when i was running war on poverty, sammy davis j.r. was on the advisory board and he cared about the country age about the poor, and i was out in las vegas giving a speech, and it coincided with his 100th performance at sands casino or something, so we went to see his show, and he and his wife were there, and he performed, and he was spectacular. it wasn't an accident they called samm mr. ie -- sammie davis the world entertainer. he was superb. joyce had the night off, and he said we're going to see the best inten tanner. the next night, we went to another casino. we got up front. if you are sammy davis, you get a good table. it was elvis. he believed elvis was the best performer in town. it was in his later years, and he was large. [laughter] he was wearing a sequence jump suit. >> not the white house attire? >> no, no. of course i had never seen the man or heard the man, and he had these -- what color is it? red, pink? scarlett? he had scarlett scarves and he would wipe his face and sing. it was fantastic. he sang the most ridiculous

he said, "i love the way you have it, but sammy davis jr. has it on hold." >> jimmy: what? squeaked that one out. so we were at the houston rodeo. >> i saw that. >> jimmy: i know you're a houston boy. >> quite a cowboy. >> jimmy: thank you so much. >> you know, you were the only one that looked like they really belonged there. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: that's what i was saying the whole time. thank you. >> those dirty clothes. >> jimmy: completely. have you played that rodeo before? >> i've played it years ago. elvis had the record and then i played it and they let me, because i was a hometown boy. they let me squeeze in 280 extra people. so i broke elvis's record. it made me sick, too. >> jimmy: you didn't want to beat elvis's record. >> no, i didn't want to beat his record. >> jimmy: he's the king. >> yeah, of course he is. >> jimmy: i'm so psyched you're here, kenny rogers. i've got to say, where is the beard? >> well, part of it's still here. i've had this for seven or eight years now. my wife wanda is an identical twin and the process one day she and her sister were bitch

s on channel 5,'"and we would all run to watch sammy davis jr. or whatever it was. c-span: you are not offended by "amos and andy"? >> guest: no. i didn't think of -- and no one in my household thought of "amos and andy" as being the national geographic anthropological treatment of the nature of the negro. i mean, it it was bunch of buffoons. but "amos and andy" also had several different class types. for example, there were black lawyers and black doctors and black judges and black undertakers, as well as the black trickster figure, the kingfish, who was, you know, brer rabbit, who was a figure straight out of black mythology, and andy, who looked like a bear, was brer bear. i mean, these were myths that we had been raised with, which were playing themselves out on television. i was too young to have heard them on radio, but my parents, of course, did and my parents loved them on radio, too. but they took them as signs of human vulnerability and of arrogance, of hubris, of pain, of love. they took them as typical of the human experience, rather than typical black p

you've got the picture in your book, the infamous picture of sammy davis jr. giving him a hug for which he got basically blasted among african-americans. talk a bit about nixon and his racial sensitivities and instances. >> guest: well, you look now at some of the tape's coming out. he had terrible insensitivity. he had made a terrible racist remarks and anti-semitic remarks privately, and so he never quite the state the past he had of insensitivity of racial issues. one of the big things on policy that nixon could never escape and that historians remark on to this day is the southern strategy that he developed. this idea that during his earlier career he was not thought of as a particularly hostile person to the racial progress. in 1960 election he got a substantial portion of the african-american vote as republicans had gotten going back to the lincoln experience. but when he got to running in '68, he developed a southern strategy which is essentially designed to put people against each other on racial grounds secretary the white vote in the south and the wh

you've got this picture in your book the infamous picture of sammy davis junior giving him a hug forich he got basically blasted among african-americans. talk a bit about nixon and his racial insensitivity. >> guest: if you look at some of the tapes that are coming out, he had terrible and sensitivity, me terrible racist remarks, remarks from anti-semitic remarks privately. so he never could quite escape the past ahead of insensitive racial issues. one of the big things on policy that nixon could never escape that historians remark on his southern strategy that he developed a this idea that during his earlier career he was not thought of as a particularly hospital dashing hostile person. he got a substantial portion of the african-american vote as republicans have gotten going back to the link and experience. but when he got to running in 1968 he felt a sudden stretch which essentially designed to pit people against each other on racial grounds so he could carry the white vote in the south and the white voters in many northern states. this he could never get past in philosophy studen

