i knew i was can have to stay home i was not going to be able to go back to college that year. i wanted to get back home to go for who's going to hampton and we were together since she passed away she came to richmond and said that we should get the train home i didn't have any money to get the train.

she said i have a few dollars. then she have this typewriter a very nice portable typewriter. and i said you've got that type writer let me see if i can get some money for that type writer. to the pawn shop in richmond virginia. i was on the trade. the railroad company through all of that and all of the things my late wife saw me do. should always ask me.

i don't remember the pawn shop. i would try to do it to help just not me. i would say my grandmother always told me that doesn't belong to me. everything belongs to god.

she was a good woman who tried to help everybody. i just up with that philosophy. i made it very good grades and mostly straight a's. then i came home my grandparents were healed and i stayed home with them. i knew i have to go to work i was just trying to determine what i was supposed to do. one night i saw where they were giving the police exam and i

said i'm finishing up the rest of the year with my sociology. i took the exam and i wrote a paper on it. i got an a+ on it. for my professor. and later on about ten days later my grandmother tells me that the police have been by my house looking for me. i'm trying to pick out what on earth is going on. i went across the street to call him because we didn't have a telephone. i'm in a come down there and see you mr. brown.

i went back across the street. you took that police exam anyway. i ended up taking the job. i stayed on the job for two years. and during that time during the time that time i got married to my girlfriend. she been my girlfriend since the

fifth grade. next thing i know with some federal narcotic agents. we caught a whole bunch of people as you know. then when we finish that. they wanted me to be an agent with the bureau. only two years of college. you sign on this paper. my grandmother is calling me. she called the police station and she said they never bothered

to come back here so i could talk to him. everybody is saying the fbi is investigating you. i have to go tell her what was going on. from the commissioner himself. i worked there for a little over three years. i think i was one of the top agents.

the biggest case was in the bureau during that time. and then they sent me with to canada. my life just evolved into all of that. one night year ask it to take to take a young congressional staff aide on all ride around. and that is how you met robert f kennedy they appointment to do

that. he followed me all evening. and we got to know each other and then his brother ran for president and i got involved with that with jack kennedy. one thing after that he came down he asked me look i want you to work with me. two months later he is he's gone and he's killed.

later on i see clearance town. he asked me to work with him. i want to get involved in their stuff anymore. again the role of the world of brown. you don't want to transfer your enthusiasm to vice president humphrey. in your crossing the street in new york and you --dash my can you run into these two people.

and one of the other guys. and they wanted me to work with the republican party. party. and get nixon elected. we talked about a long time. i agreed to go with it. then i got involved with reading more about the nixon background and where it came from. and then they have a crisis at one point mister humphries went to upstate new york. and they want to went to let them in.

he have to get back on his plane and get out of there. mister next and was supposed to be there the next week. he was coming for a rally and a fund raiser. they asked me did i know anybody if humphrey got run out of town you know what's can happen. do you know anything about this. i go up there and i got to know the players and there were two brothers there.

everybody was afraid of him. here's what i want to do. i gave my proposal. we work it out. mister nick's and came on in the town. and nobody stopped him. and then have a fundraiser. it's what he later asked.

humphries can get out of the airport. you find him. whatever i'm doing for the end the campaign. that's how he got connected, really connected in the campaign and then after the campaign was over i will do whatever i need to do.

i have to live. i will tell the old man. over the next few weeks of talking to everybody on the phone one day they called me in new york. i will come back there first. i went there. we open the door and they saw what was happening. this one stood up.

come on in here. i walked in we hadn't even have a conversation. there was only two of us there. we talked about everything.

what happened with black people and so on. you had total access. i'm been there i know about not having access. that access is easier promised especially before you are not greeted them delivered. that access is easier promised especially before you are not greeted them delivered. i didn't say strategically. that i should do it for a year. i told him.

she just he just shook the head. dr. king senior. i was with them. but the rest of them. they didn't believe that i would have access. he have several different problems.

the president will go see him. they told me to come over to the oval office. i knew what he was doing. i found like everything he wanted. that we would take care of it. and so forth. when the president came back in. he talked to bob after that. they were relating to the flurry.

they turned out well for the administration. i'm know there was nothing that they could say to me about it. you've been in the inner circles of dr. king life in particularly the southern christian leadership, france. -- conference. he'd ask you to be in him into waiting for him. and you get word that morning that he is good to be the situation that's much more difficult.

you're driving home to high point. i was waiting for him in his office. he has a bunch of things on his mind that he needs to talk to about right away. i'm sitting on his in his office waiting on him. they want me to speak again tonight. i go can't catch a plane to charlotte. at that time i would've had to wait till later in the evening to get another plane. as soon as i got the plane in charlotte. and there is pandemonium either there was a bomb somewhere or something.

