tom brokaw spoke with him not long ago. >> tom brokaw. when we met earlier this year, i reminded louis that a friend of mine had passed along a message from him. louis said it's the heartiest generation, not the greatest generation, bro are kau. -- brokaw. >> well, we were hearty from the depression. >> and no one was hardier than zamperini. he began life as a swift juvenile delinquent, so fast of foot he turned to track and became a world class miler. running in the olympics where hitler wanted to shake his hand. >> to us, he was a comedian. he looked like a comedian. he acted like a comedian. >> what did he say to you? >> all he said was, the boy with the fast finish. >> reporter: louis's track career was interrupted by world war ii and the legendary tale of survival at sea and in a japanese prison camp where he was tortured daily. >> they tried to get me to make a broadcast. there's no way. i would rather be dead than what we call a turncoat. >> reporter: after more than two years, louis came home a hero, but then his story was largely

. >> and tom brokaw with angelina jolie and an american hero. happy 238th birthday, america. "early today" starts right now. >>> good morning, everybody. i'm betty nguyen. breaking news as hurricane arthur makes land fall. here's what we know. arthur strengthened to a category 2 hurricane last night with winds of about 100 miles per hour. the worst appears to be over for the outer banks of mcincome azar thur heads into the atlantic ocean. the hurricane made landfall just after 11:00 p.m. near cape lookout. north carolina governor declared a state of emergency for 25 coastal and ajoining counties. >> we're going to darkness, and we've just been notified that this is a category 2 hurricane, which we want to warn our citizens up the coast and thousands of tourist that is may be dealing with this for the first time. this is a serious storm. >> indeed it is. bill karins with a look at that. >>> it appears we've done pretty well. as i said, the storm is racing out. the sun is racing out into the lower portion of the outer banks and soon we'll have all the power crews that will get

tom brokaw remembers the american original hero. the war hero who inspired millions and a movie by angelina jolie. the nightly news begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >>> good evening. brian is off tonight. i'm lester holt. a strengthening hurricane arthur is skirting the eastern seaboard tonight on track for a dangerous july 4 rendezvous with north carolina, forcing thousands of vacationers to flee the coastline. the storm develop enter into a category one hurricane early this morning. it now packs sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. arthur has steadily been making its way northward, gaining strength and is expected to make a direct hit on north carolina's outer banks as a category two storm. tonight, there are hour cain warnings along the north carolina coast, up to the virginia border and tropical storm warnings now posted as far north as nantucket and cape cod. the weather channel's jim cantore leads off our coverage on the outer banks of north carolina.

and i started with tom brokaw and "the greatest generation." and if you think of the legacy that that greatest generation left us because they were willing to make sacrifices on our behalf and then you say, what is the legacy of our generation? and it's debt. and it's crumbling infrastructure. and it's the crippling of our ability to compete in a globalized economy. shame on us. now, i don't know exactly what the answer is. i don't know whether it's a gas tax, a mileage tax, a change of the tax to the -- to the wholesale level as opposed to the retail level. i don't -- i don't know. but i do know that no matter what we do and no matter how much we try to avoid it, we're going to have to pay our bills. and to not pay our bills, we have to realize is simply passing those bills to our kids. that's unethical. it's immoral. it's wrong. and it's not what our parents and grandparents did for us. i think we owe the same level of consideration, the same level of sacrifice, the same level of realism, the same level of paying our bills to our children and

tom brokaw remembers the american original hero. the war hero who inspired millions and a movie by angelina jolie. the nightly news begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >>> good evening.

tonight tom brokaw remembers an american original. war ii hero who has inspired millions and a movie by angelina jolie. "nightly news" begins now. >>> good evening. brian is off tonight.

