♪ >> WE’RE JOINED NOW BY FORMER
SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY.
ALSO OBVIOUSLY A VETERAN OF WAR.
WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS TODAY?
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS COMING
BACK HERE YET AGAIN?
>> WELL, THIS IS THE MOST SACRED
LAND THAT THERE IS, I THINK, AND
I THINK PEOPLE FEEL IT.
"TAPS" IS ALWAYS THE HARDEST
THING TO LISTEN TO.
I THINK THE OVERPOWERING SENSE
THAT YOU GET FROM THIS ENTIRE
CEREMONY IS -- WAS CAPTURED TO A
DEGREE BY THE PRESIDENT IN THE
STORIES OF EACH PERSON.
REMARKABLE COURAGE.
REMARKABLE COURAGE. I KNOW THE SAYING IS THAT ONLY
THE HEROES ARE BURIED HERE, BUT
THOSE GUYS WERE HEROES, AND
THERE WERE REMARKABLE -- THE
WHOLE GENERATION, I MEAN, TOM
BROKAW APPROPRIATELY LABELED IT
THIS GENERATION BECAUSE THESE
CIVIL SOLDIERS STARTED THE WAR
IN 1941 AND THEY WENT ALL THE
WAY THROUGH.
WAY THROUGH. THERE WAS NO ONE-YEAR TOUR, NO
FLYING OVER, FLYING OUT.
YOU WENT AND DIDN’T COME BACK
UNTIL YOU GOT THE JOB DONE.
AND I THINK ANYBODY WATCHING
THIS TODAY HAS TO BE JUST
OVERWHELMED BY THE MISSION, BY
THE SIZE OF THE SCOPE OF WHAT
THEY DID, AND THE IMMINENCY OF
YOUR OWN DEATH, THAT THE MOMENT
YOU APPROACHED THAT BEACH THE
CHANCES WERE HIGH THAT YOUR LIFE
WAS GOING TO END.
THAT’S SACRIFICE.
THAT’S SACRIFICE. >> AND THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH,
ALSO PRESIDENT MACRON’S SPEECH,
VERY UNIFYING, SO MOVING TO HEAR
THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE SAYING,
FRANCE WILL NEVER FORGET, AND OF
COURSE, THEY DO NOT.
IF YOU COME TO NORMANDY, YOU
KNOW THEY ARE FOREVER GRATEFUL
FOR WHAT WE HAVE DONE.
AND PRESIDENT TRUMP, I THINK FOR
THE FIRST TIME IN HIS
PRESIDENCY, RESOUNDINGLY
PRESIDENCY, RESOUNDINGLY SPEAKING OF THIS NORTH ATLANTIC
ALLIANCE THAT DEFEATED HITLER,
FREED THE WORLD, AND CAN PROTECT
THIS COUNTRY FROM FUTURE HARM.
>> WELL, I THINK, JOE, THE KEY
QUESTION WILL BE WHAT IS THE
POLICY THAT IS INSTITUTED OVER
THE COURSE OF THE NEXT MONTHS
AND YEARS?
AND YEARS? WHAT IS SAID HERE TODAY HAS BEEN
VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT HAS
BEEN ENACTED AND PLAYED OUT.
I THINK THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A
DRAMATIC AND EXTRAORDINARY
MOMENT WITH THE FLYOVER.
>> WILLIE GEIST HERE IN NEW
YORK.
YORK. WE’RE WATCHING THE FLYOVER THERE
IN NORMANDY, FRANCE AS THE
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
AND THE FIRST LADY, JOINED BY
FRENCH PRESIDENT MACRON AND MRS.
MACRON LOOK OUT AT THE SEA WHERE
75 YEARS AGO TODAY, AMERICAN
TROOPS, BRITISH TROOPS, FRENCH
TROOPS LANDED ON THE BEACHES OF
NORMANDY, JOE AND MIKA.
>> SO, SECRETARY KERRY,
CONTINUE.
