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Lady Bird Johnson Remembered; New York Teens Accused of High School Terror Plot

Aired July 13, 2007 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Long on detail, long on planning, long on terror -- short, thanks to police and follow-through.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A Long Island high school terror plot alleged and averted, two teens under arrest.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: "I will start a chain of terrorism in the world," words from a manifesto found in a parking lot in a Long Island high school.

Let's get straight to our Jason Carroll now on this alleged terror plot in a school in New York -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Don, more details coming from a press conference that is under way right now as we speak.

Suffolk County police have arrested two teenagers, one 15, whose name is not released, the other 17 years old. They are describing both teenagers as being troubled. They say that this 15-year-old was -- felt was alone and felt as though everyone was against him, so he allegedly and his 17-year-old friend Michael McDonough hatched a plot to take revenge on students and teachers at Connetquot High School in Long Island.

This plot unraveled on July 6 when a passerby found the 15-year- old's journal in the parking lot of the McDonald's and turned it over to school officials. The journal allegedly contains details outlining the plot to kill students and detonate explosives at the school.

Authorities also confiscated the 15-year-old's computer as well as videotapes.

And listen to what -- listen to what authorities say was on this videotape about how this 15-year-old was going to carry out his plot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This young 15-year-old mentions a number of persons by name, and states he will kill them. He indicates that he was sad, depressed, excited, feeling left out. He had mixed emotions. He indicated: "Mixed emotions such as these suck. Students will die. Pop. I will start a chain of terrorism in the world." And there's a picture of a pipe bomb going boom and persons lying on the ground. It's a drawing in the journal.

"I want to kill so many people in the war zone and to target so many, this will go down in history."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Again, authorities also confiscated the 15-year-old's computer. They say on that computer they found information which leads them to believe that he tried to obtain a semiautomatic weapon on several occasions.

School is not in session at this time, Don, and according to the information that authorities have, these two students were going to carry out their plan April 8, 2008.

LEMON: A semiautomatic weapon and also black powder. And police say that was disturbing, because they were looking for it online.

Jason Carroll, thank you so much for your report.

PHILLIPS: Six murders, four states, one truck driver, add it all up and police say you get the work of a serial killer.

Right now, Bruce Mendenhall is charged with one homicide in Nashville, Tennessee. But as police investigate that crime, they're finding links to several other reporters (sic).

Amy Rao of CNN affiliate WTVF has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMY RAO, REPORTER, WTVF (voice over): Since June 26th, veteran homicide detectives knew they had only struck the tip of the iceberg.

SGT. PAT POSTIGLIONE, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE: Evidence that I won't go into dictated to us this is just not a normal, if there is such a thing, a normal homicide.

RAO: Twenty-five-year-old Sara Nicole Hulbert found shot to death at the TA truck stop on North First Street. That's exactly where detectives found Mendenhall again.

In this exclusive video, you see Mendenhall moments after they searched his truck. Detective Pat Postiglione says he was going to the truck stop for further investigation when he spotted the mustard- colored truck they would been looking for, for weeks.

POSTIGLIONE: And almost immediately I saw a truck coming toward me that looked very much like the truck that we would been discussing for the last two days. RAO: Detectives say Mendenhall was nervous but cooperative. He let detectives inside the cab of the truck, where they found blood spots in the door and inside. They say they implicated himself in Hulbert's murder, the murder of Samantha Winters at the Pilot truck stop in Lebanon, as well as a murder in Alabama, Georgia and two in Indiana. And there could be more.

POSTIGLIONE: I would say that's probably a pretty good possibility.

RAO: Now in an orange jumpsuit in this exclusive video, Mendenhall will spend hours talking to police, they hope leading them to other victims. Mendenhall said nothing in night court as he was charged.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's all? Thank you.

RAO: Leaving even more questions for police to answer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, he's a laid back, easy going guy. I mean, it just floors me.

RAO: Amy Rao, News Channel 5.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A four-year war, marginally measurable success, and a Congress torn over when, whether, how to bring the troops home. That's a lot on the Pentagon's place.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace spoke with reporters just a short time ago.

Highlights now live from CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

And, Jamie, a lot of talk about withdrawing troops on Capitol Hill. What came out of the Pentagon briefing?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things was how difficult that would be, even under the best of circumstances.

