election 2016 on pbs - one.wh at's wrong with my running for president of this country? - i almost resent, vice president bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy. - ahh! - i'm doing this because i love you. - tomorrow night my name will go ination for presidency. - i will beat al gore - tomorrow night my name will go ination folike a drum.. [cheers and applause] - i want my country back. [cheers anplause] - mr. president, you were elected to lead. you chose to follow. and now it's time for you to get out of the way. female announcer: "the contenders: 16 for '16" is made possible in part by the ford fodation, working with visionaries on the front lines

of social change worldwide; d the william ora hewlett foundation, helping people build measurably better lives; the corporation for public broadcasting, contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. d - the tabloid media the political media converge for the first time, and you suddenly have the camera scrums of people shoving each other aside, elbowing. the tabloid reporters are jumping over bushes. - could we not push the crowd? - this is not just big it political news, as gossip. - i officially announce my candidacy for the office of president the unit. bold leap. - all four television networks covered jackson. it was called "the body watch." they were assuming that he was going to get shot. [dramatic hip-hop music] ♪ - the 1980s was a time of big ideas and even bigger personalities. gary h originally gary hartpence--

was a handsome senator from colorado who vaulted onto the national stage in 1984 only to tumble badly from it four yearsater. jesse louis jackson, a son of south carolina and well known civil rights leader, decided that he too was somebody and inould become president. now, while neither jackson nor hart ultimate won the white house, both reshaped national politics in significant ways and for at least one brief moment emed to be on the vergeof winni. [rock music] ♪ - from a working class family in a small town in eastern kansas. neither of my parents graduated from high school. my mother was fr a family of 13, my father was from a family of eight. i was the first one to graduate from high school

and then go on college-- small church college in oklahoma. gary hart as a young bor for every book he re. and eventually his class chart, said his teacher, looked like the milky way. as a very serious, earnest, smart boy, and grew up to be a candidate who loved books and ideas and ran on a "new ideas for new generation" platform. ♪ - i got interested in public service because of john kennedy, like many of my generation did. ge his famous challeno us wasn't to run for office. it was open-ended, but it was some period of your life giving back something to society. - ask what you can do for your country. - that resonated with me.

to a degree it eclipsed my religious upbringing and gave me a kind of secular way of providing service. - tell me how you became campaign manager in '7 - like many things in life, total accident. george mcgovern had made up his mind i think in '70 to seek the presidency on an anti-vietnam war platform. pro-wovil rights, pro-n's rights, all the movement activity of the '60s and '70s, and he was jutt beginning to p campaign together. he was at 2, 3% in the polls, so all of the smart guys were not-- [laughs] imre not racing to support and he had no money, and was from south dakota, so i think you couldn't find anyone else. - you could see the mcgovern campaign as the binning of a shift the democratic party. it becomes a more socially liberal party. it becomes less and less the old party of harhats,

the party of the neweal, and gary hart tries to accelerate that shift. - so how in the world did you go from campaign manager of a losing campaign to 24 months later, you're the young senator from colorado, previously a republican seat. it wassy. i had to survive a six-person democratic primary to even become the candidate. - what are your intentions regarding dominick's seat? what might the issues be? - the overriding concern in the country of returning honesty to government and somehow sending representatives to washington and to our state capitols who will clean up politics. - i defeated a wealthy two-term incumbent republican senator almost 60-40. watergs breaking, that helped, and we certainly focused a lot on that. - people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. well, i'm not a crook. - gary hart in the senate was a leader of the progressive communi. when i say progressive, i mean progressive,

on international issues, y domestic issue name it. - gary hart presented himself as a voice of a new generation to borrow from a pepsi slogan of that era. - the choice of a new generation. - and he was positioning himself as a candidate of new ideas, somebody who was trying to bring the democratic party up-to-date. - looking back, the economy had flattened out around the time of the opec oil embargo and foreign competition in autos and steel. so, the democratic party was new social programs, but without an economic program to generate the revenues to pay for them. i sensed that my party was running out of intellectual steam. [upbeat music] - he talks about having a lunch very early on with guys named steve jobs and steve wozniak in some little restaurant somewhere in silicon valley. he leads this group of democrats that come to be known by the media as the atari democrats, because they are the ones

who are talking about the transformation to this computerized information economy. - instead of talking about protection from foreign competition, i talked about how we defeat foreign competition with better products and new products. - hart was a break from orthodoxy. he was a really different candidate, stylistically and with a series issue positions. - i was excited to work for gary, who to me at that time-- i was a young lawyer-- was the kennedy the '80s, in brains, in looks, in prospect. - walter mondale was driving l down the establishmee, believing that he had all of the politicians he had all the money, all of the basic democratic constituencies. he had the support of organized labor, the naonal organization for women. - how you doing? - vice president mondale was very popular in the pay. the polls regularly showed him at 50%, ,d the all the pundits sa he's got it wrapped up.

