. >> rick stengel, a joy to have you here tonight as we remember this towering life.hank you. >>> we'll take a break. we'll have much more coming up on the passing of nelson mandela. up next, tom brokaw who covered mandela's long fight for freedom will be with us next with his thoughts. and later, some of the day's other news including a big and dangerous weather system moving across our country as the news marches on. >> reporter: that's a live picture of the marquee at harlem theater tonight where they quickly changed the lettering outside in remembrance of nelson mandela after the word started to spread today about his death at age 95. as we're joining in the studio by tom brokaw. when you look at the legacy of nelson mandela, you're fortunate so much of it happened on your watch. i was thinking of our trip in '94 to cover his eventual election as president. but mostly american viewers were glued to the live coverage in 1990, the long walk to freedom. >> well, i got a call of mine from the south african government saying i need you on your way. he called back and s

rick stengel, talk a little bit about nelson mandela.e really was a ladies man early on. >> i don't think he would like to hear that, anderson. in the new movie coming out there is an interesting sgix of that. i want to go back to the two women we have been talking about, winnie and graca. mandela always said to me he believed winnie had a harder time than he did, that in some ways easier to be in prison. he knew where his next meal what coming in. she had to look after the two children. >> there is the danish prime minister. >> she didn't speak to -- >> followed by her cabinet. >> he really thought she was terribly mistreated by the government and had worse treatment than he did. graca was a ray of sunshine. he was indeed lonely after he separated from winnie. the other day i was looking at my notes as i was making during the time i was working with him and i remember a number of times he was on the phone with her and she was taking a trip and he would say, make sure you bring a sweater and umbrella and overcoat. he was very paternal wi

as rick stengel said he served one term and said it's time for others come on.was gregarious and not here long after there were difficu difficulties and said everybody needs to calm down and we've lost a grate man for this country and the world. of all the things i got to do, being with him the morning after, brian, was one i will never forget. >> absolutely. thanks. another break and after a moment we're back with some of the news this day. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. i took my son fishing e

. >> rick stengel who co-authored mandela's biography, "long walk to freedom." the first name given to him first day of school? >> of all time i spent with him, i don't remember everyone ever calling him nelson except for the queen and i wasn't there when that happened. it's funny. you were talking about it before. pfs a methodist school near qunu. had he a white african teacher. to go back to him growing up there. one of the reasons he had such great awareness with african history is his youth was not affected by any white powers or white government. he didn't experience any prejudice when he was growing up and one of the things that gave him great confidence. when i was with him, people almost always referred to him as madiba. it was a local name of a tribe in that particular region of the eastern cape. it was for an elder. oftentimes when we would take walks early in the morning and he would introduce himself as madiba even when people didn't know who he was, they understood what a madiba was. >> rick, there was really an interesting process just as nelson ma

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and we're happy once again we're joined by nelson mandela's biographer, rick stengel, former editing manager of "time" magazine who had the privilege of living with nelson mandela and compiling both books. we see the "time" magazine cover story, this being thursday night, you being the former boss at "time." i guess they crashed an issue. >> we had that -- it was already done. and we knew this day was coming. and nancy gibbs, the editor of "time" had it ready. i'd written my piece a long time ago. it's a beautiful, great collection. and that's one of my very favorite pictures of him on the cover. >> i was looking back at some of the single word quotes you've used over the years to describe this man. meticulous, a power charmer, stubborn, golden, luminous. you've also cautioned, though, about the use of the word "saint." and it's not too early in our remembrance to point out especially to the generation that came up after his story was well known that his organization the anc was not a non-violent organization. it was rough and he surrounded himself with some rough people. >> right. h

