where would robert kennedy have gone? how would johnson with the assumption that the mind-set so different from that of john kennedy deal with civil rights? or the cuban missile crisis? that is one of the questions i tried to answer in this book called "then everything changed". this is a trio of alternative histories that center on contemporary american politics or contemporary for some of us. they are all rooted in a common notion that the smallest twist and turn of fate can produce radical consequences. they are not as a is. dialogue and imagined scenes. they are all histories i tried to ground in plausibility and based on the thoughts and beliefs and impulses and instinct of the players as drawn from history, biographies and several interviews with people. and the common thread is history doesn't turn on a dime. it turned on a nickel. there are theories about history that focus on geography, natural resources, theology, ideology but the smallest random acts of faith, human beings like to see patterns in history. there

it was the 11th 13 data-processing to work their way through the there was no john kennedy and robert kennedy has taken the senate seat in massachusetts teddy was too young and then in that era the kennedy is much more cold war type of guy then he came to be. nobody is pushing for the other way out which means that the results of the cuban missile crisis are really different from the ones that we live through. that is one. the second story for its obvious personal connections is another attempt on another life june 4th 1968 robert kennedy has finished his victory speech and because of a last-minute flight on the wall decision to spare another rally he goes through the kitchen of the ambassador hotel. but unlike reality something changes here is another discovery that knocked me for a loop was reading the histories in the jfk library and come across steve smith oral history i blame myself sometimes because i was always and haven't when i was around a senator to walk in front of him not for security but to get him through faster and had he been retainer we would have he would have been in front

when the freedom rides took place in 1961, john was by then robert kennedy's right-hand man in the civil rights movement. when the first buses of these nice, well-meaning c.o.r.e. people were set on fire and c.o.r.e. properly, i think, bailed, it was the nashville kids with this extraordinary leadership and the great teachings of the reverend james lawson-- having been in the fire and broken the city's-- already disciplined by the sit-in movement and winning there, took it over knowing-- i mean, this is really like the young americans in saving private ryan landing on d-day, really believing that they would be killed. they made out their wills. they were the ones who said, "we will risk our lives to do this." and john, in fact, tried to talk them out of it, as did the senior ministers, who thought, "alabama, mississippi, it's too dangerous. the klan is on the loose." the fbi had not yet-- j. edgar hoover was on the side of, effectively, the forces of segregation. and these young people did it. and that is a great, great moment in american democ-- i think it's the best moment in american

in response, robert kennedy quietly reached out to mississippi officials who promised to protect the riders from mob attacks. they also promised to arrest them. when the first 27 riders to reach jackson were peacefully arrested, mississippi officials as well as i suspect the can i be administration they give the situation was finally under control. i feel wonderful mississippi governor ross barnett said. i am so happy everything went off so smoothly. but, the riders recognized the rest for what they were, a strategic blunder by mississippi. the one that created the giant opportunity for the writers. the abandoned the goal of new orleans and instead implemented the tactic of jail, no bill other refused to pay their fines or bail out and instead invited new riders to come to jackson and fill the jails to overflowing. across the nation americans responded. wave after wave, the writers came in within three weeks they had filled jackson's jails. the freedom riders there by the turn themselves a six weeks day, maximum-security cells in parchment, the state's infamous delta of prison farm.

and, of course, senator robert kennedy also contributed to getting me out of jail. it was a national story. in fact, talking about cesar, three hours after senator kennedy was in delano with cesar, three hours later he was with the kids taking that famous picture that you'll see in the book. anyway, apparently president clinton saw the documentary and saw the poster. that's supposed to be me here with the long nose. they said, hey, i have a long nose. invite that dude to the white house. so, wow, i got invited in 1996 to the white house. damn. hey, born in l.a., don't steal nothing. [laughter] so i see president, i see president kennedy, he could have been a tight end for the university of arkansas. he came in with a great big smeal, and i didn't see monica lewinsky anywhere, but he had a smile on his face. [laughter] so, you know, i had to tell him, and this is the serious part. we're getting down to what hector asked me. i had to tell him in 1996, my president. i thought i was a -- [speaking spanish] i guess. but, you know, my president, we have the dubious distin

one thing not released is robert kennedy's papers. they are still held by the family. e's all sorts of material that would be fascinating to read for many books. bobby kennedy said himself he didn't take notes. we won't know until the papers are released. >> host: you believe and say this at the end of the book you have lessons for us 50 years later. we have again a young u.s. president, not very experienced in foreign policy, and you think there's lessons that can be drawn and analogies from the berlin crisis in 1961 to the current situation in 2011. tell us a little bit about them. let me be careful. first of all, the lesson is history is complex, and there are a lot of factors that go into an outcome. that's the reason i interweave the four stories and look at things from all perspectives. complex. the second finding is american presidents make a big difference . i think obama has to be careful. we only really knew what the outcome of 1961 was in 1962 with the cuban missile crisis. we have another great year of history, 2011 like 1961 with the middle east upheavals.

