The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight: A discussion about the skills and thrills of baseball great Joe DiMaggio, who died today; an Elizabeth Brackett report on eliminating "social promotion" in Chicago schools; a conversation with Greg Craig, the outgoing White House impeachment special counsel; and in memory of Stanley Kubrick, a clip from his film "Dr. Strangelove." It all follows our summary of the news this Monday.

NEWS SUMMARY

JIM LEHRER: Joe DiMaggio, one of the greatest baseball players ever, is dead. He died today at his home in Hollywood, Florida, of complications from lung cancer surgery. He played with the New York Yankees for 13 seasons, retiring in 1951. He was called "Joltin' Joe" for his hitting, the "Yankee Clipper" for his on-field speed and grace. Former Yankee Catcher Yogi Berra and DiMaggio friend, Barry Hopper, spoke about him today; Berra said this:

YOGI BERRA: I wish everybody had the drive he had. I'll tell you that. He never did anything wrong on the field, never did. To see him run to second base you'd say, where in the hell is he going? He got there. And catch a ball on the outfield I never seen him dive for a ball. Everything was chest height. And great base runner. Threw to the right base all the time. Never walked off the field. And you got to admire a man like that, I'll tell you that.

JIM LEHRER: Joe DiMaggio was 84 years old. We'll have more about him right after this News Summary. The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected Timothy McVeigh's appeal. It let stand his conviction and sentence of death for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. His lawyers had argued the trial was tainted by alleged jury misconduct and by early news reports he confessed to his lawyers. A tentative settlement was announced today in a major computer antitrust case. The Federal Trade Commission was suing the largest U.S. chip maker, Intel. The FTC accused Intel of forcing three rivals to hand over secret product information. Details of today's agreement were not available. It still must be approved by FTC commissioners. The trial was to begin tomorrow. The World Trade Organization heard the banana dispute today. The U.S. and the European Union argued their cases at an emergency session in Geneva. The E.U. said it would be illegal if the U.S. imposed 100 percent tariffs on certain European goods, as it has threatened. The U.S. said the taxes were meant to force a change in European banana import rules. The two sides were urged to hold direct negotiations. President Clinton started his four-day Central American tour today. He'll visit areas hardest hit by Hurricane Mitch. In Nicaragua this morning, he placed flowers on a spot where a little girl was crushed by a wall of mud. The force left behind an imprint of her body in the soil. Mr. Clinton said this:

PRESIDENT CLINTON: When my wife came back from here, she said, It's something you'd have to see to understand. You can't -- looking at the pictures -- no picture can convey the feeling of seeing the outline of that small child's body by her grave. And seeing the remnants of her skeleton, hearing the story that Mr. Hatato told me of losing his child. Thank you.

JIM LEHRER: The visit came as the United States prepared to deport 15,000 Guatemalans and Salvadorans living illegally in the United States. The Central American nations have asked for a delay, but Mr. Clinton today said no. On Kosovo today, Kosovo Liberation Army leaders have accepted the peace agreement. That was the word from U.S. official Chris Hill. He did not say when the KLA would sign it. There were more skirmishes over Iraq today. U.S. jets bombed several air defense sites in the Northern no-fly zone. A U.S. military official said they acted in self-defense, and all American planes returned safely. Film director Stanley Kubrick died Sunday near London. His movies include "Dr. Strangelove," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and "A Clockwork Orange." He was finishing a film called "Eyes Wide Shut" before his death. Police said it was of natural causes. Kubrick was 70 years old. We'll have a clip from "Dr. Strangelove" at the end of the program tonight. Between now and then: Remembering Joe DiMaggio, social promotion in the schools, and a conversation with Greg Craig.

