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CNN Larry King Weekend

Larry King: 45 Years in Broadcasting, Part II

Aired June 02, 2002 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WALTER CRONKITE, GUEST HOST: Thank you for joining us. I'm Walter Cronkite. This is the second of two specials looking back at interview highlights from Larry King's 45 years in broadcasting.

Last night, we heard from a lot of show business stars. The focus was mainly entertainment. Tonight, our program is devoted to making and breaking news. As any of us who have ever done it will tell you, live television can be a very dicey proposition. Unexpected events have a way of obliterating carefully laid production plans.

For example, the dramatic car chase that unfolded during LARRY KING LIVE on June 17, 1994.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, LARRY KING LIVE)

LARRY KING: Well, I have to interrupt this call. I understand we're going to go to a live picture in Los Angeles. Is that correct? OK. This is Interstate 5. And this is courtesy of KCLAR, one of our L.A. affiliates. Police believe that O.J. Simpson is in that car. Now police radio saying that O.J. Simpson is in that car. Now police radio is saying that Simpson has a gun at his head. Police radio is saying that Simpson, the passenger in the car, has a gun at his head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.

KING: Which explained why they haven't been stopping and why they haven't moved up alongside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, DECEMBER 16, 1998, STRIKE AGAINST IRAQ)

KING: Christiane, can you tell me where you are?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm standing on the roof of the Ministry of Information, which is where all journalists operate from in the Ministry of Information. And very coincidentally, you can now hear behind me the call to prayer of the mosque behind me, the call to morning prayer now, mixing with the sound of anti-aircraft artillery.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AUGUST 17, 1998)

KING: We are about 15 seconds away from the address of this presidency. We've taken out of the White House from the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And as we approach 6:30 Pacific time, 9:30 Eastern time, we're about to hear from Governor George W. Bush of Texas, declared by the secretary of state of Florida the certified winner in that state tonight. Here's Governor Bush.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So the car is now pulling out and backing out now. It's getting on the main street. And there goes, we assume the sheriff's car. Some police vehicle with Mr. Blake inside. We assume heading out now and heading, we assume, for Parker Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Beyond coping with stories that cracked wide open in the midst of a live show, Larry has devoted substantial air time to trying to put key new developments into perspective. Case in point, the Gulf War.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something is happening outside. The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated.

KING: The argument now that we should have stayed longer.

NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF: Right.

KING: We came home two days too soon. Wrong?

SCHWARZKOPF: I don't believe that. The question was whether we stopped at 9:00 in the morning, as we eventually did or stop at midnight that evening. If we're literally talking about a half a day's difference. Our...

KING: We were never going to go into Baghdad?

SCHWARZKOPF: Never.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1993)

KING: Was this the toughest day of your career? JANET RENO: It's certainly one of the toughest and certainly one of the very most painful and saddest.

KING: But you're not -- but Janet Reno, you don't look at it as failure, do you?

RENO: I don't think of it as failure anytime something as tragic as this happens, you look at yourself and say what I have done differently?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy cow. About a third of the building has been blown away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, APRIL 19, 1995)

KING: Governor, did you ever think about something like this happening, truthfully?

GOV. FRANK KEATING, OKLAHOMA: No, I mean, this is the middle of America. This is a peaceful city, a peaceful state. We don't have problems like this. But it's a really a scene of unspeakable horror and tragedy behind me. The death toll now is 26, 11 of those are children, Larry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1997)

KING: The stories that you were envious of her, or that there were problems, clear that up for us? Did you have problems?

SARAH, DUCHESS OF YORK: Right, like any siblings, like any sister-in-law. Of course, there's problems. I mean, you know, you can be best friends and sisters, but there's going to be ups and downs. And we had our ups and downs, like in any relationship.

KING: Why do think we are so interested?

SARAH: Because I think she symbolized truth, and she symbolized love. And I think Mother Theresa said the greatest disease of all is the lack of love. And I think Diana always used to go everywhere and touch and felt. And she genuinely, from the bottom of her heart, gave herself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Covering news is one thing. Making news is something else. Larry King's interviews have done the latter more than a few times. In 1993, it was Gore versus Perot in a dramatic debate over NAFTA, the North America Free Trade Agreement. The face-off remains one of the highest rated programs in cable TV history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NOVEMBER 9, 1993, THE NAFTA DEBATE)

KING: It doesn't impress you that ever former president...

ROSS PEROT: It impresses me that they couldn't do it.