CONTINUE. >> WELL, I THINK THAT THIS
MOMENT IS PARTICULARLY RELEVANT
TO CELEBRATE THIS NOW BECAUSE IT
REPRESENTED SUCH AN
EXTRAORDINARY EFFORT BY ALLIES
TO COME TOGETHER AND STAND UP
FOR FREEDOM, TO STAND UP FOR
DEMOCRACY, TO FIGHT FOR A COMMON
SET OF VALUES AND TO RECOGNIZE
WHAT WAS AT STAKE.
AND I THINK THERE ARE THOSE
CURRENTS LOOSE TODAY IN THE
WORLD, WHICH RAISE A QUESTION
AGAIN ABOUT FASCISM, A QUESTION
AGAIN ABOUT AUTHORITARIANISM, A
QUESTION AGAIN ABOUT NOT COMING
TOGETHER BUT BREAKING APART.
BREXIT, EUROPE.
BREXIT, EUROPE. SO I APPLAUD THE SENTIMENTS
EXPRESSED
EXPRESSED EXPRESSED.
EXPRESSED. THE NEXT TEST WILL BE WHAT
HAPPENS OVER THE COURSE OF THE
NEXT MONTHS?
NEXT MONTHS? IS THIS REALLY THE POLICY AND
WHERE DO WE GO?
>> WILLIE GEIST, DO YOU HAVE A
QUESTION FOR THE SECRETARY?
>> YES, SECRETARY KERRY, GOOD
MORNING.
MORNING. I’M JUST CURIOUS AS TO YOUR
PERSONAL THOUGHTS.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS. I DIDN’T REALIZE YOUR FAMILY
CONNECTION TO THE EVENTS THAT
FOLLOWED D-DAY.
FOLLOWED D-DAY. YOU HAD A SPECIAL CEREMONY
YESTERDAY.
YESTERDAY. COULD YOU TELL THAT STORY A BIT,
MR. SECRETARY?
MR. SECRETARY? >> WELL, I FIRST CAME TO THIS
BEACH TWO YEARS AFTER THE WAR IN
1947.
1947. MY FATHER BROUGHT ME HERE.
I WAS FOUR YEARS OLD.
AND IT’S ONE OF MY VERY, VERY
FIRST MEMORIES, LITERALLY, WAS
THIS BEACH.
THIS BEACH. I DIDN’T COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND
IT.
IT. MY FATHER TOLD ME WHAT IT WAS,
BUT I SAW SOME OF THE BURNED-OUT
HOPES OF WAR ON THAT BEACH AT
THAT TIME.
THAT TIME. I CAME HERE TO THIS BEACH MANY
TIMES AFTER THAT.
I CAME HERE FOR THE 50th, 60th,
70th, NOW THE 75th.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, I CAME HERE
ALONE OR WITH SOMEBODY FROM THE
FAMILY VERY SPECIAL AND JUST
WALKED AROUND AND LEARNED THE
HISTORY OF IT AND I READ MOST OF
THE LITERATURE ON IT.
IT’S A GREAT LESSON.
HONESTLY, AS A VETERAN, AS
SOMEBODY WHO FOUGHT IN THE WAR,
THERE WAS SUCH A DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE WAR WE FOUGHT AND
WHERE YOU WOULD WAIT TO BE
AMBUSHED.
AMBUSHED. YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHEN IT WOULD
HAPPEN, SO THERE WAS A CERTAIN
IMPERMEABILITY TO THAT, A
CERTAIN COMFORT.
CERTAIN COMFORT. HERE YOU SAW WHAT WAS HAPPENING
ALL AROUND YOU.
BOATS BLOWING UP BESIDE YOU,
TANKS SINKING IN THE WATER.
THE GUYS IN FRONT OF YOU JUST
DISAPPEARING FROM VIEW AND NEVER
RISING AGAIN BECAUSE THE WATER
WAS TOO DEEP.
THE EFFORT TO JUST STEP OUT OF
THAT BOAT COLD, WET, SEASICK
FROM SEVERAL DAYS AT SEA AND
CARRY ON IS AMAZING.
