NBC Nightly News - 1999-07-05

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:03] A manhunt ends, but questions remain.

[0:06] The suspect in the shooting rampage

[0:08] targeting minorities is dead, but what

[0:10] made him do it?

[0:12] In-depth tonight, for women, a new field

[0:14] of dreams. How the winning US women's

[0:16] soccer team is drawing so many girls to

[0:18] the field.

[0:20] Left behind, America's poor. The

[0:22] president tours Appalachia bringing new

[0:24] promises of prosperity to those left out

[0:27] of the booming economy.

[0:29] And a failing grade, Martha Stewart

[0:32] versus Martha Washington on our

[0:34] country's birthday, surprising signs of

[0:36] just how little Americans know about our

[0:39] own history.

[0:43] From NBC News world headquarters in New

[0:46] York, this is NBC Nightly News with Tom

[0:50] Brokaw.

[0:51] Good evening. A sickening and deadly

[0:54] series of shootings in Illinois over the

[0:55] 4th of July weekend came to a halt when

[0:58] the suspected gunman shot himself to

[1:00] death. Those shootings ended, but the

[1:02] questions go on tonight, for this was a

[1:03] man filled with racial hate, someone

[1:06] well-known for his personal rage against

[1:08] ethnic minorities. We begin our coverage

[1:11] with NBC's Ann Thompson and what is

[1:13] known about Benjamin Nathaniel Smith.

[1:17] Tire tracks along State Route 37 in

[1:20] Salem, Illinois mark where investigators

[1:22] say Benjamin Smith took his own life as

[1:24] police closed in. But today, the search

[1:27] continues for clues to what triggered

[1:29] the shooting spree this weekend across

[1:31] Illinois and Indiana. Police say

[1:33] targeting minorities, killing two men,

[1:36] wounding seven others. Law enforcement

[1:38] hadn't caught him last night, I'm fairly

[1:40] confident he would have struck again. He

[1:42] looked like your average college

[1:43] student, but officials at the University

[1:45] of Illinois, where Smith first studied,

[1:48] say he became a disciplinary problem in

[1:50] his second year. Allegations of domestic

[1:53] violence against a female student,

[1:55] drugs, weapons possession, peeping in

[1:57] windows, and racist posters. Facing

[2:00] expulsion, officials say Smith withdrew

[2:03] and enrolled at Indiana University.

[2:05] There, school administrators report he

[2:07] became a well-known white supremacist,

[2:10] controversial for distributing racist

[2:12] literature, demeaning Jews, blacks, and

[2:15] Asians. Indiana's Dean of Students asked

[2:18] Smith to stop. He made it very clear he

[2:21] thought he had the right to distribute

[2:22] the literature, and he intended to do

[2:23] it. But But as I say, it was not in a

[2:26] confrontive way. Smith defended his

[2:28] rights in the student newspaper in June

[2:30] 1998, writing under the pseudonym

[2:32] August, he argued white nationalists

[2:35] have no desire to rule over other races.

[2:38] Instead, we want separation from

[2:39] non-whites. That month, Smith joined the

[2:42] World Church of the Creator led by Matt

[2:44] Hale in Peoria, Illinois, a white

[2:46] supremacist group. But Hale, who claims

[2:49] he spoke to Smith just last week, says

[2:51] the church is not responsible for the

[2:53] violence. I don't believe it came in any

[2:56] way from our teachings. Still, Smith's

[2:58] actions caught the attention of the

[3:00] Anti-Defamation League here in Chicago.

[3:02] It says it tracked his activities for

[3:04] the last 14 months, including Smith's

[3:06] April arrest for distributing pamphlets

[3:09] in nearby Wilmette.

[3:11] We've got to find a way to come together

[3:13] and to get to the root causes of what

[3:16] drives a Ben Smith to such a violent

[3:20] demise. Tonight in the Midwest, relief.

[3:23] A rampage over, the 21-year-old shooter

[3:26] dead. A killer few recognized in the

[3:29] making. Ann Thompson, NBC News, Chicago.

[3:34] What is so frustrating about this case

[3:36] is that the suspect's views were so

[3:38] well-known, and the message of his

[3:40] favorite hate organization is equally

[3:42] well-known, and yet nothing could be

[3:44] done.

[3:45] We continue now with the law and hate.

[3:49] Here's NBC's Pete Williams.

