when you think about sam johnson, you think about service. you know a lot of people serve, sam has served our military, served in our texas house, and now in the united states congress, not everybody serves with equal sacrifice. when you think about sam johnson's life, you think about sacrifice t what i learned about sam was an interesting trip i took with then speaker of the house, denny hastert. we flew to vietnam to be one of the first delegations to have a speaker of the house be in vietnam since the end of the vietnam war. so i decided on that way on that trip that i would read sam's book, all the way over there i read sam's book. and it was just by fate that i read the last page as we landed in hanoi. tears streaming down my eyes as i had been on this journey that sam takes you through with his book of sacrifice, pain, but also a man that had faith. it was his faith that he relied on on a daily basis and his commitment to his country, commitment to those who were with him and the fortitude he showed of taking those daily, sometimes beati

burgess: we are here tonight to honor congressman sam johnson. it's also appropriate to take a moment and send our thoughts and prayers to congressman johnson's family in the difficult time they're going through right now. as we've heard tonight, congressman johnson is a decorated war hero, 29 years' service in the united states air force, 6 combat missions in the korean war, he endured almost seven years as a prisoner of war in hanoi, the majority in solitary confinement after being captured by the north vote ma these he persveersed through this experience, returned to the united states and was reunited with his wife and children on february 12, 1973. this week marks the 40th anniversary of his relief and -- release and we celebrate aze act fices for this country. 10 years ago, i gave my first speech on the house floor. when sam came home, he undertook a duty to continuously support every man and woman who risked their lives fighting for the united states of america. this was motivation for his decision to run for office and a true statement to t

i actually went and visited where he was held in captivity with com sam johnson. he is an amazing man and i like him a lot. this is whether hagel is going to be secretary of defense. based on who he is and his service to the country. i never voted against israel in his 12 years in the senate. i think he is somebody who wants peace, he he is strong. he will keep us out of wars. i think that we need somebody in that position. >> here is what bill kristol wroited today, chuck hagel isn't a first rate candidate for secretary of defense. he isn't even a second rate candidate. has there ever been a more embarrassing confirmation hearing than hagel for a measure cabinet position. for a minor cabinet position or subcabinet position. we don't know of one. congressman, i understand the white house says he will probably get confirmed and, you know, i guess he will. i don't really have any inside information. they say they have a lot of yes votes. but that appearance, i don't care if you like him or got three purple hearts or no purple hearts, that appearance to me was shocki

let's bring back alexis mcgill johnson and sam seder. alexis.ithdraw from afghanistan. good news or just a reminder of what we do it will still be a bloody mess. >> it's a bloody mess, and why do we need troops when we have drones. >> john: sam, what do you have to say to that one? that's the most common sense answer that scares me. >> the fact of the matter we have not done really anything in afghanistan in terms of further any security goals for years. if the president ran on expanding afghanistan, and people gave him a pass on that from the left because we wanted iraq done we should be taking out all of our troops from afghanistan. it does not necessarily mean that i appreciate the stealth war that we're waging, but-- >> john: you mean the new normal? >> indeed. sadly the fact that we had 65,000 troops in afghanistan is also the new normal. i do a daily show and it never comes up. it's okay, we have 60,000 troops. >> it's like the afghan war is a reality show that nobody watches, everybody hates it. it costs way too much, and it's renewed eve

a special shout out to my friend, sam johnson, whose son died this weekend, a real vietnam hero and our steve: all right. it's now 12 minutes before the top of the hour. coming up next, the texas tenors are here. ♪ proud to be an american where at least i know i'm free ♪ ♪ and -- >> steve: a special president's day performance of "god bless the usa" next. but first let's check in with bill hemmer for what happens in ten minutes. >> good morning to you on a monday, on president's day. just what you were talking about, senator mccain says benghazi is still a cover-up. we'll get into that one. why marco rubio says the white house idea about immigration is dead on arrival. a singer's death stuns the music world and karl rove and ralph peters on the looming deadline for budget cuts, the military only ten days from that. we will see you in ten short minutes here on "america's newsroom" engine turns over ] [ male announcer ] we created the luxury crossover and kept turning the page, writing the next chapter for the rx and lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. i just served my mother-in-law

through in a slightly weaker version than the republicans wanted but a stronger version than johnson and samize that another tragedy of richard nixon's is that john kennedy represented the handsome, glamorous next generation which he didn't feel he belonged to and also didn't feel like he belonged to the older generation. >> he was a tweener. >> the book "ike & dick." you can read an excerpt on our blog. jeffrey frank, thank you so much. >> thank you. it was great to be here. >> come back some time soon. >>> when we come back, a surprising look at the generational divide when it comes to the economic recovery. "the new york times" reporter catherine joins us next. it's not what you think. it's a phoenix with 4 wheels. it's a hawk with night vision goggles. it's marching to the beat of a different drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz. i have obligations. cute tobligations, but obligations.g. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introduci

johnson and we will hear about tiger. and then more on rg3. >> and there is another effort under way to combat the theft of cell phones. >> bureau chief sam ford explains. >> when we asked people today if their cell phone had ever been stolen -- >> no, no, no. >> yes. just get a normal phone. >> they are among the lucky ones. cell phone robbery is such a problem that there has been a bill introduced to revoke the licenses of businesses that pay cash for stolen funds. >> really, paying people to pray on their customers is just not acceptable. >> the police say that gamestop has been cooperating with police. >> that is not to say that we have not recovered cell phones from them. we have. >> there are echo atm's, where they will buy cell phones with no human contact only a driver's license. >> that is instant cash. we have had a single person where someone took over 22 funds and was paid thousands in cash. >> there is believed that there is reason to be concerned, and d.c. police have conducted stings and never recovered dozens of stolen funds. sam ford, abc 7 news. >> and that is it for abc 7 news at 5:00. abc 7 news at 6:00 begins right now. ca

he's basically giving her what was called the johnson treatment, which was what he used to get allies and mentors like richard russell in the senate and samn the house and get people to sport bills of hills. ten days after the beginning of this the relationship he writes to her and says "you mean everything to me." someone he's known for ten days. then 26 days after "i'm ready now for marriage, are you?" and then the eighth of november, that is ten-week courtship, the self-pity he's saying "i hoped i could find a woman who is as affectionate as i am." using all the tricks he dealt in politics. >> woodruff: how did she deal with that pressure? what did you see coming across from lady bird? >> she is torn. here is an extremely elegant deliberate woman who likes to do things in her own time, who is very stately. >> woodruff: even at the age of 21. >> even at the age 2061. and he's rushing at her like a freight train and she's torn. finally he says "we either get married oar we never will." the next day they did. >> woodruff: michael, how would you describe their relationship? their marriage. >> listen don johnson, it would have been impossib

sam? >> well, i slightly disagree with robert. >> i thought you might. >> you know, actually it's funny because some of these questions did produce interesting, illustrative answers. for instance, when ron johnsonnton to say what difference does it make? well, it does make a difference. the problem i found with the questions was they ended up stepping on the news. they became so demonstrative and so theatrical that they ended up stealing the spotlight from the answers. that did a disservice in some respects to the question. >> is the real story the feeder of the questions or hagel's fumbling performance? i think it's the latter. i think hagel had a dismal performance at that hearing. did he seem competent to run the pentagon? there were a lot of questions even among democrats after that hearing whether he's ready. >> i don't disagree with that. i think hagel had a really poor performance. what i'm saying is for these senators -- if you looked at what ted cruz was asking about, association with an israeli diplomat that basically 99.9% of the country has never heard of, what was the point of that? he ended up actually stepping on hagel's bad day by taking some of the spotlight away from him. >> l