>> YOU KNOW, MIKE, WE RAN A
PACKAGE EARLIER THIS WEEK
LEADING UP TO D-DAY AND THE 75th
COMMEMORATION AS THE PRESIDENTS
OF THE UNITED STATES AND FRANCE
CONTINUE TO LOOK AT TRIBUTES TO
THOSE WHO FOUGHT THIS WAR 75
YEARS AGO.
YEARS AGO. BOMBERS OVERHEAD.
BOMBERS OVERHEAD. MIKE, IT WAS VERY INTERESTING.
AGAIN, MAINLY STARTING WITH THE
40th ANNIVERSARY WHEN AMERICANS
WOULD COME OVER AND CELEBRATE
AND IT WOULD BE A GLORIOUS
CELEBRATION.
CELEBRATION. I FOUND IT SO INTERESTING
HEARING THE WORDS OF DAVID
BRINKLEY IN 1974 ON THE 30th
ANNIVERSARY REMINDING AMERICANS
THAT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE
UNITED STATES MILITARY WAS
HONORED BUT THAT POLITICIANS --
FLYOVERS CONTINUE, BUT THE
POLITICIANS HAD MADE SUCH A MESS
OF VIETNAM THAT THAT WAS NOT
POSSIBLE.
POSSIBLE. AND THE VETERANS THAT WOULD COME
OVER AND ACTUALLY SPEAK TO THE
CAMERAS SAYING THEY COULDN’T
BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY
APPRECIATED WHAT THEY HAD DONE
HERE 30 YEARS AGO.
SO MUCH HAS CHANGED NOW WHERE
NOW IT IS A MILITARY THAT IS THE
ONE INSTITUTION REVERED BY THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE.
AMERICAN PEOPLE. >> YEAH, YOU KNOW, IN THE
FLYOVERS, YOU JUST SAW PART OF
WHAT YOU WERE JUST SPEAKING TO,
JOE.
JOE. THE WORLD WAR II AIRPLANES THAT
FLEW OVER SLOW, LUMBERING, EASY
TARGETS.
TARGETS. WE HAD THE 21st CENTURY VERSION
OF MILITARY WEAPONRY JUST FLYING
OVER US AT LESS THAN SUPERSONIC
SPEED FILLED WITH MORE POWER IN
ONE PLANE THAN THEY PROBABLY HAD
IN THE ENTIRE FLEET THAT WAS OUT
HERE 75 YEARS AGO THIS MORNING.
BUT I WOULD HAVE TO TELL YOU,
LISTENING TO SECRETARY KERRY WHO
I KNOW WHO HAS BEEN HERE SINCE
HE WAS A CHILD, WOULD IT BE
POSSIBLE FOR EVERY AMERICAN TO
WALK THIS HALLOWED GROUND, I
DEEPLY BELIEVE WE WOULD BE
LIVING IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY
TODAY.
TODAY. BECAUSE IF YOU WALK THIS GROUND
AND YOU LOOK AT THE TABLETS, THE
STONE TABLETS, THE STARS OF
DAVID, THE NAMES CARVED OUT IN
THERE, THE STATES REPRESENTED,
YOU SEE WHO WE ARE.
THIS IS WHO WE ARE.
THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA BEHIND US.
MEN OF ALL FAITHS FROM EVERY
STATE, EVERY REGION OF THE
COUNTRY CAME TOGETHER HERE.
THE DEAD ARE HERE, THE LIVING,
THE ELDERLY LIVING WERE
REPRESENTED HERE TODAY.
THIS IS WHO WE ARE.
WE HAVE LOST OUR MEMORY.
WE HAVE LOST OUR MEMORY TO
GOOGLE AND SNAPCHAT AND TWITTER
AND THIS INSTANT GRATIFICATION
AGE THAT WE LIVE IN.
THIS IS WHO WE ARE.
NOT TWITTER.
NOT TWITTER. THIS IS WHO WE ARE.
>> IT IS HARD TO WALK HERE AND
NOT FEEL A SENSE OF UNITY.
>> COMPLETELY.