FOCUS - JOLTIN' JOE

JIM LEHRER: Joe DiMaggio, the great baseball player. Betty Ann Bowser begins our report.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Joe DiMaggio said he wanted to live long enough to throw out the first ball on opening day at Yankee Stadium next month. But he died this morning at his home in Hollywood, Florida, at 84. He was born in 1914, the eighth of nine children in an Italian immigrant fisherman's family. He grew up playing sandlot baseball in the North Beach section of San Francisco. He never finished high school; instead he joined the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League when he was just 17. He became an overnight sensation. In his first year playing semiprofessional baseball, DiMaggio had a 61-game hitting streak, and caught the attention of New York Yankee recruiters. In 1936, DiMaggio joined the big time, playing 13 seasons with the Yankees. His career was interrupted for three years of military service during World War II. Before he retired in 1951, the man who became known as the "Yankee Clipper" and "Joltin' Joe" led the team to ten American League championships and nine World Series titles.

ANNOUNCER: Meanwhile, Joe DiMaggio holds up baseball's glory.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: And to this day, no one has beaten this record. DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games. And as the hits piled up, so did the nation's fascination.

SPORTS ANNOUNCER: DiMaggio comes through.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: But there was another record DiMaggio wanted to break.

JOE DI MAGGIO: Well, I'm just taking my natural swing at the ball, but naturally I would like to break Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: DiMaggio never did that, but he received the most Valuable Player Award for the American League three times. Then in 1951, he decided it was time to go.

JOE DI MAGGIO: You know, the -- I've had injuries that have been too frequent. And they certainly have been no fun. And as long as the game is not fun any longer with me, I've played my last game of ball.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: People who knew DiMaggio say he was quiet and very private about his personal life. He was remembered today by former teammate, Hall of Fame Catcher Yogi Berra.

YOGI BERRI, Former New York Yankee: Joe minded his own business. You followed him, what he did, you did. And he was great. I think Barry could verify on that. He's his own man, his own way, and the only man I ever see wear a suit in home game, blue suit, always wore a blue suit, white shirt, and a beautiful tie. He dressed like a gentleman. And he was great.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: In 1954, DiMaggio's desire for privacy was shattered when he married Movie Star Marilyn Monroe.

ANNOUNCER: The former Yankee slugger and his picture bride escape into the car and head for the safety of their hotel.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Although it lasted less than a year, friends say she was the love of his life. For 20 years after her death in 1962, DiMaggio sent six long- stemmed roses to her grave three times a week. In his later years, DiMaggio did a series of commercials for a bank and he became a spokesman for Mr. Coffee.

JOE DI MAGGIO: -- the system that makes the perfect pot of coffee every time.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: But his status as a pop cultural figure was fixed forever by Simon and Garfunkel in this 1960's song immortalizing him as one of the heroes of their childhood.

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL: (singing) Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. What's that you say Mrs. Robinson? Joltin' Joe has left and gone away? Hey, Hey, Hey! Hey, Hey, Hey!

BETTY ANN BOWSER: DiMaggio had been suffering from lung cancer. He died of complications from the disease.

JIM LEHRER: And to Phil Ponce.

PHIL PONCE: Joining me now: Phil Rizzuto, a teammate of Joe DiMaggio's, a former sportscaster for the Yankees, and a member of baseball's Hall of Fame; Roger Angell, longtime writer and editor for the "New Yorker" Magazine, and author of a number of books on baseball; and NewsHour Essayist Roger Rosenblatt. Gentlemen, welcome.

PHIL PONCE: Phil Rizzuto, first of all, our condolences on the loss of your teammate. Mr. Rizzuto, it's been almost 50 years since Joe DiMaggio stepped away from the game. There are a lot of people around who never saw him play. As a baseball player on the field, what made him special?

PHIL RIZZUTO, Baseball Hall of Fame Player: Well, he did everything perfectly. He never made a mistake. Very, very rarely in five years would he make even one error. And he led the team by example. He was not one of these hollow guys like Billy Martin. Billy was great in his way, but Joe led by example. All the players would gather around. He had so much awe about him and I mean, I was a big fan of his. I idolized him. And wherever he went, as Yogi said, dressed to the nail, everything was perfect about him. People would stair. In an elevator, my gosh, he looked taller than life itself. I guess he was almost as popular as the Pope.

PHIL PONCE: Mr. Rizzuto, on the field, Yogi Berra said he never made a mistake, that he never dove for a ball. What did he mean by that - never dove for a ball?