[laughs] i saw the glass as half empty. i said, "if he is so well known," and he was, "why are 50% of the democrats looking for someone else?" so i set out to be someone else. [dramatic hip-hop music] ♪ - i am a candidate for the presidency of the united states in 1984. [cheers and applause] - member december-- at that point that was two months before the iowa caucuses. we go to a small town, and there's 20 people in a cafe. well, he's running for president of the united states, but what we knew is that out of those 20 people, we would get ten precinct captains. you spend an hour in a room with gary hart at that stage, you're gonna walk away saying, "this guy's rely impressive. we want him to be president." - this country cannot stand four more years of reaganomics for the rich. [appuse] there are six of us running for president. one is a former resident of the united states, and the other one is the most popular man in america,

and here's me. - gary was tntessential outside candidate, a new, young senator who was running mo on ideas than party apparatus. - equal justice, social justice, equal opportunity. [appuse] - hart said, "here's what's gonna happen. "if i come in second place in iowa, i'm gonna win "the new hampshire primary ten days later, "and if i win in new hampshire, "i'm gonna win in the caucuses in south daka and nevada, "i'm gonna win south carolina, "i'm win all across the country "on super tuesday," and it's because "this is what happens in american politics. this is what happens with momentum in amerin politics. if you become the one choice, if you become the one person who can beat the front-runner, if you become the alternative, millions of americans look at you and they invest whatever hopes they have in you. - hart's rise was meteoric. you know, he went from 1 or 2% in the national polls

to being equal with ronald reagan in the polls in a period of i think five, six, sen weeks. he stubbed his toe a little bit in the debate right before super tuesday. - he had this speech about how he's new and he's an idea man and i'm old. and so that's when i said, "welld you answer this question?" - when i hear-- - some specific ways to do that. - when i hear your new ideas, d, i'm reminded of that a "where's the beef?" - yeah? [laughter] - we know it's aig fluffy bun. - talk to the manager. - it is the manager. e beef?where's - it was a form of political jiu-jitsu, if you think about it. here was this new perso, so mondale sort of takes that and flips it. even people that were outside of politics and new to politics, they could kind of laugh - where's the beef? - mr. mondale! - where's the beef? it worked, he didn't know how to handle it. the debate was mine i ink before it was over.

it was a good day for old democrats. - that provided a little bit of an opening foer mondale, and so mondale was able to win i think two or three states on super tuesday. had hart swept across the board on super tuesday, i think it would've been impossible for mondale to stay in the race. - gary hart soldiers on and keeps winning enough primaries so that by the time the democratic convention rolls around in san francisco, mondale does not have a lock o. an - i won 25 primaries caucuses and went all the way to the convention in san francisco. - i'd like to introduce a candidate of great courage, senator gary hart. - i had over 1,200 delegates, and there hasn't been a contest like that in 50 years or more. and i am proud to be a member of a party that encourages shirley chisholm and jesse jackson to run president. [cheers and applause] the sunday before the convention al had secret serviceng the streets of san francisco,

and i turned a corner, and there was reverend jacks, so i said, "secret service, let's go visit reverend jackson," and i had not made a phone call or anything. i said, "jesse, let's combine our forces." he said, "fine with me. "you get your delegates to vote for me anm happy with that." of course i had 1,200, and he had 3. [lghs] - if hart had jesse jackson as a full partner, they absolutely could have taken it to the floor. i don't think it would've been quite like 1968, but it've been a lot different. - jesse wanted to be nominated, and rightly so, and he wanted his delegates to be able to vote for him, and he did thabut i lost that c. he'd come from 3% in the polls with no money and no name recognition to coming coming this close from mondale in san francisco. had it not been for the superdelegates, he probably would have. all: four more years, four more years! - i'm gonna do it just one more time. you ain't seen nothing yet.

[all cheering] [funky music] ♪ - from basically the moment walter mondale loses in 1984 to 1987, the democratic party is pretty much assuming he's.oing to be their nominee he spends these next couple of years after that campaign n, going to the soviet un coming out with a massive plan, both domestic and foreign policy. - i had in mind to send a secret emissary to mikhail gorbachev after the election with a censive plan to end the cold war-- seriou reductions, opening up trade, citizen exchanges, a whole range of things. i had gotten to know gorbachev. i think i was among the first to say, "this isn't your garden variery communist lead if he had agreed to that, i was going to invite him to the i 'ugural, january , and then that day, sign all these agreements that ended the cold war.

- i mean, this guy had really thought hard about policy and what he was gonna . - the first goal of our competitive trade policy is to give americand more opportunityontrol over their economic future. in short, economic empowerment. - the assumption about him in the late 1980s is that he's the leader of right, the boomers are making inroads in every part of the culture, but in politics, they're still shut out. hart's the first guy to reach that pinnacle, the first guy who's gonna be the boomer who's assumed to be able to win the presidency. - because we are going to select not only a leader, t we're going to sel a future. - hart is in a stronger position by early 1987 as any presidential contender of the modern era. - i intend to seek the presidency 98 the united states in [cheers and applause] [dramatic music] ♪ - so hart has just announced his campaign, and he says, "we need more moral leadehip

in this country," and he's talking about iran-contra, he's talking about the reagan administration, and he's talking about policy. e day before his announcement, "newsweek" magazine came out, published a profile of the senator. deep down in that s ofile, there quote suggesting that the senator had been a womanizer. - immediately, the rumorsrc that have been in ation about his extrac begin swirling among reporters. those charges only hurt, and they only stick if there's some credibility to them, and in my case there isn't, so, life goes on. - it's i ortant to understan, hart was separated from his wife twice in the years before that, publicly, said, "i'm separated," dated a lot of women in washington, ve brought them to socials, right? this is not something that was hidden. thi heard that "washington post" was following hart. i heard a rumor that nbc news was following hart, and i recall, the first time i raised it with him, he got really angry and he was saying,