and the few minutes the guy comes up. he was really not little buggy back to him. i said what is going on here but that means said man .-dot you know they just killed martin luther king jr.? what is that. i found a telephone the one with the dose cell phone. and selling my late wife was quiet. there were a lot of people in the house. i told her what i have done.

i told her i would rent-a-car and drive home. while i'm driving home that evening i turn the radio on the opposite of what martin was about. that was one of the longest nights of my life. and then you get a call from karen at scott king who want to come back to atlanta because nelson rockefeller has said his private plane to bring her to memphis. i met her at the atlanta airport. wood for five other people that go with it. a couple of the staff people.

we went to pick up martin's body. she said bob, i don't know what to do. and i know what i meant to do. when you got to memphis met her at the airport i know you can come here with martin. so she looks at me and says what should we do. as soon as we finish this march. we are marching right back to this plane. we are going back to atlanta which is what we did. and we we marched the short distance. we have his children there.

it was a very bad time. it's all in the book. you go back another time of the first visits.

he went a few times. what nelson and i want. nobody has ever followed through. as we want our children to come to america and go to school and get an education so that they can be good leaders. caretta looks at me and she says is it something we can do. i'll just to do is write me a letter and i will take care of everything. i will take care of the children i will do everything to make their life easier. so i did all of that.

became their legal guardian. it costs a lot of money and i took care of them going back. to see the mother does lots of things. but i was already doing a lot of things. i have to work a little harder that was a very difficult time god leading me. i see it now. she have opened all of these doors for me and then all of a sudden i look up and i'm not only the right hand man called

me in my home hotel before i leave. he called me and said mister brown i need you here. if you still want to do it. they're just halting it.

my name is bob brown. i have my passport up so they could see. and the guy said mister brown, open the gate. the door open a big tall guy. were so happy to see you there. and i'm already there.

i knew this was good and be it. he's been in prison for 20 some years. for the tramp. a man talking about this.

i don't know if it would've been quite that strong. and his children got it. what he is doing for his family and everything. the biggest thing that happened. i was out on the meeting.

someone who hit my door like this. who are you what you want. were from president bush's office office. yes he would like for you to come to meet with him this evening's he said he knows that you're gonna be leaving the country tomorrow are the next day.

we don't mean to disturb you. he didn't even need his cabinet. seriously he didn't even know that. is it okay i've called other

people. when i got over there the number two man on the country wanted to see me up in his office. i'm so happy that you're here. i'm in a take you down to the president's office in a few minutes. but i don't know why he wants to see you. i'm none of my other colleagues. know why you want to see you.

he said i would be forever grateful for it you. and ask him if i can stay for the meeting. i will be forever grateful. and greet me and my colleagues. something's going on here. lord please come down here and help me. and they greeted me there. he ask him. mister president. do you me to stay with you.

i sat down and and we stay there talking to each other. i said zero my goodness what is this.

after that anytime you need me anything you want to do you can do it. i appreciate it. mister president. after that meeting i wrote a memo that let everybody know i have never been in a meeting like that before. i had been to every kind of meeting there was. it was incredible.

see mac this memo that you described was very widely circulated. about a year to the day that your mama was circulated describing mandela's attitude that the changes began. they started to have a secret meeting with the cabinet. gran would mandela. that went on for about a year and a half. one day i get a call from miss mindel at saint they are going to relieve nelson. i have a problem. the problem was that i have just found out that my late wife she

have to say. she later died from the cancer. and they have both worked at me with me. i sent both of them over there to meet them there. so the next morning. they were sitting there. and he wanted to have breakfast he'd told him to get me on the telephone. he wants to talk to you.

i picked up the phone. and talk to him. how could it good it was to be home. then he said some people already talk to him. and then they have a great in new york. >> i hate to do this but i wanted to get back very briefly took couple of things in the nixon administration. the policy in the and the legacy that you left. i really created a revolution aid to historic black colleges and universities.

including one where you meet with general westmoreland and you say in your restrained weight that you actually went mad dog on him with his meeting. that was one of the things that candidate nixon when he spoke to you said that he was very interested in getting advice and help race relations in the advancement of black officers. that was a huge problem. a lot of blacks in the military they were all at the lower level. we made him in general and brought them back.

and he had been an ace pallet into worse. and fought like that in american serviceman who have remained a kernel he wanted to forge forged a relationship. he started telling me what was happening and all of this. and then we took control of that situation. he thought the president might

want to deal with that. they went in to see the president did a good meeting with the president. what he thought would be the best way to handle that would be for me to get in touch with the military aid office. when they would send the papers over to be signed. when the promotion list would come over. we did that for a few months.