Earlier this morning, General Benjamin Mixon, who is the commander of the northern part, talked about a plan to cut his forces significantly, and he said it would take 12 to 18 months to do that north of Baghdad.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates today gave an explanation of what a logistical challenge it will be to bring the troops home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: When we pulled out of Kuwait in 1991/92, it took about a year to get out of there in a completely permissive environment where we had some of the best ports and some of the best airports in the world to help us with the logistics.

So -- and you're talking about not just U.S. soldiers, but millions of tons of contractor equipment that belongs to the United States government, and a variety of other things. This is a massive logistical undertaking whenever it takes place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now, the big point of discussion, how difficult things are going in Iraq. The incident today in Iraq where U.S. troops tried to apprehend an Iraqi police lieutenant, they took him into custody, but only after a gun battle.

The reason was, he was apparently connected, believed to be connected, to Iranian networks in Iraq. Defense Secretary Gates said that the Iraqi police have -- quote -- "always been a challenge,. And the Joint Chiefs chairman, General Peter Pace, said, this arrest shows that the U.S. will go after these networks wherever they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL PETER PACE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: In this particular case, as the first reports are, when they went to arrest this lieutenant, some of the police who were with him began firing on our folks. That turned those individuals into enemy and legitimate folks for our troops to take on in combat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Again, they are raising questions about the reliability of the Iraqi police, and where their loyalties really lie.

And, of course, one of the other things discussed today was this benchmark yesterday saying that the level of sectarian violence, progress in bringing that down was -- quote -- "satisfactory" -- and, again, Secretary Gates explaining that that was a very narrow definition of -- quote -- "targeted murders."

He conceded that when you talk about the overall level of violence and the number of Iraqis being killed, there has not been any significant reduction in that area. And, he says, it's because the insurgents are deliberately trying to increase the death toll in advance of the September report.

LEMON: CNN senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- thank you, Jamie.

PHILLIPS: Demanding a drawdown. Two top Republicans have drafted legislation requiring President Bush to offer a plan for reducing U.S. forces in Iraq by the end of the year. The proposal by Senators John Warner and Richard Lugar requires the plan be presented to Congress by October 16 and executed beginning no later than December 31.

A military reservist called up to fight in Iraq, that's not a surprise. Many, many reservists and National Guard members are in combat right now, some for the second or third time. But this is an extreme case. An Army Reserve sergeant in Florida has endured three tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and now he's gotten orders back to Iraq. He says five is not fair. He's done his duty, and now he's got a lawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "ANDERSON COOPER 360")

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": When you joined, were you told there were any limits to the number of times that you could be sent to the front lines?

ERIK BOTTA, ARMY RESERVIST SUING THE MILITARY: No, actually, I did not -- I was not told there was going to be a limit. But, also, after 9/11 happened, I was in the Reserves. And I wrote my center. And I did volunteer to go active duty. And I went to active duty, and that -- because I believed that was the right course of action to support our country.

COOPER: Mark, this is not a case of someone who doesn't want to serve or who has just changed their idea about the war; is that correct?

MARK WAPLE, ATTORNEY FOR ERIK BOTTA: Certainly not.

This is a case of a young man who fought to come off of the inactive Reserves, on to the active component of the United States Army, one month after 9/11.

COOPER: Erik, you know, there are going to be some people who see this and say, look, it's -- it's tough. You have -- you have served your country well. It's tough that you're -- you're being called up again. But, you know, you joined up, and this is -- this is what's happening. You're supposed to follow orders.

What do you say to those people?

BOTTA: Well, I do agree with that comment. I do agree that I did sign a contract, and that I -- that I should serve my country. And I do believe that I'm serving my country. I served my country. Now, three years later, I have -- I have been in school, and I do continue to serve my country by supporting our national defense programs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Sergeant Botta appeared last night on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360," as you saw right there. The Army says it's reviewing his case.

You can join Anderson tonight and each weeknight -- weekend -- weeknight, rather, at 10:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

LEMON: Al Qaeda regrouped, reorganized, re-empowered? A new intelligence report describes a terror group restored enough to possibly pull off another attack on the United States.