"this us-- this is ridicu "i'm running for president of the united states, what right do they have?" and i justaid, "look, it doesn't matter what you think. "the rules are changing. this is gonna be covered, "and there's no sense arguing about it. thin are different." - the social climate had changed in terms of how women were viewed and gender norms in society. certainly there had been a rise in feminism, and i think what would previous have been seen as out of bounds for reporters to question was not viewed through that same prism of preserving va certain traditions oes. there was more of a license to bri uncomfortable questions and to scrutinize certain aspects of a candidate that they wouldn't have previously done. - all these things are churning in the cultur and hart's a guy who can see around all the cners, but e one thing he can't see comin. hart can kind of be made to believe that someone's gonna care about his personal life. he does not for a minute think anybody's gonna go

looking for it, because that's never happened. - i thought, "we're treading here into territory "that's awfully close to gossip. "unless we can prove this, we i don't know thahould be pushing further." i decided i would wrestle with that issue in a column. that night my phone rang, and it turns out to be said, "did you write that column about senator hart in he paper this morning?" and i s" and her next words were something like, "well, you're an idiotbecas having an affair with my best friend." - donna rice was 29-year-old aspiring actress and model who was selling pharmaceuticals at a tremendously successful clip in flora. be she was phi kappa from the university of south carolina, she's no dummy. they end up spending this time together on a boat with a couple of other people-- friend of hart's and a friend of hers-- they go over tbimini. - bimini in those days was a pretty wild place, and this is the era of "miami vice."

ammer's "miami vice theme"] there's fast boats, fast drugs, fast women, fast men. so right away, i'm thinking, "if this is at all true, enhy would any presal candidate "put himself in a situation that would be so politically dangerous?" - they end up staying the night, depending on who you talk to, eithen because it was id or because the customs shutdown, and then they reunite in washington a couple weeks later. - our job, check it out. if it checks out, we tell voters. votersecide whether it matters or not. - the "miami herald" decides very quickly and without a whole lot of internal debate, that they're going to put the presumed front-runner of the democratic party under covert surveillance. - i came up with the other editor and a rapher on the first flight saturday morning, and we spent all saturday just basically trying to watch and see. - they take up positions around the street incognito in sort of jogging outfits.

one guy's wearing a parka in may. it wasn't until saturday nit emerged from the townhouse--ai with the woman who had gone up there-- and that really led to the confrontation. - hart goes through this week that's really unprecedented in american politics. no one's ever had to deal with this before. t what really happens in that moment is the tabloid media and the political media converge for the, and you suddenly have the camera scrums of people shoving each other aside, elbowing, and the tabloid reporters arus jumping overhes. - could we not-- could - this was before youtube and twitter and facebook, and for some reason this was not just b political news. it wsip. - i was accused of things that were common knowledge about previous pnts and other candidates. - thore used to be thisof agreement between the press and those they covered ain thingsthey wouldn't say ce as long as they did not pertain to what they did officially,

but watergate sort of blf that all oute water, and you had this new skeptical press looking to crack the next story, to be first. - it's pretty hard to get past that kind of distraction, and i remember talking to my staff, d then others in the campaign, saying, "here's a set of guidelines that i want us to use. , we need to protect our own dignity and honor. the second thing was, i want us to be hart's defense lawyer. the third thing is, we need to protect the hart family personally. we got - at one point hart says, mhy do they have to chasee?" like, 'cause he can't re under. hart can't get anywhere near voters, ng knocked off his feet. - the statement is pretty clear here, the statement says that the campaign will continue. - i remember saying that this is not a legitimate issue. there's no smooth line that plots fidelity with competence. we've had some greatresidents who've been really lousy husbands. we've had some great husbands who have been really lousy presidents. there's no real connection between the two. - that was the first campaign to really experience

modern 100 membeth of the press wi their mics out and cameras and chasing you around - it's really hard to talk on tv about a forelicy lecture series, or about a book on military reform, uc or about a new tax sre. those things are challenging for reporters. it's a lot easierti and more inter perhaps to write about rumors and personal behaviors. - did i make a mistake in putting myself in circumstances that could be mionstrued? of course i did. that goes without saying. did i do anything immoral? i absolutely did not. - the week of gary's scandal in 1987, i was on cnn debating a very conservative cal thomas, and thomas yelled at me, "what could be worse than adultery?" and i yelled back, "nuclear war!" - we flew from new york to new england for that press conference at dartmouth, and i went through a bunch of questions forart. one of them was-- i asked him very directly, "have you ever committed adultery?"

