please welcome to the stage our very esteemed guest tom brokaw. [applause] >> i really do love your state. state. the 1st 3rd coming here in 1972 and i've been coming every four years since. once in a while in between as well. i believe that iowa and the midwest and new hampshire and the northeast other two perfect places to launch a presidential campaign. not everyone agrees with me. the fact is commend these two states you take your citizenship seriously, work hard for what you have and represent in the regions that you are located part of the wealth of america's the hard shores of new hampshire where 1st settlers came and then the deeper soil of iowa as people began to migrate across this country and settle 1st on farms and then in small villages between these two states. i think that we do have a representation of who we are i always find it reassuring to go back to iowa and then come immediately to new hampshire and watch this great presidential process play out. now, next year, of course, i am going to have to be a little careful. i'm gettin

basically this moment, live on the air, when all of us here in this studio got schooled by tom brokaw on the night of the new hampshire primary, right? tom brokaw taking part in our msnbc coverage and we're on the air marveling about how wrong the polls were, what a surprise that hillary clinton won in new hampshire when the polls said barack obama would win. we marched into the coverage expecting something based on the polling. that led to this awesome moment from tom brokaw that night on the subject of us taking polling as a substitute for the voters judgment. this is just great. >> you know, what i think we're going to have to go back and do? >> yes, sir. >> wait for the voters to make their judgment. >> what do we do then in the days before the balloting? we must stay home, i guess. >> we don't stay home. there are reasons to analyze what they're saying. we know from how the people voted today, what moved them to vote, you can take a look at that. but we don't have to get in the business of making judgments before the polls have closed and trying to stampede in an effective proces

and tom brokaw it's so great to have you on.book has so much charm and a lot of guts in it. and i have to go back to the berlin wall because i was there five or six days later and you were there. and i want to pay credit to you. it's showing up, being there and then you're there when the lightning strikes. can you describe it when you got the word that the bureaucrats had something very casual like we're letting people out. >> i had gone because as you remember, east germany in term oil and not much going on here and he said why don't you go to berlin. we had no idea that the wall was going to come down around us. and there was a announcement by a bureaucrat who had misunderstood what they had in mind. and i realized how symbolically important it was. if the wall was down it was the final nail in the coffin of communist soviet union and it was great to be there, chris. >> and you were asked to viz at u.s. soldier whose leg was about to be amputated and you had to buck him up. what did you say? >> what happened is that i had been

in early november, tom brokaw travels to berlin to report on the political situation. >> well, i went it was a good story. it was this kind of percolating situation. it was simmering. and you could feel it was going to boil over. >> the giant imposing berlin wall splits the city in two. >> the wall was this sinister symbol of the division between east and west. when you went to see it in person, i'd been there several times before, you could never adequately convey the coldness of it on camera. it was this ominous piece of slab of concrete. and we knew obviously about all the people who had paid for their lives trying to get over it. >> the day after arriving in berlin brokaw attends a press conference called by the minister of information for the east german republic, a man named gunter schabowski. >> the room was about half asleep at the time, and then he read this statement from the politburo that all citizens of the gdr would be able to leave and return. and it was as if it had arrived from the moon. did we hear what we thought we'd heard? >> nbc news arranges for brokaw to interv

joining me now is tom brokaw the author of "a lucky life interrupted."book has so much charm and a lot of guts in it. i have to go back to the berlin wall, because i was there five or six days later. you were there. this thing about being a great journalist, it's showing up it's being there. and you're there when the lightning strikes. can you just describe it when you got the word that the bureaucrats of east germany had just said something very casual like, we're letting people out? >> well, i was stunned by that. i had gone because east germany was in some turmoil. not much going on here. our editor said, why don't you go to berlin. that's a pretty good story. we had no idea that the wall was going to come down around us and there was that announcement by a bureaucrat who had misinterpreted what the politburo had in mind. as i stood there, i realized how symbolically and physically important that the wall was down it was the final nail in the coffin of communist soviet union. >> you're a poignant story teller. you were asked to visit a young kid, a u.