>> COMPLETELY. >> AND OF COURSE BEING MOVED BUT
AN EXTRAORDINARY SENSE OF UNITY
AS A PEOPLE AND ALSO AS A MEMBER
OF THIS ALLIANCE.
>> ALLIANCE, ABSOLUTELY.
THE PICTURES TRY TO DO IT
JUSTICE, BUT BEING HERE IS
DIFFERENT.
DIFFERENT. IT IS AN UNBELIEVABLE
EXPERIENCE.
EXPERIENCE. AND AS WE LOOK AT THE SACRIFICE
AND THE BRAVERY AND THE
COMMITMENT AND THE UNITY THAT
WERE SHOWN BY THE YOUNG MEN
POURING OUT OF THOSE BOATS --
>> THAT’S THE FRENCH.
SO BEAUTIFUL.
SO BEAUTIFUL. >> IT’S HARD NOT TO KEEP IN MIND
THE ELEMENTS OF THAT DAY AND HOW
MUCH COINCIDENCE WAS ON THE SIDE
OF THE ALLIED FORCES, FROM THE
WEATHER TO LUCK IN MANY WAYS.
>> THERE WAS AN ENORMOUS
AMOUNT -- OBVIOUSLY, NOTHING
DIMINISHES THE COURAGE AND THE
THINKING AND THE PLANNING AND
THE PREPARATION, WHICH IS
ASTONISHING THAT THEY WERE ABLE
TO LEAVE PORT, GO BACK TO PORT
AND COME BACK.
AND THE GERMANS DIDN’T KNOW WHAT
WAS HAPPENING.
WAS HAPPENING. BUT YOU TALK ABOUT ELEMENTS OF
LUCK.
LUCK. IT HAPPENED TO BE AT A TIME WHEN
THE GENERALS IN THIS REGION HAD
ALL GONE TO A CITY SOUTH OF HERE
AND CONVENED THERE FOR THE
WEEKEND.
WEEKEND. ROMMEL HAD LEFT HIS
HEADQUARTERS, DRIVEN BY CAR ALL
THE WAY TO GERMANY FOR HIS
BIRTHDAY.
BIRTHDAY. HIS WIFE’S BIRTHDAY, I GUESS.
AND CELEBRATED IT WAS GONE.
THE PANS WERE A DIVISION EAST OF
HERE, I GUESS, DID NOT MOVE AND
COULD HAVE COME IN TO COUNTER.
JUST SO MANY DIFFERENT
COINCIDENCES.
COINCIDENCES. THE WEATHER, THE BREAK IN THE
WEATHER --
WEATHER -- >> MIKE, YOU ALSO TALKED ABOUT
THE EXTRAORDINARY MISDIRECTION
PLAY THAT THE UNITED STATES HAD
ENACTED AGAINST THE GERMANS.
>> STUNNING.
>> STUNNING. AND IT BEGAN WAY AHEAD OF TIME
WITH COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TURNING
GERMAN OPERATIVES AGENTS, MAKING
THEM DOUBLE AGENTS, PUTTING
MISINFORMATION BACK INTO
GERMANY, MAKING SURE THEY REALLY
BELIEVED THAT THE INVASION WAS
GOING TO TAKE PLACE ATFURTHER UP
THE COAST.
THE COAST. THEY HAD YOUNG BOYS HERE AND
OLDER CONSCRIPTS HERE, AND THEY
HAD OLDER GERMANS WITH LUGERS
READY TO SHOOT THEM IF THEY
DIDN’T STAND AND FIGHT.
REALLY, ALL OF THIS WAS A
CONSEQUENCE OF HITLER MAKING ONE
FUNDAMENTAL, ENORMOUS,
FUNDAMENTAL, ENORMOUS, CATASTROPHIC DECISION WHICH WAS
TO OPEN UP THE SECOND FRONT,
DECLARE WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET
UNION AND STALIN, AND THEREFORE
HAVE TO PUT SO MUCH OF HIS AIR
POWER AND FIRE POWER.
SO BY THE TIME THIS INVASION
TOOK PLACE, WE CONTROLLED THE
AIR COMPLETELY IN FRANCE.
