The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

MARGARET WARNER: Good evening. I'm Margaret Warner. Jim Lehrer is off today. On the NewsHour tonight, Congress wades into the Firestone tire controversy; Kwame Holman reports on today's hearings. Then, campaign speeches by Vice President Gore and Governor Bush. Betty Ann Bowser looks at the shortage of teachers in California. Elizabeth Farnsworth interviews with the President of Peru, and the new poet laureate of the United States, Stanley Kunitz,, reads his favorite poem. It all follows our summary of the news this Wednesday.

NEWS SUMMARY

MARGARET WARNER: Members of Congress grilled executives from Ford and Bridgestone-Firestone today on why they didn't alert the American public sooner to problems with Firestone tires. Separate house and senate hearings focused on the events leading up to last month's recall of 6.5 million Firestone tires that were standard on the Ford Explorer. Failures of those tires are suspected in at least 88 U.S. traffic deaths. The head of Bridgestone- Firestone said it issued a recall as soon as it realized the scope of the problem. A Ford executive said the company's testing found no defect in the tires sold in the U.S. We'll have more on this story right after the News Summary. In the Presidential race today, Vice President Gore outlined his economic blueprint for the next 10 years. Speaking at Cleveland State University, Gore laid out ten goals. Among them: Eliminating the federal debt by 2012, increasing middle-class family incomes and savings, boosting home ownership to 70%, and reducing the poverty rate to below 10%. He also proposed setting aside a rainy day fund of $300 billion in case budget surplus projections prove unrealistic. Republican George W. Bush criticized Gore's plan. He said it would spend the entire surplus on bigger government. At stops in Pennsylvania and Indiana, Bush touted his $1.3 trillion tax cut proposal, and said his economic plan was better for working families. Also today, at the American Legion's national convention in Milwaukee, Bush repeated his charge that the U.S. Military had declined over the past eight years. We'll have excerpts from the Bush and Gore speeches later in the program. The United Nations millennium summit opened in New York today. The three-day gathering of world leaders is the largest ever. President Clinton urged the group to give more support to U.N. peacekeeping, and to help bring peace to the Middle East.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: To those who have supported the right of Israel to live in security and peace, to those who have championed the Palestinian cause these many years let me say to all of you they need your support now more than ever to take the hard risks for peace. They have the chance to do it, but like all life's chances, it is fleeting and about to pass. There is not a moment to lose.

MARGARET WARNER: The President was to meet today with Israeli Prime Minister Barak and Palestinian leader Arafat. He also met with Russian President Putin, who suggested holding a conference in Moscow next year aimed at preventing the militarization of outer space. Mr. Clinton told Putin he hoped his decision to put off constructing a missile defense system will give Russia and the U.S. more time to work out their differences over the idea. In Indonesia today, thousands of pro-government militiamen stormed a U.N. office in West Timor. They beat at least three refugee workers to death and burned their bodies in the streets. One was an American. Later, U.S. helicopters evacuated the remaining aid workers. And U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the killings. Indonesia's military has been blamed for fomenting such violence. It opposed the U.N.-Supervised vote that gave East Timor independence last year. The FBI warned schools today to be alert to students who seem preoccupied with violent themes in their homework and entertainment. A two-year study of school shootings also turned up other risk factors, including depression, unlimited TV watching, and access to guns. The Bureau is posting the report online for local officials to study.

SPOKESPERSON: People don't wake up one morning and just decide to act violently -- just the opposite. There are observable signs along the way. Certainly they may be subtle and certainly you may see them and not know how to interpret them, so this guide will be, we think, very helpful in advising educators and law enforcement people in terms of how to interpret some of that-- some of those signposts.

MARGARET WARNER: At the same time, the FBI said its report should not be used to cast suspicion on every student who behaves oddly. That's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to the Firestone tire recall, on the stump with candidates Bush and Gore, the teacher shortage in California, the president of Peru, and a favorite poem.

FOCUS - ROUGH RECALL

MARGARET WARNER: The Firestone tire controversy moved to Washington today. Kwame Holman begins our report.