PHIL RIZZUTO: Well, what he meant, you see these players, they dive on the grass or the artificial surface or like Willie Mays used to go back and his hat would fly off as he would dive for a ball. DiMaggio had an uncanny sense, like a woman's sixth sense, before the ball was even hit, he would be on the move; I never turned around when I was playing short stop and looked at him in center field was he standing still. And you get the jump on the ball. That's what Yogi means. He'd be there to catch the ball -- never had to dive, never had to fall down, reach down or anything. He was unbelievable.

PHIL PONCE: Roger Angell, what could Joe DiMaggio do that other players could not?

ROGER ANGELL, The New Yorker: I think what he could do was to be private in the middle of the most public of all sports and outin the middle of it in center field. He was a little removed even from his teammates. There was a sort of classicism, an elegance about him. He wanted to obscure his own personality so that he could show us how baseball really could be played. You get that impression about him at every at-bat, every time he was in the field. And backing up what Phil Rizzuto just said, his manager Joe McCarthy, once said, you never saw him make a great play. He was always there when the ball came down.

PHIL PONCE: Roger Angell, following up on what you just said about his distance or his reserve, do you think of baseball as a team sport that didn't impact evidently his ability to get along with his teammates.

ROGER ANGELL: No. I think he personified the Yankees too of that era for a long time. These were people, I mean, some of them were cheerful, some were exuberant even, but these were players that got the job done. And they were deadly. When he arrived, the Yankees immediately began winning. They won 22 pennants in the next 29 years. And until Mickey Mantle came along, they were his team. And this elegant perfectionism almost mechanical -- it wasn't mechanical, but it was a deadly feeling they would beat you, they would get it done. And he was at the middle of it.

PHIL PONCE: Roger Rosenblatt, your first recollection of Joe DiMaggio, you were pretty young, I take it?

ROGER ROSENBLATT: I was six years old, a mother of another kid in my neighborhood took us all up to the stadium to see what would be our first game. He hit a home run to right. As I'm talking to you now, I can see where the ball landed in right field. I can see the swing, I can see the ball. And my friend's mother said to me, "Roger, you will never forget this." And, of course, she was right. That's the kind of effect he had on people.

PHIL PONCE: And, why did what he did on the field transcend baseball? Why did he get to be such a bigger figure than simply a sports star?

ROGER ROSENBLATT: Well, there were two things. One we might talk about a bit because you don't want to go over it too quickly; he was a hero and he was a celebrity. The distinction in my mind being a hero is somebody who really does something and a celebrity just is. But what DiMaggio did in baseball, as Roger and Phil Rizzuto know far better than I, was truly amazing. He hit 361 lifetime home runs, he only struck out 369 times during his lifetime, which is just, you know, beyond reach. He won the MVP three times; the one year in 1941 in which he won it, Ted Williams hit a mere 406. He never won a Golden Gloves because there were no Golden Gloves, but he would have won one every year -- were it not for the three years in the service, his stats would have gone through the roof. So, he was a hero who really did something. Then, after he married Marilyn Monroe, he became a celebrity, but as Roger Angell said, a celebrity with so much aristocracy of the spirit, so much dignity, so much quiet, he didn't talk so much, that he became attractive simply by being passive. What we didn't know about him was more interesting than most of the things we know about celebrities now.

PHIL PONCE: Phil Rizzuto, getting back to the things that he did accomplish on the field, the streak, the 56 games in a row in 1941. You were his teammate at the time. What was that like?

PHIL RIZZUTO: It was unbelievable. But the thing, is Jim, that when he got to 44 and broke Wee Willie Taylor's consecutive game hitting streak, we didn't have a horde of reporters following us. There were only maybe four or five. And after that, he just continued with the streak. But there weren't a lot of --the ball players were more nervous than anybody else. If he didn't get a hit up to the last time up, somebody -- and he was the fourth batter, somebody would get hit intentionally with the ball, make sure they got on base to give Joe another chance. And the ball players were the ones that really were nervous about the whole streak, rather than the press and the fans. It just kept going. And when his streak was stopped, Joe wasn't - he didn't seem upset at all about it.