. >> i can't speak to the up convenient truth, but the article with robert kennedy j.r. has been retracted and oddly disappeared by rolling stone. there's no longer any mention of it on their website. it's disappeared from their archives. it eventually there were over 500 words of corrections appended to it including things like, you know, we thought that this was x times the amount, and actually it was 1/100th of that. i don't think there is a very good parallel between rfk j.r.'s efforts which have been derided by the community and al gore's efforts which have not. your comment highlights something about this debate which is that a lot of people have firsthand experience that supports very strongly their belief that vaccines cause autism. a lot of parents have experiences where they had a child they felt was developing normally. they -- that child was vaccinated, and then everything changed. i'll give a quick story about that. there's been a series of omnibus cases involving vaccines and autism representing over 5,000 families with three different test cases of the fam

. >> the one thing that hasn't been released is a lot of robert kennedy's papers. ey're still being held by the family. so there's all sorts of material in those papers that would be fascinating to read not just for my book, but for many books. bobby kennedy himself said he didn't take notes, we won't know until those papers are released. >> you believe that your book does have lessons for us 50 years later. we have, again, a young u.s. president, not very experienced in foreign policy. and you think that there are lessons that can be drawn and analogies from the berlin crisis in 1931 to -- 1961 to the current situation in 2011. tell us about them. >> let me be careful here. first of all, one of my lessons is there are a lot of factors that go into an outcome. that's the reason i interweave these four stories and look at things from all different perspectives, complex. the second finding is american presidents make a big difference at historic inflection points. i do think there are parallels, we only really knew what the outcome was with the cuban missile crisis. w

. >> guest: the one thing that hasn't been released is a lot of robert kennedy's papers. they're still being held by the family. and so there's all sorts of materials in those papers that would be fascinating to read not just for my book but many books. >> host: yeah. >> guest: bobby kennedy said himself he didn't take notes of those meetings. we won't know until those papers are released. >> host: right. okay. now, you believe and you say this at the end of your book that your book does have lessons for us 50 years later. we have again a young u.s. president, not very experienced in foreign policy and you think that there are lessons that can be drawn and analogies of the berlin crisis from 1961 to the current situation in 2011. tell us a little bit about it. >> guest: let me be careful here. first of all, one of my lessons is history is complex. [laughter] . >> host: yeah. >> guest: and there's a lot of factors that go into that how can and that's the reason i interweave these stories and look at things from all different sorts of perspectives, complex. the second findi

. >> the one thing that hasn't been released is a lot of robert kennedy's papers.hey're still being held by the family. and so there's all sorts of material in those papers that would be fascinating to read not just for my book but for many books. >> yeah. >> bobby kennedy said himself he didn't take notes. >> now, you believe and you say this at the end of your book that you are book does have lessons for us 50 years later. we have again a young u.s. president, not very experienced in foreign policy. and you think there are lessons that can can drawn and analogies from the berlin crisis in 1961 to the current situation in 2011. tell us a little bit about them. >> let me be careful. first of all, one of my lessons is history is complex. [laughter] >> yeah. >> and there are a lot of factors that go into an outcome. that's the reason i interweave these different stories that it's complex. but the second find something american presidents make -- presidents make a big difference with historic inflection points. i do think there's parallels between president obama and

robert kennedy was on tet immediately.he used it as to denounce the war, the famous photograph general milan killing the guy, a terrorist who was an assassin in the streets of saigon. kennedy made a speech about that days later saying this is the moral indictment of the war, and who are these people we are supporting, and stuff like the. and actually in my book i go in depth into that, who are the people involved, why was that guy getting shot, and the aftermath of all that. the photo is black and white, but reality is not black and white. so, you know, that very famous pulitzer prize-winning photo, if you just look at on its face it tells one story but if you find that the real story, it's a lot more interesting. congress turned against the war at that time, or started to. after 74, and you had a very left wing democratic congress coming after nixon's resignation in august, and then the election in the fall, this big democratic majority, and it was that congress really cut the aid, actually the outgoing lame-duck congress