KING: Oh, but it does not impress you that they are supported?

PEROT: That they show -- those are the guys that kept the cut the worst trade deals in history. He's already talked about.

AL GORE: It's not over with.

PEROT: Just a minute now. They did the Japanese deals. They did the Chinese deals. God bless them. It only cost you $2 million.

KING: Do you think they fooled Colin Powell?

PEROT: He's a great soldier, doesn't know anything about business. All right, folks, Rio Grande River's the most polluted river in...

GORE: Wait, can I respond to that first?

PEROT: Tijuana River is the most -- they've had to close...

KING: But all this is without NAFTA, right?

GORE: Yeah, let me respond to this, if I could, would you?

PEROT: This is after years of U.S. companies going to Mexico, living free...

KING: But they could do that without NAFTA?

PEROT: But we can stop that without NAFTA. And we can stop that with a good NAFTA. Just...

GORE: How do you stop that without NAFTA?

PEROT: Just make -- just cut that out. Place two simple laws on this -- just make it very, very clear.

GORE: Just a few simple laws on Mexico?

PEROT: No.

GORE: How do you stop it without NAFTA?

PEROT: Give me your whole mind.

GORE: Yeah, I'm listening. I haven't heard (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but go ahead.

PEROT: That's because you haven't quit talking. KING: Is there any scenario in which you would run for president? Can you give me a scenario in which you'd say, OK, I'm in?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: A friend in Memphis had tipped me to ask Perot, because he had heard that Perot was interested in running. So it's almost the first thing I asked him that night. And he said no. So I left it alone and I went back to it again in the middle of the show. And I guess I just had a sixth sense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FEBRUARY 20, 1992)

PEROT: If you feel so strongly about this, number one, I will not run as either a Democrat or Republican, because I will not sell out to anybody, but to the American people. And I will sell out to them.

KING: So you'd run as an independent?

PEROT: Number two, if you're that serious, you, the people, are that serious, you register me in 50 states. And if you're not willing to organize and do that, then this is all just talk. Wait...

KING: Hold, wait.

PEROT: ...stay with me, Larry. I'm saying to the ordinary folks, now I don't want any machines.

KING: This is a draft Ross Perot on an independent...

PEROT: No, I'm not asking to be drafted.

KING: OK.

PEROT: I'm saying to all these nice people that have written me in the letters, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know, if you're dead serious...

KING: Start committees in Florida, Georgia.

PEROT: Then I want to see some sweat. I want to see some sweat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2001)

SUZANNE SOMERS, ACTRESS: I chose your show to come on tonight to talk about something very hard for me to talk about that I've never told anyone. In the last year, I've been battling and surviving breast cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Why can't black kids date white kids?

BOB JONES III, PRES., BOB JONES UNIV.: We don't have to have that rule. In fact, as of today, we have dropped the rule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JULY 20, 1993)

KING: The president had another commitment he didn't know about, right? So does a schedule -- so he'll be with us until the top of the hour. However, every six months, we have a kind of rotating date, right? As promised, during the campaign.

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: And I owe you a half an hour now.

KING: And he'll owe us a half an hour. So the next appearance will be 90 minutes.

CLINTON: You bet.

KING: In six months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: As the world later learned, President Clinton cut his interview short because he'd been informed that Vincent Foster, his close friend and White House attorney had committed suicide. We'll have more of presidential one-on-ones when LARRY KING: 45 YEARS OF BROADCASTING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CRONKITE: The Associated Press once said, when it's campaign time in America, Larry King ranks with the cherry blossoms as a ritual of the Washington spring. Over the years, Larry's show has become a favorite forum for would-be occupants of the Oval Office. Ross Perot used it to kick off a third party candidacy that reshaped the American political landscape. Every living U.S. president has done at least one broadcast interview with Larry King. The late Richard M. Nixon sat down with him, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1992)

KING: Why do you think that the Nixon career had its incredible ups and incredible downs? There were -- Richard Nixon never had the level flight? It was 5,000 feet or 60,000 feet. Why?

RICHARD M. NIXON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I never played it safe. I always believed in taking the risks if I thought that the cause was worth taking the risk for.

KING: Is it hard to come back to this city? Is it hard to drive by the Watergate?

NIXON: Well, I'd never been in the Watergate. So it's not a hard thing.

KING: Never been in? Never been in the restaurant?

NIXON: No, other people were in there, though, unfortunately. And so...

KING: Was it hard for you?

