‘Meet the Press’ celebrates 65th anniversary

>> working day and night in the north, south, east and west for 48 million newspapers. behind the headlines are the supporters. men and women who bring you the inside story . the makers of maxwell house coffee bring you america's best air . "meet the press."

>> that's how viewers were introduced to "meet the press" when it t meat the debut. over the course of 65 years, it's the sunday news program from kennedy , castro and gorbachev. you can track the history in an ebook. 65 years of history in the making . apple itunes bookstores in time for the holidays. hint, hint. this is the show's executive producer and join me for this fun book. david, you went through this book process. what did you learn? what was something you didn't know and thought you knew all these things. i didn't know that.

>> something that betsy and i learned overtime, she had more experience with the book publications and we worked so diligently writing them. a lot of the archival materials is not always on television. the debut was in 47.

>> on radio it was 45.

>> one of the interesting things is whenever we are looking at a slight of history is running up against the fact that that may have been on radio and not necessarily television. it's a wealth of material.

>> when you were picking these clips, what ended up jumping out at you? you went through the 60th and dare i say, you have been there since the 55th at least?

>> 21 years, yeah.

>> what was it about when you put this together, that was something you didn't know.

>> the way we put it together was organized. we have given a lot of thought of do we want to do this by decades and we wanted to do it gramatically. we have an interesting section on civil rights and the cold war . you see history through the lens of "meet the press" and hear from james and martin luther king . that's all put together in a spot to hear the video and.

>> let me play a little bit of a collection of the clips having to do with the cold war which of course was the most dominant topic in history.

>> i think we have been led by certain people in the last few years to be afraid of communism and we have not been led to the realization that the way you win is to be for something.

>> we are in the defensive position. we will never make a first stride. consequently we have to have more if we are going keep the peace.

>> russia has to implement the force. this is the most important thing for democratic change .

>> so david, there is all this history. one of the things that makes me depressed on shows, it seems as if politics seem like it's politics, but it's not. with world evens and also culture. that's what i found fascinating. how much "meet the press" has been there on the culture front.

>> i think one of the advantages of being a washington -based program that covers politics, but also covers what all the tentacles that washington has. you can get into foreign affairs and shifts in the country. i think that all of that is reflected in the ebook. the other thing when senator kennedy passed away and we did a tribute show early on my n my tenure to understand how important the program has been to the news makers themselves.

>> they identify themselves about the program.

>> it was a big deal and his mother for all of the kennedy boys who were on, it was a big deal to her.

>> the letter and this letter we have in the wall of fame that you got from joe kennedy sr.

>> from pointing out that all of her sons have been on "meet the press" and for the first time at ab age 31.

>> this moment from the last year will be an iconic moment. here it is.

>> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying are entitleded to the same exact rights. all the civil rights and civil liberties and i don't see much of a distinction.

>> he didn't mean to make history that day, but years from now, this is the year that gay marriage became acceptable to a majority of the country.

>> one of the things i love most about me"meet the press" is you have room to breathe in the conversation. you can have accountable and follow-up questions or sometimes ask an obvious question or off handed question. i was not intending to spend a lot of time on that topic. it came up and news is made. that was an in the moment where this was a big deal .

>> did you know immediately?

>> that was pretaped on a friday. we were sitting on it for two days.

>> this is something very, very quickly on the talks. the fiscal cliff. how many "meet the press"s do we have left?

>> we may have a lot. my indications from the hill and the white house , you are probably hearing this. they really are dug in on they have to give on rates first.

>> they don't want to negotiate?

>> they don't want to negotiate on medicare to find out they won't negotiate on the taxes. they can do a middle class tax deal and delay the sequester. they could avoid the deadline.

>> good news for every sunday.

>> i do think people have a high level of frustration with this.

>> cynicism. you see it. the public gets it and they are not happy about it.

>> thanks.

>> congratulations and ebook. i will download it now, i promise. from nbc publishing is available on your ipad and ipad minis.

>> i love it. it saved my life.

>> you could watch "meet the press" on your local station. quickly before we go to break, opening bell just rang on wall street . the market starting in positive territory. everyone anticipating the announcement of qe 4. the fed chairman after the fed wraps up the two-day meeting and buy up more bonds. they are expected at 12:30 eastern and we will hear from ben bernanke itself after they release the forecast around the same time. next, as the newest member of the kennedy family heads to washington , we will take a deep dive into the kennedy family legacy. you are watching "the daily rundown" on