king:four or five years ago tom brokaw wrote a book called the greatest generation and he was talking about the generation that sacrificed -- i repeat -- sacrificed on our behalf. they struggled through the depression. they fought world war ii. and then when it was over, they paid the debt from world war ii and built the interstate highway system. i hate to think what tom brokaw would call the book about our generation which rebuilt the world war ii debt which we're passing on to our children and we can't even keep the interstate highway system fixed. this is shameful. and i'm here to support the carper-boxer and corker amendment because it forces us to deal with did in this congress. it is not going to be any easier to deal with next may. let's get it done. we have the answers. we know what we have to do. the highway system is a pay-as-you-go system and the problem is now we're going more than we're paying. the highway -- the gasoline tax hasn't been raised since 1993, 21 years ago. but the cost of maintaining the highways, of course, has been raised precipitously. not fixing infrast

tom brokaw when he stepped down ten years ago, i think he had a ten-year contract and a special correspondent title. so are you as skeptical as i am that she will in fact have a clear role at abc? >> i am not as skeptical as you are, but you might be right. who knows, it's a crazy business. she comes from the era of the rune arledge tenure. and she is not somebody that's to sort of take anything she doesn't like laying down. plus they have great respect for her. she's -- the last quarter she beat brian williams in the demo for the first time in six years, so they're going to treat her with great respect and deference. >> people at abc says she's going to do the biggest interviews in the country, do the biggest specials, those will be the goals for her going forward. jeffrey toobin was thankfully filling in for me. he talked to dan rather about the idea of the evening news fading away. here's what dan rather said. >> what young mr. muir has inherited is an honor and a great opportunity, but in the great scheme of television and television news, it is now a diminished medallion, that the princi

winner, rory mcilroy, for having a game that's tough for anyone to beat and a name that's tough for tom brokawing brokaw ] congratulations to rory mac-ill-roy. [ laughter and applause ] a great golfer today. congratulations to rory mac-ill-rye. rory mac-hill-hi. rory -- [ muttering incoherently ] [ laughter ] >> steve: do you want some crack with that? [ laughter ] >> jimmy: i'm all ready at home. how is this guy still talking to me? >> steve: sorry, dude. >> jimmy: my phone's on! stop calling me! [ imitates phone ringing ] hello? >> steve: yeah, do you want some crack with that? >> jimmy: no, i don't! [ laughter ] "crack with that"? no, stop asking! >> steve: hey, whoa, whoa. we got the mcrib. >> jimmy: what? >> steve: your favorite's back. >> jimmy: but why are you calling me at home? >> steve: i just wanted to know if you wanted to have a mcrib. >> jimmy: what have you got for me? >> steve: i got a shamrock shake. >> jimmy: okay. >> steve: and a mcrib. >> jimmy: that's cool. >> steve: and three vials of crack. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: i'm going to hang up. have a good night. [ laughter ] [ im

. >> from washington, "nbc nightly news" with tom brokaw. tonight, the summit. >> good evening. president reagan and soviet leader gorbachev are off to a brisk meeting. they have signed an agreement regarding nuclear weapons, more than 2,000 missiles altogether. that happened earlier this afternoon in the white house. the go leaders were seen on national television here and in the soviet union as they made their way to the east room for the signing of the ceremonies. mrs. reagan and police gorbachev were seated side by side. >> we have listened to the wisdom in an old russian maxim, though my pronunciation may give you difficulty, the maxim is -- [ speaking russian ] trust but verify. [ speaking russian ] >> you repeat that at every meeting. i like it. >> he did like it. that was a landmark moment and that was landmark treaty that they signed. mine it's complicated in that it's had a lot of parts and became revised over the years but what became hugely reported today, that treaty in 1987 between ronald reagan and mikael gorbachev it banned each country of shooting off missiles t

he was called to be the vice chair and actually do the investigation and two days later on the tom brokaw show and the president called me when i got off the air. i told him everything, you know, but anyway we worked together on that and for a couple of times we were going to get started on this book and then we did even though we did other stories together and that was a couple of offers for the publishers in which he thought about and turned down. so we talked about doing this off and on but then as i said somebody had to do it and, you know i wanted to take a whack at that so hopefully it turned out okay. >> tell me about the background of meeting him because obviously you were a correspondent of the tape reporter for nbc for a lot of years. >> guest: when i met him he was one of the gemini. you know the press our impression he was like a wet blanket. i just knew it. i got to meet you and i know you but it was nothing special about it until that morning and howard johnson is where we talk about losing two children and then it grew. >> host: i would like to give the viewers a little bac