i was just so very much for robert kennedy.e was assassinated and mccarthy didn't get the nomination, and he and johnson were responsible for the war, and i just could not get behind humphre yerks. richard said he had a plan to end the war, and that sounded good to me. i left home at 14 and my parents let me go to the seminary to be a priest, and i remember the bishop one day asked me to come over to do some yard work, and i think he had heard that i was out campaigning for nixon, and he wanted to ask me about why, you know, why are you doing that? he wanted to educate me about nixon's past and all this, and his name was bishop hicki, was the arch bishop in washington, d.c., and in the 1980s, a very outspoken advocate for war in central america and all of that, but it was like, it was one of those early encounters where somebody is trying to set me straight and, you know, of course then nixon was elected and did all these horrible things and continued the war and all of that, but, you know, obviously i never looked back, but i

robert kennedy said to a group of students in south africa, "our future may lie beyond our vision but it is not completely beyond our control." he added, "is the shaping the worke america that neithe of our own hands match the reason in principle they will determine our destiny." today as them the future is beyond our vision. but let us make it with confidence and resolve. when we're called to leave behind what we know, let us so bravely and willingly go with faith that a lasting things we carry with us will be more than enough to sustain us. but the show with a conviction in times like these are born the qualities of vigilance, fidelity to purpose and principle, conviction, and courage that makes nations lasting legree. israel is such a nation. america is such a nation. together, we are better. well what tomorrow brings may be uncertain, let us confront those tomorrows with a certainty of our own immutable bond. together, israel and the united states have represented and bought to sustain the values for which so many in the arab world now stride. let us not delude ourselves about the

added senator robert kennedy. and so the story is about his effort to help me find my parents that day and the capitol building. there's another story about, i asked my parents if i could leave home when i was 14. and they said yes because i said i wanted to be a priest. they didn't want to get in the way of god's calling someone to the seminary at 14 years old, and this is a story about being there at the seminary, and i have of course a lot against the catholic church as recovering catholic. so there's a whole bunch of things like this, and i found myself present at a terrorist incident that took place in the 1980s, this particular day whether we 19 people killed and probably about 120 or so injured from bullets and grenades shrapnel. and i was just coming in to the airport to change planes, and so i write about what it's like to actually be present at one of these terrorist incidents comment and live. so the book has a lot of these experiences and stories that sort of maybe explain how i got to be where i got,

kennedy, through robert kennedy and martin luther king. we persevered. in addition i personally remember the attempted assassination of president reagan. i remember writing president reagan get well note in the second grade. i even remember getting a note back saying thank you. we persevered again. 50 years ago today an interracial group of americans -- americans left washington, d.c., on a bus trip to new orleans, with the goal of desegregating bus terminals. they were the first freedom riders. they never made it to new orleans. they were beaten and bloodied throughout the south. but they sparked off a moment -- movement of over 300 freedom riders with the same goal and perseverance. eventually our nation repudiated secretary gation and embraced equality -- segregation and embraced equality. we persevered. if we're going to shake off this economic downturn, we need to embrace the freedom riders' spirit of perseverance and dogged determination. that is so very american. america will only rise up again on the strength of our collective ideas. americans ma

two of washington's leading speech writers and political strategists, robert shrum worked with progressive candidates from ted kennedyhwriter for george w. bush, mr. frum. welcome to both of you. david, let me begin with you. was it standard practice or is this is your prying to you that the israeli government knew the precise content of the speech before it was delivered and was given a chance to push back? >> it is standard practice to share a speech with all important stakeholders. clearly the administration felt the israelis were an important stakeholder here. it is surprising to me they allowed it to go so long and i think they thought they were going to spring something on the israelis by showing them at the lass minute and got them -- to pushback. you put your finger in your -- opening statement on the key point about all of this, though. which is -- they -- was this the news the president wanted to make in his speech about the arab? 80% of the speech is about the arab, ball rain and syria. what's the headline that he got? about the '67 borders. is that what he wanted? find that hard to believe. if so, that's