KWAME HOLMAN: There could be no question about he focus of this Capitol Hill hearing today: Tires. Members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation wanted answers to a central question: Why are there 88 traffic deaths, 250 injuries and 1,400 consumer complaints involving primarily Ford Explorer utility vehicles equipped with certain types of Firestone tires? Among those called on to provide the answers were executives from both companies and the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA. And at the outset, Committee Chairman Richard Shelby had words of warning for all three.

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY: If we're here this morning to hear Ford say that this is solely a tire issue, then this hearing is a waste of a lot of people's time. If we're hear this morning to hear NHTSA say they did their job under the controlling statutes, then this Senator's going to be disappointed in the job that they're doing. And if we're here this morning to hear Firestone tell us that there isn't something wrong with these tires, then we've stepped through the looking glass.

KWAME HOLMAN: Last month, the tire maker Bridgestone/Firestone began a recall of 6.5 million 15-inch ATX , ATXII, and Wilderness tires, which often come as standard equipment on the Ford Explorer and other sport utility vehicles. The tire company said the tires showed a high rate of tread separation. David Pittle represents the watchdog group Consumers Union.

DAVID PITTLE: This is really the combination of two unfortunate situations coming together. We have a vehicle that has a high center of gravity that is linked up with a tire that has a tendency to blow out. And when the tire with a high center of gravity blows out, it's going to have a greater tendency to roll over and cause serious injury or death.

KWAME HOLMAN: Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA head and now president of Public Citizen, says the current tire recall doesn't go far enough.

JOAN CLAYBROOK: An analysis that was released last Friday of 90 lawsuits that have been filed in this issue showed that about 37% of them cover the non-recalled tires. And I have here today two tires. This is the 15-inch tire and this is the 16-inch tire. And you can see that the tread separation is about the same with both: The 16 is not being recalled, the 15 is.

KWAME HOLMAN: Bridgestone/Firestone says it hasn't found any defects in its tires and says the problems might be the result of tires that were under inflated. Ford recently recommended drivers increase the air pressure in the suspect tires on Ford vehicles. But Republican Slade Gorton of Washington said consumers may be confused.

SEN. SLADE GORTON, (R) Washington: Ford said that the proper pressure was 26 pounds per square inch before the recall, now it's given a range of 26 to 30. Bridgestone-Firestone continues to say that it ought to be 30 pounds per square inch. We called a Ford dealer, Coons College Park Ford in College Park, Maryland, who said it should be 26 on the front tires and 35 pounds per square inch on the rear tires. Now, that's a range from 26 to 35 with three different answers from three different groups. Consumers deserve better than that.

KWAME HOLMAN: Today's hearing came just as news reports revealed Ford officials recalled the same type of Firestone tires on Ford Explorers in Saudi Arabia last year but chose not to tell U.S. regulators about the recall. News reports cited an internal Ford memo that said Firestone officials had major reservations about the tire recall, feeling the Transportation Department's NHTSA agency would have to be notified. Helen Pertrauskus is Ford's Vice President for Safety.

SPOKESMAN: Did someone at Ford notify NHTSA regarding this problem that they had?

HELEN PETRAUSKUS, Vice President, Ford Motor Company: We did not--

SPOKESMAN: Yes, or no.

HELEN PETRAUSKUS: No. We did not notify NHTSA at the time we sent letters to our dealers Announcing we would replace the Firestone tires our customers had with Goodyear tires. I might add, if I may, Mr. Chairman, by coincidence the day before, the day before the memorandum that you've referred to we received a letter from Bridgestone-Firestone telling us that in their view there was nothing defective about the tires we had in the MidEast -- nothing defective, and that their U.S. performance of those tires was very good. The reason they had sent us the letter is because we asked for it. We wanted as we were taking the action in the Middle East, we wanted to be sure that there was no application of this issue to the U.S.

KWAME HOLMAN: Ultimately Ford unilaterally paid for replacement tires. Gary Crigger is planning director at Bridgestone-Firestone.

GARY CRIGGER: We had a joint survey of the tires in question in Saudi Arabia with Ford. The investigation of those tires showed that the majority of them had been run under inflated, I believe she's talked about anecdotally about that as well before. Before, there were instances of it being run to run in sand and then not being reinflated. There were a number of punctures. So there was nothing to lead us to believe that the tire itself was defective.