the title of my lecture is a gloss on tom brokaw's bestseller "the greatest generation," which defines the sacrifices of ordinary americans in the cauldron of world war ii as for -- has presumably a never to be repeated phenomenon. historians are made uncomfortable with such words as greatest and never to be repeated. because of our excessive focus on context and aversion to projecting backward our own concerns and convictions, we normally duck comparisons of eras and presidents for generations. unless i am convinced that the contributions of those ordinary americans among whom were the 8 men later presidents who served in world war ii, who picked up weapons in america struggle -- america's struggle against tyranny. merit such labels as remarkable and even great. the conflict who's end 70 years ago we are acknowledging in the spring, as a british historian recently observed still holds a unique fascination today. beaver noted the politicians and the media feel compelled to make comparisons of world war ii as an instant reference point in a crisis or conflict. even though both the world

special nbc news correspondent, tom brokaw.unch at one point and i did not disclose. >> first of all, how you feeling? >> quite good. i'm in remission which is the big news. but i had more bone damage in my spine especially. and getting that back to where it needs to be means that i'm going through a lot of aches and pains with the muscles compensating for that. so i'm doing more yoga, more stretching. the fact is i keep advancing. i can't figure this out. i get older year by year but i'm doing fine. >> i read the book. it was an extraordinary book. but greatest life lesson greatest surprise in this whole situation? >> well i began writing this as a journal because that was my therapy. i was confined to home and i'd have these long down periods. then i thought, you know what i can do probably is help families who are going through a similar experience. i mean, without bragging about it, i had access to everything i needed. so what has been most encouraging about writing this book is that i'm hearing from a lot of families sayin

as tom brokaw stated in his book, quote they gave the world new science literature, art industry and economic strength unparalleled in the long curve of history. these men and women gave birth to my generation, the baby boomers. and we boomers have come to know how much we benefited from the country we inherited that became the envy of the world. now my generation also experienced war. we fought the cold war and the vietnam war and witnessed and participated in the civil rights movement. conflicts of events that sometimes created a divide between our generations. the values that my parents generation were framed around personal responsibility around duty to country, honor, faith. they were shaped in large part by the trials and tribulations that they endured and had to overcome. my generation lived through the fall of the berlin wall in the vietnam war they'd come at all these things made us to challenge the unquestioned patriotism of our parents generation. civil rights and the war on poverty opens our commitment to ending segregation and reducing income inequality. and one year bef

in his book, "the greatest generation" tom brokaw journalist author former nbc news anchor wrote about the generation that lived through the great depression of the 1930s. men and women who fought tyranny and evil in world war ii and came home to rebuild a nation. some of you here today may have benefitted from the post 9/11 gi bill, but it was the original gi bill enacted in 1944 that gave a great boost to that post world war ii generation. as tom brokaw stated in his book, quote, they gave the world new science literature, art, industry, and economic strength unparalleled in the long curve of history. these men and women gave birth to my generation, the baby boomers. and we boomers have come to know how much we benefitted from the country we inherited that became the envy of the world. now my generation also experienced war. we fought the cold war, and the vietnam war, and witnessed and participated in the civil rights movement. conflicts and events that sometimes created a divide between our generations. the values of my parents' generation were framed around personal responsibility

tom brokaw discusses this personal battle with cancer in "a lucky life interrupted." that's a look at current nonfiction best sellers according to indy bound. >> from our recent visit to new york city, booktv interviews adam bellow, editorial director of broadside books. he tacks about some authors he has worked with the past as well as titles soon to be released by broadside. >> one thing we like to do at booktv is go behind the scenes and meet some people involved in the publishing industry. today adam bellow, an editor in the publishing industry. where do york work and that do you do for a living. >> i've been a book editor for 26, 27 years. i currently work at hamper -- harper collins. i publish book biz conservative intellectuals intellectuals and political figures and i have been at harper for six or seven years and i work at other places in the industry. i work at doubleday for seven or eight years. 0 work at simon & schuster. smarted my career at a small intellectual academic crossover imprint called the free press and so when i started out i was really an aca