personally he didn't have any serious african-american advisers with sammy davis jr.as you say he was reviled for endorsing nixon and supporting him, but a lot of people filled with mexican he would do whichever way the political wind was blowing. that's how you could judge nixon, not conviction. maybe that isn't quite fair but in some cases, particularly on racial issues he felt he was to side with the sort of go slow on civil rights segment in the country and in congress and that's the way he conducted his presidency. >> host: interesting president nixon was the author of the the term economic justice in the executive order that set aside dollars for the minority businesses to compete for how do you reconcile -- >> guest: it very good point as with so many other things with nixon there's all kind of contradictions. he said at the environmental protection agency and he is not thought of as an environmentally sensitive precipice. overtures to china and he is a hard liner in some ways, war issues. vietnam, another issue he has a mixed record. but i think the problem he

if you are sammy davis in las vegas, you get a good table. the four of us sat down and it was elvis presley. sammy believed that elvis was the best performance in town. he was in his later years and he was large. he was wearing a sequin jump suit. >> not quite the uniform of the next white house? >> no, no, no, no. of course, i'd never seen the man and i'd never heard the man. and he had these -- what color is it chartreuse? red? pink? scarlet? he had scarlet scarfs, and he would wipe his face. he'd stand up there and sing. it was fantastic. he'd sing the most ridiculous thing in the world and people would cheer and yell and love it. and i'd sit there and go like this. then he would sing a ballot and it was absolutely beautiful. i mean this man had a voice that was spectacular. and i love country music and i love ballots. and he would sing and it would just -- you'd be carried away with it. then he'd take the scarf, wipe the face, sweat off, and throw it out in the crowd and everywhere would scream. he through one to davis. davis gave it to jo

if you are sammy davis in las vegas, you get a good table. the four of us sat down and it was elvis presley. sammy believed that elvis was the best performance in town. he was in his later years and he was large. he was wearing a sequin jump suit. >> not quite the uniform of the next white house? >> no, no, no, no. of course, i'd never seen the man and i'd never heard the man. and he had these -- what color is it chartreuse? red? pink? scarlet? he had scarlet scarfs, and he would wipe his face. he'd stand up there and sing. it was fantastic. he'd sing the most ridiculous thing in the world and people would cheer and yell and love it. and i'd sit there and go like this. then he would sing a ballot and it was absolutely beautiful. i mean this man had a voice that was spectacular. and i love country music and i love ballots. and he would sing and it would just -- you'd be carried away with it. then he'd take the scarf, wipe the face, sweat off, and throw it out in the crowd and everywhere would scream. he through one to davis. davis gave it to jo

successfully cloning superstars like sammy davis june kror. >> what are you doing here?s with the weather. >> like that, master? >> that's wonderful. >> reporter: she writes candidly of her life before, during, and after her stint as jeannie. but to tv fans, eden will always be most readily associated with larry hagman who played jeannie's master. their hijinx have earned them raves from fans of all ages. and barbara eden joins us. it's so nice to have you this morning. >> thank you, i'm glad to be here. >> this book is a great read. you opened the door and tell a lot of very, very funny but outrageous stories about larry hagman. >> he kept things interesting. kept me awake. >> at one point, the producers insisted he bring a therapist on the set to keep him in line. you write that one of the things he saw as the second string status of his character relieved himself all over the "i dream of jeannie" set. >> i didn't see him do it. i heard. >> how did that go over? >> the wardrobe woman came out and said, go back to your dressing room. shen i heard what was going on. he w