KWAME HOLMAN: Across the capitol this afternoon, two House Commerce subcommittees combined forces to hold their own hearing on the tire problem. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater was invited to testify. He sent NHTSA administrator Sue Bailey, three weeks on the job, in his place. Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin wasn't happy.

REP. BILLY TAUZIN: This is a life or death hearing involving safety issues on the highways of America, and I'm astounded that the Secretary of Transportation, who is in town today, and who was twice requested, twice by the committee, once by me personally in a letter just yesterday and publicly over the airwaves to attend this hearing could not find time to be with us today to help solve some of these issues.

KWAME HOLMAN: After nearly two hours of opening statements by committee members, questioning began. Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey asked Bailey whether performance tests her agency currently conducts on sport utility vehicles and their tires are reliable.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY: My question is are we testing these tires for the right conditions? Does NTHSA need to subject these tires to a different more rigorous standard because they are intended for SUV's and are advertised for use beyond that which an ordinary automobile would be used?

SUE BAILEY, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: The tire standards clearly need updating. They originally started 30 years ago, and we have not had an update to my knowledge since 1968.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY: To the test which we're using today is still a 32-year-old test, even though SUV's are advertised for use off the road and ultimately when they come back on to the road may have been subjected to conditions that ordinary tires would not have been?

SUE BALEY: Exactly, and that's part of why we would want to update these standards.

KWAME HOLMAN: It wasn't until early evening that Bridgestone's Firestone's Mesatoshi Ono was able to sit down to testify. But he mostly relied on other Firestone executives to answer the committee's question. Chairman Tauzin immediately asked about the Ford memo, indicating Firestone officials requested Ford's plans to replace tires in Saudi Arabia.

SPOKESMAN: Were you personally aware of your legal department's position that it didn't want DOT to find out about a recall in Saudi Arabia?

MR. ONO: That I am not aware of.

SPOKESMAN: Were you aware of it?

ROBERT WYRANT: I'm not aware of that discussion and did not participate in it. I'm aware that there were some discussions involved with that, but that was through counsel, I believe.

SPOKESMAN: So you all are aware that were there were discussions involving not to have a recall because it would trigger information to DOT?

ROBERT WYRANT: I'm not aware of the direction that you stated. I'm only aware that there was a conversation concerning that reporting process.

KWAME HOLMAN: Ford's chief executive Jac Nasser was scheduled to be the committee's final witness.

FOCUS - ON THE STUMP

MARGARET WARNER: Now to our stump speeches. We begin with Vice President Gore. He spoke this afternoon at Cleveland State University in Ohio.

VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: I'm here today, in America's heartland, to talk specifically, concretely, about an issue that lies at the heart of America's progress in the years ahead-- a growing economy that enriches all our families. And I'm releasing this new economic plan here in Cleveland today, and I'm doing it because I don't want you to have to read the tea leaves, or read between the lines of a press release or position paper, to know exactly what a Gore-Lieberman administration would mean for families. Today I am setting out, in black and white, ten goals for the future of America's economy, and the specific steps that we will take to achieve these goals. First of all, let's make Social Security financially sound into the second half of this new century... (Applause) ...and make Medicare financially sound for at least another 30 years. (Applause) Second, second, let's double the number of families with family savings over $50,000. We can do it. Third, let's also take specific steps that will raise real family incomes by one-third, so families can not only save more but also earn more. And let's lift millions out of poverty, so that within the next four years... (Applause) ...here is the specific goal, within the next four years, fewer than one in ten Americans will live in poverty. Isn't that a worthy goal? Let's reach the lowest level of poverty in recorded history during the next four years. (Applause) Fifth, let's cut the wage gap between men and women. In fact, let's cut it in half. (Cheers and applause) And then let's keep going until we achieve the ideal of an equal day's pay for an equal day's work. (Cheers and applause) Sixth, let's enable seven out of ten Americans to own their own homes, a new record high. Let's raise employment levels, by adding ten million new high- tech, high-skilled jobs across every sector of our economy, while making the new investments that also protect our environment. Eight, let's fight for and win targeted tax cuts for middle-class families, so that within two years... (Applause) ...a typical family, within two years, will have the lowest tax burden in half a century. Let's open the doors to college wider than ever before, with a specific goal that three- quarters of all high school graduates will be attending college, and half will go on to graduate from college. (Applause) Now... and, as we do these things, let's reduce the national debt year after year, every single year, until it is completely eliminated by the year 2012. (Applause) In fact, I am proposing to go even further than a balanced budget that pays down our national debt each year. The other side believes it's okay to spend more than the entire surplus, and then hope the economy does far better than anyone expects, so the numbers will somehow add up. Well, Joe Lieberman and I have a different approach. Today, I am announcing that we will under spend the surplus, rather than over promise our way into an economic hole. Our approach is simple common sense. Our national government should do what so many families have done for years, namely, set aside some money for a rainy day, to be absolutely certain that we never spend money that we don't have. (Applause) Again, let me be specific: I propose to take one out of every six dollars of the budget surplus, and put it aside, so that it will not be used for new spending. It will not be used for new tax cuts. It will not be spent on promises or proposals of any kind. So if today's economic forecasts fall short, this new reserve fund will guarantee that even if they do fall short, we will not have to cut education or health care. (Applause) And unlike the promises made on the other side, we will not be running deficits or endangering America's prosperity. My plan wasn't built on the cross-your-fingers economics that says we can give more to the people who already have the most, and then just hope that the benefits trickle down to the middle-class. The Gore-Lieberman economic plan has one guiding purpose: To help the middle-class families who have always been America's purpose and pride, the people who pay the taxes, bear the burdens, and live the American dream (Applause) -- the people who create the jobs, drive our economy, and just need a little more opportunity to achieve what they want for their families. That's who I'm fighting for in this election. And that's who I'll work for each and every day if you elect me President of the United States of America. (Applause)

MARGARET WARNER: Earlier today, Governor Bush spoke to the American Legion Convention in Milwaukee.

GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I am here to talk about what is owed to armed forces of the United States: Past, present and future. To the veteran, we owe gratitude shown not just in words of tribute, but in acts of care and acts of attention. To those who serve today, and in the future, this country owes the best in training, and equipment, and leadership. There is no question, no question, that our military today is the strongest in the world. It is confident, and proud, and willing to carry out the mission that we give them. They have never failed us, and we must never fail them, but the best intentions and the highest morale are undermined by back- to-back deployments, by poor pay, by shortages of spare parts and equipment, and of rapidly declining readiness. As a percentage of the GNP, our investment in national security is at the lowest level since World War II. Overall, in the armed services, commitments around the world have tripled, while our forces have been reduced by 40%. The administration's own chairman of the Joint Chiefs recently said, "we're doing much more than we were ten years ago, and we're doing it with much less." But let's get something straight, these are not criticisms of the military, they are criticisms of the current commander in chief and the vice President for not providing the necessary leadership for America. (Applause) I believe a leader has the responsibility to speak out when the armed services are short on support and short on resources. We have a responsibility to take their side when too much is asked of them and too little is given in return. Leadership is a responsibility to act, and should I become your President, I will act to restore the morale of the United States military. Our soldiers must have confidence that if asked to serve and sacrifice, the cause will be worthy, and our support for them will be total. We will have to give our armed forces better pay, better housing, better training. We will increase housing allowances, and I will ask the Congress to increase the pay for those men and women who are in uniform, by $1 billion more than the current pay raise. (Applause) These steps will go a long way toward improving morale, but this is only a start. It's only a start. As commander-in-chief, I will give our military a clear sense of mission. America will be involved in the world, but that does not mean our military is the answer to every single difficult foreign policy question. I will order an immediate review of our overseas commitments in dozens of countries. I will keep our pledges to defend our long-standing friends and allies against aggression, but I'll make it clear we can't put troops on the ground to keep warring parties apart all around the world. We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers. The great country called America will be the peacemakers. (Applause) I will replace uncertain missions with well-defined objectives, should I become the commander-in-chief. The mission of the United States military will be fully prepared to fight and win war, and therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place. (Applause) Should I become the President, I will use this window of opportunity to create the military for the future. Today our military is organized more along the threats that we used to have in the Cold War, than a military ready to meet the challenges of a new century. It's organized for the industrial age operations, rather than information age battles. There is almost no relationship between our budget priorities and our long-term strategic vision of what the military ought to look like. Now is the time to shape the future of the military, with new concepts, new strategies, new resolves. As President, I will begin an immediate and comprehensive review of our military, the structure of its forces, the state of its strategy, the priorities of the procurement program, conducted by a leadership team under the Secretary of Defense. We will challenge the status quo, and envision a new architecture for American defense for decades to come. Our forces must be able to project power over great distances and do it quickly. They must be agile, and harder to find, easier to move, and lethal in action. They must have the technology to dominate information, as well as the technology to dominate the skies and the seas in order to keep the peace. And whenever America uses force in the world, whenever we commit our troops, the cause must be just, the goal must be clear, and the victory must be overwhelming. (Applause) The veterans of the United States represent the best of the American tradition of preserving freedom. The veterans in this hall represent the best of the American tradition of serving a cause greater than self. America is a great nation, because of our people. And the veterans of America are the best people this nation has ever produced. God bless. (Applause) Thank you for having me.

