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Obama Awards Medals of Freedom; The Assassination of President Kennedy
Aired November 20, 2013 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand the food here is pretty good. So I hope you enjoy the reception. And, you know, I hope we carry away from this a reminder of what JFK understood to be the essence of the American spirit. That it's represented here and some of us may be less talented, but we all have the opportunity to serve and to open people's hearts and minds, you know, in our smaller orbits. So I hope everybody's been as inspired as I have been participating and being with these people here today.
Thank you very much, everybody.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN's coverage of President Obama awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 16 extraordinary Americans, be including former President Bill Clinton. The honorees ranged from the former president to talk show host Oprah Winfrey and the late astronaut Sally Ride. This is also the 50th anniversary of the award, which was brought to this nation by President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago.
Here with me, CNN political commentator Donna Brazile, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger, Eleanor Clift of "The Daily Beast."
Eleanor, let's start with you. The Clintons and the Obamas, this is a big day historically. And after doing this ceremony, participating in this ceremony, the 50th anniversary of the Medal of Freedom, they are going to going to John F. Kennedy's grave site.
ELEANOR CLIFT, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "THE DAILY BEAST": Right, to pay homage to a president who will forever be young and popular. And I think it's fair to say, this is a low point for President Obama. President Clinton had some low points of his own. He's now got extraordinary popularity. He's a Democratic icon. Republicans even like him. And he's provided a life raft for this president in the past. They need each other. And there's a third person that will be joining them at the grave sit, Hillary Clinton.
TAPPER: Of course.
CLIFT: And I can't think of a parallel in history where you have a sitting president, a former president and a potential next president, and so Bill Clinton's legacy is involved here, Obama's success, how Hillary Clinton terms her campaign if she runs.
I did a lot of interviewing on this this week, and one person said to me, for Hillary Clinton, it's like a romance novel. She's torn between her two men. I mean, she'll be held accountable for the Clinton years, the Obama years and she'll have to forge her own future. So these three people, their fates and their fortunes are really intertwined. And I think there are tensions always underneath, but, you know, they're all good politicians and they're good people and they know how to behave most of the time.
TAPPER: And, Donna, Eleanor just talked about the times that President Obama has needed President Bill Clinton. Despite the tensions between them, he has needed him, and President Clinton has delivered.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the tension is overrated at times because President Obama reaches out to a lot of people. I know that's not well known, but Bill Clinton is one of those individuals who I think is always on the phone. As the president said today, off and on the golf course, he talks to Bill Clinton. He talks to Hillary Clinton. He talks to a number of people across the board.
But, Jake, I want to say something. This is a day that people will remember as a moment when we look back at John F. Kennedy and what he inspired. The civil rights movement. The women's movement. I mean John F. Kennedy was the first president to issue a report on equal pay for women back in 1963. This is a big day in history because we honor those who ruffled feathers, who step on toes and today we give them a medal because of the fact that they were courageous.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know that picture we were just showing on the air now of President Obama looking at Bill Clinton, you -- it just begs a question, what are they thinking at this particular moment.
TAPPER: Right.
BORGER: You want little captions over hair heads, right? And, you know, you read so much and we know so much about their uneasy relationship. I mean, remember, during Hillary Clinton's tough campaign against President Obama, he was saying, at that point, Candidate Obama, this whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen. Remember that?
TAPPER: Right, talking about Obama's opposition to the war in Iraq, primarily.
BORGER: Exactly.
TAPPER: That was the whole Obama story.
BORGER: And - so, you know, so - I mean you can't make this relationship up. It's gone through so many turns and then, of course, Hillary Clinton, when she went into the cabinet, people were saying could she be loyal to President Obama. And, of course, she was. So now it moves -
TAPPER: People also concerned about whether or not former President Bill Clinton would be able to control himself and --
BORGER: Which he did. TAPPER: Which he did.
BORGER: Which he did. So now, you know, there's a question of another campaign looming and divided loyalty. President Obama between Joe Biden, his sitting vice president -
TAPPER: Yes.
BORGER: And Hillary Clinton. I mean the story will continue. It was remarkable to watch these two men today.
TAPPER: It really was. And it's such a grand, magnificent tradition, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
BORGER: Yes.