We asked our own terror analyst Peter Bergen for his take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: If you look in the pre-9/11 era without Afghanistan a safe haven and a training camp Al Qaeda could not have really accomplished what it did on 9/11.

Similarly, the tribal areas of Pakistan are a safe haven. It's not quite the same as they had in the pre-9/11 era, in Afghanistan. They don't have training camps with thousands of people going through them, but they certainly have training camps where 20 people are training. The kinds of training camps that the London plotters of July 7, 2005 trained in.

So, the fact that they have this safe haven, that is, to me is the absolute critical element. And that safe haven I don't think is going away any time soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And we got our information from the two U.S. government officials. They spoke to CNN about the still classified and not-yet- finalized intelligence report.

From honor student to family dropout, to Unabomber. David Kaczynski recalls his brother's disturbing transformation and how he wrestled over turning him in.

Soledad O'Brien previews her special investigation. It's coming up next.

PHILLIPS: And, when it comes to Lady Bird Johnson, Jan Jarboe Russell wrote the book. The former first lady's biographer joins us once again -- ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Three fifteen Eastern time. Here are some of the stories that we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Two Long Island teenagers have been arrested on conspiracy charges. Police say that they plotted to attack teachers and students at their high school in Bohemia, New York, with guns and explosives.

And a truck driver arrested for murder in Nashville, Tennessee, but this could be just the beginning of the case. Police say he implicated himself in several other deaths in the South and Midwest.

And new pressure on the Bush administration on Iraq. Two prominent Republican senators, John Warner and Richard Lugar, have drafted legislation calling for troop reductions by the end of the year.

LEMON: And when the mentally ill commit monstrous crimes, there are often warnings signs. That was the case with Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, but, if the family saw the signs, why didn't they do anything to stop Kaczynski before he became a murderer?

Well, that's one of the questions our Soledad O'Brien has been exploring in her new documentary, "The Criminally Insane."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID KACZYNSKI, BROTHER OF TED KACZYNSKI: There was almost a brooding quality about him at times.

And I remember once asking mom, you know, mom, what's wrong with Teddy? And she says, nothing is wrong with your brother.

I had this message from my parents. You know, it's OK to be different. And there was absolutely no indication of what he would later become, a serial bomber.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ted Kaczynski grew up Evergreen, Illinois, a high school honor student who earned a scholarship to Harvard at age 16. But, in college, things took a turn.

D. KACZYNSKI: Ted was withdrawing. There wasn't the desire to come home and enjoy the family.

O'BRIEN: As an adult, Ted gave up a promising career as a college professor, retreating to a world all his own. He built a small cabin in Lincoln, Montana, no plumbing, no electricity. This is when he began sending his brother those disturbing letters.

D. KACZYNSKI: "It used to be that I suffered from hardly any tension at all around here. But the area is now so messed up that my old way of life is all shot to hell."

O'BRIEN: About that same time, professors around the country were receiving bombs in the mail. Ted, the lonely kid, the hermit, had become the Unabomber, killing three and wounding 23 with booby- trapped packages in a reign of terror that spanned 18 years.

It was David's wife, Linda, who noticed haunting similarities between Ted's dark letters and a manifesto the Unabomber sent to "The Washington Post."

LINDA KACZYNSKI, SISTER-IN-LAW OF TED KACZYNSKI: I think it's partly that the voice in the manifesto was a Chicago voice.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Phrases.

L. KACZYNSKI: Phrases or just the grammar perhaps.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): It took her two months, but she finally convinced David to turn his brother in to the FBI. David says it was the hardest decision of his life.

KACZYNSKI: Among the things they found under the bed where he slept was another bomb wrapped in a package, apparently ready to be mailed to someone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And Soledad O'Brien joins me now from New York.

Soledad, it seemed like there was little Kaczynski's family could do to get him into care once he was adult. But it seems they were having trouble since he was a child. Why didn't they do anything then?

O'BRIEN: I think there is a lot of stepping back from the problem.

It was very interesting to talk to David Kaczynski, Ted Kaczynski's brother. And he would how nobody would actually use the words mentally ill when they were talking about Ted.

In fact, it wasn't until his wife, who was an outsider, came in, and, in fact, in the middle of our interview, I said, did you talk about your brother Ted a lot? And he said no.