and he shot back at me and said, "i don't have to answer that question, what are you talking about?" and he went on, and he was very angry, and i said, "that's perfect, that's fine, just hold onto that energy." so we were prepared, and we , the press conference unfolds, and it was surreal. - so you believe adultery is immoral? - yes, i do. - have you ever committed adultery? - uh, i do not kno i'm not going into a theological defition of what constitutes adultery. - there were lights everywhere, cameras everywhere, they were pressing in on hart, the room was hot. it as just really awful and intense. - you can ask me about adultery, you can ask me any question you want, and believe me, my wife and i have answered more personal questions than i think anybody in public life and will probably have to continue to, to my regret, but i am gonna demand the systig be fair and i have a to demand it. - something in that moment, that's the end of his campaign essentially. he leaves that news conference sort of reeling. hart says to his aides, he thinks

every woman he's known over the years when he was separated from his wife is now every woman he's known over the years gonna be dragged through this parade of news stories. - it was a very bad mistake, i've already said that, i willontinue to say it. i have to live with that for the rest of my life. - and he also fe get his message across. h pointill doing pretty well in the polls at th and continues to do well in the polls actually for months, but just doesn't feel he can conduti a campaign tely, and he goes back to colorado. - the "miami herald" story broke on sunday morning, and the campaign was over friday at noon. this is how qu was. there was a person on our campaign who went camping in the sssthern utah wilderrea for a week, and when she left, hart was a front-runner that was on the w ver of the "rk times sunday magazine." there was an iowa poll that had hart 50 points ahead of anybody else, on top of the world, and when she came back, she was in theirport at salt lake city and saw hart withdrawing. at's how fast it was. - i'm a proud man, and i'm proud of what i've accomplished. - he ends up withdrawine with a very fiery, defiant speech

and says to the assembled media on national tv, "take it from me, politics in this country is about to become a spectator sport." - we're all gonna have to seriously question the system for selecting our national leaders that reduces the press of this nation to hunters and presidential candidates to being hunted. we all better do something or we're all gonna be soon rephrasing jefferson to say, "i tremble for my country when i think we may in fact get the kind of leaders we deserve." - and he's roundly ridiculed in the media, that speech was completely dismissed, self pitying and delusional and very quickly forgotten. i met a lot of voters in america in the last decade or so. i don't think the idea that we're getting the leaders we deserve is funny tonybody anymore. - gary hart's campaign fundamentally changed the way in which the media covered a candidate. it injected someone's character and personal life into the election in a way that had not

en previously itnessed. i've spent 30 years not revisiting that, so i don't think this is the time to do so. [suspe music] ♪ - what the "miami herald" undertook to do in 1987 was shocking then and would be shocking now. i don't think the covert surveillance of a presidential candidate would be any more commonplace today. - what happened was inevitable, and if it hadn't been us, it would've been some other news organization. if it hadn't been hart, it wou've been another candidate in another way. - i think what we did in 1987 ,s to change the definiti in a very reea sense, of politicalrship. you drive out a lot of people who maybe could make a bution like a gary hart, but what you also do is,ti you create a situaon where the peopleopho succeed, the who endure, are those who will do or say anything to evade the scandal. - i did not have sexual relations

wial that woman. thesgations are false, and i need to go back to work for the american people. thank you. [applause] l - bill clinton wil anything to get around his persononal scandal. will evade, he will lie outright under oath, he will lie outright to americans on camera. he will run the traps, and we call that politicalenius. he's considered the best politician of his generation. and thenook at a guy like gary hart. hart refuses to speak about any of it, a thinks it's gort too many people for him to revisit it, and he's gonna hold on to his dignity. ears later, he won't tell me or anybody else because he doesn't think anybody deserves to know. - it was a tragedy for him, perhaps the country, that his monumentally stupid stake, led him to being kicked out of public life, 'canse he was as smart as visionary a politician as i've ever known. ve - i believe i would een a successful candidate,

and i know i could have been a very good president, particularly for these times, but apparently, now we'll never know. - we can get in a time machine and we can go back and we can throw out franklin roosevelt, we can throw out lyon johnson, and we can throw out john kennedy, but i think most americans consider those successful presidencies. - a lot of people of quality just will not have their personal life explored. people looking in theiwindows and following them-- that happens in police states, not in democracies. - we've, in a very consequential way, chaed our own measurement of what character is in politics and i'm not sure it's reflective of the kind of leadership you need when you have a vastly changing society in a vastly changing world. fr- when i stepped aside the race, and that was my choice, i wasn't drin out. i said to the assembled journalists, "if you start down this road, you're gonna fundamentally change american politics,"

wh and i think that's 's happened. - jackson was this terrifying force within the democratic party because he could register voters. - jackson's michigan landslide throws the party into disarray. - there was a possibility that he could be ni president of theted states, and it was when we won michigan, and people went, "whoa, that's not supposed to happen. [upbeat sic] ♪ - i am... all: i am... - some all: somebody. - i am... all: i am... - somebody all: somebody. - i may be poor... all: i may be poor... - but i am... all: but i am... - somebody! all: somebody! - i may be on welfare... all: i may be on welfare... - but i am... all: but i am... - somebody! all: somebody!

