as we see with khrushchev, khrushchev is all about disruption. he is a disruptor. he is interested in crisis. it's why he's interested in crisis that i think is the essence of understanding his behavior, not simply in 1961, but in 1962. so let me talk to you about a summit conference in 1961, that people don't talk about. the one everybody talks about is vienna. i'm working on a book about kennedy. i want to add the 5,300th book on kennedy. why not? for me, the more interesting summit conference is the degaul kennedy conference. they are very explicit about their understanding of the world. they share a lot. degaul's argument, an argument that has a relevance today. his argument is when you deal with a disruptor, you should ignore them. he says, let khrushchev hyperventilate about berlin. he will do nothing. he doesn't have the power to do anything. the only thing you can do is actually increase his desire to disrupt by engaging him. engagement is a mistake with a disruptor. kennedy's argument is, i can't take that chance. he's already threatened us in '58. if he d

architect of the crisis, nikita khrushchev. >> as the head of the soviet union, khrushchev was very ideologicald that the future belonged to communism. he said, america needs to be contained, and the only way to do it is to create crises all around the american empire. >> khrushchev came to the u.n. in 1960, and he said, we are grinding out missiles like sausages. we will bury you. and americans took it seriously. >> the toughness of the khrushchev speech did as some propaganda fuels of the fire that is now raging diplomatically between moscow and washington. >> to see if the soviets were building nuclear weapons, more importantly, missiles to launch them at the united states. we were flying a spy plane over the soviet union called a u-2. >> i'm bill fox. state cable editor for the united press international in new york. a single engine u.s. air force plane with one man aboard went missing today not far from the soviet border in the rugged mountains of southeastern tur y turkey. >> to a stunned and startled audience, khrushchev announced that an american u-2 spy plane had been shot down in the

khrushchev sat next to jackie, and she did what she could to charm him. >> mr.with the glamorous american first lady and even insisted on shaking her hand before her husband's. >> there's another kennedy dining with the khrushchevs that night, jack's mother, rose. >> john f. kennedy didn't want his mother to go. he didn't want a huge family delegation going with him to europe, but his mom insisted. his mother loved the limelight. she's interested in power and she liked being around people with power. >> away from the banquets and the cameras, jack has a serious mission in vienna. both sides have enough missiles to destroy the entire world, so kennedy intends to make a deal on nuclear disarmament with khrushchev. >> john kennedy was deeply concerned about nuclear danger. that the cold war could spiral out of control. >> since the bay of pigs, jack no longer has full confidence in his own advisers. >> the kennedys always liked to operate on more than one track. they always liked to do things privately through the family. and jack always used bobby as a secret mess

so khrushchev wanted his mentors on the politburo.thought they should get it, the guys who were older than him and had been around. he was angling towards that, and they sort of realized you're kind of good at this. like, maybe you should be the one to do it. >> stephen: this movie is created by amanda iannucci, who also created "veep" and "day to day." does the comedy of it translate to the russians? has this been shown in russia? >> it's been banned in russia. ( laughter ) i don't know why. >> stephen: really? i didn't know they still did that. i'm serious, i didn't know they still that. >> well, apparently, we had a distributor, but then-- but then it was banned. but i don't believe it's totally banned. i mean, i think you could probably still see anything you want there. i once went to a film festival where i had a film they directed, it was in the festival, and this russian gentleman came up to me and said that he loved the film. and i said, "well, it hasn't shown yet. it's showing tomorrow night." and he said, "no, no, i saw it

one we don't like and respond to the one we do like and i think that if we offer this and that to khrushchev that would be enough to convince him to back down and that turned out to be what caused the crisis to be resolved so if there hadn't been a person at that moment that the president was willing to listen to you need a president with good judgment and a close advisor with real empathy for the other side and the situation they were in . i'm not sure we have either of those things and either washington or moscow right now. that concerns me what about the two hundred nuclear bombs that want to be upgraded in europe do you see why russia could be concerned about this well of course russia and the soviet union before it was been concerned it isn't a violation of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty my father actually was one of the key negotiators of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. he reports fought over this subject at considerable length for and ultimately agreed on a compromise that allowed the u.s. nuclear weapons to remain in europe the reality is that the upgrade that's being done