NIXON: No, I don't live in the past. As a matter of fact, one of the problems older people have is when you get together, and they always want to reminisce about the past. I don't do that. I like to think about the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1998)

KING: You might well have been reelected if you didn't pardon Richard Nixon. It was a very close election. That was very controversial. Had to do it all over again, still do it?

GERALD FORD, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I certainly would. And I'm more convinced today, Larry, that I was in 1974. I was absolutely convinced that the only way for me as president to spend 100 percent of my time working on the problems, foreign and domestic for the American people was to get the Nixon problem off my desk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2000)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will tell you something, which I haven't shared with many people. The first time that the seed was planted about running for president happened right here at the governor's mansion. Laura had given me a 50 -- a surprise party for my 50th birthday. And Bullock (ph), the lieutenant governor of Texas, the crusty old battle, you know, tough guy, stands up in the backyard over there in front of friends of mine from all around the country and says, "We are here celebrating the birthday of the next president of the United States." I had, you know, birthday cake falling out of people's mouths. They just -- they could not believe that a Democrat would say that.

But I have a record. The reason -- my point is.

KING: What did you think when he said it?

BUSH: I said, he must've been drinking again. But he had quit drinking. And I said afterward, I said, "What are you doing?" He said, "I mean it."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1990)

KING: Did you ever think you might die? RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: No, although I didn't just leave at the chance. I talked to my friend upstairs about that.

KING: But you never thought that this was the end?

REAGAN: No.

KING: Because some people in that situation and a trauma situation thinks it's over?

REAGAN: No, I found out afterward that a lot of those people are the hospital thought it could very likely be the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1997)

KING: Are there days you question your faith?

JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Not anymore. There have been a couple of times when I've questioned my faith very seriously. One was when my father died. He was the first member of my family to pass away quite young. The other time was when I lost the governor's election in 1966. And the guy that beat me was Lester Maddox, a racist, who won the race because he would stand in front of his restaurant with a pick handle. And anybody who came up that was black, he would beat them over the head with it. And that won the election. And I thought that God had betrayed me, because I thought I'd be better for Georgia.

KING: What do you think now? Did God betray you or...

CARTER: Oh, no. Now I'm much mature in my faith. I don't have any doubt that God answers all the prayers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Yes, President George W. Bush, the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Department of Public Safety, Texas. It's a Class C driver's license.

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Hey, wait a minute.

KING: 6 feet, 1 inches tall. Sex is male. Eyes are brown. Birth date 6/12/24. And this expires 6/12/93.

BUSH: I'm legal. See, where's your car? Let's go for a drive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1992)

KING: Are you calling the president a liar? BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I'm reading what these newspapers said. The point -- you know, I want to tell you this. Here's a guy who's calling me everything but a blue goose and told the American people that they can't trust me. And he makes up the ads and the charges they run against me half the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: The 1992 presidential race was a watershed in terms of television's impact on campaign politics, a parade of White House hopefuls appeared on LARRY KING LIVE to pitch their positions. Would- be vice presidents viewed the program as must-do TV as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1992)

KING: What if your daughter grew up, had a problem, came to you with that problem all fathers fear? How would you deal with it?

DAN QUAYLE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it is a hypothetical situation. And I hope that I never do have to deal with it, but obviously I would counsel her and talk to her and support her on whatever decision she makes.

KING: And if the decision was abortion, you'd support her?

QUAYLE: I'd support my daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Ashville, South Carolina for Senator Al Gore. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Senator Gore?

AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.

CALLER: I know I probably shouldn't say this, but I think you're a very handsome man.

GORE: Uh-oh.

CALLER: Are you available for a date on Friday night?

GORE: All right, who put this up?

KING: Who is this?

GORE: I have no idea.

KING: No, he's not available.

GORE: That's the answer, I'm not available.

CALLER: Not even for your wife?

GORE: Yeah, for my wife.

KING: Who is this?

CALLER: Hi, this is Tipper. I'm calling you from Ashville.

KING: A-ha, you didn't recognize your wife's voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2001)

KING: When they say you're the most powerful vice president, you have more to say than the other vice presidents, how do you react?

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I let others make those judgments. I...

KING: Do you feel powerful?

CHENEY: No.

KING: Don't feel powerful?

