the owners. union desk cam to recognize this reality and change course. as you know, he had his emancipation proclamation in september 1862 in the final on january 1st 1863 declaring all slaves in the confederacy to be legally free. lincoln's attitude towards black men serving in uniform changed under the same pressure. during the first phase of the war, his government categorically repassed all attempts by black men to join the fight, to join union armies. but on this question, too, the need for more soldiers to fight the war ultimately prove decisive. under the pressure of this necessity have a union policy evolved from adamantly excluding vioxx in 1861 and 18622 then recruiting them as soldiers in 1863. by the end of the war, some 200,000 lakh soldiers and sailors had served in the union cause. policy towards the soldiers and sailors changed, too because at first they were combined almost solely, speaking of the soldiers, to noncombat tasks. but their courageous conduct whenever they came under fire

he delivered his state of the union address to congress. he made his recommendations to them for action. george washington was of course the first president. john adams was the second president. by the time we got to the third president, thomas jefferson, jefferson thought the whole speech to congress thing was actually a little showy. made the president too king-like for his taste. so jefferson decided to meet this particular constitutional obligation in writing, rather than by giving a speech. that tradition held sway for more than 100 years until 1913, when the speaking tradition of the state of the union was revived in what was a controversial move at the time by president woodrow wilson. so wilson's innovation was really i guess the major innovation in this ancient ritual that we have as a nation. the return to it being delivered in speech form, which happened in 1913. the only other major innovation that we have had over the centuries started in 1966. that's hen the party that is not the president's party started giving, in effect, a r

so we'll let you lead off with your thoughts on the state of the union. t should the president do, what do you expect? >> reporter: i think the president is strongest in this idea of numbers, where he talks about how much things cost and what could be then purchased with them if certain legislative action goes forward. let's say the buffett rule, the one we heard him about in the campaign, assume that went forward. you get about $16.7 billion in revenue over a decade. the president should use stats like that to take it and talk about what he could get from that. infrastructure spending, grants and we know about one fourth of the bridges in the united states structurally inefficient. a lot of them unsafe to drive on. the president can harp on that. the other thing is there's a lot of worry here about some moderate democrats on the hill because nancy pelosi and steny hoyer gone down the line of the united states does not have a spending problem. the president should i've heard say we do have a problem but we can do things in a bipartisan manner, whether it's

forget the smoking dream liners. union workers are steamed and threatening to the strike with what workers live with every day. should thape get their way, should thape get their way, even iffffff to grow, we have to boost our social media visibility. more "likes." more tweets. so, beginning today, my son brock and his whole team will be our new senior social media strategists. any questions? since we make radiator valves wouldn't it be better if we just let fedex help us to expand to new markets? hmm gotta admit that's better than a few "likes." i don't have the door code. who's that? he won a contest online to be ceo for the day. how am i supposed to run a business here without an office?! [ male announcer ] fast, reliable deliveries worldwide. fedex. althiemers and parkinson. >> is a 401 not okay? they rather see workeros the picket line . twice as many boeing workers accepted the plan. the union hold outs are threatening to shut it down as they struggle to fix the battery fiasco. it is it another can example of unions

forget the smoking dream liners. union workers are steamed and threatening to the strike with what workers live with every day. should thape get their way, even if it leads to fewer jobbings, want debate coming up next. fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto-insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. >> hi, everyone. lich from america's news headquarters. we are covering a massive leak that independent south central washington. six tanks that old a brew of radio active and toxic waist are leaking in the hanford nuclear reservation. there is no health west. plan to leak out the tanks faced an investigation . a dramatic site in a woman clinging to her car for life. a good samaritan pulled her to sphaste. it is it the worst storm to hit athens in half cent

we expect him to reiterate that during his state of the union address. e fact that if north korea wants to become a part of the world community, it has to stop these types of nuclear tests. but, thomas, make no mistake, the state of the union will focus on domestic issues, the economy, the middle class. >> kristen welker at the white house for us. kristen, great to see you. >> reporter: thanks. >>> while pundits say tonight's speech could be the most important state of the union of his entire presidency, a new poll is showing that many americans may be feeling lukewarm about it. according to the pew research center, 32% feel it's more important than previous speeches. 15% find it less important. and 43% say it's about the same. joining me now is nbc news presidential historian, michael bechlas. michael, good to have you with me. talk about this in relevant facts about how this maps out with second term presidencies. our own chuck todd notes that the president has this narrow window to get these policies initiated. this might be his last best chance. so ho