PHIL PONCE: You were with him when the streak stopped. And this happened in Cleveland. And you have a story about how even then he sort of wanted some privacy after it happened.

PHIL RIZZUTO: Yes. He asked me to sit with him until everybody had left the stadium and all the ballplayers had gone. And then he said, okay. Let's go. We went out. And he had forgotten to take his money out of the little safe they have in every locker room. And as we walked up to the hotel to Cleveland just a short ways past the bar, he said I'm going in here. And I started to follow him. He said, no, you go home. And then all of a sudden I heard him yell at me to come back, he had left his money there, and he asked me to give him all the money I had which was $16 for a two-week road trip. I mean, we ate with the Club and you didn't have to pay anything. I just wanted money to go to the movies. I didn't go to the movies for two weeks. But anyway, he wanted to pay me back many times, but I said, no, Joe you'll ruin my story.

PHIL PONCE: But Phil, Mr. Rizzuto, you were not offended by the fact he wanted to be by himself.

PHIL RIZZUTO: No, not at all because we all knew Joe. He was by himself; he enjoyed his own company many times. But he did take me with him a lot of times, to the movies occasionally and to dinner once in a while. He had a very select, short circle of friends.

PHIL PONCE: Roger Angell, tell us -- give the streak some context. Why did it -- what impact did it have on the public? And why did do you think it had that impact?

ROGER ANGELL: Well, as Phil said, it was very slow going. I was fan then. I was a fan of Joe's. I was 16 and when he came up in the major leagues, he was my first real, long-term hero. And I remember that year and noticing he was hitting a lot of games. But we didn't pay that much attention to records in those days. And then of course, when he passed 44 consecutive games, which then was held only by Willie Keeler, we did notice. And after that, it became quite thrilling. Then there were great moments along the way. I remember certainly I think it was the 38, 39th game in there, they were down in Philadelphia. A very tough pitcher named Johnny Babich warned that DiMaggio wasn't going to get a hit off him, and he'd stop the streak. And he was perfectly prepared to walk him. And I think Joe DiMaggio didn't get any hit in the first three at-bats. And he came up late in the game and Babich threw three outside pitches and Joe checked with his manager to see if it was okay to swing at the 3-0 pitch. And the pitch was away and he hit the ball between the Babich's legs for a single and pulled into first base and Joe said later, I looked over and his face was white as a sheet.

PHIL PONCE: Roger Angell, continuing with that, the significance of being able to hit in 56 straight games.

ROGER ANGELL: Well, the hardest thing to do in sports is to hit the baseball. And the two hardest things in baseball are hitting the ball and playing every day. No other sport do you play every day. And he did both for 56 games. It was perfectly simple. And after he was stopped that one day, he tacked on another 17 consecutive games. The thing about the streak that we should remember and Roger Rosenblatt said this in another way, but what astounded me thinking about it just the other day is that that year, 1941, he came up to bat 541 times and struck out 13 times. It's hard to believe. I mean, this last year Sammy Sosa struck out 177 times. There's no comparison.

PHIL PONCE: Roger Rosenblatt, on the issue of his personal style, as I was looking at the research today, the words that come up -- privacy, mystique, independence, a loner, did all that add to his myth?

ROGER ROSENBLATT: Well, you can imagine. I mean, he came from a world in which privacy was an acknowledged virtue. Now it's barely acknowledged as something that exists at all. And just by a reserve --added to the fact that he was so good -- gave him an unusual mystique. Hank Greenberg said that if he said hello to you, that was a long conversation. And the nice thing about people like that, of course, I mean, practically is that they don't make mistakes, but also you get the sense, and this I believe was true of DiMaggio, that he was quiet, not because he had nothing to say, but because he was what anyone would have said. He was as good as a baseball player as there could be. And he knew there was a public responsibility, that the suit that Yogi Berra mentioned, how he dressed, how he carried himself, mattered to people. You know, at the end of his career when he had the bone spur and he was playing hurt all the time, somebody asked him, "Joe, why are you playing hurt? Why don't you retire?" And his answer was, " Because there might be someone who hasn't seen me."