[3:52] The FBI never investigated Benjamin

[3:54] Smith before and had no reason to,

[3:56] agents said today, even though he

[3:57] belonged to one of the nation's

[3:59] fastest-growing hate groups. The

[4:01] 26-year-old World Church of the Creator,

[4:03] with thousands of members, the exact

[4:05] number unknown, preaches hatred for

[4:07] Jews, blacks, and other minorities, even

[4:10] condemns Christianity as an offshoot of

[4:12] Judaism. And while its leader, Matthew

[4:14] Hale, speaks of peaceful change, he

[4:16] openly advocates what he calls RaHoWa,

[4:18] racial holy war. Researchers who follow

[4:21] the church say Hale works hard to

[4:22] recruit the young. Many extreme young

[4:25] people looking to join such a movement

[4:27] say, "Now, here's a guy who makes

[4:28] sense." And he articulates his view

[4:31] well, and they would want to join a

[4:32] group that he is leader of. Law

[4:35] enforcement officials say followers of

[4:37] the church have been linked to a string

[4:38] of firebombings nationwide at civil

[4:40] rights offices, black churches, and

[4:42] synagogues, and to the murder of a black

[4:44] man in Florida. So, anti-hate groups who

[4:47] track the church aren't surprised that

[4:49] one of its members would turn to

[4:50] violence. This is a religion behind

[4:53] psychopaths.

[4:55] It is a religion which attracts

[4:58] uh serial killers. And you know, we've

[5:00] only just seen the latest evidence of

[5:02] that. But federal officials say even

[5:04] hate is protected free speech. And since

[5:07] the 1970s, federal agents have been

[5:09] prohibited from investigating radical

[5:11] hate groups unless their members are

[5:13] suspected of planning specific crimes.

[5:15] The FBI cannot uh open a file or do any

[5:18] surveillance or any investigation on any

[5:21] individual simply because they have

[5:23] radical beliefs or uh or beliefs that uh

[5:26] are seem odd or threatening in some

[5:28] manner. Harder still to track those on

[5:30] the fringes of hate groups like Timothy

[5:32] McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, or

[5:34] Eric Rudolph, charged with bombing the

[5:36] Atlanta Olympics. That's why law

[5:38] enforcement officials say it's

[5:39] impossible to stop the lone wolf,

[5:41] someone who suddenly steps out of the

[5:43] crowd to act out strong beliefs with

[5:45] violence. Pete Williams, NBC News,

[5:47] Washington.

[5:49] Now, to the heat wave that has the

[5:51] entire eastern part of North America,

[5:52] all the way up to Canada, trapped under

[5:54] a hot, wet blanket of airborne misery.

[5:58] National Weather Service has posted heat

[6:00] advisories from the Mississippi Valley

[6:01] to the eastern seaboard as a

[6:03] record-breaking combination of high

[6:05] temperatures and very high humidity

[6:08] turned this holiday Monday into one long

[6:10] struggle to stay cool.

[6:14] High temperatures broke records all over

[6:15] the East Coast. New York City, 101° in

[6:19] Central Park, the hottest it's ever been

[6:21] on this date. The lines at city pools

[6:23] snaked down for blocks. Almost 3/4 of a

[6:26] million people jammed the beaches.

[6:29] Chicago also sweltering. No waiting in

[6:33] line at the pool for these kids, they

[6:34] just turned on the fire hydrants.

[6:37] Washington, D.C., well-known for its

[6:39] steam-bath summers, looked like a sticky

[6:42] stereotype of itself. At least one

[6:44] person resorting to a raft ride on the

[6:46] Potomac in an attempt at relief.

[6:50] The reason for all of this, the dreaded

[6:52] Bermuda high, a rush of hot, wet air

[6:54] from the south bringing triple-digit

[6:57] temperatures to many cities across

[6:59] America.

[7:00] The heat index, however, is the real

[7:02] culprit, a combination of heat and

[7:04] humidity that is a more accurate measure

[7:06] of how bad things are.

[7:08] Hospitals in several cities said tonight

[7:10] they're bracing for the first

[7:11] heat-related health problems. Meanwhile,

[7:14] millions of Americans hope by the end of

[7:16] the week, this record-breaking heat wave

[7:18] will begin to diminish.