who knew khrushchev very well and sort of said to kennedy why don't we just ignore the one we don't like and respond to the one we do like and i think that if we offered this and that to khrushchev that would be enough to convince him to back down and that turned out to be what caused the crisis to be resolved so if there hadn't been a person at that moment that the president was willing to listen to you need a president with good judgment and a close advisor with real empathy for the other side and the situation they were in . i'm not sure we have either of those things and either washington or moscow right now. that concerns me what about the two hundred nuclear bombs that want to be upgraded in europe do you see why russia could be concerned about this well of course russia and the soviet union before it was been concerned it isn't a violation of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty my father actually was one of the key negotiators of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. he reports fought over this subject at considerable length for and ultimately agreed on a compromise that allowed th

saber rattling that we really haven't seen maybe ever at the nuclear age but certainly not since khrushchev. videos of weapons after weapon after weapon now none of those with perhaps one exception i would argue pose any new fundamental threats to the strategic balance there fundamentally the united states and russia are have been for decades to scorpions in a bottle each capable of destroying the other but only at the price of being destroyed itself and putin said well these weapons will overcome u.s. missile defenses u.s. missile defenses were totally ineffective against russian forces already so they'll be more effective against russian forces so it really doesn't change the fundamental picture of the strategic balance. sorry. you were saying the. united states have been like this. can do great harm but it would mean that they're destroying themselves as well and that's what james mattis is saying that having nukes actually means that america would have to choose between surrender and suicide. to. in principle the idea of the low yield dukes is to respond in kind to russian early use of

saber rattling that we really haven't seen maybe ever in the nuclear age but certainly not since khrushchev. videos of weapons after weapon after weapon now none of those with perhaps one exception i would argue pose any new fundamental threats to the strategic balance there fundamentally the united states and russia are have been for decades to scorpions in a bottle each capable of destroying the other but only at the price of being destroyed itself and putin said well these weapons will overcome u.s. missile defenses u.s. missile defenses were totally ineffective against russian forces already so they'll be more effective against russian forces so it really doesn't change the fundamental picture of the strategic balance. sorry. you were saying the. united states have been like this two scorpions and can do great harm but it would mean that they're destroying themselves as well and that's what james mattis is saying that having low yield nukes actually means that america would have to choose between surrender and suicide. to. in principle the idea of the low yield dukes is to respond in ki

in the meeting with khrushchev. i think you made a great mistake and took him as weak. host: what was richard nixon's reaction the night that robert f kennedy won california and then was assassinated? guest: i was in the east at 3:00 a.m., and i got a call. he was in his mid-20's and called me at my apartment and i was asleep. he will me up and said, bobby kennedy has just and shot. i called nixon and he said, i am already up. i think they had been watching it was amazing. one week before that, i was in oregon when nixon won and may 28, he sweats it, 70%, and he went to dinner with pat nixon and i went to the front door with my girlfriend because bobby kennedy was coming up from california to concede the race, and we saw bobby it out of the race with kenny writes, he had a dog with him, and he went in, and i went to the room to watch and concede that, and i remember telling folks that that was a bobby kennedy i had not seen. he was at his most gracious. the concession speech to mccarthy was very -- was everything yo

khrushchev mistrusted kennedy. i think he took the measure of him has week. he made a great mistake. host: what was nixon's reactions about the night that kennedy was assassinated? pat: i got a call from headquarters. jeff bell, who just died -- he was in his mid-20's -- he called me at my apartment and i was asleep. he woke me up and said, bobby kennedy has just been shot, and i called nixon and he said, i'm already up. julie and david, i think, had been watching the race, so they had woken him up. one week before that, i was in oregon when nixon won. he swept it, as i mentioned, 70%, and he went down to dinner. i went with my girlfriend, now my wife, because bobby kennedy coming up from california to concede the race. we saw bobby get out of the car. he had the dog with him and teddy white, i remember telling folks that was the bobby kennedy i had not seen. he was at his most gracious. his concession speech was just as it was everything you would expect. he said now let's get on to california. barbara: think how hard it was for him to give that speech. the

the good stuff will still be i wouldn't say that khrushchev made a gift of the peninsula that various explanations are offered him. the official reason in one nine hundred fifty four was that with electricity water and traffic routes in mind crimea was only accessible through the ukrainian soviet republic. yes. that was the official reason but there is another explanation in one nine hundred fifty four crushed rock was one of the less probable candidates to replace stalin as the country's leader i'm responding had died in march of one nine hundred fifty three and he was initially uncertain whose success it would be next often there's an awful guy on tape on top of the suspicion is that khrushchev transferred crimea to ukraine in order to secure the support of the ukrainian party elite one of its own go. to first. after russia conquered and annexed crimea in the late eighteenth century than insula became an underwriter for archeologists the wealth and diversity of the relics uncovered here were a boon to the new rulers who came to be seen as the saviors of hellenistic culture . all or