CHENEY: Don't feel powerful. You're -- when you're in one of these jobs, you know, there's a perception, perhaps, from the outside that you're powerful. On the inside, you're not sure the levers are connected to anything. And then you deal with difficult problems, try to move the Congress, shape public opinion, deal with a difficult international situation. And it's usually three yards and a cloud of dust. There aren't very many home-runs in this business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Although the White House has supplied Larry with some of his most interesting interview subjects, the legislative branch has been the source of many compelling guests, too. Tip O'Neill, a man who told stories as well as he twisted congressional arms, was a favorite guest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1985)

KING: Why don't you put on the gloves more with Ronald Reagan?

REP. TIP O'NEILL (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, put on the gloves. They call him the teflon kid, that just doesn't stick to him.

KING: It's not your fault?

O'NEILL: Not our fault. As a matter of fact, the press of the America, the media of America really loved the president of the United States. You see at press conferences all they do is throw out softballs to him...

KING: You think he gets a break from the media?

O'NEILL: Oh, there's no question about it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Senator Lincoln, you are the youngest, are you not?

SEN. BLANCHE LINCOLN (D), ARKANSAS: The youngest woman in the history of our country to serve in the U.S. Senate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she brags about it all the time.

KING: Do you...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She rubs it in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's 10-years old.

KING: Do you feel like the baby?

LINCOLN: No, I don't feel like a baby. Kid sister, maybe.

KING: Do you respect -- I know Senator Clinton campaigned for you at a time -- in the past. Do you respect your elders?

OK, a show of hands. Anyone want to be president?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: How do you explain the drop in the polls?

NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I made some mistakes, but the underlying real factor, I think, is 120,000 commercials. I mean, there's no occasion every in American history of a non-presidential candidate having 120,000 commercials featuring them in a negative way.

KING: But if they pictured you in a negative way, they had to figure we can make a case against him?

GINGRICH: Well, I think there's...

KING: Henry Hyde in the making?

GINGRICH: I think with 120,000 commercials, you can make a case...

KING: You think they made you negative?

GINGRICH: I think that I offered them some opportunities, but I think that they really piled on -- many of them were just plain not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP, 1994)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP

KING: How do you react when people say Senator Dole often goes right back to brink here?

SEN. BOB DOLE (R), KANSAS: Well, I say they don't know me. I mean, if you talk to people who know me or talk to the people I work with every -- not just the senators, not just my staff, but people who see you every day, whether on the door, whether in the kitchen, whether somewhere else, that's how you learn about a person. And plus, you pay -- you know, you pay a price for being a leader.

If you weren't a partisan leader, than hire somebody else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: When we return, Larry King's coverage of the scandal that almost ended Bill Clinton's presidency.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JANUARY 21, 1998)

KING: It was learned today that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who was appointed to look into the Whitewater scandal, is now investigating charges that President Clinton had an affair with a White House intern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Scandal is nothing new in American politics. Neither is sexual misconduct, but the presidential improprieties that nearly engulfed the Clinton administration and the overwhelming media attention that they generated are in a class by themselves. Larry King's coverage of this story included an interview with the woman whose unprecedented lawsuit helped ignite a political firestorm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1999)

PAULA JONES: Well, I don't think I started it all. You know, Clinton started it all. So...

KING: But had you not brought that charge, we would not probably have known about Monica and all the other things that occurred. Do you feel a part -- how do you feel?

JONES: Well, I mean, I feel like I had a big part to do with it, but it started because Clinton wouldn't apologize to me. And that's all I asked for. So if he had apologized, then none of this would have happened. And I'm sure if he looks back now, he would've have settled with just a simple apology four years -- five years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JANUARY 28, 1998)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Lewinsky, are you enjoying your stay in Philadelphia?

KING: In the course of a week, you have become famous, Mr. Ginsburg. How are you handling all this?

WILLIAM GINSBURG, MONICA LEWINSKY'S ATTORNEY: With great humility. I'm more interested in my client than I am in my fame.

KING: Are you shocked by it?

GINSBERG: No, I expected that this would happen, if indeed this story was fueled. And it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, APRIL 16, 1998)

KING: When you heard of a possible, before the Linda Tripp thing, any romantic thing, were you shocked?

BERNARD LEWINSKY: Absolutely.

KING: Did you ask her?

LEWINSKY: No.

KING: This puzzles people. Why not? Well, I'm the father of a daughter. I think it would've been the first thing I asked, what happened.

LEWINSKY: I feel very strongly about not getting involved with anything that has to do with the sex life of my daughter. I really don't feel it's any of my business. And I respect that, and I will honor it forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JANUARY 23, 1998)

KING: If what we hear is all true, and this is a big if, but there's a lot to go down the road, and we don't want to ever make assumptions, how do you explain that such a bright person and a brilliant politician would get like this?

