and then someone i had certainly heard of and i guess that's the point of the story, william thompson. this throws a light on that shift. >> right. 1784 i think it was, if i remember correctly, william thompson is a tavern keeper in charleston, south carolina. and john rutledge as perhaps you all know was about as high in the south carolinian aristocracy as you could be. >> and there was nothing higher than that. >> no, nothing higher than john rutledge. and he sends his slave on -- i think it was the fourth of july to see the fireworks, to go to thompson's tavern and go up on the roof of thompson's tavern to see the fireworks. well, thompson turns the slave away. it's a female slave. no, you can't go up there. well, rutledge is outraged. and he goes then -- he's a major figure of course in the state legislature. he goes to the state legislature and he urges a bill to banish thompson from the state for this insult. well, thompson takes to the press, and he writes what can only be a typical american claim of equality against -- this kind of arrogance. and i think it expressed the kind

william hale thompson was chicago's charismatic removal can mayor. controversial from the beginning of his career, he had risen to power thanks to an uncanny ability to attract votes from a wide range of the city's often antagonistic community. a former athlete and a cowboy, nothing if not colorful. some regarded hit as a corrupt politician, and that he suddenly was. but to many others, especially shikar is black, german, an irish working-class he was a genuine hero. they hailed him as the people's david fighting for the average chicagoan against big business and the wealthy elite to wanted to raise gasoline -- gas rates degrees his opponents also called him big bill the builder, the one man big enough to corral the factions and do something to attend a chicago plant vision into steel and concrete reality. there was another side. egotism and moral laxity that made him susceptible to just the kind of political operatives in chicago was famous for. enter fred lynn dean. a former street peddler who like to call himself the street. worked hard to enginee

the defense attorney amy thompson said, quote: every piece of d.n.a. excludes william balfour.n in all of chicago we didn't -- we know didn't do it is him. and then pointing at prosecutors, she dramatically said "they know, as they sit here, they have failed to prove their case. they are trying to confuse you." >> shepard: and the prosecution says this is really a simple decision for this jury to make? >> yeah. they said in their closing arguments that balfour is, as they put it, drowning in a tsunami of evidence. they said that this is, of course, very circumstantial in terms of the evidence that they have put on. but they said circumstantial evidence is no less powerful. they also pointed to some physical evidence. including a cell phone signal from william balfour's cell phone near the hudson mother's home just before the killings. that phone was then apparently switched off for several hours. and in the words of prosecutor jennifer bagby that was because quote he was busy. busy killing three people and getting rid of the evidence. today, she said, it's time to hold him resp

thompson, nbc news, new york. >>> that is our tuesday night broadcast. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williamse hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good evening, everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. we begin tonight with some developing news. we have a live look at san francisco at the intersection of turk and gott streets where you can see a heavy police presence, a few blocks away from city hall. earlier today, just a few hours ago, several protesters took over a building run by the archdiocese of san francisco. when police tried to set up a barricade, one protesters got on the roof of the

thompson, nbc news, new york. >> that is our tuesday night broadcast, thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williamsd we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night much

thompson joining us today. >>> as europe's economic weigh here at home. williamolicy to encourage stability. steve leaseman sat down with dudley. he's here this morning. >> you remember when these things were rare, right? >> it was rare. unheard of. >> bill dudley has taken several steps on the sitting down for a wide ranging interview with me. we brought you a segment earlier talking about his changing outlook on policy. here we talk about issues like the fiscal cliff, more transparency from the fed and thoughts on rules. but i began by asking about the controversial assets that sit on the feds books for aig and bear stearns. >> i think you agree they're not in the situation of holding the assets. it makes sense to try to return them to the private sector where people can manage them in a fulsome way. we want to sell the assets over time. but we want to make sure we get good value for the taxpayer. and we don't want to disrupt financial markets. and we want all to occur in a competitive manner. so people with bid in a fair and open way. >> i don't have a set tim

thompson. >> philip nicholas. >> jordan carlyle. >> melvyn nicholas white. >> cadet squadron 9. >> nicholas bud barret. kingston. >> andrew parrott >> william. -- and drew. >> william. >> job schwab gregory -- charles schwab gregory -- joshua gregory. >> sean gregory johnson. >> russell isaac long. >> just an anthony. >> kyle larry joe phillips. >> joshua michael rodriguez. >> zachary daniel schuman. >> taylor hargrove. >> daniel day. >> john harper. >> eric wilson. >> michael david. >> combat squadron -- to death squadron -- cadet squadron 10. >> david. >> zachary. >> grant. >> caitlin. >> stormy brewer. >> christopher carl. >> robert daniel. >> benjamin samuel. >> erin rose. >> daniel. >> ashley elizabeth. >> daniel patrick hayes. >> daniel robinson hughes. >> kyle matthew johnson. >> john wall server. >> cabin in true. -- kevin and true. >> tess o'neill. >> eric louise. >> nathan alexander wells. >> calvin john winter. >> lance. >> cadets squadron 11. >> chad. >> lindsay ada barber. >> james lance. >> curt david. >> christina merry. >> allison murray. >> nathaniel. >> stephen gregory. awn.helsea d >> joshua hagan freedom -- freeman. >> s

william mccants joins us. and a discussion on the effectiveness of so-called federal green energy process. and later, "time" magazine national security correspondent mark thompson on access to mental health care by u.s. veterans. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--] host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal" on this tuesday, may 1, 2012. it's the first anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden at his compound in pakistan. secretary of state hillary clinton and tim geithner are on their way to beijing are on their way to discuss u.s.-china relations. our question for you this morning is about the minimum wage. nationally, it's $7.25. do you think it's high enough? and what about your state? here are the numbers to call -- host: you can find us on twitter, facebook or website. the minimum or more? the minimum wage in most states is $7:25. -- 7:25. many are higher considering raising the mini camps. you can see the map. massachusetts is at 8 dollar. connecticut, $8.25. district of columbia, $8.25. out west,