[7:21] Those of us here in the East looking for

[7:23] sympathy should not look to the Pacific

[7:25] Northwest, which has had a record cold

[7:27] snap. Temperatures in Pendleton, Oregon

[7:29] this morning, a record low, 44°.

[7:33] Up next, NBC News in-depth tonight, the

[7:35] Women's World Cup of Soccer drawing

[7:37] attention to the explosion of interest

[7:40] in girls soccer in America. Growing so

[7:42] fast, some girls can't find a place to

[7:44] play.

[7:45] There's not enough, and the demand is so

[7:47] high, and we're turning away kids.

[7:50] Women's soccer sweeping the nation, now

[7:52] the problem is keeping up with the

[7:53] demand for wide-open spaces for serious

[7:56] play.

[7:57] Later, President Clinton travels to

[7:59] parts of America left behind in this

[8:01] time of unparalleled economic

[8:03] prosperity. What can be done to change

[8:05] that?

[8:11] Where will you be when your grandson

[8:12] gets his first taste of the ocean?

[8:16] When man walks on Mars?

[8:20] When your children want to discover

[8:21] their heritage?

[8:23] Life is filled with moments you don't

[8:25] want to miss.

[8:26] That's why if you have high cholesterol

[8:28] and heart disease, you should know about

[8:30] Zocor. Zocor is proven to help save

[8:33] lives by reducing the risk of a heart

[8:34] attack. So, where will you be tomorrow?

[8:37] That could depend on what you do today.

[8:39] When diet and exercise aren't enough,

[8:41] talk to your doctor about adding Zocor.

[8:43] Zocor is a prescription medication that

[8:45] is not right for everyone, including

[8:47] women who are nursing, pregnant, or may

[8:49] become pregnant, or people with liver

[8:51] problems. Your doctor may do blood tests

[8:53] to check for liver problems because

[8:54] serious side effects can result. Tell

[8:56] your doctor about any muscle pain or

[8:58] weakness you experience while on Zocor

[9:00] and about any medicines you are taking.

[9:02] For more information, talk to your

[9:04] doctor or call Zocor. It's your future.

[9:07] Be there.

[9:09] With Days Inn hotels in over 1,800

[9:12] cities and towns,

[9:13] there's bound to be one where you're

[9:15] headed.

[9:17] You can pretty much

[9:19] bet on it.

[9:20] Days Inn.

[9:21] There you go.

[9:33] The goodness of yogurt, the creamy taste

[9:35] of butter with half the fat and

[9:36] calories. Must be Brummel & Brown.

[9:39] Raisin Bran, huh? Uh yeah.

[9:42] Hey, what's going on?

[9:43] >> That Raisin Bran has less than half your

[9:45] folic acid for the day. Even less of

[9:47] your zinc. That's a weenie breakfast,

[9:49] Frank.

[9:50] There's almost no vitamin E at all.

[9:53] Looks like you need Total Raisin Bran.

[9:54] Just one bowl gives you 100% of 10

[9:57] important vitamins and minerals you need

[9:58] for the day. No other raisin brand comes

[10:00] close.

[10:03] And there's room for my spoon. Total

[10:05] Total Raisin Bran Total Corn Flakes.

[10:07] What are you getting for breakfast?

[10:09] Dateline Monday, she was the victim of a

[10:10] sexual assault, but she says the man

[10:12] they put behind bars didn't do it. One

[10:14] of his other personalities did. The body

[10:17] of Bill Green did that, but it wasn't

[10:19] Bill Green. It was home. But is it real

[10:21] or just a con? So who's speaking now?

[10:22] Willie. Sam. William. Yeah. Dateline

[10:25] Monday, 10 9 Central on NBC.

[10:30] NBC News in depth tonight, the surprise

[10:32] hit of the summer, Women's World Cup

[10:34] Soccer. Something many families around

[10:36] this country already know that women's

[10:38] soccer is big and growing bigger every

[10:40] day. The World Cup numbers tell part of

[10:43] the story. More than 570,000

[10:46] tickets have been sold for the

[10:47] tournament that ends this Saturday in

[10:49] Los Angeles with the US team going

[10:51] against China. But with all this

[10:53] popularity, there are obvious growing

[10:56] pains. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell in depth

[10:59] tonight.