two of washington's leading speech writers and political strategists, robert shrum worked with progressive candidates from ted kennedy kerry. former speechwriter for george w. bush, mr. frum. welcome to both of you. david, let me begin with you. was it standard practice or is this is your prying to you that the israeli government knew the precise content of the speech before it was delivered and was given a chance to push back? >> it is standard practice to share a speech with all important stakeholders. clearly the administration felt the israelis were an important stakeholder here. it is surprising to me they allowed it to go so long and i think they thought they were going to spring something on the israelis by showing them at the lass minute and got them -- to pushback. you put your finger in your -- opening statement on the key point about all of this, though. which is -- they -- was this the news the president wanted to make in his speech about the arab? 80% of the speech is about the arab, ball rain and syria. what's the headline that he got? about the '67 borders. is that what he wanted? find that hard to bel

kennedy with him there. the other one was obviously with the liberals. what conservative majority and an opinion by chief justice roberts said was arizona has a law that the justices upheld. if you knowingly hire any illegal immigrant, your business license can be taken away. in this case, arizona said, look, we know that usually the federal government has authority over immigration, but we fall under an exemption for certain licensing requirements, and the court agreed. this was specific to that kind of exemption for licensing deals that the state would have authority over. the law you just asked about is one that governor january brewer sign -- jan brewer signed recently that allows for police to stop -- i am so sorry. gwen: that's all right. >> i almost said inmates again. i was going to tie it back to the california system. allows police to stop anyone who might not be properly documented here in america and look for their papers. that's a big deal. it had a lot of fanfare. it was immediately challenged by the obama organization and other civil liberties groups. gwen: that's not at all -- >> no, and in fact, to answ

robert issue of categorizing things, not as covert actions, but as something else so that -- you get my drift. advisers under kennedy. >> we have a great debate about peacekeeping operations, what i call humanitarian relief operations to help out mankind around the world. we're not talking about a war like situation with good on the ground, but they are on an errant of mercy. that is a distinctly different question, and usually it involves being invited the end. this is not usually done without they're willing or at least their diplomatic approval of coming on to our territory, because the sovereign territory is the sovereign territory, and guess we help out in lots of ways and use military to do that does not mean we are doing it against the will of the sovereign. usually means we're doing it with the will of the sovereign. covert action -- the reason we have plausible denial as we do not have to have the discussion about upsetting the sovereign. i would say that we do not want to give up the tool because the types of things we are being asked to do around the world these days, whether or not the resolution going b

robert issue of categorizing things, not as covert actions, but as something else so that -- you get my drift. advisers under kennedy. >> we have a great debate about peacekeeping operations, what i call humanitarian relief operations to help out mankind around the world. we're not talking about a war like situation with good on the ground, but they are on an errant of mercy. that is a distinctly different question, and usually it involves being invited the end. this is not usually done without they're willing or at least their diplomatic approval of coming on to our territory, because the sovereign territory is the sovereign territory, and guess we help out in lots of ways and use military to do that does not mean we are doing it against the will of the sovereign. usually means we're doing it with the will of the sovereign. covert action -- the reason we have plausible denial as we do not have to have the discussion about upsetting the sovereign. i would say that we do not want to give up the tool because the types of things we are being asked to do around the world these days, whether or not the resolution going b

kennedy space center. please stand by for a follow-up question from the johnson space center. >> hi, this is robert pearlman with a question for ron garan. the shuttle crew brought up with them lego sets as part of an educational outreach approach and i know katie coleman was "trained by her son unplugged with the expectation she would be building them. how are your lego building skills and what do hope kids watching and perhaps even building a long will take away from the experience? >> well, education outreach is a big part of what we do at nasa. just that we are in space and the amazing things very doing in space are very inspiring. one as a kid i was inspired by the space graham and as far as the legos go, think my lego skills are pretty good. but we have a lot different methods of education outreach. that is one of them and you know i think that is one of the reasons why we have the space station is to inspire the next generation. >> fill one more time with a question for one of the russian guys if i can, for commander borisenko. you have been up there for a while and i wonder what your impression of l

this was a plot by john and robert kennedy to assassinate castro. in december 1963. and this information has come out because under the presidential document assassination papers released act a few years ago, a pfizer releasing papers on the kennedy assassination. and in those papers were detailed descriptions of operation -- operation am world. [inaudible] >> no, this happened after the bay of pigs. but it was a clerk plan by kennedy's with individuals in cuba. in fact, individuals high up in the cuban government to carry out this assassination. and bolden would have exposed that if he had started talking about these other plots and move to the investigation in that direction. [inaudible] >> bolden wrote a book. it has a long title. he's been trying to basically get vindication. and again, with these news -- these new papers have come out a basically support his story now. he's not going to get the three years that he would to jail, and he was literally railroaded. we went to trial, the judges instruction to the jury was that basically this guy is guilty. you guys go