MARGARET WARNER: Still to come on the NewsHour a shortage of teachers, the President of Peru and a favorite poem.

FOCUS - TEACHER SHORTAGE

MARGARET WARNER: After the Labor Day holiday, students across the country are back in their classrooms, but in many school districts there aren't enough teachers to instruct them. Betty Ann Bowser reports.

PAUL PEROTTI: What we will break ground on actually within the next few weeks, the first shovel will hit the ground.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Paul Perotti sounds like a proud father when he shows off the plans for this 40-unit apartment complex.

PAUL PEROTTI: Two bedrooms are going to be about 1,100 square feet, state of the art with their own enclosed garage, washer, dryer, really nice interior design.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: But he isn't a real estate developer or a builder. He's superintendent of the Santa Clara Unified School district in northern California. His district is so desperate to get and keep good teachers, that it's building apartments for them to live in.

PAUL PEROTTI: Last year about this time we saw the beginning of a flow of teachers leaving, and they have to put on there -- when they leave they give us a reason. For the first time we saw too expensive to live here, can't buy a home.

TEACHER: You should have a order for yourself.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Building housing for teachers may sound drastic, but all over the country school officials like Perotti are scrambling, looking for ways to get and keep good teachers. In some states, officials are offering prospective teachers signing bonuses, discounts on their dry cleaning and subsidies for low-cost day care. That's because this fall, as millions of youngsters head back to the classroom, public schools are facing the biggest shortage of teachers in history, at a time when the teachers are quitting in record numbers.

TEACHER: Thank you kindergartners for waiting so quietly.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: One out of four leaves teaching in the first five years. In poorer urban schools, it's closer to 50%. Linda Darling-Hammond is executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.

LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND: Basically the story is that low income and minority kids are 10 times more likely to have unqualified teachers in California and about four times more likely to have unqualified teachers nationally. The kids who most need highly-skillful teachers are the least likely to get them in this country.

TEACHER: We're going to have two minutes that we're going to work on the speed drill.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: By law, most states now mandate lower class size so school officials can't put more kids in classrooms.

TEACHER: Get ready, get set, go.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Instead, increasingly they are being forced to hire people with no teaching experience, and allowing them to work with emergency credentials. In California, the problem is acute.

SPOKESPERSON: We have a crisis in California. You all know this story.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: California State Superintendent Delaine Eastin has assembled a task force to make recommendations on how to recruit and retain qualified teachers.

DELAINE EASTIN: We have 37,000 teachers, who are teaching with emergency credentials. We have another 10,000 that are in some kind of an internship program, and a couple of thousand others who are teaching outside their areas, so they might be trained as an elementary teacher and be teaching a special ed class that they're not trained to teach.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: And a new study of teachers in California found that more than 1 million students are attending schools with so many under-qualified teachers, that the schools are dysfunctional.

LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND: This process of putting kids through schools where teachers are not adequately prepared, don't know how to teach reading, don't know how to identify their needs, puts them on a trajectory for social failure, puts the society on a trajectory for, essentially a downhill slope, because we can't support in the long run, a knowledge-based economy without educating all of our kids well.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Hoping not just to attract, but to keep good teachers, California Governor Gray Davis this summer signed the biggest education reform package in the state's history.

GOVERNOR GRAY DAVIS: Today, I am signing the largest and most ambitious teacher incentive package in America.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: It's a $1.35 billion package that includes the first ever tax credit for teachers in the country, along with performance pay incentives and salary increases.

GOVERNOR GRAY DAVIS: The opportunities for young people are so numerous, and the competition so great, that it's an uphill battle to keep them in teaching, and that's why we need a whole bundle of incentives to try and increase the prestige of teaching, as well as provide financial compensation that people need just to survivein our society.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: And for many teachers, housing is a major survival issue, especially here in the Silicon Valley, where prices are among the highest in the country.

CARRIE HOLMBERG: Just remember the assignment was to read things outside of your normal range...

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Santa Clara high school English teacher Carrie Holmberg says owning a home would make her stay in teaching.

CARRIE HOLMBERG: It's every person's dream to own their own home in America. I've had so many friends who are good teachers move out of state so they can afford... we lost our first nationally board certified teacher, which is...just a very high ranking, because she wanted to own her own home. If I could do it through the district, I'm going to. It will make me stay. I would be committed.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Now, Holmberg's dream may come true. She is one of 17 teachers to qualify for a $500 a month home mortgage subsidy underwritten by the big computer company Intel.

TEACHER: We're going to talk about this thing called the science binder today...

BETTY ANN BOWSER: But many teachers say incentives are not what will keep them in the profession. The California federation of teachers, and many rank and file say they want starting teachers to make more than the national average of $28,000.

TEACHER: You're homework is up on the white board over here...

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Santa Clara teacher Tracey Gunn says she would never leave teaching if she received better pay, and Gunn is the kind of teacher superintendent Perotti doesn't want to lose. She's fully credentialed, has a master's degree, and teaches middle school science, a subject where some of the biggest national shortages occur. But she feels the pull of salaries in private industry, where most of her friends are making two or three times what she's getting.

TRACEY GUNN: If I could be able to say proudly that I'm a teacher but it's very difficult to say that proudly when I know that I don't get paid what I should be paid. I thought the first year that I was here very hard about leaving and going into technology. It's very seductive, a lot of money. Stock options are huge. That's a long-term investment that I don't necessarily have.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: The idea stock options is something that Governor Davis has been thinking about himself. He wants to get private companies to offer them to encourage teachers to stay. But it's not just private industry that school systems are competing with.

PAUL PEROTTI: There's tremendous competition amongst school districts for the first time that I've ever seen. We're competing with each other, and it's dog-eat-dog. There's -- it's not this friendly sharing of lists. We always used to kind of work together on this. Now it's I'm not going to say the districts are trying to steal people from each other, but there's no love lost at the fact if you got a fourth-year skilled teacher to move from that district to here, that's a coup.

TEACHER: Remember yesterday when we were talking about same and different?

BETTY ANN BOWSER: While school officials look for new ways to recruit teachers they're also trying to train the under qualified ones they have.

TEACHER: Different. Good job. And how about this one?

BETTY ANN BOWSER: This former homemaker is part of an on-the-job training program in suburban Sacramento that could some day go statewide. But experts say catch-up programs won't eliminate the problem, because the shortage is so great. And it comes at a time when the federal government says more than two million new teachers will be needed nationally in the next ten years.

NEWSMAKER

MARGARET WARNER: Now a Newsmaker interview with Peru's president, Alberto Fujimori. He's in the United States, attending the Millennium Summit in New York. Elizabeth Farnsworth begins with a look at his reelection earlier this year.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Six weeks ago in Lima, this was the scene inside the Peruvian Congress: Applause and accolades for President Alberto Fujimori, as he was sworn in for his third term in office. This was the scene outside: Thousands of people protesting the election, which they said was rigged by Fujimori. During the riots, a national bank was set on fire. Six people trapped inside died. The Fujimori government and the main opposition party blamed each other for the blaze. President Fujimori's victory came after a runoff. In the first round, he failed to garner a majority. During the runoff campaign, he faced stiff opposition from, Alejandro Toledo, a U.S.-trained economist. But Toledo pulled out a week before the balloting and asked his supporters to boycott the election. He warned of electoral fraud. On the NewsHour, Toledo gave his view of the Fujimori government.