in the meeting with khrushchev. you made a great mistake and took him as weak. host: what was richard nixon's reaction the night that robert f kennedy won california and then was assassinated? guest: i was in the east at 3:00 a.m., and i got a call. he was in his mid-20's and called me at my apartment and i was asleep. he will me up and said, bobby kennedy has just and shot. i called nixon and he said, i am already up. i think they had been watching it was amazing. one week before that, i was in oregon when nixon won and may 28, he sweats it, 70%, and he went to dinner with pat nixon and i went to the front door with my girlfriend because bobby kennedy was coming up from california to concede the race, and we saw bobby it out of the race with kenny writes, he had a dog with him, and he went in, and i went to the room to watch and concede that, and i remember telling folks that that was a bobby kennedy i had not seen. he was at his most gracious. the concession speech to mccarthy was very -- was everything you would

when kennedy made khrushchev kennedy's response was negotiate what's mine is mine what's yours is negotiable mark i want to go to you because you brought this up a number of times since the election we have the u.s. state department putting pressure on the europeans pretty germany for the. north stream to pipeline now we have the deal. the europeans were being pressured to change and now it looks like the americans going to walk away from it compare completely why would the europeans want to be involved in the i mean this is the two example i just read still pushing the division is growing and growing the europeans don't like it i mean they don't like his treatment of the u.n. international law anything there so this is actually rooted out already you know the end of these grow but i don't think that concerns the u.s. the u.s. you know this this new triumvirate of bloody geno and pompei of the volcano will be handling the. start well i think he's on his way home and kelly has got a name i think they're on their way out there too saying in moderate on military matters it may take six months b

finally on 28 october, soviet leader nikita khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles if the united statesade cuba. secretly kennedy also promised to withdraw u.s. jupiter missiles from turkey. >> mcnamara came emboldened because he was right and the chiefs were wrong. what he didn't realize is the deal to trade u.s. missiles in turkey for u.s. missiles in cuban is what was decisive. >> mcnamara began to apply an increase in force to another looming crisis, vietnam. a little over two months after the missile crisis, three american advisers were killed at the battle of ap bhat, a hamlet 30 miles south of vietnam. in february 1963, 43-year-old adviser robert net from new haven, connecticut arrived in vietnam. net, a world war ii medal of honor recipient. in 1963 nearly 16,000 advisers like net were serving in south vietnam. how much combat were they seeing at that point? >> i would say three, four months a year. >> and they're up against what? vietcong or nva? >> both. i felt that they were well prepared because they had our equipment, and they were being trained by us. and they getting a ta

was on it and other people who russia considers -- who the kremlin considered traitors. >> nina khrushchev, poisonings on foreign soil, this is missile test that russia launched today putin saying impervious to american defenses shutting down con is sue lats. spies kicked out of this country. a lot of people's minds we read about, saw, witnessed during the cold war. when you look an the present moment, the state of relations between the two countries how do they stack up? >> it's very cold warrish. i'm constantly confronted with the thought i'm watching something from the spy who came in from the cold and reading john la ca ray. it's developing in front of our eyes. it's a very chilling reality and it is a possibility that there is a hit list. i wouldn't imagine that there's anything in writing because no good kremlin would leave something like that in writing. putin doesn't like his enemies. we know that he has a very long memory trained by the kgb in a kgb universe, a traitor is a traitor and needs to be punished at any cost. >> if there is a hit list, is there anything more to it, anyth

scholars assess the relationship between john f kennedy and soviet premiere nikita khrushchev in the960s. the university of virginia is the host of this event. >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to our second panel. assessing u.s. soviet relations in the 1960s and '70s. i am not going to chair the panel but i will turn the