PHIL PONCE: Phil Rizzuto, is there any memory in particular that you will hold?

PHIL RIZZUTO: Well, I have several wonderful memories of Joe DiMaggio. One is that had it not been for Joe, I wouldn't have met my wife of 56 years. We're together still. He knew the family and he brought me over there. That was it from that day on. And then also, I mean, I was in such -- I would get a kick out of watching Joe shave.

PHIL PONCE: What do you mean?

PHIL RIZZUTO: I mean, I would sit -- he couldn't figure it out. I would sit down on the ground, and he would after a ball game come in and shave; and he did everything a barber would do; he put the hot towel on, put the lather on, wash it off, put it on again, and shave with a delicate stroke. Just like Roger and everybody said, he was just an -- did everything perfectly, Mr. Perfect.

PHIL PONCE: Well, Gentlemen, that's all the time we have. I thank you all.

JIM LEHRER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight: Welfare reform in Illinois, a conversation with Greg Craig, and a clip from "Dr. Strangelove."

FOCUS - SOCIAL PROMOTION

JIM LEHRER: Ending social promotion in schools. Elizabeth Brackett of WTTW-Chicago reports.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Quantina Washington ranks in the top third of her class at her public high school on the Southwest Side of Chicago. An outgoing, enthusiastic sophomore, she says she likes school and hopes to go on to college.

QUANTINA WASHINGTON: With all the support I have, I believe I'm going to make it.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: But when we met Quantina Washington two years ago, it was a different story. She was in summer school, one of the more-than 5,000 eighth- graders who had been told their test scores weren't good enough to graduate.

TEACHER: Nine plus zero is?

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Students in the third, sixth, and eighth grades in Chicago schools whose reading or math scores on national tests are more than a year below grade level are not promoted.

SPOKESMAN: Our school is great.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas says the three-year-old policy of eliminating so-called social promotions has been at the heart of turning around a once-failing system.

PAUL VALLAS, CEO, Chicago Schools: When you socially promote, you not only hurt the children who are not meeting minimum standards by promoting them to another grade level where they really can't do the work, but you are also hurting the children who are at grade level or above, because you are basically putting those children in a classroom where the teacher is forced to basically lower his or her standards. So the net effect is the child who is behind never gets caught up, and the child who is at grade level or above suffers.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The intensive summer program worked for Washington. Her test scores were high enough to let her celebrate her delayed eighth-grade graduation.

QUANTINA WASHINGTON: I couldn't say anything else but, you know, "Wow, I made it." I made it, and I was very happy and, you know, I was proud to be able to graduate even though it wasn't with all of my classmates.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Two years later, Washington says being held back has changed the way she looks at school.

QUANTINA WASHINGTON: When you get held back, it's something for you to think about, and some changes that are meant to be met. And you just have to work hard and strive. If you really want to pass, and if you really want to go on, you have to strive for what you want.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Washington is the oldest of seven. Her busy mother often shows up at school, usually with a few of the youngest in tow. She was devastated when her daughter missed her eighth-grade graduation. But now she too thinks it was for the best.

LAQUITTA WASHINGTON, Parent: It made her study harder. It made her push forth and make herself a better studier, a better pupil. That's what it has done for her. She sits down to study, and she tries to help her younger siblings with her homework.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Two years ago, third-grader Vrylon Casten was also told she had to go to summer school.

VRYLON CASTEN, Chicago Student: I said, "What? I don't want to go to summer school." And I had to, so I just went.

TEACHER: So use these digits, get up, and give me the sum nine.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: But summer school didn't bring up Casten's scores, and she had to repeat the third grade. Her scores came up at the end of last year, and she made it into fourth grade this year. She continues to get extra help. She and other at-risk students are in a small class with two teachers.

VRYLON CASTEN: I'm learning more than when I was in third grade.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Because you have two teachers.