. >> teichner: former "time" magazine editor rick stengel spent countless hours in private conversationmandela while collaborating on mandela's autobiography. >> mandela went to johannesburg as a young man and was treated in the terrible way that young black men were treated in the 1950s. i think this had a huge effect on him. >> teichner: mandela was in the forefront of growing resistance by the a.n.c., which began to protest the hated laws requiring blacks to carry passes, restricting where they could go. then, a galvanizing moment caught the world's attention. on march 21, 1960, in sharpeville, the peaceful civil rights movement was pierced with bullets. ( gunfire ) walter cronkite reported. >> police mounted on tanks opened fire. 69 natives were killed, 176 wounded. most of the victims were shot in the back. >> teichner: it was against this blood-red backdrop that nelson mandela took up arms. >> it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violence against a government whose reply is only savage attacks. >> teichner: when the a.n.c. became a more radical movemen

also rick stengel and andrea mitchell and tom brokaw.next the look at the headlines from papers from around the world but first bill karins tracking the major ice storm. >> as far as we're going throughout the morning commute the roads are treacherous this morning in the dallas area. you may have seen scenes around little rock, memphis later. this was in missouri yesterday as the ice and snow moved into oklahoma. let me show you what we're dealing with. what a winter we're starting out with. this map shows you where the wind chills are the norts. that's the northern plains. ice and snowstorm from texas now all the way to new york state. then a new winter storm coming in the west that's moving across the country this weekend. right now if you're heading out this morning be careful in ohio, southern indiana, southern illinois, western kentucky, southern missouri, down there northern portions of arkansas are just coated in ice. this is where the worst of the ice storm is now, north of little rock and dallas an inch of sleet last night. just

rick stengel was the author of "long walk to freedom." we will also be joined by david dinkins. you knew him 25 years. godfather to your daughter. >> 22 years. >> tell me how they are handling this. >> i think it is clear to see that, especially with respect to mrs. machel, is a unified women. they have been graceful through this process. ofre is a profound sense saddness. you finally get the word that the chief is gone, it is overwhelming. i think there is an equal amount of joy in festivity. now this major event has happened. i think the family is actually very dignified and holding up well. >> what we know about what is going to happen between now and the funeral day? >> there are a series of protocols that have been put into place that the south african government are executing. on the 10th, there will be a huge rally. the funeral is on the 15th. i would anticipate is one of the largest gatherings of heads of state in modern history. you may even see more at the state attended nelson mandela's funeral than john f. kennedy's. there will be more protocol put in because of madi

rick stengel is colab rart on mandela's claimed "long walk to freedom."red the biography, "mandela's way." and he's live with us to talk about nelson mandela. i just said, during that piece that we were watching it's hard to do a short interview about nelson mandela. i don't even know where to begin. but when i read your piece, the thing that stood out most was he was a pragmatic politician. which i think a lot of people would find hard to sort of prioritize in his description. >> ashleigh, first of all i want to complement you on the pronunciation of his name. he woke up and incredibly early in the morning, we did our interviews and he would call people at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. and the person would go who the heck is this, and there was a long pause and he would go "mandela." so one of the things i want people to understand is that he wasn't a saint. he wasn't a flofy los fy lofy i. he was a hot headed -- that steeled him and made him understand restraint and the need for reconciliation. but he was a politician. and he was proud to call himself a politician.

. >> rick stengel, we talk about some of these other choices. in prison -- and you've written about this -- that he would suppre suppress emotion. the incredible story tom was relating oert night with brian on nightly news, hearing about the death of his son. he's in prison. he's refused to go to his funeral. and he also had to live with the fact that his son never forgave him for basically putting his political career and the country in front of his own family. >> i asked walter susulu, he was his mentor, and i said, walter, did he show any emotion? and he said, obviously i knew he had all this emotion, but he didn't show it. prison was a crucible that steeled him. he was a compassionate man, and prison just made him never show that emotion. i asked him, what is the difference between the man who went in and the man who came out? he said, i came out mature. >> they bring in some south african journalist to try to demonstrate that, in fact, conditions there were more humane than people thought, and there was an image taken of mandela, and he ref