kennedy had with soviet leader mikhail the key to khrushchev kennedy later described the meeting as the worst thing in my life a year later the two nuclear superpower stood on the brink of war of the cuban missile crisis described the meeting as the worst thing in my life a year later the two nuclear superpower stood on the brink of war of the cuban missile crisis nine hundred seventy two next us president richard nixon went to china to meet chairman mao. thought business was hailed as a diplomatic success and seen as the catalyst that began the process of opening china to the outside world in the mid eighty's u.s. president ronald reagan held a series of meetings with soviet leader mikhail gorbachev their efforts to scale back the arms race between the two countries eventually led to the end of the cold war finally if this meeting happens donald trump would become the first u.s. president to meet with a north korean leader while in office his change of heart is in part thanks to south korea this is the man doing the running between p.r. nyang and washington d.c. and he famously reached

only when kennedy made khrushchev kennedy's response was negotiate what's mine is mine what's yours is negotiable mark i want to go to you because you brought this up a number of times since the election we have the u.s. state department putting pressure on the europeans pretty germany for the. north stream to pipeline now we have the deal. the europeans were being pressured to change and now it looks like the with america is going to walk away from a complete completely why would the europeans want to be involved in the i mean this is the two example i just read the still pushing the division is growing and growing the europeans don't like it i mean they don't like his treatment of the u.n. international law anything they're so this is actually already you know the end of these grow but i don't think that concerns the u.s. the u.s. you know this this new triumvirate of bloody geno and pompei of the volcano will be handling the. just start it well i think he's on his way to me kelly is going to nickname i think they're on their way out there to sane and moderate on military matters it

only when kennedy made khrushchev kennedy's response was negotiate what's mine is mine what's yours is negotiable mark i want to go to you because you brought this up a number of times since the election we have the u.s. state department putting pressure on the europeans pretty germany for the. north stream to pipeline now we have the iran deal. the europeans were being pressured to change and now it looks like a miracle is going to walk away from it compare completely why would the europeans want to be involved in the i mean this is the two example i just read still pushing the division is growing and growing the europeans don't like it i mean they don't like his treatment of the u.n. international law anything there so this is actually rooted out already thinking that all the enemies are well it will grow but i don't think that concerns the u.s. the u.s. you know this this new triumvirate of. bloody geno and pompei of the volcano will be handling the. start well i think he's on his way home and kelly has got a nickname i think they're on their way out there too saying in moderate on

for centuries it was overwhelmingly filled with russians and it was only when that then president khrushchev back in the mid one nine hundred fifty s. changed the boundary that it came under ukrainian control and no one was told about this and i've never seen any british media reporting in detail about the predominance of russians in the crimea and of course at the time i made the ukrainian government was taking some very unpleasant measures and frankly i can well understand that russians in crimea don't wish to be under the control of the ukrainian government they would rather be under the control of the russian government that's reason i also pointed out that m.p.'s and members of the royal family will not be attending a fee for world cup in russia this summer what kind of impact if any will that have or is it simply symbolic but it's absolutely no impact at all if to resume a was serious about taking action against russia you'd be looking at a big ramping up of economic sanctions but the course that would damage the west as well any trades important between russia and the rest of europe a

wouldn't it have been interesting to see khrushchev a in aon in the in physics to want?istorians think that because kennedy did not have such a good outing, that helped precipitate the missile crisis. but chris jeff having met nixon in the kitchen in 1969 -- chris jeff having met next and in the kitchen in 1969 did not like nixon. -- he did not want to do something that nixon could claim credit for. but i think you are right. kennedy misjudged -- or excuse -- chris jeffff ruschev mistress kennedy. that what about the night kennedy was assassinated? pat: i got a call from headquarters. jeff bell, who just died -- he was in his mid-20's -- he called me at my apartment and i was asleep. he will me up and said, bobby kennedy has just been shot, and i called nixon and he said, i'm already up. julie and david, i think, had been watching the race, so they had woken him up. it was maybe one week before that. one. in oregon when nixon he swept it, as i mentioned, .0%, and he went down to dinner i went with my girlfriend, now my wife, because bobby kennedy was going to concede the

this guy broke with stalin, khrushchev, everybody. this guy was ready for a transformed world beyond the cold war. and so against-- the background of that possibility, which we also have to worry about is being able to sustain at home, but against the possibility of that kind of stunning move forward in the world, which may be yelled -- maybe yelchin was also pushing for, but even if he was, it is a few short years, against the possibility of that kind of outcome, i think central america pales. some of the other things, relations with allies that shaky or fragile, that repairing them had to be put ahead of the possibility of this outcome. maybe i'm a romantic, a fantasist along with gorbachev and reagan, but i just wonder whether we couldn't have done more. >> i think that is an eloquent statement. of the other side of the case -- go ahead. >> that is a little bit of a lesson in historical methods. bill points out the gates position. and this is where written sources, it is a challenge for historians, right? as i told you separately,