GENNIFER FLOWERS: I don't think you really want me to answer that and be honest.

KING: Why?

FLOWERS: Well, because I would say...

KING: You know him?

FLOWERS: Well, I would think he was thinking with another head instead of this one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Monica Lewinsky sat down and talked with Larry King as well. So did two people she's blamed for many of her misfortunes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2001)

LINDA TRIPP: This is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) child. Don't believe that this was consensual sex. And he went to extraordinary lengths to cover that up criminally.

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

TRIPP: Well, look, she was -- I have kids that age. She was 21. Monica is 21 going on 14 on a good day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1999)

KING: When those say it was you that put us through it, what could have prevented this?

KEN STARR: For the president of the United States to have simply said I made a really bad mistake, and not to have deceived the American people, not to have lied to his own cabinet, but say, I goofed. I...

KING: Had he said that, you're not here tonight?

STARR: I certainly wouldn't be here tonight, not on the Monica Lewinsky matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2002)

MONICA LEWINSKY: It was a mutual relationship. It was a mutual physical relationship and emotional. And...

KING: So if he was satisfied, you were satisfied?

LEWINSKY: Yeah.

KING: It was -- you never felt like I am some sort of slave to this?

LEWINSKY: No, no.

KING: Did he leave people to think that? I mean, there was only the two of you there?

LEWINSKY: I have had to deal with a lot of difficult emotional feelings of that and hurt, I think, because I do believe that's what he tried to leave people to believe.

KING: Hurt...

LEWINSKY: Did that make sense?

KING: Yeah, you deal with the pain of someone saying publicly listen, yeah, it happened, but she was servicing me.

LEWINSKY: Right. And I think that that was for a woman, that's incredibly degrading.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: How you emotionally hold out through up all that?

CLINTON: Well, I'm here.

KING: I know, but how? What is it? It's some sort of inner thing in you of get up off the floor, the comeback kid approach. Is that part of your structure? Where does that come from?

CLINTON: I think there are two things, really. One is what you said. All my life, I was raised to believe that you should never give in and never give up. And if somebody hits you and knocks you down, you were supposed to get up, not give up. And the other thing was that I'm, you know, in the last couple of years, I had to come to terms with a lot of things. I've prayed a lot, I've thought a lot, I sought a lot of advice. I had a lot of help from really good people. Here and around the world, a lot of the people I served with the world leaders called and talked to me.

KING: Were you surprised at that?

CLINTON: I was touched by it beyond belief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Ahead a collision of crime, celebrity, and racial controversy. LARRY KING: 45 YEARS OF BROADCASTING looks back at the O.J. Simpson case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, DECEMBER 4, 1985)

O.J. SIMPSON: I guess what, you know, what really kept me in school, because many of buddies quit school, was the fact that you had to maintain a "C" average to play sports. And of course, my mother had a big influence on me. She wanted me to finish high school. I had a couple of buddies. And I -- we all wanted to go in the Marines, you know. We wanted to be Arty Murphy through hell and back. And that was, hey, that was it. We're going to go into the Army or the Marines.

And what turned out was one of my buddies went. Two of them dropped out of school. Ronnie Patterson went into the service. And I mean, in less than a year, he was back from Vietnam. He had lost a leg. So we got a little more realistic about it. So my other buddy who had quit school, this guy named Al Collins, got back into school, ended up going to junior college in U.S.C., being the number one draft choice by the Buffalo Bills.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JUNE 17, 1994)

KING: The California Highway Patrol has now confirmed to CNN that it is definitely Al Collins' vehicle. And they're almost certain that O.J. is in the passenger seat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Welcome back. I'm Walter Cronkite. And we're recapping highlights from Larry King's 45 years in broadcasting. Over the years, Larry's covered stories that were intensely importantly, literally, involving matters of life and death. He also covered stories that were less crucial, but still deeply interesting on a human level. And then, there was the murder case that became a national obsession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MARCH 1, 1996)

KING: If his blood's there, Lee, I mean, we could go around it and we could coat it, but -- and I know him a long time. You know him a long time. If his blood's there, that's quid pro quo.

F. LEE BAILEY: Where? What blood are you talking about?

KING: O.J.'s blood.