joining me now to take a measure of this man, are two people who knew nelson mandela very well, rick stengel is a former managing editor of time and coauthor of mandela's autobiography, long walk to freedom and also mandela's way, lessons on life, love and courage, jerry inzerillo is president and ceo of img artist and a close friend of mandela's in a moment we will not only be joined by them but former mayor of new york city, david dinkins. >> let me begin with you, jerry, you knew nelson mandela for 20 years. >> 22 years. >> rose: godfather to your daughter. >> yes. >> rose: near the father, know the family. >> yes. very well. >> rose: tell me how they are handling this, because they have to have expected it. >> yes. i think it is clear to see that, you know, especially with respect to mrs. michelle he is a very gracious, elegant woman, very dignified woman, you know, mrs. mandela, win any mandela the girls, nani, zuni they have been beautiful through this whole process. i think there is a profound sense of sadness, because when you finally get the word that, you know, the chief is gone, y

. >> rick stengel, we talk about some of these other choices. in prison -- and you've written about this -- that he would suppress emotion. the incredible story tom was relating the other night with brian on nightly news, hearing about the death of his son. he's in prison. he's refused to go to his funeral. and he also had to live with the fact that his son never forgave him for basically putting his political career and the country in front of his own family. >> i asked walter susulu, he was his mentor, and i said, walter, did he show any emotion? and he said, obviously i knew he had all this emotion, but he didn't show it. prison was a crucible that steeled him. he was a compassionate man, and prison just made him never show that emotion. i asked him, what is the difference between the man who went in and the man who came out? he said, i came out mature. >> they bring in some south african journalist to try to demonstrate that, in fact, conditions there were more humane than people thought, and there was an image taken of mandela, and he refus

. >> rick stengel, you're joining us as well. you knew nelson mandela so well, working on the autobiography and others as well. >> let's face it, chris, nelson mandela is today south africa's greatest export. it's what people know about the country. its grand south africa. i think the south african government is exploiting that in a positive way because they want people to have a positive impression of south africa. this is the world cup for them. but with nelson mandela as the centerpiece. and so far they seem to be doing it pretty well. >> rick, i appreciate the point. it's true. so much to coordinate here and obviously never losing sight of what it really is, about nelson mandela, and the memorial, some beautiful singing going on right now that we'd like you to listen to. listen to this. ♪ ♪ ♪ pray for africa ♪ god the father's love ♪ can reach down and bless our hearts ♪ ♪ from his heaven above ♪ and when lips have praise ♪ they so sweetly sing ♪ pray for peace in africa ♪ to the loving god ♪ >> one of south africa's most fam

rick stengel, the former managing editor of "time" magazine told me that the two of you seemed to have almost a father/son relationship, that he would give you spiritual counseling, advice. is that accurate? >> in a way. he certainly gave me -- he gave me a lot of help. you know, he, when congress gave him the gold medal when they were trying to run me out of office, he called me one day and said now, he said, i'm the president of south africa, i must accept this award, but i am not a fool and i know what the timing is so he said here's what we're going to do. i'm coming a day early and you're going to organize an event for me in the white house and i will say exactly what i think. and he proceeded to do it. he was that kind of guy. we had a genuine friendship. i mean, he thought it was wrong and he thought it was bad for america, bad for the world, and he came here and said it. and he managed to be an inclusive figure while never giving up his right to take a stand, including in some of the relatively few disagreements we had. >> you did have a few disagreements. i remember when i met

rick stengel deserved a lot of credit for that. >> i'm going to embarrass you on air. people don't know, is when he traveled abroad he always stayed on south african time. so at that -- it was the afternoon. remember when he sat down in the chair, my heart sank because he went like this. nelson mandela's falling asleep at charlie's interview, and then he did wake up. and then that very officialous pr person who was looking at his watch and saying we have to finish and he has to go. >> but it was a lovely, personal interview and you really brought out that side of him. >> thank you for that tribute to peter's friendship with you that resulted in that. nelson mandela, everybody is asking the same question, who is this man and what was his legacy. and we asked you to remember that each of you through your own personal observations starts with you. >> massive and worldwide and historic. but i did know him as a person. i remember him once saying that, you know, there are many, many people who love me from affair, but there's very few people who love him from up close. that'