- jesse jason grew up in segregated greenville, south carolina. separate water fountains, separate schools, in segregated greenville, south carolina. separate housing projects, an fighting against that all his life. - this was the scene in little rock, arkansas, when nine black teenagers attempted to integrate the city's high school. the nine would be turned away on the school's front steps after the governor ordered his national guard d to block ther. - i will not force my people to integrate against their will. - i went to jail july of 1960, trying to use a public library. in greensboro in '63, we were marching. we were jailed in greensboro for inciting a riot-- just a trumped-up charge. - i mean, y people in life are born with a lot of potential. i mean, many people in life ar about god, and he's one of the few people i know who's always felt that god believed in them, and he's wanted everyone else to understand that god believes in them too. my father had a career choice. he chose between the duke university school of law

and the chicago theological seminary at the university of chicago. reverend doctor samuel dewitt proctor, who was the president of north carolina a&t state university when my father and mother matriculated, and reverend proctor said, "jessie, "you know you can talk. you know y can think, "but you know you care for people, "a ministry is the best place for you. we still need to make this world right." - a lot of people haven't heard reverend jackson preach at church. this man is brilliant. he's a brilliant theologian. - all i know, for the record, is that i once was lost, and now i'm found. i once was blind, but now i see. thank god! thank god! thank god! - my father joined dr. king en he was about to become his most unpopular, but he did not turn away from that. he was excited to do it. - dr. king had sent him to chicago to set up operation breadbasket--

the economic arm of the civil rights movement-- and he used that for a platform. [sad music] - of course dr. king was killed. that began to redefine everything. - people were some in pandemonium, some in shock, some we crying, hollering, "oh, god," and i immediately started running upstairs to where he was, and i caught his head, and i tried to feel his head, and asked him, i said, "dr. king, do you hear me? dr. king, do you hear me?" [dramatic music] [indistinct police radio chatter] ♪ we are gonna be shot in the back anyhow. why not be shoot in the chest? let's move on. - jackson is a very bold person. his daddy was married and his mother was a teenager who lived next door when he got her pregnant, and so jesse jackson, all his life,

you hear him say, "i am somebody." he's saying that to himself as much as he's saying it to anybody else. - ... all: i am... - black. all: black. - beautiful. all: beautiful. - proud. all: proud. - my father has learned to take the broken pieces of life-- the shredded pieces, the discarded pieces, and come up with something beautiful. he is a minister first. many people m as a politician. following in jesus' traditio that's what my father has done-- cast light into dark places to set the captive free. [mellow music] - jesse was talking about building the infrastructure and creating jobs, but more than that, he was reaching out to those who had been , left out of governme of public policy. it was announced last night that a $0 million deal is about to be finished between the government of china. that same $150 million deal could have been made with black and brown folks in inner city. d it suggests to me that the pa was for boeing, coca-cola, china hilton, moscow hilton,

and that is a greater priority than developing inner city america. - he foredlated what he ca the rainbow coalition of the dispossessed. that was african-americans, latinos, poor people. what was surprising was the number of whites whly came up to him and saying, "you're the only person out there who represent my point of ew." - it's what we refer to as "diversity" today, and what we talk about but jesse was in the forefront of talking about bringing everybody in. - the concept of the rainbow push coalition is people united to serve humanity, - we need our jobs! we need our money! we need our potential under thlaw! party-ism racism! wake up, blow your trumpets, let the world know we are displeased. we do not like it. - in 1980, actually, i tried to get reverend jackson

to run agait president jimmy carter he wouldn't do it because he liked jimmy carter a lot. [upbeat music] - i don't anybody actually knows this, but prior to jackson actually announcing for president, george mcgovern u came down and join and said, "i want to propose something to reverend jackson. "i would like for us to run as a team. "jesse would be my vice president, "and if we win, i will literally tu it over to jackson four years." for some reason, reverend jackson didn't think that was a good deal. - what made you decide to run in '84? - it was nart of my ambition to run for political office. i had gone to conventions before in '72, '76, and '80. so i decided to try to mobilize the locked out, to expand the tent, and to try to see america for the first time through a door and not through a keyhole. - our father wanted maynard jackson,

la the former mayor of a, to run, or ambassador andrew young would be more acceptable. they were more mainstream, but the people kept pushing - 300 ministers from around the country said, "if you run, we will raise money," and they raised maybe a million dollars, so as i raised the discussion came the idea of "run, jesse, run." - running for president was a waof increasing voter registration, of raising issues that the other candidates r wouldn't necessarise, and make sure that the african-american community was taken more seriously. - no onee an be denied the at is america. she will carry on inhe '80s unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed. - stop reaganomics. change the course. invest in people. reinvest in america. i offer that leadership, i offer those priorities. - jimmalcarter had lost to rreagan by less than the number of african-americans