[11:01] An airport arrival in Los Angeles today

[11:06] to welcome the most famous team of

[11:08] relative unknowns in the country, US

[11:11] women's soccer. Unknowns unless of

[11:13] course you're a 10- or 12-year-old girl

[11:15] or a parent.

[11:19] Mia Hamm, the world's leading scorer,

[11:21] and the US team are in LA for Saturday's

[11:24] championship match of the Women's World

[11:26] Cup.

[11:26] >> I really like USA and I really like

[11:28] soccer. The US team has already won over

[11:31] a generation of young soccer fans. Let's

[11:33] go. 4 million girls nationwide play the

[11:36] game themselves, the second fastest

[11:38] growing women's sport in America behind

[11:40] basketball. Athletic opportunity their

[11:43] mothers didn't have. The best we could

[11:45] hope for is being a cheerleader on the

[11:47] sidelines, but we were never the major

[11:49] players.

[11:51] We were never what the event was about.

[11:54] That has changed with World Cup Soccer.

[11:58] Why do girls seem to get such a kick out

[12:00] of this game? Part of the appeal, it's a

[12:02] sport that doesn't require physical

[12:04] size. You don't have to be especially

[12:06] tall, big, or strong to play well. So

[12:09] girls of all different abilities find

[12:11] out they can excel.

[12:13] In San Jose, Dan Minutello's 10-year-old

[12:15] daughters Kate and Gina have played

[12:17] since they were only 4 years old.

[12:20] Minutello says he understands girls'

[12:22] passion for soccer. Girls realize that

[12:25] they can play. They can play at certain

[12:27] ages just as well if not better than the

[12:29] boys.

[12:31] But all the enthusiasm for soccer

[12:33] creates one huge problem, a nationwide

[12:36] shortage of fields. Woah, nice shot. The

[12:38] situation is so bad that we've actually

[12:41] gone out and looked for a field to

[12:43] purchase or lease. For now, Minutello is

[12:46] both coach and groundskeeper on the city

[12:48] field they use.

[12:51] Pulling weeds,

[12:52] filling holes,

[12:54] and the team's soccer dads mow every

[12:56] other week. Yard work necessary to

[12:58] prevent injuries on uneven fields.

[13:01] Across the country in Montgomery County,

[13:03] Maryland, the field shortage forced the

[13:05] league to drop 500 kids.

[13:08] To turn away kids because there aren't

[13:10] enough fields is a shame.

[13:14] Their answer, something called a

[13:16] soccerplex. Two dozen soccer fields at

[13:19] one site paid for by state and private

[13:22] money along with parents' contributions.

[13:24] They're willing to spend the money to

[13:27] make that dream a reality.

[13:30] At least 10 communities nationwide

[13:32] developing their own soccerplexes to

[13:34] meet the demand for space. Fields where

[13:36] more than ever, it's little girls who do

[13:39] the dreaming about playing on a world

[13:41] stage. Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News, Palo

[13:44] Alto.

[13:46] Up next, President Clinton in Appalachia

[13:48] and Lifeline coming to a hospital near

[13:50] you and all-out battle for your business

[13:52] if you're a heart patient. Is it

[13:54] medicine or money?

[14:02] Hi, I have a question about buying

[14:04] stock. What's the difference between a

[14:06] market order and a limit order?

[14:13] Hello.

[14:19] Excuse me.

[14:20] When you have an investment question,

[14:22] does your online brokerage have anybody

[14:23] there to answer it?

[14:25] We do.

[14:27] It's It's not funny anymore.

[14:29] In this envelope with a green star could

[14:32] be a real check for $25,000.

[14:34] In this one could be $100,000.

[14:37] This week there are thousands of real

[14:39] checks in selected Publishers Clearing

[14:41] House envelopes with a green star. Watch

[14:43] your mail.

[14:44] Around here, it's not every day we all

[14:46] get together.

[14:47] >> Or making them dinner. Come on, you

[14:48] guys.

[14:51] But when we do, it's great that the

[14:52] folks at Kraft make Italian.

[14:54] >> Another slice. Cuz it's the one thing we

[14:56] agree on. That way, we can talk about

[14:59] what's on our minds instead of what's on

[15:01] our plates. Whose idea was this? Well,

[15:03] Kelly has a boyfriend. I guess they just

[15:05] know what we like.