BAILEY: Oh, for goodness sakes, the only blood at the scene that's traced to O.J. is some drops that were placed there, Lord knows when, by someone standing still. Now, no killer stood still that night at Bundy. The rest of the blood evidence is nonsense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1997)

KING: Did you know early on you're in trouble in this case? Did you know it with the jury?

MARSHA CLARK: Yes.

KING: Because?

CLARK: Because I read the questionnaires. You know, there had been polls taken that were telling us about the racial divide and everything, but I really always felt that celebrity was our primary stumbling block. And it was. And when I read the questionnaires, it became crystal clear. I mean, that's when I really just -- I dropped into despair.

KING: Did you resent when people would make jokes and say, "This is a 10 minute Columbo. This is open and shut?"

CLARK: No, I didn't resent. I agreed. It's true. It's a no- brainer of a case.

KING: Shouldn't you have won? CLARK: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1996)

ROBERT SHAPIRO: There was not only reasonable doubt, there was real doubt. When you have a lead detective who has no credibility whatsoever, who finds all of the evidence in the case, and the prosecution stands up in argument and calls him a liar, you're pretty much done with the case.

KING: But what do you believe?

SHAPIRO: What I believe is something that really is of no importance. And I'll tell you why. That's a moral judgment. And I can't make moral judgments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1996)

KING: Why didn't it fit?

CHRISTOPHER DARDEN: It fit. It fit well enough to kill two people with.

KING: But in court, it didn't fit?

DARDEN: Well, it shrank some. He had on latex gloves. He didn't want it to fit.

KING: Do you think you can affect the fitting of a glove by not wanting it to fit?

DARDEN: I think that if you cock your finger the right way, I think that if you struggle with it the way he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, OCTOBER 4, 1995)

KING: One juror said today the key turn in the events of this trial wasn't race or anything. It was the glove that didn't fit.

JOHNNIE COCHRAN: We said that...

KING: And that was the downturn for the rest. Are you surprised at that comment, that that was the key turn?

COCHRAN: No, I'm not. We always felt that was a defining moment in the trial. And it came on the heels of all the DNA testimony. All that's complex, scientific evidence. And then the most (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was when they set the stage, that the killer wear these gloves. These are the killer's gloves. And they asked O.J. Simpson to try the gloves. And the gloves didn't fit. And I thought that was a defining moment of the trial.

KING: O.J., would you describe yourself as relieved, angry, what?

SIMPSON: A little bit of everything. I think my basic anger is people I've heard said I followed the case. I've heard experts say this was the testimony today. And that wasn't the testimony today. There were so many times I went back to my cell, and I watched TV. I go to my attorney room. I talk to my attorneys and some witnesses. And we say, would these experts looking at the same or hearing or are they in the same courtroom that we were in today?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: In addition to transforming a lot of lawyers into television personalities, the O.J. case turned some obscure individuals into household names.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1995)

KING: When you say to yourself he couldn't have done this. Or are you saying to yourself he might have done this?

KATO KAELIN: I think it's -- I'm praying it that it can't be true. And I mean, that's where it's at. I just pray that, you know, that it can't happen. It's very tough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1997)

KING: So you can definitely say you are not a racist. You have no racist tendencies?

MARK FUHRMAN: I'm not a racist. And I can say that because I lead my life in a certain way. And I truly view people as people. And anybody that knows me and all the friends that were standing with me at the beginning, black, white, or brown, they're still standing with me.

KING: And some black police officers?

FUHRMAN: Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Of course, the O.J. Simpson case was about more than high profile legal opinions and the nature of American celebrity. It also was the story of two people who died in a hideously violent fashion and the families that they left behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1996)

KING: Does it drive you a little nuts that he is free?

FRED GOLDMAN: Without question. This is the man that we believe murdered two people. And he's walking free.

KING: Do you ever think of harming him?

GOLDMAN: No. That's not the way we do...

KING: People thought that, who were observing you in court, because you were so emotional. It caught up that people worried about that.

GOLDMAN: No.

KING: Never had that thought? You never wanted...

GOLDMAN: That's not how we do things, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1997)

KING: Are you still angry?

DENISE BROWN: Larry, I'll always be angry. You know, I will always be angry at him for taking Sydney and Justin's mom away from them. I will always be angry at him taking away my sister from me and taking away my mom and dad's daughter. I will always be angry for the rest of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Well, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman, he was find liable for their deaths in a 1997 civil trial.