all the sudden you start having all of these people. none of them could be assigned as the officer. they got the message i went to meeting all military i know

where we have come from this was richard nixon who have the guts to do this. it was a typical kind of a richard richard nixon that i knew. you better get out of his way. anyway. i was in this auditorium when all of these people is a short little black woman came up to me i want to give you my card. i want to give you my card. at some point none of this

would've happened. this is a three star general black woman. what i'm saying as that there were a lot of revolutionary things that happened under president nixon and he was the man who had it deep down in it in his heart. just like somethings in your home that would go wrong. he stood his ground he gave many of us the leverage to do a lot of things we did not go down the drain. there were many things happening

in the vietnam war that we picked up on. there were 70 different things that happened when we took over that we found out. i don't know if anybody will ever write about that. i want to thank you for writing this one. thank you for sharing the story with us. both in the book in here tonight. [applause]. mister brown we would be happy to sign you can't go wrong doing right the copies are available to purchase. could you comment a little bit about the d segregation of schools in 1969 under the nixon

administration. that was a very delicate time. were all working together on this thing. they were ordering that what was supposed to take place in 1954 something like this. all of these years later. it was like the supreme court have not said anything. got it together in the president name to the committee. and there were several others on that. you are on the committee.

it was my responsibility to make sure that there were not to be any trouble. we went around the country personally. he knew a lot of these things. we are neck and a stand for any trouble. we are going to put it out. and then we got each one of those.

we brought all of those people to the white house. when i can have no stuff. all the sudden in september when all of the schools are opening up we do not had one incident throughout the south. we do not had one incident. that was the kind of president that richard nixon was. you don't believe him at your own peril.

he's in a find out what he did to take care of these. >> we have a question right here. you have lived a very rich life. and all of those years that you would cherish this country. i think every generation feels like things are worse than they ever are before. looking back and all your years had you been in worse situations before and got through it.

i think we've tried to come together. it's a very challenging things. that's not what we want to do. you all want to be together. we fight together, we die together. we want to lift this country up together. this is god's country. where here by his grace. if we go forward we will well had to go further there. we try to get together. so that we can have a better america a stronger america so that we can be working together. i think the good lord one set. that's what most americans want.

>> hello. i'm glad to see you in and perfect -- in person. your story is by me a lot. i know you don't had talk -- time to talk about that. because of the young the young generation and i want to know like american view. i don't want media i know it's a lot of time.

i want to know did he say something about vietnam during the wartime did he mention anything with you that did you have a chance to learn something about the talk to you anything about that. secretly about i'm really passionate about my country. i really want to know what's going on. we believe people in the south.

and right now it's not that tragic. after this. let me say the vietnam war was a very difficult time in america.

the war that was going on we were concerned in terms of race relation. in military. that was a huge problem for us. i was a problem that was turned over to me early on and then menstruation. i sent them to vietnam and all over with the commission. they went all over about the war and trying to see what we needed to do about relationships and with other places.

that was a concern of the president. that something you have to continually work on. that is like a marriage. you got to work on that marriage. second work. ms. have to keep it going all the time. if to keep letting people know that you're concerned that you can work together and all of that. and coming out of that war. in all the things that happened there. we are still trying to put a lot of those pieces together. but we've come a long way.

many american i have many american companies to go to vietnam. they hire 12 or 15,000 people in vietnam. vietnamese people. they had efforts going on that are significant. we have to keep massaging relationships in this country. it doesn't make any difference you are who you are or where you

are. with the top leadership. some of them are coming into north carolina. for at least two weeks. the seventh largest country in the world. we have to continuously work to stay ahead of that. an and upgrade the living standards of our people .. ..

>> next "the communicators" with tim wu talking about his book "the curse of bigness." then c-span interviews some of the new members of congress. live it to be a discussion on

american and russian perception of those countries based on recent public opinion polls. the senate gavels and at 4 p.m. to continue work on judicial and executive nominations. >> once, tv with simply three jott networks and a government supported service called pbs. then in 1979 a small a small network with an unusual name rolled out a big idea. let viewers decide all on their own what was important to them. c-span open the doors to washington policymaking for all to see when you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. in the age of power to the people this was true people power. in the 40 years since the landscape has clearly changed. there is no monolithic media. broadcast was given way to narrowcasting. youtube stars are a thing. but c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. no government by supports c-span. it's nonpartisan coverage of washington is funded as a public service by yourca