TAPPER: And President Obama made some jokes during the ceremony. In fact, he -- when he was awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Oprah Winfrey, he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Earlier in Oprah Winfrey's career, her bosses told her she should change her name to Susie (ph). I have to pause here to say, I got the same advice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: President Obama making a joke about names there. And in a way, it's a funny - it's a funny idea, the idea of the Susie Winfrey show. But it also shows something about where America is in 2013 compared to where the country was when Oprah and President Obama were starting their careers and the idea that those crazy names would be a hindrance.
CLIFT: Right, that Barack - yes, that Barack would be a hindrance. And I think that was the theme today. It was all about social transformation, women's rights, civil rights, gay rights. But also people who were really sort of unlikely to make it to the top. And I think President Obama sees himself that way and a lot of people in that room probably are pretty amazed that they're sitting there.
TAPPER: That's right, not a lot of silver spoons in that crowd.
BORGER: No, and it's about the ability of this country to adjust and change and transform itself. And, you know, we see that. We were - we were just talking when we watched Gloria Steinem as three women sitting here, wondering whether we would actually be here if it hadn't been for someone like Gloria Steinem, particularly in the fields that we've chosen, you know, politics, journalism. It just was a remarkable array of people there. Kind of makes you proud.
TAPPER: Of course, Donna, we can't ignore the fact that this is a tough time for President Obama right now, even though there is tremendous ceremony and magnificence about the day, about the Medals of Freedom, and then with more solemnness going to the grave site of President Kennedy. President Obama did joke about that when he was giving an award to a noted psychologist earlier in the ceremony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now all of us have moments when we look back and wonder, what the heck was I thinking? I have that quite a bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: No specific medication of the healthcare.gov website, but --
CLIFT: Self-deprecating humor.
TAPPER: Right.
CLIFT: That's the road back.
TAPPER: You think so?
CLIFT: He can laugh at himself.
BORGER: It was a great Kennedy trait, right?
CLIFT: Right.
TAPPER: What did you read into that?
BRAZILE: Well, you know, I think, right, it's a tough time, there's no question about it. But, you know, I think back two years ago in the fall of 2011, one year before the election, the president's job approval rating dipped. Everyone was worried about his re-election prospects. And he came through with over 50 percent of the vote.
I mean, when you think about C.T. Vivian , when you think about Bayard Rustin, President Obama can draw strength from those who faced adversity, who continue to march on. So I think this was a good day for him to start off with so many heroes and sheroes and hopefully as the day goes on, he'll become stronger.
TAPPER: Eleanor, final thoughts?
CLIFT: And - well, Bill Clinton knows something about being a comeback kid. He had some comebacks during his time in the White House. And so I think the president might draw some inspiration from them. As they stand at the Kennedy grave site, I was trying to imagine what they would be thinking, the two of them plus Hillary Clinton. And the best I could come up with is, we shall all hang together or assuredly we will hang separately. I think they are bound together.
TAPPER: They are.
BORGER: Something tells me that maybe Bill Clinton and the president might have a private conversation. That would not surprise me.
BRAZILE: Well, I can tell you, Bill Clinton will have a private conversation. BORGER: I know.
BRAZILE: And I can only think that John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy probably all today are saying that we shall overcome.
TAPPER: Yes. And just one final thought on them going to the Kennedy grave site. President Obama has no memory of John F. Kennedy.
BORGER: That's right.
TAPPER: President Obama was born in 1961, two years before John F. Kennedy was killed. But Bill Clinton, there is that famous, iconic photograph.
BRAZILE: Yes.
TAPPER: This was a man who meant a great deal to him.
BORGER: But he does have a memory of Ted Kennedy -
TAPPER: Right.
BRAZILE: Yes.
BORGER: Who was one of his mentors in the Senate, one of the people closest to him. Someone without whom he could not have done health care reform, right?
BRAZILE: Absolutely.
BORGER: Ted Kennedy's part of it.
TAPPER: Thank you so much.
Stay with CNN as we continue special coverage. In the next hour, of course, we will be remembering John F. Kennedy as President and First Lady Obama go to Arlington Cemetery for a special service. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That announcement confirming a monumental tragedy for the nation. The charismatic young President John F. Kennedy was gunned down in the prime of his career with his wife by his side. Friday marks 50 years since that fateful day in Dallas, the assassination of the 35th president of the United States.
We want to welcome viewers to this special edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
We're bringing you special live coverage as President Obama gets ready to lead the nation in honoring the legacy of the slain president, John F. Kennedy. Tributes have been underway over at the White House. You saw the ceremony here just moments ago as President Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom to a wide spectrum of prominent Americans, prominent Americans including the former President Bill Clinton.
