rules more than any of the rest of us combined -- was one robert byrd. three months before his death, robert byrd wrote this letter, "during my half century of service and various leadership posts in the u.s. senate including majority leader, minority leader, majority whip and now president pro tempore, i've carefully studied this body's histories, rules and precedent. studying those rules leads one to an understanding of the constitutional framers' vision for the senate as an institution and the subsequent development of the senate rules and precedents to protect that institutional role. this is important, i say to my colleagues. he said, "i am sympathetic to frustrations about the senate's rules, but those frustrations are nothing new. i recognize the need for the senate to be responsive to changing times and of work continually for necessary reforms aimed at modernizing this institution using the prescribed senate procedure for

president, i wish that robert byrd had been here on the floor today. i wish that robert byrd had seen the travesty that just took place on a party-line vote. and when i use the word hypocrisy, i use it guardedly. i do not use that word with abandon. but this is another broken promise, another broken promise. i read from a article entitled "flashback: reid in 2008." as long as i am the leader we will not have the nuclear option. senator reid said in a 2008 interview that as long as he was the leader a nuclear option would never happen under his watch. quote, as long as i am the leader the answer is no. he said i think we should just forget that. that is a black chapter in the history of the senate. i hope we never ever get to do that again because i really do believe it will ruin our country. he was talking about 2005 when this side of the aisle was in the majority and we were going to change -- there was an effort which we were able to defuse, in order to do exactly what we did today. so in 2008 the majority leader said, reid rallied against republican

>> i think robert byrd who was in the senate for one of the longest serving senators in the history ofhe senate, i think he is turning over in his grave. he was somebody who understood to break the rules means you have no rules. another democrat high didn't get to work with who i have immense respect for, mike mansfield. i've heard story after story about how when senators came in, republican or democrat, he made sure they had their, they had their ability to offer them an amendment. brought them into the mix and created a bipartisan atmosphere. >> we were told the last month, no matter how bad the website got, the president couldn't fire secretary sebelius because he would never get a nominee through senate. doesn't today clear the way for the president to fire secretary sebelius? >> i would rather answer stephanie's question. it was a better question. i like sebelius. clearly the rollout has been terrible. to get to stephanie's question, i think not just a sad day. it has been a sad year when a country faces so many problems and we are doing virtually nothing to address those problem

champions belt it would take a brave man to say if you want wear it some day robert byrd in our team.now top olympic officials visited such a last week one hundred days to go before hosting their first ever winter games next february president vladimir putin welcomed president thomas pogge as the german travel to the black sea resort for the first time since being elected head of the international olympic committee two months ago the two presidents then took a ride on a train as they inspected the new adler railway station the transit hub is set to link the coastal cluster with the mountain venues during the games. and to mark the one hundred days to go milestone large olympic winners were put out at such as well way station the symbol represents all the flag colors from the original competing nations of the first modern games all united in one take movement a similar set of rings was also installed near such as a report earlier this year. while i.o.c. boss father was also on hand to help unveil the official outfits to be worn by volunteers and organizers during the olympic and paraly

this so-called nuclear option was used by robert byrd years ago to refine rules of the senate including the filibuster rule. this has been used before. it is rare. but used before. >> and i think what happened here is -- there were a lot traditionalists, dianne feinstein, last aboard. the only defense of the filibuster really was that it was used rarely. it was used either to stop extreme appointments or it was used on something of great moment. and it could be a consensus forcer. and sure, if you get 60 votes for a bill. probably more of a consensual bill. but those days are gone. this has been accused so much on so many issues, the filibuster is bad, is questionable, if you care about minority rule in the first place. but it is absolutely useless if it becomes a matter of routine. there is nothing in the constitution that says, it shall take 60 votes to do business in the senate. the only super majorities are on a couple things like treaties. i think if people just said. this is -- an antique. not being used the way it was supposed to be. >> the filibuster rule used to be 2/33. 66. pu