And his wife said, everything every day was based around Ted, who hadn't been home in a decade, that Ted clearly had somehow gotten into all parts of his life. What to do about Ted was this looming problem.

But, if you asked the Kaczynskis, there was no problem. Ted's a little bit different.

David Kaczynski would tell you today that the problem is there's a stigma about being mentally ill or having someone in your family who is mentally ill. And because of that, nobody wants to admit it, embrace it, look into it, search it out, and that keeps people from getting help. And, sometimes, by the time it's really recognized, what you have, it's too late, essentially.

LEMON: Yes.

And, you know, it begs the question, if they saw it when he was young, or some people saw it, do many of the criminally insane show signs while they are still children?

KACZYNSKI: One of the things we were interested in, in this documentary, especially after the Virginia Tech shootings, was to see the red flags. Were there red flags in the list of criminals that we look into, Cho, and Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Kaczynski? And the answer is yes. Yes, often, there are these giant red flags.

Sometimes, it's just being remote, having no friends, being incredibly shy. You would have to underscore incredibly 10 times, really, really, disturbingly shy. All those things are red flags that families sometimes don't necessarily jump on and look into making a difference in that.

Or sometimes those are things that they can't get help in. In Jeffrey Dahmer's case, his father begged a judge at one point to keep him in jail for another unrelated offense that he was being jailed for, and nobody really took him seriously. LEMON: Soledad, and especially if you can answer why and what you can do in order to stop some of this, it will be fascinating and groundbreaking. I cannot wait to see it, as I told you yesterday.

Thank you for joining us again in the CNN NEWSROOM.

O'BRIEN: Our pleasure, Don, of course.

LEMON: And you can see more of Soledad's fascinating investigation of the criminally insane this weekend. Her special airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Saturday and Sunday.

PHILLIPS: Well, when it comes to Lady Bird Johnson, Jan Jarboe Russell wrote the book. The former first lady's biographer joins us with more on her life and legacy -- straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

LEMON: Parents want their kids to be active. After all, we have a child obesity epidemic on our hands. But how early and how hard should you push your kids to do certain sports?

Well, in today's "Fit Nation," chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at a new fitness craze for young kids that is not so new. He also offers tips to keep your kids from getting hurt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL KEELEY, DIRECTOR, FREEHOLD N.J. RUNNING CLUB: If you're running...

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's family run night at the Freehold New Jersey Running Club, where kids, two and older, are racing with their parents.

KEELEY: Running is fun; running is for a lifetime; running is healthy.

GUPTA: As childhood obesity rates rise, parents are looking for ways to keep their little ones active, like running, a sport that used to be reserved for teens and older. But as the number of young runners grow, so do the injuries.

Jenny Westerhoff began running in her early 'tweens, eventually joining her high school cross-country team. And that is when the pain started.

JENNY WESTERHOFF, RUNNER: After a while, I could feel it, like, in my kneecap, and I would always want to stop.

GUPTA: The American College of Sports Medicine finds, young female cross-country runners have the highest rate of injuries, even over high school football players. That's because teenagers are still growing, and they're prone to injury.

DR. WIEMI DOUOGUIH, SPORTS MEDICINE, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL: Young girls that are in their pubertal phase that are starting to develop hips, have anatomic changes which can predispose them to having knee pain.

GUPTA: The same applies to little kids. Doctors warn that starting a child runner too early can create shin splints, muscle pulls, tendinitis. They recommend no child run a race until they are in kindergarten.

DOUOGUIH: There is a lot of activities that involve running that are not just running that may be more fun for the kids.

GUPTA: Like soccer or basketball.

Best way to avoid injury: Make sure your child has the proper pair of shoes and consider getting a coach. Proper form is essential for keeping young runners injury-free.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Campaign cash is tight. And staffers, well, they are bailing out. Does the John McCain campaign have a future? We will answer that question -- at least we will try -- straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Well, she decided to run for public office. She might get run out of the country as a result. Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, a woman's past comes back to haunt her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone.

I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon. She became first lady at one of America's darkest hours and was witness to tumultuous change.