When LARRY KING LIVE: 45 YEARS OF BROADCASTING continues, world leaders find a TV platform with global reach.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1995)

OPRAH WINFREY: Let me tell you this. We were in South Africa for Christmas, and we were at this Ingala (ph) Range Reserve. And we had the tracker, who was a black man, who's really one of the most powerful black men I'd ever seen, because I thought, here, in his own country doing what he loved, tracking lions, you know, in front of the jeep. I was asking him about Michael Jordan. And he didn't know who Michael Jordan was, and was asking me to explain who Michael Jordan was.

Of course, he didn't know who I was either. So I wasn't going to bring that up. But he asked me if I knew Larry King. Larry King. I said, "Yeah, I kind of know him, but you don't know who Michael Jordan is." So I think the fact that are in a little village in Botswana, and the tracker who doesn't who Michael Jordan is, knows who you are, that just blows my mind.

KING: Blows my mind, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: CNN's LARRY KING LIVE is the first worldwide phone-in talk show in television history. Since its debut in June of 1985, Larry has interviewed many international leaders. They've talked to him in times of global turmoil. And at those rare moments when peace seemed a genuine possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JUNE 8, 1995)

KING: It's a great honor to welcome to LARRY KING LIVE from Amman in Jordan, his majesty, King Hussein. From Tel Aviv in Israel, the prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. And from Jericho, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat.

Are you as concerned as is Mr. Rabin about the extremists?

KING HUSSEIN: I believe that there are those who try to destroy peace as happened already. But I hope that those who belong to the peace camp will be the overwhelming majority and that with perseverance and determination, the results will be a comprehensive peace, a just peace, a lasting peace.

YITZHAK RABIN: We try our best to reach peace. We are ready to compromise. We ready to take calculated risks, but for a peace that will give us security.

YASSER ARAFAT: In spite of what we are suffering from the closure, from the economical situation, from everything, we will continue to be committed to the peace process. We have no other alternative but to carry on in this peace process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1993)

KING: Was it difficult to open doors to the United States, because you had to be raised with feelings about the United States like they were raised -- we were raised about feelings about the Soviets? Is that hard to open that door?

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV (through translator): Very difficult. If we had not believed each other, then I think if we had not established human rapport, then we wouldn't have been able, I think, to develop real cooperation, real work together. It was hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Were you a -- you were a revolutionary. Were you a terrorist? Did you ever commits acts of aggression, violence?

NELSON MANDELA: Well, terrorist in Japan's own...

KING: Who wins?

MANDELA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I was called terrorist yesterday, but then came our portrayal. And may people embraced me, including my enemies. And that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) terrorists, I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1997)

KING: You have paid a price in this struggle, you personally have paid a heavy price? But you don't consider it a burden?

DALAI LAMA: Of course, after all, life is not that much easy. All the time, so the purpose of life is something useful, something benefit for other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1995)

KING: You mean most little girls don't grow up to prime minister. We have yet to have a little girl grow up to be president. When did you know you were different?

MARGARET THATCHER: That's a strange question to ask. And for a moment, I have to think. I was very much aware from quite an early age of being the youngest in the family. I must prefer the company of my eldest to the company of my contemporaries.

I was much more interested in the things they were talking about, but these were the '30s. And these were interesting times.

KING: Well, lots of times, when you were a very young lady...

THATCHER: Oh yes.

KING: You must've felt different. Why aren't I hanging around with my 12-year-old friends? Why do I want to be with my 22-year- old...

THATCHER: I enjoyed the conversation and the company of older people very much. And I enjoyed the things they were talking about. And I listened and then gradually came to join in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2001)

TONY BLAIR: You know, when people ask us why we are pursuing this action in Afghanistan and this action against terrorism, I say just go back to what happened on the 11th of September. Remember how we felt. Remember what we thought about it. Remember the grief and the agony of people. And then realize that these people would do it again and worse if they could. And therefore, we have no alternative but to take the action we're doing and see it through to the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Up next, terrorism in the United States. The events and aftermath of September 11.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CRONKITE: Adding to the pain. The deaths of one of his show's frequent guests, attorney Barbara Olson. She was on the plane that slammed into the Pentagon. Barbara's husband, Solicitor General Ted Olson, is among those who shared their grief with Larry in the days following 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 14, 2001)

KING: When you finally went to bed on Tuesday night, the end of this harrowing day, you find the note.

TED OLSON: Yes.

KING: What was it?

OLSON: Barb -- I left home a little before 6:00, as I said. And Barbara left no long thereafter to catch the plane. And it was my birthday. And when I got -- when I finally went to bed, it was after 1:00 on -- now it was September 12. It was a note that Barbara had written to me on the pillow saying, "I love you. When you read this, I will be thinking of you, and I will be back Friday."