american attack in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight it was thought of the different very nikita khrushchev was stating that turkey would be destroyed within forty eight hours american pentagon defense ministry was telling that americans would stand behind turkey as it was called war period now the turkish american consulate or a different interpretation of interest in the middle east in syria was exactly probably not exactly what i was going to come on to have in terms of us not about everything that's happening up there in africa and. the kurds on the border. and the fact that turkey is very unhappy about it it's a very uneasy situation in the area at the moment particularly between. the us this isn't going to help matters is it. it is true we have around fifty sixty thousand kurdish fighters as a regular army trained by americans and americans do not seem that they will step down from this position despite the fact that. foreign secretary tillerson came recently to ankara and told the president more than three how as i think we live. very interesting crisis between turkey and united stat

diplomat who is not an academic the way that a lot of the stones were disturbed when kennedy made khrushchev a kennedy the response was negotiates what's mine is mine is what's yours is negotiable mark i want to go to you because you brought this up a number of times since the election we have the u.s. state department putting pressure on the europeans pretty germany for the. north stream to pipeline now we have the the rand deal. the europeans were being pressured to change and now it looks like the americans going to walk away from it compare completely why would the europeans want to be involved in that i mean this is the. two example of different still pushing the division is growing and growing yeah the europeans don't like bolton and i mean they don't like his treatment of the un international law anything they're so this is actually rooted out already speaking out on the enemy's allies will grow but i don't think that concerns the us the us under you know this this new triumvirate of bolton bloody gina and pompei of the volcano will be had on the front desk has started well i think he

wouldn't it have been interesting to see khrushchev and nixon in the in a in a physics to want? historians think that because kennedy did not have such a good outing, that helped precipitate the missile crisis. pat: yes, but chris jeff having khrushchev having met nixon in the kitchen in 1969 did not like nixon. he told folks -- he did not want to do something that nixon could claim credit for. but i think you are right. mistrusted kennedy. reactions was nixon's about the night that kennedy was assassinated? pat: i got a call from headquarters. jeff bell, who just died -- he was in his mid-20's -- he called me at my apartment and i was asleep. he woke me up and said, bobby kennedy has just been shot, and i called nixon and he said, i'm already up. julie and david, i think, had been watching the race, so they had woken him up. one week before that, i was in oregon when nixon won. he swept it, as i mentioned, 70%, and he went down to dinner. i went with my girlfriend, now my wife, because bobby kennedy was going to concede the race. we saw bobby get out of the car. he had the dog

and nikita khrushchev. these were heady days where he finally received the recognition he had been longing for. finance with a view to all violent crimes serve the party served are just cause and toil and true to our soviet model the magnificent chica. all for the good of the people. and now. i notice when i have to make an effort about the eleventh party congress has launched new programs and given us a fresh direction we have to live up to that and so do you so first of all for my part i know that i'd like to wish each and every one of you all the best and i hope you'll remain a good and steadfast collective and that no one will abandon this. because we're going to get rid of. the study it is a good thing isn't it if we put all the criminals in gangsters behind bars and do our part to keep peace it's easier to arresting the criminals will benefit the socialist cause but it's not optimal and sure prosperity and happiness for our children and our families is that not worth fighting for. in this party meetin

look at his reaction when eisenhower hosted khrushchev for a tour of the united states. he says we have lost our moral standing. that is what he wrote when nixon went to china, we can no longer be a moral example because look around at the these mass nixon is -- look how toasting these mass murderers. yet he keeps coming back. that is something we have to do. you said it well about respecting the other person. not because you think their ideas are right but because that is a person, just like we all are and maybe you can get to that person. maybe you can appeal to that person. colleaguesbill's were x communist. him and your father were the only two who were not. he would've had a small magazine if he got rid of all the ex-reds on it. john: i wonder if you of not just to find point, a distinction between optimism and hope. optimism is a disposition. hope is a determination to try to improve things for the better and to put your shoulder to the wheel to do so. getting up and discouraging circumstances every morning, but it means that you godave a sense that if provides tha