PHILLIPS: Lady Bird Johnson pushed for some of those changes for herself, for the environment and for underprivileged children. We're talking about her legacy.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A public farewell to a gracious first lady and champion of the environment. Lady Bird Johnson lies in repose at the LBJ Library and Museum this afternoon, just as her husband did 34 years ago. Tomorrow, dignitaries will gather for their good-bye and among them current and former First Ladies Laura and Barbara Bush.

Jan Jarboe Russell knows Mrs. Johnson's story very well. She Penned a biography and joins us from New York to reminisce.

Jan, thanks for staying with us. We had a little bit of breaking news. We get to continue our conversion.

I wanted to ask you, Lady Bird Johnson never really gave a lot of interviews.

How were you able to spend time with her and get her to be so candid with you?

JAN JARBOE RUSSELL, AUTHOR, "LADY BIRD: A BIOGRAPHY": Well, it started on her 81st birthday. I did a story for "Texas Monthly" magazine about her life. And then I decided to do an independent biography of -- of her. And she sat for a few interviews and I interviewed all those close to her. And so I was most fortunate.

PHILLIPS: And tell our viewers how she got the name Lady Bird, and Alice Tittle, what a special role she played in her life as a little baby.

RUSSELL: Yes. Lady Bird was born Claudia Alta Taylor. And her nurse took one look at her and said, "She's as pretty as a Lady Bird." And much to Mrs. Johnson's dismay, the name stuck. But later when she married Lyndon Johnson she liked it because it meant they had the same initials, LBJ.

PHILLIPS: and she wanted to be a newspaper reporter, right?

But then she met this young, congressional aide. He was very charming.

RUSSELL: Very charming. She, you know, was -- she graduated from the University of Texas in 1934. And she hoped to be a journalist because she wanted to see the world. And instead she met Lyndon Johnson and he showed her the world.

PHILLIPS: you know what's interesting, too -- and you know and you were able to get her to talk about this, as well, his infidelity. And she had a very interesting take on this.

RUSSELL: Yes. You know, when Mrs. Johnson -- Mrs. Johnson has a lot of parallels with Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt's mother died at eight. Mrs. Johnson's mother died at five. And Mrs. Johnson was a Congressional wife in Washington at the time that Franklin Roosevelt's affair with Lucy Mercer became public. And she called it then, very publicly -- Mrs. Johnson called it a fly on the wedding cake.

And so when -- she did not like to discuss this, but when pressed on this matter about her husband's infidelity, she just said, look, half the population in the world are women and Lyndon loved everyone. And then there was a pensive pause and she said, "But I know he loved me best."

PHILLIPS: So, it's fascinating, because you wonder, you know, nowadays, women respond so differently. She was -- she was very graceful in how she responded to controversy and also controversial issues.

The civil rights movement, this really made an impact on her. She got involved and it started from when she was -- how old was she, eight years old and she witnessed a black man getting shot in the back, right?

RUSSELL: Well, what happened is when she was 12-years-old, she overhead --

PHILLIPS: OK.

RUSSELL: She overheard a conversation in her father's general store about a black man who was shot in the back. And even at 12, she had a very thoughtful and sensitive moral compass. And she thought to herself, this is wrong, even though Lady Bird was a child of the segregated South and she knew that racism was part of her inheritance as a Southern woman.

But in 1964, when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which ended segregation in this country, Mrs. Johnson did something so courageous. She got on a train and she went through eight Southern states campaigning for her husband's election as president. And this was such a tense time in the country that the Secret Service had to sweep the train tracks because they had bomb threats. And everywhere she went, white Southerners picketed her. And one of the signs said "Blackbird, go home."

And yet Mrs. Johnson sat there and looked those people in the eye and said, "Racism is wrong. And unless we shed our racist past, the South is going to die."

And, so, when Johnson won in a landslide in 1964, he really sincerely said, I could not have won without Lady Bird.

PHILLIPS: Wow!

Her impact was tremendous. And you think a lot about what LBJ did in the civil rights movement. But you have to look at the woman who was behind the man.

Now, she did a lot for the environment, as well. Even when I drive through Texas -- I even worked in Texas many, many years ago. I remember the wildflowers in the most random of places along the highways and in the West Plains.

Tell me about how know why she grabbed on to this subject matter, particularly the wildflowers.

