocking. i mean this is not about democrats and republicans. this is about american national security. americans should have the right to choose their own president without outsiders, including hostile ones like vladimir putin, seeking to shape the outcome. i just don't understand why people don't embrace that. by the way, brian, you know, think of the counterfactual just for one minute. i get in a lot of trouble with my democratic friends on this. think about if russia had done nothing in 2016 and donald trump had won the election. he wouldn't have all of this conversation about whether he was legitimate or not. he wouldn't have been tainted by all of this. so i don't even understand if you support donald trump why you think what

next, pulitzer prize winning presidential historian john meacham talks about what we can learn from history and how it can provide context for current events. "theiscusses his book, america," which slick set the civil war and argues that the nation has survived and improve. this talk was part of the american civil war museums annual symposium at the library cohosted by the university of virginia center for civil war history. now, i need to perform a more pleasurable duty of introducing a special guest. one of america's preeminent historians, jon meacham. many of you know him as the author of several best-selling biographies, which are listed in your program, including the pulitzer prize-winning andrew jackson in the white house and he has also had recent appearances at the funeral of george herbert walker bush. of his manybject baggers. mr. meacham is in great demand and he arrived rate -- late last night and will be leaving shortly after his talk with us today for another special appearance in california. i know that some of you brought your books with you and wanted him to sign in that so

wrote john meacham, who the biography of george w. bush.rian: what you think she wanted you to see them? susan: you know, i think she liked me. i think she felt after five interviews that i was doing a serious piece of history. and she knew i wanted to see them. and i think she also knew she was not going to live very long. as i said, it was unexpected and extraordinary. brian: this is from your book, on page 102. overwhelmed by pain and loneliness, she contemplated suicide. what is the story behind that? did she talk about that before? susan: there is a reference in her memoir -- she had not discussed it as far as i know with anyone publicly before. 1976, george bush had taken over the central intelligence agency. she had been so involved in all the aspects of his previous jobs and no she wasn't because he was heading a spy agency. they moved back to washington from china. she had kind of an empty nest. dora was at high school, the boys were in college or beyond. she fell into a really serious depression. she told me that she would be driv

peter's book "obama the call of history" has just been released with material including a forward by john meacham. and reporter with the "new york times" and chuck rosenburg, a former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official, we welcome all three of you. peter, because home field advantage is an advantage, we'll start with you here in new york tonight. for seven days exactly, i've been talking about the disparity and 400 plus pages, all the detail, rich detail, footnotes, granularity versus the president's quick comeback is as if however judging from his behavior and his talking points that the tonnage is seeping. into the landscape a little bit. >> you see a significant shift in his message. originally he was climbing total exoneration and now hit job. he veers back and forth between these two aspects of the report. it a classic trump world, you know, situation where there is a thin line between victor and victim, right? he expresses grievance at the same time and claiming that he's been vindicated and it's a confusing message for a lot of voters. is he cleared by this report or in fact, is this an

along with willie and me, we have historian and author of "is soul of america," john meacham.an of the national committee, michael steele. professor of history at tulane, walter isaacson. pulitzer prize-winning author, doris goodwin. and foreign correspondent keir simmons is with us this level. >> the level of pulitzer prize winning historic power on the panel right now. >> the star wars. >> you been precedented. >> why not be in a bar? >> isaacisaacson is. >> sum up this moment in history, after hearing the president talk literally out of three sides of his mouth in one minute or less. the family separation policy, a lot of people will look like -- i think history will look on this as a real black mark on this country. ivanka trump called it a low point in this presidency and the lowest point for her in this presidency. yet, the president is now lying, saying a different president came up with the policy, but it works. what's history going to look back at this moment like? >> well, everybody understands that this is something donald trump believes in. even in the clip, even i