The former first lady and secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, will also join the former president and the current president at the wreath-laying ceremony as it happens this - in -- within the top of the next hour, I should say. We'll bring you live coverage. We have a panel of correspondents and commentators, historians that will take us back through this significant moment in American history.
Right now, let's go back to that awful, awful day in Dallas and the bright November afternoon in 1963 that became a dark moment in history. America would never be the same. Here's an excerpt from our program, "The Assassination of President Kennedy."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a man's life, there are two or three emotional experiences burned into his heart and his brain, and no matter what happens to me, I'll remember November the 22nd as long as I live.
WALTER CRONKITE, JOURNALIST: There has been an attempt on the life of President Kennedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are combing the floors of the Texas Book Depository Building to find the assassin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oswald has been shot at point-blank range, fired into his stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are working on the assumption that Oswald's murder was to shut him up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen of the Central Intelligence Agency killed John Kennedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story has been suppressed. Witnesses have been killed. We have a right to know who killed our president and why he died.
JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I stand here tonight on what was once the last frontier, where pioneers gave up their safety and sometimes their lives to build our new west. Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice.
But I believe that the times require imagination and courage. I'm asking each of you to be pioneers towards that new frontier. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Dallas, preparations were already under way for extraordinary police protection when the president should arrive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you anticipate any trouble on the president's arrival?
CHIEF JESSE CURRY, DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Because of what has happened here previously, we would be foolish, I think, not to anticipate some trouble. I don't -- really, I don't anticipate any violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here comes Air Force Number One, the president's plane now touching down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Mrs. Kennedy and the crowd yells and the president of the United States. And I can see his sun tan all the way from here.
DAN RATHER, JOURNALIST: Looking at how things actually went, it wasn't just a trip to Dallas. It was a political trip preparing for the 1964 elections.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shaking hands now with the Dallas people, Governor and Mrs. Connally, Governor Connally on your left.
ROBERT MACNEIL, JOURNALIST: It was whether President Kennedy could use his influence to get all the squabbling Democrats in Texas to come together before the election the next year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here comes the president now. In fact, he's not in his limousine. He's departed the limousine and he is reaching across the fence, shaking hands.
MACNEIL: In those days, everybody could get a lot closer to the president. I was standing behind Mrs. Kennedy and I saw a hand reach through the chain link fence and break off one of the red roses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thousands of children, swarming, trying to get over the fence, the Dallas police trying to keep them back. This is great for the people and makes the eggshells even thinner for the Secret Service's whose job it is to guard the man.
RATHER: The trip had gone terrifically well in Texas. Pretty hard to write a script for it going any better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thousands will be on hand for the motorcade now which will be downtown Dallas.
LAWRENCE WRIGHT: A number of my classmates were gone. They were at the parade. My father had been invited to have lunch with Kennedy at the trade center. There was a mood, a climate of excitement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The speech of President Kennedy at the Dallas trademark will be broadcast by 570 Radio. Stay tuned for the president's Dallas speech at the trade mart on 570 radio. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big boss man, won't you help me when I call? Yeah, big boss man, won't you help me when I call? Well, you ain't so big. You just tall, that's all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This bulletin just into the KILT news terminal, dateline, Dallas, three shots were fired at the motorcade of President Kennedy today in downtown Dallas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police radios are carrying that the president has been hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parkland Hospital has been advised to stand by for a severe gunshot wound.
CRONKITE: This is Walter Cronkite in our news room, and there has been an attempt on the life of President Kennedy.
JAY WATSON, WFAA-TV DALLAS, TEXAS: Let's turn the mike on. I can't hear you, Johnny (ph). What do you want? Do you want me to move back a little bit? Is it all right now? Is this all right?
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you the chief cameraman and assistant news director. This is Bert Shipp.
Bert, we have brought the people pretty much up to date. Would you tell them exactly what you know as of this point?
BERT SHIPP, ASSISTANT NEWS DIRECTOR: Jay, I was standing at the trade mart awaiting his arrival there. All of a sudden, the -- we saw them approach. They didn't slow down. Matter of fact, they were going 70-, 80-miles-an-hour past us.
And then I jumped in a police car and went to Parkland. These two men come running in. One of them had a large (inaudible) machine gun and they was hauling for stretchers and cots and everything and the governor they brought in first.