they were senators robert byrd, of west virginia, lincoln chafee of rhode island, susan collins of maine, mike dewine of ohio, lindsey graham of south carolina, daniel inouye of hawaii, mary landrieu of louisiana, joseph lieberman of connecticut, john mccain of arizona, ben nelson of florida, ken salazar of colorado, olympia snowe of maybe and john warner of virginia. what they devised was a quite simple solution. they were grappling with the same question that confronts us now, what can justify a member of the united states senate voting to block consideration, in other words, to filibuster, a nominee to the judicial branch. and their idea, simple as it was, had tremendous power. they agreed they would oppose a judicial nominee only in, quote, extraordinary circumstances. that was the gist of the agreement, there were other features to it but their spirit and intent in this short phrase had profoundly meaningful impact. in fact, for the remainder of the bush presidency, there were no more filibusters on judicial nominees. and those senators with that short phrase accomplished a historic

senator robert byrd has to be rolling over on his grave based on what his democratic colleagues havee today. this is a very sad day and, you know, the fact of the matter is the way the rules in the senate should be changed is an incredibly bipartisan way before the start of every congress by the a two-thirds vote. that's how you get bipartisanship. that's how you start healing this divide that really, really began with the totally partisan vote around obamacare. that split our parties. that split this nation and it hasn't been healed yet and today's action certainly isn't helping heal that division. it's widening it. it's a very sad day for the united states senate and america. >> ifill: that's what i was going ask you both as a final question. do you feel like the senate is more divided today than before? senator americaly. >> division of the senate was that there would be a cooling saucer. what's why we have staggered terms and six years. but no one intended for the senate to be a deep freeze. but that's what it's come with the abuse of the filibuster. what i slope that both sides

that's why everybody should read robert byrd's letter.tion that i am frankly to the relationships. >> there are some suggesting the killing of the filibuster, if you will, on judicial and legislative braj nominees could be expanded to also go into legislation itself, are you among those worried about that so-called slippery slope? >> i'm very worried about it, and it seems logical that if they're frustrated by the judicial 234078 knees, they are also frustrated by the various parliamentary procedures that hinder legislation from moving forward on the floor of the senate. i'm very worried they will make that decision on that aspect of it as well. we might as well merge the senate and the house of representatives. >> because some people are already saying the sentence could turn out to be like the house, where a simple majority rules the day. >>> before i let you go, senator, this deals that seems to be in the works in geneva right now to allow some easing of u.s. sanctions, as far as iran is concern, in exchange for more transparency, a fr

that senator robert byrd, probably the most distinguished senate historian in its history, said in his last speech to us that the filibuster is the necessary fence against the excesses of the majority and of the executive. it is the fence against -- it is the defense against what de tocqueville called in the 1830's the greatest danger to our country, which he saw, which was the tyranny of the majority. you ask how could this possibly happen? sometimes we get off in our rooms by ourselves, republicans do it as well as democrats, and we give ourselves our own version of the facts. the last time this came up, we tried to address this in the senate chamber. i think all of us thought it was a pretty good session, but this is my third time to respond to these nuclear threats, and i'm not going to do it again, madam president. the president said during the government shutdown that he wasn't going to negotiate with a gun to his head, neither am i. the democrats have had their finger on the nuclear button for two years. i hope they will reconsider. number one, i hope they will read senator leah

kennedy was assassinated, we talked to biographer robert caro about that day in dallas. >> about 40 minutes lady byrd johnson was to say ken o'donnell walks through the door, he campaigned with him all of life, she said seeing the strict enface of kenney o'donnell who loved him, we knew. a moment later, another ken diede, mack killduff comes running into the room, runs over to johnson to get orders and says mr. president, it's the first time that johnson has been really addressed like that. and at that moment, charlie, he takes command. >> rose: the craft of design with jony ive and marc newson and the day kennedy died through the eyes and reporting of robert caro when we continue it. >> funding for charlie rose was provided by the following: additional funding provided by these funders: and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> tonight a special conversation with jony ive, apple's chief of design and the man steve jobs desribed as his spiritual partner. an