obama at the state of the union. yes, gun violence will be part of the president's speech tonight, bipartisanship, not so much. "the washington post" political tar soon says it all. here it is, you can see the president addressing members of congress "my fellow combatants." in addition, ted nugent will be a guest of republican congressman steve stockman. nugent not exactly a guy who loves president obama. >> would you leave us the hell alone? these are all legal guns and i'm going to see that they remain legal, because they're all good. if barack obama becomes the president in november again i will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. >> oh, what a night is on tap. brianna keilar is at the white house this morning with news on something the president will predict tonight. good morning, brianna. >> reporter: good morning, carol. it's right now what is the president going to say. we've just learned what his big foreign policy announcement is going to be, jake tapper just broke that the president will announ

overnight the union became a war for human liberation. for the nearly 4 million it was a symbol of hope. that hope of freedom was finally realized in the amendment to the constitution which abolished slavery in the u.s. jurisdiction these landmark documents of the freedom reside here at the national archives but they are filled with documents that tell the story of the emancipation of the individual level. the letter from a black soldier to the enslaved wife assures her there's a present national difficulties are great yet i look forward to a brighter day and the one asked president lincoln if she were signing the nitze push proclamation sadly the answer was no because she was in maryland, a border state unaffected by the decree. the first-person accounts of the slaves on sob files provide a window on to the world before and after the war. some talk of choosing a name tabare as a free person and others describe the long searches to reunite their families. milestones denied to and enslaved population, marriage, going to school now become po

i watched the state of the union. i won't this year because of mardi gras. >> priorities. >> priorities. what watches. is it the political class? no. people tune in. with the president, it goes up and down. we are talking tens of millions of people who watched the state of the union over the years for the president. one of the things people watch for is that applause line, right? and particularly the partisan nature of it. what are they going to see from republicans? what are they going to applaud and not applaud? >> it's interesting. the response from marco rubio will provide a greater insight to go back to what he needs to do. he needs to pull the political lever. he took a lot of mixed criticism for his inaugural speech. he's not going to have more than a year to move forward. this is going to determine his legacy. she should be political. as much as he's been trying to unite the country or say he believes this that message, we see the fights. no one believes it. why not draw the line in the sand? he's been successf

. >> the state of the union is 12 hours away. they are putting final touches on the speech that can feel clintonian, a laundry yes of priorities. strengthening the economy and add jobs. responding for the republicans is marco rubio. this will surely be the biggest audience he has had. that's mostly republican w. what message puts him on a path to give his own state of the union some day. >> north korea confirms they conducted a third nuclear test. president obama called it highly provocative and condemns the move. you will hear about it from the president tonight. it's state of the union day. what better place to be. abe lincoln's birthday. let's get right to the first reads of the morning. if you believe that second term domestic agendas have a shelf life of 18 months at most, then president obama's last best chance to lay out aggressive plans. for that reason, don't be surprised if you hear a laundry list of policy asks. also hanging over tonight's speech, the constant gridlock that has been this president's achilles heel. for w

to cover state of the union. new developments overnight. >>> north korea has done it again. the state-run news agency has reported that it has successfully conducted a third nuclear test. reaction pouring in from around the world in a few hours, the u.n. security council will hold an emergency meeting and the u.s. is taking the test very seriously. let's bring in barbara starr. live at the pentagon. this test is wore i sor woresom. >> one of the biggest problems right now is whether or not north korea really has achieved a miniaturized bomb. they say they set off a smaller, more lethal explosive, if you will. miniaturization is key. that means they could possibly put a small war head on a missile sooner than expected and deliver it to a target. now the cia, pentagon, all has to look at this to determine what they set off and essentially now work backward. if it was a miniaturized bomb, what did it take north korea to get there? where did they get the technology, the engineering, the expertise, the money to do it?

but that was leading up to the state of the union, and as soon as the state of the union and mark row your yes were over, back to that coverage yesterday. so we are -- but we are going to talk mostly about the state of the union. we've got some great people in this morning to help us do that. nator tom harkin from iowa. find out what that great leading liberal thought about. jackie spear from the san francisco bay area will be here. a lot of the issues the president talked about last night, she has been talking about as well. and dennis van roekel head of the national education association will be here in studio with us. and, of course, your calls, your comments. but first. >> this is the full court press. >> also in other headlines making news on this wednesday, a sad situation and some really bad news for the heart attackgrill that sells unhealthy hamburgers. a customer who became an unofficial spokesperson for the restaurant died yesterday of a massive heart attack. >> what? >> the restaurant's owner immediately told abc news the man's family had a history of heart attacks. no word