who either hadn't voted or weren't registered. - the sense that black americans h that there was a moving forward was blown away by ronald reagan. t jesse jackson wantrun on the economic disaster that had been wreaked in the cities in the united states, and he ily had a constituency. - when the decision was finally made that my father was going to run for the presidency, he gathered my brothers and my sister and i. and we were excited, because we felt all of the electricity in the air. - we just hit all these little towns that basical nobody, and they see somebody like reverend jesse jackson coming to town, i mean, that's the biggest thing that had ever happened. this hour, in not just black america but the united states of america, you didn't have that many women and minorities seeking public office. - within about two months, we had registered about 40,000 new voters. - the white reaction to that was many of them

moved over to the republican party, and that's why the southern republican party is now the base of the party. the old southern democrats quickly flipped over to become southern republicans, b as blacks became te of the democratic party in the south. - well, you know, at the time, we started late. we didn't have the resources, we didn't have the organizational skills, buyou know we had? we had what money could never buy in a campaign. we have passion. - when i win, peace wins. when i win, a clean environment wins. llwhen i win, e youth win. when i wins, justice wins. surely you know we can win! [applause] [upbeat music] - he broug in not only african-americans, but latinos and arabs and jews, and he reached out to the farmers, who eing treated very badly. their properties and their farms were being taken away from them, and jesse went out there and he stood up for them. - we went to columbia, missouri, and it's maybe a two hour ride in the car, and looked out

and saw about 2,000 whites, and they're with mask on. - he was kind of joking. like, "wait a minute. [laughs] "white farmers with sacks over their heads? "is this the kkk? i'm a little hesitant to go in," you know. - they were afraid if the farm agricultural extension services saw them there, they could lose their subsidy. so they were there looking like klansmen, but under their alcks they were oues. - i was facing foreclosure and got old of jesse. ffered to come, sit down at a mediation table... [cheers] and try to work this thing o between myself and my bankers. [cheers] we wound up going through some reorganization, but we got every acre and we're gonna farm. [all cheering] and we're gonna ntinue to farm! [all cheering] [upbeat music] ♪ a lot of the democratic black leaders didn't feel that comfortable with him,

he ran a good race, but there were strict limits on what he was gonna be able to accomplish. - they were not ready. they did not believe that a black man could be president. - some blacks wouldn't support bethey couldn't imagine whites accepting a black. some whites couldn't imagine it because they couldn imagine a black being that audacious. - candidate like wamter mondale for e-- very established liberal credentials, friend of the civil rights movement, and people would say, "how can you run against walter mondale?" and jesse jackson would say, "it's not against the person, it's about the position, about the policy of t democratic part" he would go out there, present his platform, keep the issues he felt important on aront burner, and force the party to be true to itself and realtinguish itself from the republican party. [rhythmic music] - my father's ministry is international pe and dimension. he's met with religious leaders from all over the world and brought up human rights concerns

in all of these discussions. he, met with president cast with president assad to bring hostageback. - two american soldiers were down over syria. the white soldier died and the black soldier-- goodman-- was alive, and reagan's position was, "don't go. "you don't don't kngw what you are d but if you do get him, bring him back." so we decide to go, and in the end we t him out. - he proved that a black man coulgo out there and stand on his own, master the issues, master foreigny. - welcome to the league's second presidential debate of 1984. - we had to ha a debate in new hampshire, so i called dr. sam proctor, my mentor. he suggested, "when they start debating, start using language you're not familiar with, whatever they say, take the moral high ground-- the moral, ethical hig tground, and they canch it. - we're worshi i want to use our technological superiority to produ conventional weapons that work in combat in sufficient numbers to defend this country's interests.

- gary's argument now is still preparing to kill and be killed by the russians. - no. no, it's not. , - i think the point if we begin to use more of our energy on talking and negotiating and engaging in trade and technology andgriculture and less on preparing to fighte we can prepare to we need to begin to use our minds rather than our missiles, and reduce this tension and go another way. [applause] - jesse jackson was this terrifying force within the democratic party because he could register voters, he could move voters in ways that the other candidates couldn't. jackson used the weapon of registration as a way of demonstrating his constituency and bring tge new numbers in party. - reverend, based on the number of degates committed to each of the candidates, you're way at the bottom of the heap, and your campaign, it is generally agreed, is detrimental to the campaign of walter mondale. walter mondale appears, according to the polls, to be the more popular of the two wte candidates

among black voters. i think you would have to concede that you would really be a dark horse if you won. - i'm a dark horse no matter how you put it. [laughter] that's not the point. my campaign is expanding the party. 20% of the people who voted fome last tuesday had never voted before. - the fear, en humiliation, of older blacks were a factor in that campaign. my grandmother, she couldn't read and write. she would have to go downtown and reveal she couldn't read and write and have to make an x-- used to make an x mark-- for her signature. but that was the beauty of it, to watch people come through that process and overheir fears and choose hope over fear. - were you ever at risk onhat campaign trail to your knowledge? - up until that time we received the most threats of anybody ever. my grandmother was not gonna vote for me. and it was the fear, if i win, something would happen to me. she said, "boy, if you mess around and win you gonna get killed." - it was if, after the age of 39,