RUSSELL: Well, I'll tell you. She really is the mother of the American environmental movement. And I believe it all began when her mother died. Lady Bird had very few memories of her mother. But one that she did have, when she remembered her mother walking across a wooded field with her skirts damp from the dew and she said her mother had a bouquet of wildflowers.

And from that moment on, Lady Bird found great comfort in nature. You might even say nature mothered her.

And when she became first lady, she planted millions of daffodils in the Washington, D.C. She helped get more than 200 bills passed that directly relate to the environment -- pollution bills, litter bills. She helped stop the Grand Canyon from being dammed.

And so she is a reminder, in turbulent times, like the ones we live in now, where there is another unpopular war going on, that it's really very important in these kind of times to remember the environment, remember our physical landscape and to protect it.

PHILLIPS: Jan, a final question. That moment we'll never forget, the assassination of JFK -- and there was that photo when her husband, LBJ, was getting sworn in. Jackie O, right there next to them. And they're very close. They're huddled together on the plane. And then there was another picture that was taken where you can see Lady Bird saying something to Jackie O.

Do you have any -- did you ever have a chance to ask her -- there it is right there. There's that photo.

RUSSELL: Right.

PHILLIPS: Do we know what she said at that moment, how she tried to console Jackie Kennedy?

RUSSELL: I know that later in that she went back into the plane and said, "Oh, Mrs. Johnson" -- I mean, "Mrs. Kennedy, we never wanted it to come to this."

And she just -- she was just pouring out her heart to Mrs. Kennedy. And she, of course, felt terrible, because the president was murdered in Texas. And she knew that the whole world blamed Texas for the murder of this beautiful young president. And so she said something to the effect of she just hated that it happened in Texas. And as the days passed, Mrs. Johnson became -- helped build the bridges between the Kennedy and the Johnson factions in the White House, because she, again, smoothed the waters, calmed down everything and helped and helped our country in a moment of great crisis.

PHILLIPS: If you want to read more about Lady Bird, you can read Jan's book, "Lady Bird," a biography of Mrs. Johnson.

Jan Jarboe Russell, thanks so much for sharing the memories with us today.

RUSSELL: She was a remarkable woman who set the gold standard for first ladies.

PHILLIPS: And you Penned it.

Thanks, Jan.

RUSSELL: Thanks.

LEMON: Presidential hopeful John McCain says he takes responsibility for the problems in his campaign but says he's still going to win the Republican nomination. McCain spoke a little while ago in New Hampshire. In recent days several of his top campaign advisers resigned and a source tells CNN McCain's war chest is down to just $250,000.

CNN's Candy Crowley asked McCain how he planned to get things back on track.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: we go to the town hall meetings. We fix our financial difficulties and we win. I'm very confident. You can see the response we're getting here today from the people of New Hampshire. They know me. They will not go through any other prism but the direct contact I will have with the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina and Iowa. And we'll win. We've always had a relatively small staff and we've never been able to compete on money. We'll win the same way we almost won in 2000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And a source tells CNN that more McCain staffers, staff members, are expected to leave in the next few days.

Senator Barack Obama was the star attraction at an NAACP event in Detroit. Obama received the loudest cheers among the eight Democratic hopefuls who spoke yesterday to the civil right's group annual convention.

Congressman Tom Tancredo made the most of his status as the only Republican contender to show up.

CNN contributor Roland Martin told our John Roberts on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" that GOP candidates are making a mistake by avoiding gatherings like in this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING")

ROLAND MARTIN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Of course, conservatives won't like this, but bottom line is the GOP, they're scared of black folks. I mean, it's as if they can't even talk to them.

Now, although Bush has only spoken to the NAACP once since

He's been president, he has spoken to the National Urban League on several occasions. And even they are having a difficult time trying to get the Republicans to commit coming to their conference in St. Louis later this month.

I thought this was a perfect opportunity for a candidate like Mitt Romney.

Rudy Giuliani, he has a terrible history with black folks in New York. So there was no doubt he was going to ignore the NAACP.