There were a few more words that that, but I just -- that was extraordinarily special and very much like Barbara. And I'm grateful that she did that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 12, 2001)

JAMES GRILLO, FIREFIGHTER: Personally, I've lost quite a few, maybe a dozen personal friends. And it breaks my heart. They're great men, very great men.

KING: James...

GRILLO: Men with families. Men that have babies on the way. Men that are husbands. New homeowners. It's tragic.

KING: And after something like this, James, do you ever think of maybe not being a fireman anymore?

GRILLO: I'll be a fireman at least for another 20 years.

KING: So no thought of...

GRILLO: I will always be a fireman. No, Mr. King, I will always be a fireman here in New York City, protecting the people of New York and my friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 12, 2001)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you...I'm in the World Trade Center, the building was hit by something...I don't know if I'm going to get out, but I love you very much. I hope I'll see you later...bye."

KING: Boy, Laura, what must it be like to hear that?

LAURIE VAN AUKEN: It was just horrible. It was really just horrible. I could hear the terror in his voice. And he was trying to sound like he was calm for us, but you could hear the chaos in the background and the terror in his voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, DECEMBER 24, 2001)

KING: How are you holding up especially in the holiday season, which can for some be the saddest season of all?

LISA BEAMER: Yes, it's hard, definitely hard when we get out the Christmas tree and the decorations, and you know, you find ornaments that were Todd's and you look at pictures from last year and think how it should be or how it could be. And it's hard. And you have to kind of deal with that loss, but at the same time, you know, especially because my children are little and we know that the Christmas holidays are an important time for us just to remember our faith and why we believe what we believe.

So it kind of gives it a bigger perspective as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 19, 2001)

HOWARD LUTNICK: You see, they call me and they say, "How come you can't pay my salary? Why can't you pay my husband's salary? Other companies pay their salary, why can't you? But you see, I lost everybody in the company. So I can't pay their salaries. So if they think we're doing something wrong, can't pay their salaries. We don't have any money to pay their salaries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Larry has interviewed more than 700 guests in connection with September 11. Among them, many of the leaders grappling with the impact of the attacks and the subsequent war against terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP,

DONALD RUMSFELD: It isn't going to end in a sense of climactic victory? It's going to -- we're going to be successful. And we're going to be successful because the president is absolutely determined to stick at it.

KING: But how will we know? In other words, we could've stopped something today, right? At an airport that might've been stopped? How will we know we're successful?

RUMSFELD: That's the problem. We know we are having success because we're making lives very difficult for these terrorists. And we're making lives difficult for them in Afghanistan. The amount of real estate they can move around on is vastly restricted today. Their bank -- their money's short. They're having trouble communicating with their troops.

But they're still there. They're still alive. The senior leadership, for the most part's there. But we're going to get them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NOVEMBER 26, 2001)

KING: As a New Yorker, was it particularly painful to you?

COLIN POWELL: Very. I know those two buildings. I watched them being built. I remember when they opened. To see my city hurt that way, it was very painful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, OCTOBER 2, 2001)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, we had hoped that maybe in those kind of spots, we'd find somebody, you know? But as time goes by, the guys have been -- the guys go down. They crawl around into all these things. They look in. They're trying to find -- doing the best they can, but it's just, you know, you see the weight of the steel and the debris and the amount of heat that was down there. We don't believe we're going to find anybody anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The hardest day I ever had was ground zero. Going to ground zero with the fire commissioner taking me all around. There was two, three weeks after the event. And having to go on the air the night after going to ground zero, the night of ground zero. And had Giuliani on, and that was a hard night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, OCTOBER 1, 2001)

But when you stand there amid that, and you're standing -- the bodies are under you. And that's...

RUDY GIULIANI: It's very, very tough.

KING: You're optimism comes from who?

GIULIANI: Land of the free and home of the brave? Isn't that what it says? Land of the free, home of the brave. So let's be brave. Let's get out there and do the things that we're supposed to do.

KING: They didn't deserve to die.

GIULIANI: These people didn't die so that we would let terrorists control our lives. That isn't the reason they died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRONKITE: Thank you for watching this special retrospective. Larry will be back at the mike, ready for more talk tomorrow.

For LARRY KING: 45 YEARS OF BROADCASTING, I'm Walter Cronkite. Good night.

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