tom brokaw who is better. >> i think his wife is amazing. >> she is. mary is fantastic. were up last night at tom's event talking about his life. he's talked about the greatest generation. time to talk about one of the greatest reporters and journalists. 50 years of nbc. >> i didn't realize that until at. >> i kind of stepped back and took a breath. >> next year a half century. >> he has been without the funny accent, he's been sort of the forest gump. he has always been in extraordinary places. wsb in atlanta at the start of the civil rights movement, really right in the heart of the civil rights movement. then he went out to l.a. and he covered the rise of ronald reagan. and all the tumult in california. >> watergate at the white house. he's been there every step of the way. >> for so many reasons, great to be able to celebrate with him. let's get to the news. big changes are under way at the tsa after a series of stunning security failures. the acting administrator has been reassigned after agents at dozens of the nation's busiest airports failed almost every single un

i think, he mentioned the tom brokaw talking to whites in that documentary, it reminds me of charles murray's book from a couple years ago, which only looks at white america, the rise of poverty and decline of in-wedlock childbirth. what we would call "an underclass" if we were talking about white folks, and this has been happening since the 1950's from economic dislocation and the fact that this day and age, you cannot get any real income in your life unless you have some schooling beyond high school. that has become a new divide now. i praised that book. charles murray has redeemed himself, in my view, for that whole fiasco in the 1990's. we have been on stage a couple times, debating this topic. because, we keep focusing on race, because race is so visibly obvious. but the real conflict in our society is class-oriented. shrinking opportunities. the kinds of opportunities we had when i was growing up, it was much easier to get into college when tuition was $770. it is over $13,000 now. this kind of thing makes a big difference. we don't really talk much about it because -- host: wh

as our colleague tom brokaw likes to say there is the theory of ufos unforeseen occurrences.terday martin o'malley announced his candidacy. before him bernie sanders of vermont. he just might be the kind of ufo we've seen in the past. >> we are going to build a movement of millions of americans. >> could a rumpled 73-year-old become hillary clinton's most dangerous opponent. ? he has a powerful weapon. he can puncture clinton's aura of inevitability by beating expectations. >> i don't look upon this campaign one which you are trying to pick up delegates. >> eugene mccarthy mobilized a volunteer army of students who flooded into new hampshire, shaving their beards, to get clean for gene. mccarthy surprised second place finish with 42% of the votes was a stunning repudation of president lyndon johnson and his vietnam policy. >> it changes the political picture in america for 1968. >> mccarthy's upset drew then senator bobby kennedy into the democratic race. it pushed johnson out. in 1984 it was little-known senator gary hart who beat expectations and finished second in iowa to

of the things that they thought would really make that network stand out they were going to put tom brokawut jane paulie on it. they would put big face familiar names of nbc news on msnbc all the time. they were all going to you know work to make this cable channel really something special. didn't really happen that way. i was told that the big names didn't really like going over there to do extra shifts and extra work. so, how much help is brian going to be, brian williams, over at msnbc? >> well i think if he follows lynn's advice he is going to do pretty well because one of the problems with msnbc is that they have nothing but talking heads. they don't really have a lot of reporters who are willing to do the work. if if brian williams broke news on msnbc people might actually watch and that would be refreshing for the network and for nbc as well. >> i mean i just must say because i am, i'm the ecumenical one here, i'm i like to, and watch, all cnn msnbc fox there are some wonderful reporters there. andrea mitchell's show she is one of the most hard-working reporters around. so i would s

and wrapping up this week's best sellers, tom brokaw, longtime anchor of nbc nightly news, discusses his personal battle with cancer in "a lucky life interrupted." and that's a look at some of the current nonfiction best sellers according to indie bound. >> these three young people all worked for panda express. i'm sure you've all had some of that in your airport travels. tucson is not well known for big immigration raids, but for some reason there was a big raid on panda express in tucson not too far from where i live, about a mile away. it all started this young woman that you see here she'd been working at panda express full time for four years and she made so little money that she couldn't feed her child. so she made the mistake of applying for food stamps for him, little freddie, and she used the fake social security number that she used to work at panda express, and that's how she got caught, you know? that number bounced back from the des the department of economic security. so the state conducted an information, department of public safety. they also go after drug dealers and

