i'm ken paulson. 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 attenti

i'm ken paulson. our guest today is one of america's best-known journalists and authors, carl bernstein. great to have you here. good to be here. you know, i've read quite a bit about you, and there's been a great deal written. what i've enjoyed reading particularly is the descriptions of woodward and bernstein, who they are in the history of journalism, and one of my favorites, especially considering some of your rock critic roots, is, the city paper in washington described you as the lennon and mccartney of journalism. would that make you paul or john? um, interesting. i think john. that's a good choice. are you surprised that-- i mean, it was an extraordinary story, tremendous impact, obviously, but 30 years on, it is absolutely what you are best known for and it's what people want to talk to you about. has it surprised you the staying power of that whole episode? not really. i think that its impact was so huge on the country that, understandably, people want to talk about it. it's an experience th

paulson. and he basically said, "ken, i need you to be in washington monday." and he said, "i really can't tell you a lot about it." >> he said, "be at the treasury at 3:00 tomorrow." i said, "well, what's the topic?" "you'll find out when you get there." i said, "well, who's coming?" "you'll find out when you get there. see you at 3:00." click. >> narrator: seven other heads of the nation's largest banks received a similar summons. >> they turn up at 3:00, and they all file into the conference room, which is across the hall from mr. paulson's office. >> narrator: paulson got right down to business. >> because it's paulson, who's not a man who beats around the bush, it became clear relatively quickly what he was proposing. >> he says, "i've got here documents that say that the u.s. government is going to make an injection of capital into each one of your companies." narrator: paulson was about to hand out billions dollars. >> he turned it over to geithner and he said, "okay, here's how much you're going to get." and he went around the room, and he came to me an

ken clark because it was in europe. i do not remember having a particular line in the papers about leadership. >> mr. paulson was in charge of communications in may of 2007. can you recall when you first heard about it? >> i heard about it from him after he had met with george osborn. i was then told that he got the job. >> what was your reaction to that piece of news? >> i probably said well done. >> how did you feel about it? >> he had to resign from the news of the world, and he had found another job, one that he was interested in. >> were you at all surprised? >> i was not surprised when he finally got the job. he was a good communicator, and works with several others so there was a long history of journalists going into politics. this did not seem any different. >> let's go into some meetings of political parties. this meeting in greasy put an asterisk by. you do not remember it happening. whose idea was it that he meet with the murdoch's on this occasion. >> i do not recall if rupert murdoch was in europe that summer. i think the idea was organized by at no. 10. i knew he was coming, but the arrangemen

ken clark because it was in europe. i do not remember having a particular line in the papers about leadership. >> mr. paulson was in charge of communications in may of 2007. can you recall when you first heard about it? >> i heard about it from him after he had met with george osborn. i was then told that he got the job. >> what was your reaction to that piece of news? >> i probably said well done. >> how did you feel about it? >> he had to resign from the news of the world, and he had found another job, one that he was interested in. >> were you at all surprised? >> i was not surprised when he finally got the job. he was a good communicator, and works with several others so there was a long history of journalists going into politics. this did not seem any different. >> let's go into some meetings of political parties. this meeting in greasy put an asterisk by. -- in greece, you put an asterisk by it. you do not remember it happening. whose idea was it that he meet with the murdoch's on this occasion. >> i do not recall if rupert murdoch was in europe that summer. i think the idea was organized by at no. 10.