a throwback tom brokaw has the report. >> thousands of people on their way to work gathered below inhe passing thought that the man up there on the building must be at least crazy. >> at least, right? number four, another man you can probably call crazy, stuntman david blaine, he's performing an electrifying act at pier 54. spending three days and nights in the middle of one million volts of electric current. ow. >>> number five, back to ground level in the same year. to a few blocks away from right here, grand central terminal when travelers got a surprise flash mob style from the group improv everywhere. they froze in place in the usually hustling and bustling terminal. got new yorkers to take a second look as i've seen it's a feat in itself. let alone getting 34 million views on youtube. that wraps up this hour on msnbc. thank you for the privilege of your time. news nation is next with craig melvin filling in for tamron hall. >> good to see you in the flesh. congrats on the new show. coming up next on news nation, we continue to follow the latest breaking news of the air algerie

i am working on a story two days later on the tom brokaw show and a first person to call me when i got off of the air with neil. he said what do you know that you didn't tell brokaw and i said i told brokaw everything. anyway we work together on that in a couple of times we were going to get started on this book and never did even though he did other stories together and there were a couple of other offers by publishers which neil thought about and turn down. as i say we talked about doing this off and on but as i said somebody had to do it. you know, i wanted to take a whack at it so hopefully it turned out okay. >> host: tell me a little bit about the background of you meeting him. obviously you are a correspondent at the cape, for nbc for a lot of years. when did you start their? >> guest: when i met him he was one of the gemini nine. you know the press, he was sort of like a wet blanket. he stayed back there and didn't say much and was now going. i just knew him. like i meet you and we talked. there was nothing special about it until that morning and howard johnsons where we talked

reagan to be the vice chairman to do the investigation and i broke it story two days later on the tom brokaw show in the first person to call me when i got off the air was neil and he said what do you know that you didn't tell brokaw? i said i told brokaw everything. anyway, we worked together on that in a couple of times we were going to get started on this book and never did come even though we did other stories together in there is a couple of their offers by publishers in which neil thought about in turn down. as they say, we talked about doing this off and on. somebody has to do it. you know, i wanted to take a whack at it, so hopefully it turned out okay. >> so, tell me a little bit about the background of the meeting him because you are a correspondent at the cape, a reporter for an ac for a lot of years. when did you start there? been met and i met him, he was one of the gemini nine. i will tell you, the press, our impression was he was sort of like a wet link it. he stayed there, didn't say much, he was not outgoing. so i just knew him. like i eat you and we talk and i know you. but

engines" >>> we all know "nbc nightly news" is a real treasure, especially classic nbc news when tom brokaw pun. >> radioactive steel is a problem in other parts of the country. a big batch of the hot steel got out of a plant in mexico and into table legs among other things. now some of those legs are holding up tables in restaurants. dennis murphy tonight on the nationwide hunt for the hot legs. >> the hot legs. that segment was from february 1984. a few months after a load of junkyard metal in juarez, mexico, sparked a nuclear crisis described as somewhere between three mile island and the chernobyl disaster. >> a florida health inspector swept a miami warehouse with a geiger counter looking for metal table legs emitting radiation. in seattle inspector checked cartons of table parts. across the country from california to boston, health officials are tracking 12,000 cast iron tables. they were sold to restaurants by a company called falcon products of st. louis. the table parts were made of contaminated scrap metal from juarez, mexico. the recycled iron had been exposed to pellets of radio

tom brokaw and chris matthews are certainly not political conservatives. one of the leading capitol hill newspapers today asks, what about the hard drive? and says, the i.r.s. in federal court this past friday said lois lerner's hard drive was wiped clean by the i.r.s. and sent to an outside disposal company to be shredded. thousands of missing emails, which just happened to include those going from the i.r.s. to the white house, all over this nation people have seen that there is one standard for ordinary citizens and another for employees of the i.r.s. and friends of those in the white house. we need a much simpler, fairer tax law, madam speaker, that would allow us to do away with the politicized i.r.s. altogether. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. >> madam speaker, on yull 24, 1998, 16 years ago today, two capitol mrs. men were killed in this building -- policemen were killed in this building