and we should point out he had been on msnbc while he was waiting to take over for tom brokaw. he anchored a program on msnbc. >> i think the headline is he's down, but not out. he's down, but he's not out from nbc. >> all right, brian, breaking the headline. thank you very much. >>> coming up next, right now, the prison break. new images tonight of those two fugitive killers. these are forensic artist's projection of what david west and richard matt might look like after 12 days on the run. just one of a string of new developments today in the hunt in the case against their alleged accomplice. joyce tilly, the prison tailor mitchell and her husband lyle. and we learned the correctional facility has been shut down. and the search area has now changed. the latest on all of it from our randi kaye, who joins us. let's begin with the search area. shifting again. do they think these guys are still in the area of the prison? >> reporter: they do, anderson, and they're certainly hoping so. they've already searched 16 square miles, about 10,000 acres. the area is shifting, and that rea

wrapping up this week's best-sellers tom brokaw long-time host of the "nbc nightly news" program discusses his personal battle with cancer in a lucky life interrupted. that is a look at some of the current none fix best he willers -- nonfiction best-sellers according to the chicago tribune. >> it wasn't a choice initially. i think i started working in the first or in the third person. then i realized that the that the, struggle of the text was how do you get a reader not to think they already know. because i think these are old problems, they're ancient. and, they have stayed with us you know, now we can say centuries, right? and so how do we reenter in a way that allows us to have to interrogate again? and the second personal loud that because it, it, it meant that the reader had to say this person is doing that and that person is doing that. and, i perhaps see myself standing here. and so those people who said they didn't see race, i don't see race, you're a little obsessed by race, because i only see human beings, began to say things like, that person must be the black person or that bo

i think that -- he mentioned tom brokaw only talking to whites in that documentary. it reminds me of charles murray's broke a few years ago that only looks at white americans and the rise of poverty, and decline of in wedlock childbirths, but we would call an underclass, if we talked about black folks. this is happened since the 1950's as a result of economic dislocation and you cannot get any income investment if you have any schooling beyond high school. i have praised that book. charles murray has redeemed himself, in my view. we have been on stage a couple times talking and debating this topic. this get that what i have been saying all along. we focus on race because it is so visibly obvious. the real conflict in our society's class oriented and shrinking opportunities for too many people, the kinds of opportunities that we had back in the 1950's and 1960's. it was much easier to get into college when tuition was $700, when i started at ohio university. it is over $13,000 now. this makes a big difference because the topic is not as sexy as race. host: where in oh

a lot of us will never forget the blues brothers in the end-and it is ready to work people like tom brokaworigin and spread league was still like in this second set of the good documentary it will have been ready to see it begin is a chance to celebrate those to motivate the line and a limit the special father's day heroes as of steel and check out these movies. >>reporter: phil the drains one of the favorite movies and i will father his voice and a good way written and directed a buy at one of kevin costner's death watch for any madigan as a tough this movie knox of the parked at a great idea to play ball with my father for the family almost brought us with the doors, he missed the but it is a superb, the removal about a father taking care fish children it is an original story of the has the stuff with the invested his weapons in a coma his two daughters to take care of this father and his family wants to sell the 11 developing the is the beginning of what this really good film everything works the special of the love he has for his starters this terrific one of the very best things he ha

and some people have said tom brokaw spoke about the greatest generation if we don't change our way we may be known as the least generation and i said this last night and i'll repeat it here, as a young fbi agent, having read and internalized the reports that you guys worked so hard on, really set me on a course to keep the straight and narrow. it was nice to hear alex joel hear him say he has copies in his office and there are a lot of employees within the agency that want to do the right thing and want their agencies to be effective and efficient and we have to figure out a way to empower them and make sure they are able to work within the system so it can work well. and the commitment of this group of people for over 0 years now is inspirational and thank you very much for the work you put in and continue to work in and i'm going to continue calling you. so thanks very much to the kmch committee staff. >> and fritz and bill if you wouldn't mind standing. [ applause ] >> and of course thanks to our vice president mondale and hart comes this morning. that was a terrific addition to th