and then there was the official republican response to the state of the union. blican party's first major chance to try to rectify with voters whatever it was that the country disliked about them enough to give president obama a resounding reelection victory over them in november. this is the first chance post election to change the country's mind about the republican party after mitt romney, right? this is the first chance at de-romneyification. it is the highest profile chance they will have for that for the entire year, if you think about it there is no republican convention there is no national elections. this is it for more than a year. this is their chance to re-impress the american people about what it means to be a republican that isn't about mitt romney. how do they rectify their image with a country where the women voted for democrats in the last election by an 11-point margin? well, the one thing that their state of the union response giver did to make news yesterday other than his state of the union response was that he voted no on the violence agains

the state of the union is important. the president steps to address congress and the american people and say this is where we have been and this is where we are and what is going on. i believe karl rove and rush limbaugh are doing a great job of destroying the republican party. we need the republican party. we need the opposition. for the 12-year-old who called, he should go back and play marbles. when you are 18, you will get old enough quick enough. let's have grownups to run this country. host: if you would like to join the conversation, call -- we are asking whether you think the state of the union address matters? this one in particular or addresses historically? the "washington times" -- looking at a sidebar story, immigration in presidential speeches. tom in kansas, independent. do you think these speeches matter? caller: no. they're all lies, because there's nothing that he has followed through on. host: president obama in particular? or do the speech is not matter? caller: it's just one lie on top of another and

president obama took to the road today selling last night's state of the union message. regrettably i have to say i think i heard one of the most interventionist, regulatory heavy and government-planning messages in the history. still more infrastructure, even capping climate change and all i wanted was full fledged tax reform or maybe the keystone pipeline. the left wing greenies pulling out all the stops and warning the president not to go there. some celebrities even got arrested froprotesting the pipee at the white house today. >> and the head of the unions wants more and more of our taxpayer money and he's threatening any democrat who doesn't go along. and guess who facebook executive mark zuckerberg is throwing a political fund-raiser for right at this hours? it's probably not who you think. anyway, we're "the kudlow report." we'll tell you later, but we begin right now. >>> first up, so the president proposing more, more government spending on manufacturing, more on housing, education, infrastructure, climate change, green energy. here's my take. if it was going to

and so most of the conflict we see within the union army about implementation, but the way the union armies treated in the border states, maryland, kentucky, missouri. generals in the states are the ones he's been a supplemental literature when i talk about these things. it's relatively clear cut early on in that military emancipation is legitimate in the disloyal state. this in the border states to get a lot of tension especially within the army. >> give them president lincoln's scale working with congress and this success amber johnson hot, what do you think of president lincoln was killed. >> if eric's question. >> is to recall counterfactual history, which is fine. [laughter] >> you can't be wrong. you know, it's inconceivable that lincoln would have got himself into fixing their johnson did. think of is far too connected to the mainstream republican party, far too good a politician, for she connected with northern public opinion. it's impossible to imagine lincoln becoming so alienated from congress the way johnson ended up and being impeached by congress. i actually think it is

the unions didn't read the bill. every time obama comes -- president obama comes out with something, they just back it no matter what, and all of a sudden they have an oops moment 'cause they realized oh, my costs go up, so please help me. i think the bottom line, they'll end up with some sort of exemption, some sort of subsidy and guess what? it will be on our backs as usual. >> i know, but it's kind of interesting, dagen, maybe expecting quid pro quo didn't happen. >> to gary's point, if they get these subsidies on top of -- these members already having health insurance, that just opens the door for handouts to anybody. will ultimately drive up the cost of this health care law even more. listen, this law was about expanding health insurance to people who didn't have it. well, union members, you have it. your costs go up. suck it up. that's the way it goes [ laughter ] >> you like that one, huh? >> charlie, they've got -- to dagen's point, they qualify for breaks -- >> it's kind of absurdity of the health care law i

the unions and paper pushers. >> let's destroy the system. >> bring on the creative destruction. who would disagree? >> shame on you. >> teachers unions disagree and they are mad at me and mad at reformers who care about test scores. >> city schools terrible because of unions like you. >> our test scores are not what we choose to focus on. >> how do you know if they are learning anything? >> i know my kids are learning when i look in their eyes. >> give me a break. the block also opposes charter schools. >> over my dead body they will come there. >> unions are mat because some charters can fire bad teachers. >> i call it bringing up a person's future. >> a teacher wants to teach. >> this actor says teachers need tenure. >> why else would you take a [ bleep ] salary. >> why have tenure? most positions don't have tenure. >> at least now there is some good news. at some schools where teachers can be fired kids learn. >> give us the worst school anywhere in per and we will jut perform the other schools in five years. >> how good are the test scores at hit charter schools? >> there isn