want to tell you about sad news about a great american, a member of the greatest generation as tom brokawubbed it whose story is making its way to the big screen and the subject of a best selling book. world war ii vern louis zamperina has died. he was a part of the u.s. olympic track team and enlisted in the air force world war ii. he and a couple of crew members survived 47 days without food and water after their plane crashed in the pacific in 1943. they eventually were caught by the japanese navy and tortured for more than two years until the end of the war. louis survived and became an inspirational speaker, forgave his captors and went to japan and met with them and hugged them and imprem braembraced. his book was a best selling book called "unbroken" and title of an upcoming movie direct by angelina jolie. >> if i can take it, i can make it. ♪ >> per issevere, i think, is important tor everybody. don't give up, don't give in. >> jolie is friend of louis says, quote, it is a loss impossible to describe. we are are all so grateful for how enriched our lives are having known him. we w

>> tom brokaw said to me that it was a great report, important recommendations, but i think the reason the american people embrace you was it was the first important bipartisan thing that had been done in this town in a long long time and it was unanimous. that has got to be an important part of our legacy that republicans and democrats can come together. the idea when i first learned about lee was he had been working with republicans and democrats. my history was i was speaker of a legislature in new jersey that had no majority. i had to maneuver that, i was governor of a state as a republican that didn't have a democratic legislature. i had to learn to work with them but out of all that, a deep respect for a number of people in the other party and that their views were legitimate. it was better to work with them than against them and i don't know if we have lost that in this town but the ideas that people come to washington come to the right reasons and these are people who want to serve the american people and just as much as you do. and there is no reason therefore that you can't v

>> well, you know tom brokaw said to me that you wrote a great report and important recommendations. i think the aren't american people embraced you, it was the first important bipartisan thing that had been done in this town in a long, long time. and it was unanimous. that's got to be an important part of our legacy. the idea that republicans and democrats can come together. when i first learned about lee, and the idea that he had been working with republicans and democrats, my history was -- i was speaking of a legislature in new jersey that had no majority. and i had to maneuver that. making some pretty good accomplishments. i was governor of a state as a republican that didn't have a democratic legislature. and had to learn to work with them. out of all that, i got as lee did, a deep respect for a number of people in the other party. the idea that their views were legitimate and it's better to work with them than against them. i don't know if we lost that in this town. the idea that people who come to washington come for the right reasons. these are people that really want to ser

>> well, you know, tom brokaw said to me that you wrote it rate report an important recommendations, but i think the reason the american people embraced you was the first important bipartisan thing that had been done in this town in a long, long time, and it was unanimous. that has got to be an important part of our legacy. the ideas that republicans and democrats can come together. and the idea, when i first learn about lee, that he had been working with republicans democrats, my history was that i was speaker of a legislature in new jersey that had no majority. i had to maneuver that and get some pretty good accomplishments. i was governor of the state is a republican that didn't have a democratic legislature. -- that had a democratic legislator. i had to learn to work with them. but i got a deep respect for a number of people on the other party and the idea that their views were legitimate, that they were working with her constituency, and was better to work with them than against them. i don't know if we've lost that in this town, but the idea that people who come to washed and c

he was declared dead as he recently told tom brokaw. >> down to 65 pounds from 155.hought in my mind ever about giving up. >> reporter: and now decades later his story is being brought to the big screen by hollywood superstar angelina jolie. >> you train, you fight harder than those other guys and you win. >> just watching the two of you, i'll bet this is not just a film maker thing for you. this has become really personal. >> very personal. >> because you've got the legacy of this amazing man in your hands and on the big screen. >> such a huge responsibility to get it right. >> overnight jolie released a statement saying it's a loss impossible to describe. we are all so grateful for how enriched our lives are for having known him. we will miss him terribly. >> that's right. he will be missed terribly. louis zamperini 97 years old. a remarkable man. >>> another check of the weather with dylan at 8:06. >> "today's" weather is brought to you by new nexium 24 hour for frequent heartburn. now available without a prescription. >> and good morning, everyone. the year was 1