[15:06] >> He's a senior. He's a senior? Around

[15:08] here, the dressing is Kraft. For

[15:11] something different, try one of Kraft's

[15:13] new vinaigrettes.

[15:16] When dentures dream, they see the

[15:18] perfect denture cleanser, one with the

[15:21] stain-fighting power of Efferdent and

[15:24] the crushing power of Listerine. Well,

[15:27] little friend, dream no more. It's

[15:29] really here. It's called Efferdent Plus,

[15:33] and it's the only denture cleanser

[15:35] that could make your dream come true.

[15:38] Efferdent clean and Listerine fresh.

[15:41] That's Efferdent Plus.

[15:44] Discover the great-tasting fiber therapy

[15:46] that won't produce excess gas. Discover

[15:48] Citrucel. People prefer the taste of

[15:51] Citrucel over Metamucil two to one.

[15:53] Taste tests prove it. Citrucel. No

[15:56] excess gas and better taste, too.

[15:59] You've all gotten what you wanted in

[16:00] this deal. V6, dual sliding doors, etc.,

[16:04] etc. What about my client? Where is his

[16:07] share? Who's looking out for him?

[16:09] Jackie Childs, that's who. What's he

[16:11] need with nine cup holders? What about

[16:13] nine bottle holders?

[16:15] Yeah, you like that, don't you? Oh,

[16:17] brother. What's that?

[16:19] Nothing.

[16:21] The all-new seven-passenger,

[16:23] nine-bottle-holding,

[16:24] something-for-everyone Honda Odyssey.

[16:26] It's one big happy minivan.

[16:29] Friday, get a double dose of our summer

[16:31] concert series when Chicago and the

[16:33] Doobie Brothers take it to the streets.

[16:35] Brought to you by the incredible edible

[16:37] egg, only on Today.

[16:39] Get more of the Today show with Later

[16:41] Today, coming in September.

[16:45] For many Americans, of course, with the

[16:46] booming economy, these are the best of

[16:48] times, but President Clinton hit the

[16:51] road today traveling across the country

[16:53] to drum up support for areas where the

[16:55] boom is not even a blip.

[16:57] The president's first stop took him to

[16:59] the eastern Appalachia town of Hazard,

[17:01] Kentucky.

[17:02] And NBC's Claire Shipman is there

[17:04] tonight.

[17:07] It might be a scene from the hills of

[17:08] Kentucky 30 years ago. Silas,

[17:11] unemployed, sells odds and ends to get

[17:13] by, raising three sons in a house with

[17:15] no running water. He says he's skeptical

[17:18] today's high-profile visitor will make

[17:20] any improvements in his life. But the

[17:22] president, kicking off his four-day tour

[17:24] of impoverished America, says

[17:26] Washington, with the help of big

[17:28] business, can and will make a

[17:30] difference. This is a time to bring more

[17:32] jobs and investment and hope to the

[17:35] areas of our country that had not fully

[17:37] participated in this economic recovery.

[17:40] We have an obligation to do it.

[17:42] President Clinton's trip is meant to

[17:44] echo Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty,

[17:46] but with a twist. Clinton, who was

[17:48] trailed by a group of cabinet

[17:49] secretaries and corporate CEOs, says the

[17:52] region would benefit more from corporate

[17:54] investment than from government

[17:56] subsidies. He toured a successful local

[17:58] manufacturing firm to make his point. In

[18:01] fact, most experts say the war on

[18:03] poverty achieved its goal. In 1960, 50%

[18:08] of Appalachia's more than 400 counties

[18:10] were considered economically distressed.

[18:12] Today, that number has been cut in half.

[18:15] The reality is also that there are two

[18:17] Appalachias. One is that Appalachia that

[18:20] has made significant economic progress

[18:22] and significant diversification.

[18:24] And then we have the other Appalachia.

[18:26] That Appalachia still has deep pockets

[18:28] of extreme poverty, unemployment 50%

[18:32] higher than the rest of the country. The

[18:34] reason? Much of it is still too hard to

[18:36] reach. While massive investment in a

[18:39] highway system brought much of

[18:40] Appalachia into the 20th century, the

[18:42] roads have bypassed many regions.

[18:44] Experts say investment in those pockets

[18:47] will still be a long time coming.

[18:49] Albert Smith is hopeful, even though he

[18:51] had to leave his family here to find

[18:53] work in North Carolina. He comes back

[18:55] for frequent visits. Jobs.