VRYLON CASTEN: Mm-hmm.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Chicago has the largest retention program in the nation, with a price tag of $100 million a year. At the end of the school year last June, over 25,000 third, sixth, and eighth-graders were held back -- about 25 percent of the students in those grades. After mandatory summer school, 11,500, or just over 11 percent, were again retained. After a beefed-up fall transition program, the number of children held back dropped to 7,500, a little over 7 percent. Chicago calls the program a success, and so did President Clinton.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: All schools must end social promotion. (Applause) Now, if you doubt this will work, just look at Chicago, which ended social promotion and made summer school mandatory for those who don't master the basics. Math and reading scores are up three years running, with some of the biggest gains in some of the poorest neighborhoods.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Officials in Chicago say retention works because of the additional resources given to children who are held back: Summer school, after-school programs, smaller classes, individual tutors. But there are critics who say no amount of additional resources will make retention work. Professor Ernest House points to a large body of national research that consistently says students who are retained do not achieve better on national tests after a few years, and are much more likely to drop out. House studied New York City's large retention program in the 1980's and found that despite extra resources, the program failed.

ERNEST HOUSE, University of Colorado: New York had more extra teachers and they had smaller classes than Chicago has. They also did summer school routinely. And that wasn't enough to bring these kids -- increase their achievement or bring them up to par. So that I don't see how this is going to work in Chicago either.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: After seeing little improvement from the retained students after three years, New York dropped the program. One reason retention doesn't work, says House, is because it hurts kids emotionally.

ERNEST HOUSE: One of the major speculations-- and some studies have been done-- indicate the kids are stigmatized by being held back. Their peers tease them about being held back. They feel they're dumb, so they are held back in the grade level, and that creates a kind of a stigma which affects how they feel about school.

PATRICIA LANGLEY, Parent: She's always been a star student.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Patricia Langley says that's what happened to her daughter. Langley likes to show off her daughter's work, and says she was always a good student who loved school until the end of sixth grade last year.

PATRICIA LANGLEY: Well, we found out in '98 at the end of the school term that she was being retained because she had missed a fraction of a point on the Iowa test. And so they retained her. She had to go to summer school, and that didn't do any good. She was so traumatized by the whole scenario that when they tested her again, the score was even lower than before, and she spent the whole summer school term miserable and in shock, really.

TEACHER: Please number your papers.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Langley's daughter, Victoria Vaughn, is still in the sixth grade. When she was tested again after the fall semester, her scores dropped again.

VICTORIA VAUGHN, Chicago Student: I sort of slid off course when I came back to the same grade, but I'm okay now. But it's not as much -- I don't like school as much now as I did then, because I got discouraged.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Vallas insists it would do students like Victoria Vaughn more harm than good to pass them on to the next grade without the necessary skills.

PAUL VALLAS: These advocates of social promotion would rather we graduate children from high school with diplomas that they can't read, with diplomas that cannot get them into any four- year college.

ERNEST HOUSE: I'm not in favor of social promotion. I am in favor of helping the kids. Social promotion doesn't make any sense either -- that is, promoting the kids automatically, regardless of what they do. So I'm not in favor of that. What I'm saying is retaining them doesn't really either. What works is providing them with extra assistance. So passing them on and helping them with extra help, that actually is the solution to the problem.

TEACHER: They're using their brains.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Much of the extra help Chicago provides comes after kids have been retained, and the critics ask how many times can a child be held back and be expected to succeed? They point to classes like this one, where most of the third graders have failed twice. System wide, more than 1,500 students are repeating grades for the third time. Researcher Susan Davenport has been studying Chicago schools for 15 years.

SUSAN DAVENPORT, Chicago Researcher: In the long run, this is a policy that's going to hurt our kids. It's going to make more kids drop out of high school. It's going to put more kids on the street unprepared for the job market, and unprepared for further education, and we're going to have a lot of 17-year- olds sitting in eighth grade, and 12-year-olds sitting in third grade. How is that possible?

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: But Teacher Robin Baxter is more optimistic. She says seven of the eighteen retained students in her class were able to score high enough on tests at the end of the fall semester to move up to fourth grade.

ROBIN BAXTER, Chicago Teacher: Initially I didn't think it was working until after the test, and then I was quite pleased with the students that did transition out. And now, with the smaller classroom, I can hone in on the skills that they are missing. It's a real good program. It's truly working.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: It may soon be clear whether or not retention is truly working. University of Chicago Researcher Anthony Bryk has been asked to conduct the first independent, in-depth study of the program.