i think that -- he mentioned tom brokaw only talking to whites in that documentary. it reminds me of charles murray's broke a few years ago that only looks at white americans and the rise of poverty, and decline of in wedlock childbirths, but we would call an underclass, if we talked about black folks. this is happened since the 1950's as a result of economic dislocation and you cannot get any income investment if you have any schooling beyond high school. i have praised that book. charles murray has redeemed himself, in my view. we have been on stage a couple times talking and debating this topic. this get that what i have been saying all along. we focus on race because it is so visibly obvious. the real conflict in our society's class oriented and shrinking opportunities for too many people, the kinds of opportunities that we had back in the 1950's and 1960's. it was much easier to get into college when tuition was $700, when i started at ohio university. it is over $13,000 now. this makes a big difference because the topic is not as sexy as race. host: where in oh

peter jennings and tom brokaw attended years ago but neither one of them reported it. you never see anything in the american free press newspaper. why do you people not reported? host: let me ask you, why do you think it is important to know and what do you think happens there that influences what happens in the world? caller: they are the people who drive decisions that are made. a lot of the people that have been elected president have been elected. congressman attend. if it is not important, why do they attend? host: thank you for bringing it to the attention of folks. gary from north carolina democrats line, hello. caller: hello. i'm 66 years old and it seems like my entire life they have been investigating hillary clinton. that's all you ever hear. i know that -- host: go ahead, gary. are you still there? caller: i thought i got off anyway, i know when people go to washington,. they learn to play the game they all got lawyers. the committees have lawyers. they have lawyers. the clintons are lawyers. they are pretty good at it, seems like. it seems like to me that

wrapping up this week's bestsellers, tom brokaw longtime host of nbc nightly news program, discusses his personal battle with cancer in "a lucky life interrupted." and that's a look at some of the current nonfiction bestsellers according to the chicago tribune. [inaudible conversations] >> and we resume our live coverage from "the chicago tribune" printers row lit fest. now, erik larson whose latest book is "dead wake: the last crossing of the lucetania." this is live coverage from chicago on booktv. [applause] .. chicago tribune. [applause] >> that is enough of that. does anybody in here not know who erik larson is? you walk in saying that looks like an interesting name? he is, without argument and you can argue if you want to the finest non-fiction writer alive. [applause] >> he is also a terrific human being and you unfortunately have to listen to larson and kogan. this is the first time we are having a conversation without cocktails. you describe this as a floating village in steel. you get 15 minutes to ask specific questions so i will not focus too much on the book. my editor h

kilmer: tom brokaw said it's easy to make a buck. it's hardtory make a difference. today i rise for someone who made a difference as a school teacher. he began his career a half century ago at roosevelt high school where he taught seventh grade home and coached football. i met so many people i had him as a teacher. i think he taught my entire hometown. but the common themes from his former students that i met have been these. he was a great teacher. he cared about me as a student. he doesn't just teach me english and geography. he taught me to be a better student and a better person. earlier this week he finished out his career at the crystal stood in washington and yesterday he had his first well-deserved day of retirement. mr. speaker, the teacher that i rise to honor today is j.c. kilmer and he's my dad. mark twain remarked the two most important days in a person's life is the day he's person and the day he figures out why. my father was born to teach and like so many fantastic educators he's affected so many lives in so many ways. so today i hope you join me in

tom brokaw. [applause] is >>> book is next on book tv. booktv. she pr

the iconic tom brokaw. i remember not so long ago when i was described as a baby faced tom brokaw. i don't take all of that seriously. the greatest generation, what i did was open the door. i'm not a spokesman. they speak so eloquently for themselves, and what i learned very early on if you stand back and let them speak. 70 anniversary of d-day with frank, who was a 17 your coast guard will board every one of first wave of d-day, and he'd been thrown into the job and the ramps wererams were steel and the public as an implanted and eight particularly hotspot and a german machine gun zero down on him and he said it was like a typewriter on the ramp. everybody was crouched down. the captain who said he dropped the rent he pretended he didn't hear because he knew they would go face-to-face with a german machine gunners we didn't drop it and the guy yelled at him again. finally, think i use a lot of expletives entered his pistol and front side note choice but to drop the ramp and he said only three guys got asho