ALEJANDRO TOLEDO: We have here a new style of government in which a combination of a military apparatus with intelligent service in complicity with the government have created a monopoly of political institutions, they have captured legislative branch, the judicial system, the electoral board, the communication medium, the armed forces.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: The Organization of American States withdrew its election monitors before the runoff, charging conditions for a fair vote were lacking. The OAS position was shared by the United States.

PHILIP REEKER: What we believe is in view of the Peruvian government's refusal to address well-documented concerns of the OAS, that the process could not be free and fair, that Sunday's electoral process in Peru was obviously flawed.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Ultimately, the OAS did not rule the elections invalid. But the organization is currently brokering a series of meetings between the opposition and the government on the question of democratic reforms.

CESAR GAVIRIA, Secretary General, OAS: (speaking through interpreter) The most important part of this exercise is not only democratic reforms, but the government and the opposition making the effort to understand each other and participate together in the transformation of the institutions.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: President Fujimori, a former college dean, was first elected in 1990. In the early years, he received credit for boosting economic growth and for holding down inflation which once ran at 7,500% annually. In 1997, he sent troops to storm the Japanese ambassador's Lima residence, which had been occupied by a guerrilla group known as the Tupacamaru Revolutionary Movement. The soldiers freed 71 hostages and killed all 14 rebels. One alleged sympathizer of Tupacamaru was an American, Lori Berenson. In 1996, she was convicted of terrorism, which she denied, and received a life sentence. Peru's top military court annulled her sentence last week, and she will be retried in a civilian court. In recent years, the Fujimori government has pardoned more than 1,000 convicted terrorists.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: President Fujimori joins us now.

Welcome, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: Thank you for the invitation.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Would you bring us up to date please, on the discussions about political reform between your government and the opposition?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: Yes. We are all working very hard with the best wheel to reform the political, first time create more harmony between the government opposition and the civilian society. That was one of my goal in my new period in the first two periods everybody now said that you have shown in the-- at the beginning of this program that we defeated two terrorist groups -- hyperinflation, we make the peace after 170 years and solve many problems. Now the big challenge is to strengthen the democracy.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Could you tell us, Mr. President, how you plan to strengthen the democracy? What kind of reforms are you willing to make?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: For example, we have, in fact 29 points that we agree with OAS, and we are working in several commission and this is going on. This is the best way from our part, we have the majority in the Congress, that's part of democracy, and we expect that everybody... most of the majority of the Peruvian would be satisfied with the reform.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Could you tell us specifically what reform? For example, I know the OAS has talked about taking measures to ensure more civilian chrome over the military and the intelligence service, they've talked about more independence for the media. What kind of reforms are you talking about?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: Well, I would say that the military is under the power of the president. This is with total control, and the intelligence service work in fact silently, as in many parts of the world, so that they can have the internal security, external security. Now, there's many criticism about the military and the intelligence services, but I have to say that they cooperate to solve those big problems like terrorism, which is part of the original security. Now, certainly we need now to reallocate the intelligence services and the military force for this new situation where there's much internal problem - internal security problem.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: We need to change it, is that what you mean? I missed that word. What do you need to do to the military and the intelligence service, did you say?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: Pardon me?

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: You said you need to change them in some way because of the changes in Peru, is that right? I missed the word you used.