Republicans have always had a difficulty in trying to speak to African-Americans. And let me tell you, John, issues like immigration, which Republicans are against, nine out of 10 of my callers will be absolutely against it. The issue of education. The issue of gay marriage. There are issues there the Republicans can dialogue on. But you can't continue to say, well, we want to reach out black voters. We don't want them simply voting Democrat. But then you never talk to them. And so you have to cross that line. And so, frankly, not talking to them makes no sense.

JOHN ROBERTS, "AMERICAN MORNING," CO-ANCHOR: Right.

MARTIN: That was an opportunity that they lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN contributor Roland Martin.

Major topics at the Detroit forum included health care, gun violence and voting rights.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, she decided to run for public office. She might get run out of the country as a result. Straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM, a woman's past comes back to haunt her.

LEMON: From the red carpet to the green carpet -- or can you call it turf?

I don't know. The Beckhams have come to America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELLA HERNANDEZ, BECKHAM FAN: It makes me kind of nervous to see that I'm going to actually meet him. It's not just like a fantasy anymore. It's actually going to come true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Getting ready to bend it like Beckham, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK, all she did was vote. And for that a woman in Southern California faces possible deportation. Not only does she have four children, she has -- she's an elected officeholder who thought she was a U.S. citizen.

And with her story live now from Los Angeles, our very own Dan Simon -- and, Dan, it sounds like what you don't know will hurt you.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, this is truly a crazy story. Zoila Meyer was born in Cuba, but she moved to this country with her family when she was just a year old. She has lived in California basically her whole life. She married her high school sweetheart. She had four children. And she lives in the town of Adelanto, which is in Southern California. She decided she wanted to make a difference in her community. She thought there needed to be more parks there. So she ran for city council and she won.

But just 10 weeks in the job she had to resign, because it turned out she is not an American citizen. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SIMON: So here you are at 38, your whole life you're thinking you're an American citizen.

ZOILA MEYER, PERMANENT LEGAL RESIDENT: It was heartbreaking. My whole world, after that day, everything was just torn apart. I didn't know what to do anymore. You have to be a citizen to get, you know, a good job, to vote, to run for office. You know, all my -- everything that you're entitled to as an American wasn't mine anymore.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SIMON: So when she resigned from the city council, she thought that would be the end of it. Far from it. Of course, she voted in that election. But only American citizens can vote. So she was actually charged with voter fraud. And -- get this -- voter fraud is a deportable offense. So immigration officials recently arrested her and have now begun proceedings.

So the question, of course, is how did this information came out?

She blames it on an angry relative who was suspicious of her citizenship and notified authorities.

In any case, here you have a woman who has lived in California since she was a year old, trying to raise a family, trying to serve her community and now she's on the verge of being taken away from both of them.

LEMON: And, Dan, I would ask you about the rest of the story, but we'll have to join you on "360" tonight in order to find out that.

Dan Simon joining us from Los Angeles.

Thank you for that.

And Dan will be along, as I said, tonight with more on that story. That's on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That's at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: Well, from the red carpet to the green carpet -- the Beckhams have come to America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERNANDEZ: It makes me kind of nervous to see that I'm going to actually meet him. It's not just like a fantasy anymore. It's actually going to come true. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: getting ready to bend it like Beckham, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

But, first, national parks are a popular summer vacation spot. But for one retiree, it's more than just a walk in the park.

In this week's Life After Work, you're going to meet one retiree whose lifelong goal was to work amid nature's splendor everyday.

Tony Harris has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GERRY ALLEN, PARK RANGER: Now, when you look around here, you'll see some of these cottons --

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: (voice-over): Gerry Allen feels right at home as a park ranger. But the trail he followed to get here was longer than expected.

ALLEN: This was during the time of Vietnam when I was drafted. By the time I got out of the service, I had a wife and child and the option of going to the National Park Service was pretty much closed because of the pay that I needed to support my family.

HARRIS: Allen went into the airline industry instead, working for Delta Airlines as an environmental engineer. And after 30 years, retired with enough security to pursue his childhood goal once again.

ALLEN: When I was about eight to 10 years old, went to Gettysburg National Military Park and I was entranced by a National Park ranger giving a program about the battle at that site. I stayed and listened to him all day long. And ever since time that point, I decided I wanted to be a National Park ranger.