a three-day window, a 72-hour window for negotiating a diplomatic solution to this crisis with khrushchev before those soviet missiles would be fully functional and ready to launch. three-day window. they knew what they were looking at because oleg penkovski showed them what they were looking at. so he is credited with altering the course of the cold war. so that u-2 spy plane takes the pictures, october 14, 1962. the u.s. able to analyze the photos and have this important revelation about what they were looking at based on penkovski's revelation. they were able to come to that conclusion on october 14, but less than a woke afteek after t while the crisis is in full flower at its most terrifying and it seems like we might be about to have a nuclear war over this issue, on october 22nd, in the middle of the crisis, oleg penkovski was walking down the treat street in moscow and the russians snatched him. we still don't know how they were able to get him, whether they were able to reverse engineer what the u.s. had figured out, so that's how they were able to figure out who had given the u.s

if he pounds his shoe on the table like khrushchev, doesn't he need a resolution to look good?nald trump is learning in his time as president that negotiating as the chief executive is not the same as negotiating the price of windows whenever you're building a new hotel. it's a lot more complicated and comprehensive than that. you can't just have one meeting where you say, yeah, you're going to give me a good price? we'll let everyone else work out the details and we'll call it a day. that's what he's used to. there's a ton of variables that could make this look different or feel different. he's already seeing his own white house walk back some of the things he's said. >> but they were talked back themselves an hour later by the white house. >> already more complicated than that. >> the thing to watch here is not what's going to happen when the meeting happens, it's what the rhetoric out of the white house and some of our allies across the world including asia is over the next few weeks. there was a lot of consternation when it came out. >> chinese don't want peace in the penin

so when kennedy goes to khrushchev and meets with him, it's an ambush and turns out very difficult forent and is somewhat politically humiliating. so 1961 is a tough year for john f. kennedy. >> how did he rise above it? this was very humiliating, but here, 60 years later, a continued adversary in russia with this united states government. >> well, that will be episode four. 1962 and '63 will be a moment when the president really learns the ropes and president kennedy shows the greatness that we remember him for. but '61 was a learning appeared for him. one of the things that's really interesting in studying presidents is that some of them learn on the job. john f. kennedy was very, very good at learning on the job. >> doesn't every president have to do that? it's a first time for most. >> yes, it's really a requirement -- >> until a second term. >> but fred, day don't all do it as well. >> yeah. all right, tim nifali, fascinating. as are your words. be sure to tune into a new episode of "american dynasties: the kennedys" tonight at 9:00 p.m. >>> now to the powerful messages we heard t

khrushchev together. >> away from the banquets and the cameras, jack has a serious mission in vienna,enough missiles to destroy the entire world. kennedy intends to make a deal on nuclear disarmament, but the soviet leader makes an impossible demand. he wants kennedy to surrender the western sector of berlin. despite his best efforts, jack is humiliatehumiliated. he leaves the summit having achieved nothing. >> i will tell you now it was a very sober two days. >> jfk learns winning power is one thing. wielding is another. american dynasties, the kennedys, a new episode sunday at 9:00 on cnn. if you've been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers may feel overwhelming. so start your search with our teams of specialists at cancer treatment centers of america. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts [girl 1] perfect! you can send a digital payment. [man] uhh, i don't have one of those payment apps. [girl 2] perfect! you have a us-based bank account, right? [man] i have wells fargo. [girl 3] perfect! then you should have zelle! [man] perfect. [gir

. >> i kept seeing pictures of kennedy and khrushchev together, which they look like they need a newthe pictures were fine. it looked like, dad, may i have the keys to the car? >> mort saw was overtly political and partisan. the idea of a comedian really taking a stand, having a point of view, this was something new. >> when john kennedy was president, mort saul was doing bits about kennedy. he just saw himself as the guy whose job it was to go after whoever was in power, be they republican, democrat. >> no, and i can't get one. >> no one w handle you? >> the last agent i had was freddy fields, very able fellow. he said, no agent can help you in the position you're in. >> i like a comedian who i'm truly not sure what side he's going to be on an issue. i'm not a fan of the standup comedian that just reaffirms the status quo. >> do you believe entertainers should have opinions? >> oh, yes. >> express them? >> definitely, they've got to have opinions, like everybody else. >> you think entertainers should exert political influence? >> if they want to. ♪ the war in vietnam keeps on a-ragi