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: Yes. This is part of the agent now with the OAS, opposition government and the social... and the civil society, and we're working on this process.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Okay, I understand now. Thank you. Mr. President, how damaged is Peru by the controversial election and all that has happened since? I noticed that the Financial Times, for example, and the "Economist" are reporting greatly lowered foreign investment figures, for example. What is your judgment about how damaged Peru has been?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: In fact, I have to say that the OAS didn't find any sign of fraud, and the election process was certainly was with several observations, but investors usually in electoral periods, they don't make a decision. The level of the confidence of the Peruvian economy is the same as before, and the prospects for the future is good. The legislation, the confidence and the guarantee for the investor, also local investor are so sure we expect they will come back again - a hotel for example -- in Lima, and they are coming, participating in investment, in concession, in privatization, and I expect we will recover our economy.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. President, how do you characterize your government or your style of governing? We just heard what Toledo said about your government in the setup piece, and academics and journalists here, some have said that you have a new style of government, that it's not a dictatorship, but it's quite authoritarian with some forms of democracy. How do you answer that characterization?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: I've been elected three times with the majority of the population -- the second time in 1995 by 64 to 22, this time by-- in the runoff by 51%, and during this last ten years I used to keep an approval rating more than 50%. We took problems that political parties before didn't want to overcome, and we solve all these problems. Now, this type of leadership, I think, is based on efficiency and results and that counts for the people, and people is benefiting for this open market economy that we are pushing ahead, and we have... we want not only strengthening the democratic institution of which is very important, that's one of my targets, but the second one is to improve people condition and give them the same opportunity for everybody.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And on the Lori Berenson case a high military court has annulled her life sentence and she will apparently be retried in a civilian court. Why the change? What happened here?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: I have tried to explain that in Peru there are two ways: One is the case for the leaders of terrorist movement and those who attempt with car bombing, for example; those are going before the military court, which is constitutional. And the second one, those who are fighting ranks of terrorism, in case of Lori Berenson and some other sympathizers, it's supposed to be that they were attempting to the Peruvian Congress before the Japanese assault residents, and the military court found that she was not a leader of the MRTA Movement. So they decided to unify this sentence and they passed to the civil court, which is usual. This is not the first time.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And President Fujimori, we have little time left, but what's your goal while you're here. I know you're giving some speeches and meeting with some groups. What do you hope to do while you're in the United States?

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: Well, aside from participating in the millennium symposium, I expect to convey to the United States the public opinion that Peru has a democracy which is being strengthening, we have tranquility, there is a climate for investment, for making tourism, and so you are invited to come to see firsthand that Peru is nice country with future and good to the regional security.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: All right, Mr. President, thank you for being with us.

PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI: Thank you for the invitation.

FINALLY - FAVORITE POEM PROJECT

MARGARET WARNER: Finally tonight, another sampling from former poet laureate Robert Pinsky's project of asking Americans to read their favorite poem. Tonight's reading is also an introduction to the new poet laureate, Stanley Kunitz. He was named to the post last month and, at the age of 95, he becomes the nation's tenth poet laureate. Here he is in a reading taped late last year.

STANLEY KUNITZ: I'm Stanley Kunitz. I live in New York City. I published my first book of poems some 70 years ago. Back in 1926, I was roaming through the stacks of the Widener Library at Harvard. While I was walking through the section on English poetry of the 19th century, I just at random lifted my arm and picked a book off the shelf. It was an attributed to an author I was not familiar with, Gerard Manley Hopkins. The page that I turned to and began to read was a page devoted to a poem called "God's Grandeur." I couldn't believe what I was reading when I opened this book and started reading that poem. It really shook me, because it was unlike anything else I had ever read before. When I started reading it, suddenly that whole book became alive to me. It was filled with such a lyric passion. It was so fierce and eloquent, wounded and yet radiant, that I knew that it was speaking directly to me and giving me a hint of the kind of poetry that I would be dedicated to for the rest of my life. "God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins. "The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; it gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; and all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil. And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: The soil is bare now. No can foot feel, being shod and for all this, nature is never spent; there lives the dearest freshness deep down things; and though the last lights off the black west went oh, morning at the brown brink eastward, springs because the holy ghost over the bent world broods with warm breast and with ah! Bright wings." (Typewriter)

RECAP

MARGARET WARNER: Again, the major stories of this Wednesday, members of Congress grilled executives from Bridgestone-Firestone and Ford about why they didn't alert the public sooner about tire failures. And Vice President Gore outlined his economic plan, including a call for eliminating the federal debt by 2012, and cutting the poverty rate below 10%. Governor Bush said the plan would mean bigger government. We'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Margaret Warner. Thanks for being with us. Good night.