[18:58] Jobs is the big thing. But longtime

[19:01] resident and businessman Dr. Vern Cooper

[19:03] has more faith. He says industry and

[19:05] Appalachia will be a good match.

[19:08] People there are hard workers. They're

[19:10] educated, they're trained. They'll give

[19:12] you a day's work for a day's money. As

[19:15] for Silas, he's heard promises from

[19:17] Washington before, and like so many

[19:19] here, he says he's not counting on

[19:21] anything. Claire Shipman, NBC News,

[19:24] Hazard, Kentucky.

[19:27] And on Lifeline tonight, the newest

[19:28] battle over your health care dollars.

[19:31] 61% of Americans now depend on managed

[19:33] care. Now hospitals are going

[19:35] head-to-head competing for your

[19:37] business.

[19:38] But does that always produce good

[19:40] medicine or just more dollars? NBC's

[19:43] George Lewis looks at the front lines,

[19:45] two competing hospitals in Albuquerque,

[19:47] New Mexico, where the prize is a piece

[19:50] of the $200 billion Americans spend

[19:52] every year on heart disease.

[19:55] Sherry Tyson, an Albuquerque school

[19:57] teacher, suffers from heart problems and

[19:59] lupus. And this day, her physician gives

[20:02] her even more bad news. Next year, I'm

[20:05] not going to be able to be your primary

[20:07] care physician with your current

[20:08] insurance plan.

[20:09] Yes, and that upsets me terribly. Upset

[20:12] because along with 10,000 other

[20:14] patients, she's being forced to change

[20:16] physicians and told she can't use the

[20:19] new state-of-the-art hospital because of

[20:21] a war between two hospital groups. It

[20:24] has split this city's medical community

[20:26] right down the middle. It has been

[20:29] somewhat of a nasty and very

[20:31] uncomfortable divorce. And this is the

[20:33] major reason for the breakup, the Heart

[20:35] Hospital of New Mexico opening in

[20:37] September.

[20:38] >> We're trying to use a lot of analogies

[20:40] from the hotel industry. A medical

[20:42] boutique for heart patients, only 55

[20:44] beds, the latest equipment, and highly

[20:46] personalized service.

[20:48] >> We're going to have a concierge. That's

[20:50] right, a concierge, just like the person

[20:52] who greets patrons at a five-star hotel.

[20:55] >> An individual that will know every

[20:57] patient, know what their needs are, The

[21:00] doctors at the new hospital say it's the

[21:02] cure to the impersonal assembly line

[21:04] medicine dispensed by managed care

[21:06] hospitals. Our patients

[21:08] come out of the hospital with a better

[21:11] experience and a better sense of caring

[21:14] and a better sense of outcome. But

[21:16] doctors at the rival hospital say it's

[21:18] not about care, it's about money. The

[21:21] real issue is about physicians trying to

[21:24] profit off of one of the remaining

[21:27] profitable areas in health care, and

[21:30] that's the provision of heart services.

[21:32] Around here, they've got a name for the

[21:33] competition among physicians for the

[21:35] lucrative cardiac care business, heart

[21:38] wars. The battle lines drawn between the

[21:40] new heart hospital and just down the

[21:43] road from here, Presbyterian Hospital,

[21:45] which accuses the new facility of

[21:47] skimming off the most profitable

[21:49] patients.

[21:50] And if Presbyterian loses the revenue

[21:53] from heart patients, it may have to cut

[21:55] back on services for other people. The

[21:57] more lucrative patients will be drained

[21:59] from the hospital that is there to serve

[22:01] the entire community, and it definitely

[22:04] will

[22:05] will compromise that hospital's ability

[22:08] to treat the the community at large.

[22:10] It's happening across the country, eight

[22:12] communities opening similar heart

[22:14] hospitals run by the same management

[22:16] company.

[22:17] Raising questions for thousands of heart

[22:20] patients, what will happen to their

[22:22] health when the doctors fight over them?

[22:24] I really just do not want this to

[22:26] happen. George Lewis, NBC News,

[22:29] Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[22:32] And coming up, after the long weekend

[22:34] celebrating American history, a

[22:35] painless, though perhaps embarrassing,

[22:38] little pop quiz. Life, liberty, and the

[22:41] pursuit of happiness.

[22:42] >> Jeez. The Constitution.