happy tate of the union day! rlie pierce, political columnist for esquire.com. ♪ ♪ stephanie: good morning charlie pierce. >> good morning to you all! stephanie: good morning sir. so we've been talking about you obviously wrote about your piece, the delightful steve stockman who will bring you go the magic of ted nugent. [ ♪ magic wand ♪ ] >> i hope the camera lingers on him a long time saying guest of stockman. stephanie: i was reading about how he got out of serving in vietnam. >> he found a very indelicate way of doing it. i would advice people to put on a nice frock rather than do what he did. stephanie: that's being a patriot, i guess. >> absolutely. stephanie: steve stockman you say has already demonstrated his not considerable gift of being a republican over this issue. stockman has invited the nuge because families of the newtown victim have been invited and he thinks he should bring a crack pot. >> if you bring along a victim of gun violence, you have to bring along a gun crazy. stephanie: for fair and ba

and the state of the union will follow quite naturally of the state of the union and the other speechest gives all the time. i mean, you know, it's a chance to reach a lot of people with a message but it's not -- there's not a big debate about what's important and what he wants to focus on. the president's talking about the importance of jobs and the middle class to the economy for as long as he's been running for office. >> as you well know, the reviews of his inaugural address last month, people feel indicated a bolder president emboldened by the election. all of these things, next mentioned in an inauguration same-sex marriage and how does the president appear making sure that each of these items from immigration reform to gun safety, for example, are measured and the words carefully selected so people at home don't glaze over thinking this is a list of things that may or may not get done here? >> yeah. well, you know, the inaugural, the -- some of the things that the president mentioned in the inaugural may not have been things the president mentioned in that forum before but things

all of the speculation leading up to the state of the union then the state of the union address itself in washington, d.c. and now the aftermath when republicans dump on the president's proposal and the president is out on the road trying to sell them. democrats figuring how they can provide him and round up the votes he needs in congress. alex sykes wald covers what's happening here in washington d.c. white house or the congress for salon. salon.com. good morning alex. nice to see you. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> bill: thanks for coming in. one thing the president did not directly talk about in the state of the union were -- was his drones policy. you've written recently for salon that lincoln used drones. >> it is an interesting question. lincoln loved military innovation and technology. >> bill: he used to go down to the navy yard at the end of our street here to see the new guns and watch the firing. >> yeah. he would personally watch the demonstration of the new technology. he kind of invented the precursor to the air force with the balloon corps meant to surveil ene

is why the kids suffer. your unionthe problem. >> i think you know better than that yes. >> opposes letting kids escape his rules by say allowing them to attend charter schools in existing school buildings. >> over my dead body they going to come there. i'm going to be there and physically try and stop them. there is certain things that don't mix. oil and water you can't emulsify. >> there is no room, there haven't the half empty schools. >> there is not. >> del grasso says charters favor rich kids but newark public schools spend almost $400,000 per chasroom. the charters get less. >> not that much less. according -- >> but they get less. it is hardly the rich versus the poor. >> i'm happy for them. >> then let them into your schools. >> don't want them in our schools. why should they be in our -- >> you are not happy for them then? >> does fox and cnn are they in the same building? i don't think so. >> but fox and cnn can't been aish the competition. competition is good. it is why we have fox, cnn and msnbc. when you

so the issue splits. there are unions supporting this keystone pip pipeline being put in place. because it creates high-paying jobs. so this is a read conundrum for the white house. that seems not ready deal with this. >> they're not ready to deal with it. because, you know, the green folks have money and they have invested in obama administration. and -- >> bret: that is darryl hannah, by the way. she got arrested by the way. >> bret: there were real reasons. governor of nebraska said this will cause problems with aqua forein nebraska. a real issue. now they have a different route. the governor approved it as you said. the second thing to say is this is not necessarily oil for the united states. even if it goes through the united states. it is a job creator. which is why in the polls now, most americans support having the xl pipeline approved. but the question then becomes what does this say in terms of america's energy future and about the environment and about the potential damage to this, for this pipeline for the cou

second term state of the unions. fully ambitious in many ways tough to get everything done, though you see there is almost always one big thing that they got done. back to you. >> thanks, chuck. now to the drama surrounding pope benedict. as they find his successor, the pope himself will not be playing a role. chris jan sising is live for us rome. >> there was a lot of speculation since we haven't had this happen since the middle ages. what would be the impact of having a living pope when a new hope was being chosen. the vatican heard that and premature criticisms. they did say that the pope plans to have nothing to do and exert no influence over the choice of the next pope. here's what we know about what the pope's schedule looks like. he will tomorrow have his regular wednesday audience. the first chance for the public to see him since he made the shocking decision to advocate. once he retires on the 28th, at the end of this month, he plans to go to casa gandolfo and come back to the vatican to what used to be a mon

