i can't remember his background. >> went into usia later. i got to know him. >> it was hard for them because they were pummelled with questions. being black and trying to represent america. what are you doing here? how come you're representing the people who are always against you? >> where do you live? we're in jersey. in a high-rise? no. we have our own home. he was trying to be low key. you don't have a car? yeah, we have two in the family. you know what i'm saying. it was unbelievable. one of the things that happened, cars, very important, i remember standing in front of the national hotel, across from the kremlin, and talking with somebody, just in the street and there was not a single car or truck came by for half an hour because moscow is now one of the worst traffic jams in the world. >> that's right, it is. >> one of the things i don't think the exhibition staff or anybody could take correct for, but the photograph fors who flew over the plants, there was a plant by disney. and inside the dome were two -- was it five or seven? i thi

when i was at usia. i asked today, a list of 350. people who became prime ministers or presidents were selected early in their career and sent and paid for to come to the united states and live in american homes. the question -- my answer to your question is absolutely that we have to have an exchange of people from libya, and asia and that and russia and get to know them. eisenhower started the people-to-people program. because as you said, he didn't like war. he knew what it was. he told me we've got to have hundreds of thousands of people coming back and forth and i think that is the answer. by the way, the internet and facebook and twitter, i don't use that, but i think all of those things will make it a smaller world as we are seeing with the arab spring. >> let's open the floor to questions from the audience. there are mics, let's turn the lights up. there are mics on either side here, thank you. >> after the vice president left office, don kendall gave him a great deal of law business representing pepsi cola. is it clear the v

and as a result, when kennedy was killed and usia made a beautiful film about kennedy to protect overseas, a great human cry that people wanted to see it in our theaters and congress had to pass a special dispensation, a law to let them do it. >> you're talking about official things. our newspapers and our television and our movies go back and look at those things now, you will see stuff that will curl your hair, there was plenty of stuff about how soviets wanted to invade us and ruin us. >> there was justification for this. look at eastern europe, central europe, the russian army stationed all around. >> the russian army was stationed there, that is where the russian army is. we're not talking 1945 when the russian army took over there. we're talking about 1959. there was a huge change. americans did not recognize that huge change. all i'm saying here is let's not put -- let's not claim that we are virtuous and place all the blame for this abysmal ignorance on both sides on the russians. there was plenty of ignorance on both sides and plenty of imagery of the other side as evil. >> let m

whatever functions it had, radio-free europe and voice of america were moved over to state, and the usia was dismantled. and then after september 11, as you on serbed -- observed, people say, why do they hate us, and turned around, and there was a whole new push to try to do something about the image of america. and the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy was established. and this position had a number of people fill it, one of whom in the middle of the bush administration was bush confidant karen hughes who did quite a good job for about a year. before her was charlotte bierce who came from madison avenue, very talented, enormously respected madison avenue advertising executive. she was the first person to do it. the last clinton administration -- not clip torn, bush administration appointee, jim glassman, who did an excellent job. and then we had an appointee by the obama administration, judith mchale. the seat is now essentially empty, there's a place holder in it, and tara sonenshine is awaiting confirmation. what happened with the beginning of the effort in the bush adminis

but the usia, voice of america, picked up what nixon was saying and sent that out and when kissinger arrived in beijing, i'm told, he presented the text of what nixon had said. >> did you know that henry kissinger was on his way? >> yeah, i did know, yeah. >> so when were you let into the -- when were you sort of read into the story? >> just right at the very end. >> what was it like to be director of communications with someone like kissinger who himself became an international celebrity? after that trip he becomes a celebrity. >> he was a celebrity before. woe date girls and that would be a big thing. >> but to what extent were you able to shape his public persona? >> part of my job was to keep him off television because the president felt that henry sort of german accent would sound too war-like. so i was allowed to use henry to brief reporters and he would do that under ron zeigler primarily but i wouldn't let him go on television. >> but i mean he did do television. >> later. >> when. >> i don't think even until he was secretary of state. >> to what extent do you think there was