ANTHONY BRYK, University of Chicago: This will be the most controversial work that the consortium does because the stakes here are real high, not only for Chicago, but nationally. When the President of the United States declares this a success, and then you go about actually analyzing the data, to try to figure out the effects of the program, it's pretty clear that almost no matter what we find and report, someone is not going to like these results.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: First results from Bryk's research should be available this spring. Meanwhile, other major school districts, including Philadelphia with 213,000 students, are planning to institute massive retention programs.

CONVERSATION

JIM LEHRER: Now, a conversation with Greg Craig. Last Friday was his final day at the White House as the Special Counsel for Impeachment Issues.

JIM LEHRER: Welcome, sir.

GREG CRAIG, Former White House Special Counsel: Thank you.

JIM LEHRER: How do you feel about the job you did?

GREG CRAIG: Well, I think the result speaks for itself. We're pleased with the result, but it wasn't just a job we did. I think the American people contributed to the result. And I also think, Jim, that the President of the United States and his performance as President when historians look back at what hand between September 9 when the referral came over from the Office of Independent Counsel, till December 19th, when the articles of impeachment were voted upon by the House of Representatives, you will see a spectacular performance by President Clinton, whether you like him or you don't like him, whether you're a critic or not. That 100 days of performance by a President as President was really quite something.

JIM LEHRER: But as his lawyer, and in charge of getting this impeachment thing together, was there any time as of - speaking as a lawyer now, was there any time when you thought, oh, my goodness, we're going to lose this, the Senate is going to vote to remove this man from office?

GREG CRAIG: Well, in the Senate I think we felt comfortable because of what had happened in the election. I think if the elections, the congressional elections had gone differently, if there had been 40 new Republicans that had been added, rather than five new Democrats to the House of Representatives, and if all the articles had gone over to the Senate, that's a big hypothetical and a big contingency, that would have changed dramatically the chemistry in the Senate. Once we got to the Senate, there were some moments when we were very worried, actually, about what was going on. We thought that the House Managers did a very good job of putting in their case. But, in fact, the case on the evidence and on the merits was weak. And when we were able to respond, I think we turned the corner.

JIM LEHRER: Well, the conventional wisdom was that you went over there knowing you had a lock. In other words, you already had -- you had your verdict. All you had to do was go through the motions to get to it. No, not in your head?

GREG CRAIG: Not in my head, not in anybody's head. I think what -- the strategy that we were pursuing was to try to keep the Democrats united and working together as a group, because if we did keep the Democrats united, then we were going to be able to defeat the effort to remove the President -- but not a lock at all. Those senior members of the Democratic Caucus are very independent, very thoughtful, and we didn't know how they would view our arguments at all.

JIM LEHRER: Explain -- how do you explain the fact that both in the House and in the Senate most of the Republicans voted for impeachment or removal, most of the Democrats voted against impeachment or removal?

GREG CRAIG: I don't think that was inevitable. I think that was really one of the mistakes that was made early on in the process. I think had Chairman Hyde and the leadership of the Republican Party in the House made the extra effort to make it a bipartisan undertaking, it need not have been straight on party line votes. But they did not. There were a number of opportunities that they could have resolved this or dealt with this in bipartisan way that they didn't do.

JIM LEHRER: But why was it the Republicans' responsibility to make it bipartisan? Didn't the Democrats have responsibilities, as well?

GREG CRAIG: Well, let me give you an example. One of the things that they could have done in the House side with the Judiciary Committee was embrace the Boucher-Berman Plan for how the impeachment inquiry was going to be conducted. But they dismissed that plan. That plan would have defined the scope, it would have limited the time, and it would have addressed the issue of constitutional standards first, something that ultimately they all tried to do anyway. But they gave the back of the hand to that particular proposal, and I think had they embraced that proposal and worked together on it, they would have had bipartisan support much more than they did.

JIM LEHRER: They would have shamed the Democrats into a bipartisan, if nothing else, right?