HARRIS: Today, Allen works at the Andersonville National Historic Site in southwest Georgia, which encompasses a national cemetery and a museum that pays tribute to America's prisoners of war.

ALLEN: I hope when the visitors come and see me they understand the historical significance of Andersonville National Historic Site and the honor of being buried here, along with other veterans from the Revolutionary War all the way up to the present time. I try convey to them how powerful that is.

HARRIS: Tony Harris, CNN.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, just a short time ago, soccer megastar David Beckham was officially introduced as a member of the L.A. galaxy. The native Brit now the latest designated savior of professional soccer in the U.S. first, though, Beckham will have to work on his grasp of American English.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BECKHAM, L.A. GALAXY: For me, the most important thing is my family. And the second thing is the soccer. I'll get used to that at some point.

I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, more proof that England and America are separated by a common language.

Beckham and his wife Victoria are one of the world's most recognized couples.

CNN's Chris Lawrence reports the international superstar already has a legion of youthful supporters in his adopted L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): He was an international soccer star married to a former Spice Girl.

QUESTION: Are you happy to be in Los Angeles?

LAWRENCE: On Thursday night, the Beckhams officially arrived on U.S. shores. And in the August issue of "W" magazine, the couple sets their sights on become the new American idols.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, are you winning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm losing one here.

LAWRENCE: Before he kicks one ball here, Beckham's a hero to these kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on there now. Take your time. Remember what you did last time.

LAWRENCE: Until now, 5,000 miles separated Bella Hernandez from her dream of seeing Beckham.

HERNANDEZ: It makes me kind of nervous to know that I'm actually going to see him. It's not just like a fantasy anymore. It's actually going to come true.

LAWRENCE: Beckham opened a soccer academy in the Los Angeles area more than a year before he signed with the L.A. galaxy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). You're getting beat by a girl.

LAWRENCE: Now the Home Depot Center is home. (on camera): You're playing right now where he's going to be playing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It -- I think it's wonderful. I think it's like -- it's like -- it makes me feel like I'm a professional footballer already.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Send your next offender. Get ready. Send your next offender. Good. Quick, quick, quick, quick.

LAWRENCE: Companies hope American kids not only bend it like Beckham, but spend it -- buying tickets to the soccer matches with their families in tow.

MO BOREHAM, DAVID BECKHAM ACADEMY: So the fact that the kids can go and actually watch their hero rather than watching him on television or DVDs.

LAWRENCE: Beckham arrives in America with two goals -- becoming a regular on the red carpet and inspiring kids like these on the green.

BECKHAM: Well done. Good. Excellent.

LAWRENCE: Chris Lawrence, CNN, Carson, California.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEMON: Short legs -- we're not talking about those kids -- but stout hearts. Undaunted by stature and low profiles. Determined Dachshunds vie for a shot in this year's Wiener Nationals. They're so cute. That's why I'm reading this slowly. Look at that. Just sit down and warm your buns and -- what does that say?

We're back with a pack in a few.

(LAUGHTER).

PHILLIPS: The closing bell and the wrap-up action on Wall Street and all the wiener news, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Look at that. He's across the finish line. Move over, Kentucky Derby, it's time to find out who is top dog. Dozens of Daschunds are pounding the track, hoping to qualify for the 12th Annual Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals in California. The 50-yard low rider race takes place tomorrow at the Los Alamitos Race Course.

Back to defend her crown, Princess Smoochy Guchy (ph).

We'll let you know who the wiener is tomorrow.

PHILLIPS: Oh, boy, something borrowed, something blue -- how sweet.

LEMON: Oh, gosh. PHILLIPS: But something expensive that's marked way down is worth fighting for. Yes, Pamplona has its bull. Filene's Basement has her brides. These bullish brides to be scramble for that perfect gown at the annual running of the brides at the Filene's Basement in Towson, Maryland.

These women camped out for hours to get their hands on one of the 1,200 or so designer dresses. They're all up for grabs at deeply discounted prices. The first Filene's wedding dress sale was in Boston in 1947.

LEMON: Have you ever seen that live?

It is madness.

PHILLIPS: No, I haven't. But I have shopped there. There's some great deals.

LEMON: (LAUGHTER).

PHILLIPS: I didn't get a wedding dress there, but I got plenty of other clothes.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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