lou cannon, perhaps the most esteemed reagan biographer, told me, you know, del what, this day did, really like reagan's character under fire and his heroism, cracked jokes in the emergency room, cracked jokes in the o.r. and cracked jokes kind of laughing at death and people saw this on event, real live event, dawn of the 24-hour news cycle, people are drawn to and listening to the coverage, they felt like it was their aunt or uncle or grandfather who was shot and they form that bond with him, and i think that carried him through. you know, it kept him from getting in a lot more trouble in places where other presidents would have faced a lot rougher time. >> explore an interactive timeline,view photos and video, listen to audio clips and read government documents at author del wilber's website rawhide down.com. >> this monday watch american history tv in prime time with a look at the 34th president, dwight david eisenhower. at 8:00 p.m., architect frank gehry. following that at 9:00 p.m., eisenhower's granddaughter expressing her opposition to the memorial. at 10:30 p.m., a film produced

lou cannon, perhaps the most esteemed reagan biographer, told me, you know, del what, this day did, really like reagan's character under fire and his heroism, cracked jokes in the emergency room, cracked jokes in the o.r. and cracked jokes kind of laughing at death and people saw this on event, real live event, dawn of the 24-hour news cycle, people are drawn to and listening to the coverage, they felt like it was their aunt or uncle or grandfather who was shot and they form that bond with him, and i think that carried him through. you know, it kept him from getting in a lot more trouble in places where other presidents would have faced a lot rougher time. >> explore an interactive timeline,view photos and video, listen to audio clips and read government documents at author del wilber's website raw highdown.com. >>> to mark george washington's birthday, the american enterprise institute hosted a gathering of political thinkers to consider the presidency and legacy of our nation's first chief executive. among the topics discussed are washington's farewell address and the many presidents he

journalist lou cannon says the fear of riots loomed. >> these jurors, they were from southern californiaared. >> reporter: defense attorney michael stone admits the climate hurt his case. >> there was no way in the world that any jury would acquit all of the defendants again. >> reporter: are you saying that you walked into a courtroom with a client who you believed had no chance? >> pretty much so, yeah. >> i was so positive and knew in my heart that i'm not even worried about it. >> reporter: rodney king takes the stand and testifies that rachel epithets werewere used dg the beating. >> mike stone knows the word. >> as he's lying prone, he says, someone said, "n," we're going to kill you. and that's when you see him getting up. >> he is still willing to stand up in this courtroom before a jury and say, they said the word. [ expletive ] and then say, well, maybe it was killer. i'm not sure. >> laurence powell. >> rodney king is a liar. the evidence bears that out. >> reporter: first you said it wasn't racial. then you said it was. then you said you heard the "n" word. then you said you