I THINK ONLY TWO GERMAN
AIRPLANES WERE AIRBORNE DURING
THE COURSE OF THAT, AND THEY
MADE ONE OR TWO PASSES AND TOOK
OFF FAMOUSLY SHOWN IN THE LONG"T
LONGEST DAY" MOVIE.
EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS LIKE THAT.
>> A FOOTNOTE, OF COURSE, WAS
THAT FROM THE TIME WE ENTERED
THE WAR IN DECEMBER, IN ’41, OF
COURSE, THE GERMANS --
>> BEAUTIFUL.
>> BEAUTIFUL. >> GO AHEAD, MR. SECRETARY.
>> WELL, THE MISSING MAN
FORMATION WHERE THE ONE PLANE
TAKES OFF.
TAKES OFF. >> OF COURSE, WE CAME IN
DECEMBER OF ’41.
I BELIEVE THE GERMANS WENT INTO
RUSSIA IN JUNE OF ’41.
AND SO FROM THE MOMENT WE GOT
INTO WAR, OF COURSE, STALIN WAS
PRESSURING CHURCHILL AND FDR TO
OPEN UP THAT SECOND FRONT.
AND ALWAYS FELT THAT WE WAITED A
LITTLE TOO LONG, BECAUSE AGAIN,
THIS IS ONE THING WE SHOULD
MENTION TODAY AS WE’RE TALKING
ABOUT THE DEFEAT OF HITLER.
THE SACRIFICES MADE BY THE
RUSSIAN PEOPLE THROUGHOUT WORLD
WAR II WAS SO HORRIFIC.
>> 30 MILLION PEOPLE IN RUSSIA
ALONE DIED.
ALONE DIED. AND RUSSIANS ARE SENSITIVE TO
THAT, AND THEY SHOULD BE SENSE
SENSITIVE TO THAT.
THEY ALWAYS FEEL THEY NEVER GET
THE CREDIT FOR THEIR ROLE IN
WINNING WORLD WAR II.
>> IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN WON
THE WAY IT WAS WITHOUT THEM, AND
THERE’S NO DOUBT AS WE SIT HERE
AND REMEMBER THE HEROES AND THE
SACRIFICES FROM OUR ALLIES, WHAT
THEY SACRIFICED ON THE EASTERN
FRONT.
FRONT. >> ABSOLUTELY.
>> ABSOLUTELY. WHAT I THINK IN BIG TERMS WHAT
IS KEY TO TAKE AWAY FROM TODAY,
AND IT’S RELEVANT TO TODAY, AS
WE SEE FACTS BEING ERASED FROM
THE PUBLIC DIALOGUE, AS WE SEE
EXTREMISM BEING EMBRACED IN
CERTAIN PLACES, AS WE SEE,
REALLY, ELEMENTS OF FASCISM
REAPPEARING BY VIRTUE OF THE ONE
IDEALOGY STATISM, LACK OF
INDIVIDUALITY, ALL THESE
HALLMARKS OF FASCISM, IT IS
APPEARING IN EUROPE.
AT THE MOMENT WE ARE CELEBRATING
THIS, AND THE BRITISH WILL BE
HERE TONIGHT CELEBRATING AT JUNE
JUNEAU BEACH, BREXIT IS
OCCURRING.
OCCURRING. FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS, NATO HAS
BEEN UNDER ATTACK.
THE VALUE OF THE EU IS UNDER
ATTACK.
ATTACK. THE EU CAME TOGETHER NOT AS AN
EPIC PROGRAM OR FLY BY NIGHT
THING, IT WAS THE OUTGROWTH OF
WORLD WAR II IN ORDER TO STOP
EUROPEANS FROM KILLING EACH
OTHER.
OTHER. THAT WAS THE FUNDAMENTALS OF
THIS.
THIS. SO WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT AND
WHY THERE WAS SUCH AN HISTORIC
VALUE AFTER CENTURIES OF
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DYING.
FINALLY WE CREATED THIS UNIFIED
ENTITY AND THAT UNIFIED ENTITY