forget the smoking dream liners. union workers are steamed and threatening to the strike with what workers live with every day. should thape get their way, even iffffffific push to clear althiemers and parkinson. >> is a 401 not okay? they rather see workeros the picket line . twice as many boeing workers accepted the plan. the union hold outs are threatening to shut it down as they struggle to fix the battery fiasco. it is it another can example of unions looking out for themselves rather than the workers. >> it is another thing to look out for it it is it rainfall by boeing. but new workers go on a 401 k. they are not taking anything from the existing workers. soy they are trying to wind back to the past instemmed of the future competition that is coming down the road from places like brazil. >> if the union shut down a company, the pensions go bust and a 401 k, you can take that with you. >> you can make arguments. but let's not mess with the facts. the current plan and defined benefit plan is a better ritirement plan t

the state of the union. across msnbc, we're asking our audiences to finish the iconic sentence that the president traditionally uses in his annual speech. the state of the union is blank. my response? i say the state of the union is depending on us. it's better than the senate would like for us to believe. and diane says it's a new beginning. we've got a whole lot more about the bull's speech president obama's expectsed to make tomorrow coming up later in the show. but, first, we want you to tell us what you think the state of the union is, too. head over to fisbook to answer that question. that's facebook/.com and be sure to like us to nol low the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. it will if it's new outlast stay fabulous foundation. it's a primer, concealer and foundation in one for all day flawless skin. new outlast stay fabulous from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. i'm up next, but now i'm

state of the union going on. to hear the president talk about in his state of the union address this evening. teamster says call out the g.o.p. on their obstruction of what americans want. keep calling them out on their denial of reality. joe proctor says explain to the american people how growth is the issue and why austerity is not the answer. give a short course in economics 101. our friend, comedian dean own dela wants to hear increased minimum wage plan for making college education more affordable and tax reform and job growth and lots of other comments there at bpshow. one other quick comment michelle o'neil says you have an awesome senator on air. my home state senator sherrod brown. >> way to go, michelle o'neil. >> theme running through all of that was growth and not austerity. it is just amazing to me that the far right seems to continue thinking you can cut your way to prosperity. it hasn't worked anywhere in the world. we know if we invest, you look at -- again, you look at the growth in the '40s, '50

the state of the union. very strong today. l theme for the president in his state of the union address, in fact, all of them, has been jobs, and the job market. and jobs is exactly what we are expecting that we'll hear about tonight. and the past year, the labor market has improved. but 12 million people are still out of work. we want to begin with christine romans who breaks down the president's previous jobs promises. good morning. >> the president in the same address issued the word jobs, 42 times. i ran the text of that speech through the word cloud. this word cloud. shows the weight of all the words in the speech last year. look at how jobs prevails. more weight than anything else except the word america. how has he done? 2 million jobs added. and the unemployment rate 7st%. and this from the press briefing yesterday. >> continue to build on the job creation we've achieved. over 6.1 million jobs created by our businesses, over the past 35 or 36 months. >> all right. fact check on those numbers. true, soledad. the private s

we're giving you some state of the union trivia. an honor and privilege. willbut let's be real. michelle obama's guest 102 desalene victor. she waited over six hours to cast her vote. she's 102 years old and she waited six hours. this is a reminder that fixing our voting system should be a big priority. and luis gutierrez will bring an undocumented worker and father of two american-born sons. he faces deportation after driving without a license. the deportation guidelines are support to deport criminals not deporting people like sÁnchez, who is a working parent for driving without a license. that's not why you get deported. guess who will be seated next to nancy pelosi. the man who left his heart in her san francisco. singer tony bennet. he'll be there with an epic rap battle against ted new nugent. the seating for the state of the union is not assigned, so if you see a member of congress standing along the center aisle chances are they got there really early to claim their spots. there are four members holding seats today nine hours

the moment they say is unusual for a state of the union. was the emotional call for congress to act on gun legislation calling the names, some of the victims of gun violence and families were there to hear it. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote, the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence deserve a simple vote. >> as for the republican response today on some of the issues laid out by the president, both speaker boehner and senate leader mitch mcconnell call the president's speech a missed opportunity. >> an opportunity to bring together the country and instead became a retread of lip service and liberalism. for democratic president entering his second term, it was simply unequal to the moment. following four years of this president's unwillingness to challenge liberal dogma. we got more of the same. >> i have been dealing with a minimum wage issue for the last 28 years that i have been elected