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