WATSON: What happened after this?
SHIPP: Then the president came in behind him and they took him, both of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Albert Thomas, Democrat of Texas, is standing outside the corridor of the emergency room, said he's been told the president was still alive, but in very critical condition.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president has not arrived here.
A group of Secret Service men and other officials has gathered where the president normally would enter and discussing heatedly with one another some subject or other. Of course, we have no idea what.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, here's an announcement from the platform, Mr. Eric Johnson (ph) within announcement.
ERIC JOHNSON (PH): It is true that our president, Governor Connally in the motorcade have been shot.
We will tell you as much as we know as soon as we know anything. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're waiting for President Obama to place a wreath at the late President John F. Kennedy's grave site. In just two days, it will be 50 years since his assassination. President Kennedy is one of two presidents buried at Arlington. His grave has become a must-see landmark for so many visitors to the Washington, D.C., area.
This special hour, we have a panel of correspondents, commentators and historians to take us back through that significant moment in history. We'll talk to them in a few moments.
But now let's take you back to that fateful day in Dallas. Here's another excerpt from the show, "The Assassination of President Kennedy."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: A gentleman just walked in our studio that I am meeting for the first time, as well as you. This is WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas.
May I have your name, please, sir?
ABRAHAM ZAPRUDER, WITNESS: My name is Abraham Zapruder.
WATSON: Mr. Zapruder?
ZAPRUDER: Zapruder, yes, sir.
WATSON: Zapruder. And would you tell us your story, please, sir?
ZAPRUDER: I got out about a half hour earlier to get a good spot to shoot some pictures.
CHARLES BREHM, WITNESS: A 5-year-old boy and myself were by ourselves on the grass there on Palmer Street and I asked Joe to wave and I waved and --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's all right, sir.
BREHM: As he was waving back, he was -- the shot rang out and he slumped down in the seat.
GAYLE NEWMAN, WITNESS: And then all of a sudden, this next one popped and Governor Connally grabbed his stomach and kind of laid over to the side. And another one, it was just all so fast, and President Kennedy reached up and grabbed -- looked like grabbed his ear and blood started gushing out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see any person firing? JEAN HILL, WITNESS: No, I didn't see any person fire a weapon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You only heard it?
HILL: I only heard it, and I looked up and saw a man running up this hill.
ROBERT CARO, AUTHOR, "THE PASSAGE OF POWER": If it's a conspiracy, not only the president was hit, the governor was hit, who knows if the next in the shot would have been for Lyndon Johnson. Johnson's car pulls into the emergency bay at Parkland Hospital. Four agents reach in and they grab Johnson and pull him out and start to run him down one corridor, around, looking for a safe place.
RATHER: Mr. Johnson, his whereabouts are being kept secret for security reasons. If anyone knows where Mr. Johnson is, it is not us at this moment.
WRIGHT: There was a signal moment in our cultural history. Suddenly it occurred to us, the right thing to do is to turn on television.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports continue to come in, but in a confused and fragmentary fashion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Kennedy has been given a blood transfusion at Parkland Hospital here in Dallas in an effort to save his life.
WRIGHT: It was odd because there were no commercials. It was just a continuous experience.
CRONKITE: Two priests have entered the emergency room at Parkland Hospital where he rests after the assassination attempt which now was about a half hour ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are your feelings right now, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely shocked, stunned. We have the same birthday. I was just crazy about him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would want to shoot the president? What did he do? I mean, he's been doing so much for the country. Somebody shoots him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A flash from Dallas. Two priests who were with President Kennedy say he is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- of bullet wounds. This is the latest information we have from Dallas.
I will repeat with the greatest regret, two priests who were with President Kennedy say he has died of bullet wounds.
BOB HUFFAKER, REPORTER: Malcolm Kilduff, the assistant press secretary, was filling in for the regular press secretary.
And then he had to draw himself out to give the most fateful announcement that a press secretary might ever have to give.
MACNEIL: All the cameras were rolling and I remember he put his fingers on the desk like this and pressed very hard to stop his hands trembling.
MALCOLM KILDUFF, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ASSISTANT PRESS SECRETARY: John F. Kennedy died at approximately 1:00 Central Standard Time today here in Dallas. He died of a gunshot wound in the brain.
I have no other details regarding the assassination of the president.