we were on the clock with him. medgar evers had been killed at 43. reverend dr. martin luther king and malcolm x had been killed at 39, and many people talked about that, you know, "this could be it." - all four television networks-- abc, nbc, cbs, and cnn-- had two crews that covered jackson everhere that he went. it was called "body watch," because they were assuming that he was going to get shot. - even with that, with that possibility, our father felt that it waun important for him to he said, "you know, things have gone so far, "i can't turn around, and no matter what happens, ha"know this, knowdaddy loves you "and he's proud of all of yodo and all that you've ne, "but i must do this because i cannot let you "live in a country, in a world in which there is a ceiling on your ambions." [upbeat music] ♪ - it was extremely exciting.

this would have been the first time that you had a black major candidate o was about to addresse worn that was going to be covered by everything and everybody. - america's future, the reverend jesse lewis jackson! [cheers and applause] - the r of walter mondale's campaign called him out, and he said, "u know, "tomorrow night's speech is very important "to the democratic party. "can you kinda give me an idea of the direction that you're going to go?" and he said, "tomorrow night, you will either be "a chimp, a chump, or champ, but you won't know until torrow night." - there was an anchor who said, "mothers, go get your children. "bring them before the television. "sit down, hold onto your seats. "you're about to hear one of the greatest speeches that you've ever heard in your life."

- but just because you're born in the slum, does not mean the slum is born in you, and you can rise above it. we must leave racial battle ground and come to economic common ground and moral higher ground. america, our time has come. and come november, there will be a change, because our time has come. thank you and god bless you! [cheers and applause] [upbeat music] - cameras panned the audience and people were crying. white peop were crying. black people were crying. - although he didn't win, jackson touched on issues that were important to a lot of americans of all races and all backgrounds who didn't feel that they were represented. - today jackson talked about his role in this campaign and future campaigns. - know this race is not a 30-yard dash, it's a decathlon. we continue to move up, and with each election, we have more reason to be excited, really.

- we were speaking to '84, but we were looking to '88. [upbeat music] ♪ - i officially announce my candidacy to seek the nomination of the democratic party for the office of the president of the united states of america. [cheers and applause] bold leadership. - there was nobody really that was out there on the democratic side who was the obvious fronunner. mike dukakis was a governor. gephardt was a congressman. al gore was a senator, but there was nobody that was the odds-on favorite, so you know, you've got one black guy and four or five white guys, do the math, you know, and that's what we did. instead ofting states, we targeted congressional districts. - they had a joke, that the most dangerous place in the world is between jesse jackson and a tv camera. a lot of people thought it was grandstanding, but they also knew that he could force the issues by the sheer force of his personality. - hope. [applause]

jackson fights for comparable work for women--hope. jackghts to save our farms--hope. he fights to end the flow of ugs--hope! he fights to end the nuclear race--hope! he fights to rev--e the peoplehope. we the people will win. thank you very much. we the people willin. - michigan is just about the halfway point in the race for the 2,082 delegates it will take to win the democratic presidential nomination, but more than half all the delegates to win the democratic presidential nomination, are still to be chosen, most of them in these key contests. - there was a possibility that he could be president of the united states, and it was when we won michigan, and people went, "whoa, that's not supposed to hapn." - yeah, jackson won michigan by i think about two to one over dukakis. - jackson's michigan landslide throws the party into disarray. - he desernss my congratulat - michael dukakis was flattened last night, and the word that almost attached itself to his to his candidacy-- inevitable--was stripped away.

there is nothing inevitable about anything in american politics. - michigan basically doomed us in wisconsin, because people in wisconsin who would be voting for jesse sort of as a protest "wait a second, this guy could be president." the same amount we won michigan, we lost wisconsin. we went into new york, and we had gore and we had dukakiand we had us, so you know, we get our 37 or 38% of the vote, you know, we could potentially win. mayor koch, who had endorsed setor gore, gs going around trying to jewish votes for gore. - but on the other hand, he's praising arafat, and he thinks maybe jews rs and other supportef israel ould vote for him. they gotta be crazy. both: down with jackson! down with jackson! down with jackson! - what happened was that we won the city, but we didn't win the state, and angore dropped out, so after new york, it was a two-person race. with reverend jackson, i said, "you know, you can't win this nomination now, id and he said--he "you don't get this. "the campaign may be over, but the crusade continues.