[22:45] Declaration of Independence. Yeah,

[22:47] that's it.

[22:49] When it comes to America's past, is

[22:51] ignorance really bliss?

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[25:04] We know all about it. Some people throw

[25:06] away the Publishers Clearing House

[25:07] Sweepstakes without even opening it up.

[25:09] Well, this week, that could be a costly

[25:11] mistake because this week, if you throw

[25:13] away a Publishers Clearing House

[25:15] envelope with this green star, you could

[25:17] be throwing away a real check for

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[25:27] So, watch for a Publishers Clearing

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[25:35] Just ahead at 6:00, he was convicted of

[25:37] criminally negligent homicide. Police

[25:39] said he gave cocaine and alcohol to his

[25:41] newborn baby. So, why is this man back

[25:43] on the street? We will talk with him.

[25:45] And the search intensifies for a missing

[25:47] Robertson County girl. Seen at 6:00,

[25:49] it's just minutes away. Stay with us.

[25:55] It's been a long 4th of July weekend,

[25:57] Friday through today, for many

[25:59] Americans, but then, it is the nation's

[26:01] birthday, the last one of what has been

[26:03] called the American century. So, there's

[26:05] a lot to celebrate, right?

[26:08] And just what do we celebrate? Well, as

[26:10] NBC's Bob Faw discovered, not everyone

[26:13] is so sure.

[26:16] America celebrates the 4th as it always

[26:19] does, loudly,

[26:22] proudly.

[26:26] Only the red, white, and blue

[26:27] celebration of American history comes

[26:29] amid new signs that for most Americans,

[26:31] what is past is hardly prologue. Which

[26:35] of the following three men is considered

[26:38] one of the founding fathers? Andrew

[26:40] Jackson,

[26:41] Benedict Arnold, or Alexander Hamilton?

[26:45] Uh, but wait, you say, they're only

[26:47] children. Very well.

[26:49] Life, liberty, and the pursuit of

[26:51] happiness.

[26:52] >> Jeez. The Constitution.

[26:56] Um,

[26:57] the Constitution.

[27:00] No? No, it's the Declaration of

[27:02] Independence. And yes, a new survey

[27:05] commissioned for Colonial Williamsburg

[27:07] finds huge gaps in Americans' knowledge

[27:10] of their own history. Declaration of

[27:12] Independence, the Bill of Rights, or the

[27:14] Constitution? 14th Amendment to the

[27:16] United States.

[27:17] We found that Americans know

[27:20] not as much perhaps as they should about

[27:21] history itself.

[27:23] What we do know, the study finds, is

[27:25] popular culture. Bill Gates, almost

[27:27] twice as well known as that man on your

[27:30] $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton, the first

[27:32] Treasury Secretary.

[27:34] While eight in 10 could identify Martha

[27:36] Stewart, only two people in three could

[27:39] pick out Martha Washington, George's

[27:41] wife.

[27:42] Those kids who didn't know a founding

[27:44] father, just ask them what sells. Just

[27:47] do it.

[27:49] Is Coca-Cola, Nike, or Levi's?

[27:54] Go ahead. Nike.

[27:56] Understandable, say historians, but

[27:58] alarming when 79% of Americans can

[28:01] recognize Nike's slogan, and not even

[28:04] half, just 47%,

[28:06] know that life, liberty, and the pursuit

[28:07] of happiness comes from the Declaration

[28:09] of Independence. It's more important to

[28:12] be part of your own times than living in

[28:14] the past. However,

[28:16] historians must add to that that we

[28:18] believe that living in your own times is

[28:20] enriched by knowledge of the past.

[28:22] What we don't know doesn't mean we can't

[28:25] celebrate the past, but the new survey

[28:27] does tend to reinforce Harry Truman's

[28:30] old lament that the only thing new in

[28:32] the world is the history you don't know.

[28:36] Who are the rebels?

[28:38] Bob Faw, NBC News, Washington.

[28:43] That's all the news for this Monday,

[28:45] July 5th. Don't forget Dateline tonight

[28:47] at 10:00, 9:00 Central. I'm Tom Brokaw.

[28:49] I'll see you back here tomorrow night.

[28:56] Nightly News is a presentation of NBC

[28:59] News. More Americans watch NBC News than

[29:02] any other news organization in the

[29:03] world.