- the democratic party wanted us to cave in, but wouldn't cave in. - most campaigns end because they run out of money. he had thetooney to go on anave a formidable presence at the convention. - he brought the audience to their feet, bringing rosa parks out as his special guest. - the mother of the civil rights movement. ladies and gentlemen, mrs. rosa parks. - and it's basically saying his candidacies were continuing the work of rosa parks and the foundation that she had laid. - hands that picon will pick the next president of the united states of america. those kinds of sayings helped people to believe and understand that we had a right to be a part of the real politics of this country. [cheers and applause] - wherever you are tonight, you can make it. hold you head high, stick you're chest out. you can make it.

i wa trying to carve out... a lane of healing, a ne of hope, a lane of reconstruction and revitalization. i wanted to try to pick up the broken pieces and connect them. that was my ambition in that speech. ica will get better and better. keepivope alive. keep hope i love you very much! - we got over 7 million votes. we won 13 races and finished second in 33, which at that point was the most votes that a second place finisher had ever gotten. [cheers and applause] - i think if you look at both of those campaigns, '84 and '88, i think the vihaories were inplatform... - human rights, a consistent policy in africa. - that the democratic party did return to its base, to itsftoots, and stop dg to the right. that was his victory. - in the '88 convention, we got rid of winner-take-all primaries, which was if you get 50-plus % of the vote,

you win all the delegates. winner-take-all was one of those fights that had to be made. - jackson got rid of those, and that has led to peaceful, more inclusive conventions ever since, and it ultimately opened the door to barack obama winning . the presidency in 20 - he changed the political landscape of america. jesse registered 7 or 8 million new vers. i mean, had it not been for the rainbow coalition and reverend jackson's candidacy, many of us wouldn't be in elected office. - babama is not the first "african-american candidate" to come close and then of course win it. jesse jackson. reverend jackson laid the foundation. [cheers and applause] - on tght in 2008, i know he thought of his grandmother, i know he thought of his father and his stepfather, but i know he thought of all of these children. ey were just excited about the possibility of an african-american president, but not just the possibility nothat it was real,

what it meant. - use pe and imagination as weapons of survival and progress. use love to ytivate you and obliga il to serve the human young america, dream! nothing we cannot do or be or become. , - as reverend sa on november 3, 1983, when i run, when i do this, t nothing will ever same, and nothing has ever been the same. [crowd cheering] [sweeping music] ♪

- the host askedim, "well, how would you break the stalemate in vietnam?" - defoliation of the forest by low yield atomic weapons. - nuclear weapons cut down trees. [hip-hop mus] - we didn't have fuel for the planes. if we don't win north carolina, he goes home. - we call on ronald reagan to withdraw from the presidential race. - you couldn't push ronald reagan because he'd push right back. - i'm going to abide by the wishes of theeople, not the politicians. female announcer: "the contenders: 16 for '16" is made possible in part by the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide; the william and flora hewlett foundation helping people build measurably better lives; the corporatiofor publ, and by contributions to your s station from viewers like you. thank you. election 2016 on pbs

jerram swartz: ready awe're rolling.please. action. tz norbert leo bu this season we're going to get right into the nitty gritty, right away. annasophia robb: it's action packed. lisa q. wolfinger: in season 2, we definitely up the romance factor. we heighteold relationships. we spark some new loves. hannah james: there are love triangles. there are romances that fade. there are ones that spark and grow. mary elizabeth winstead: mary and jed are feeling very warm towards each other. they've been through a lot,ll so they're bonded at this point. josh radnor: everything that a viewer might have loved in season 1 is present in season 2 and more. ck falahee: the second season is wild. annasophia robb: there is a lot of deception. i love playing a spy. jack falahee: c it's in this giganti overwhelming backdrop of violence and all these interesting characters coming in and out. david zabel: the nucleus of the show in season 1 was very much the hospitals season 2, aking us that much closer to the battle. norbert leo butz: this season they're going to push that envelope a little bit, in terms of really depictif the atrocities othe civil war.

david zabel: e contraband story, it's an element that we touched on last season, but we really dive in more deeply this season. and the way that we've been able to do that is by introducing this character arlotte jenkins. a former slave who comes down here to help take care of theontrabands and help teach them how to be free. patina miller: my character, crlotte jenkins, is a northern abolitionist. she's heard about what's going on and she takes it upon herself to see to these peopleno becausne is really caring about them right now. mckinley belcher iii: everyday samuel's revealing more of his medical abilityet and hea sense that this may not just be a dream anymore. it may be able to become a reality. david zabel: they're all engaged deeply in this ataclysmic moment rican history and in the middle of a war. people are dying or surviving based on the chances that doctors nurses are making. so there's a lot tgalose and a lot to be ined.

the faces you know the news you rely on, anytime you want anywhere you are. man: i really value pbs's news coverage because i think it's very rigorous journalism woman: clear and concise reporting man: both thoughtful and thought provoking woman: mind blowingly honest and open woman: information that will help me make a good decision with so much at stake, this election year one plachas the news you need to decide pbs your favoritshows ready to watch, when you are anytime, any place find more ways to explore than ever before at pbs.org slash anywhere

election 2016 on pbs - one. - what 'for president of this country? - i almost resent, vice president bush, your patronizing aitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy. - ahh! - i'm do yg this because i ou. - tomorrow night my name will go on nomination for presid cy. - i'm do yg this because i ou. - tom- i will beat al goreill go on nominatlike a drum.id an [cheerd applause] - i want my country back. [cheers and applause] - mr. president, u were elected to lead. you chose to follow. and now it's time for you to get out of the way. female announcer: "the contenders: 16 for '16" is made possible in part by the ford foundation,