GREG CRAIG: No it would have been bipartisan on the merits. We were arguing there about the procedures that were going to be followed in the course of the impeachment inquiry. The great missed opportunity, I think, and history would have smiled generously on the Republican leadership had they done this, the great missed opportunity was their failure to allow a bipartisan consensus to develop in the House around a resolution of censure. And their failure to do that guaranteed, Ithink, really strong partisanship thereafter, because many, many Democrats wanted to vote for a resolution of censure, and they were denied that, even though they'd been promised earlier a right to vote their conscience. That was a key moment.

JIM LEHRER: Key moment. Okay. Now, when it was all said and done, many people who said that -- in fact, let me read you one particular thing. The "Los Angles Times" editorial said the following: "This certainly was no victory for Clinton whose appalling lack of judgment, personal morality and common sense brought -- appalling lack of judgment, personal morality and common sense brought this sordid mess down on himself." Do you agree with that?

GREG CRAIG: Well, I certainly agree that the President contributed to the cause of this. His lack of judgment, his conduct with Ms. Lewinsky, and his failure to inform the American people, his wife, his colleagues, that was clearly reprehensible and wrong. But I still believe that however blameworthy he did, however blameworthy his conduct, it didn't amount to an impeachable offense. So I don't think he deserved to be impeached. And that's one of the reasons I got engaged in this. I thought to impeach the President for that conduct, for his efforts to conceal essentially a private, consensual extramarital affair, that was way, way beyond the scope of an impeachable offense as defined by the Constitution and would damage the presidency for the future.

JIM LEHRER: Is that what drove you the most, or was the fact that you and President Clinton had gone to law school together, you were a big Clinton supporter, you had worked in his administration in the State Department and whatever, what drove you to take this job and work as hard as you did on this the most?

GREG CRAIG: Well, I think it was that latter part. I was not the close friend of the President's in law school. He was an acquaintance at best. I did know the First Lady better in law school. We were friends in law school. But I had not been in the Clinton administration in the first part of the administration and I had not seen the Clintons very much socially at all. I was not in their inner circle. I was not included in their group. I had gone to work at the State Department for the Secretary of State, for Madeleine Albright, not necessarily for the President.

JIM LEHRER: Not as a friend of Bill's.

GREG CRAIG: No. But I think what happened was I was persuaded, and I guess the President helped persuade me, that I could make a difference in the defense, because of my experience both on the Hill as well as a litigator practicing law in Washington, DC. And I did believe in the cause. I did believe that this President should not have been impeached or removed from office for the conduct that was at issue here, and so that he did have a heartfelt advocate in me, and I put as much effort and energy as I could into it.

JIM LEHRER: Now, since the impeachment vote and the President's acquittal, Juanita Broadderick has made charges against the President, publicly, claiming that the President sexually assaulted her 21 years ago. And it's been suggested that had that been public knowledge, had she made her charges in public before the vote in the Senate, the vote might have gone differently. How do you feel about that?

GREG CRAIG: Well, there's all sorts of what if's and speculation, and this was not a new story. This was an old story. It had surfaced in the course of the House of Representatives investigation, although they never brought the evidence out and they never debated the evidence and they never gave us an opportunity to look at the evidence and respond to the evidence. It was a rumor that had been around and about since 1929 when he first ran for President, and I think most of the people in the Senate knew the rumor, knew what the allegations were, and were fully familiar with essentially what came out publicly later on. So I don't think it had any impact at all on the impeachment process. It had nothing to do with the issues that were being raised in the impeachment process, which were obstruction of justice in the Jones case, the second article, and perjury, grand jury -- allegations of perjury in front of the grand jury.

JIM LEHRER: Do you believe her story?

GREG CRAIG: I have no -- I have no basis for believing her. The President through his lawyer has denied that there was any assault, and I think to go down this road is really to be chasing ghosts. It's not going to be resolved. There's no way in which this issue is going to be resolved. And I think it takes us in a direction that the American people don't want to go and is not good for the country.

JIM LEHRER: You don't think the President needs to speak to this at all himself?

GREG CRAIG: No, I would hope he does not speak about it. I think it is -- his response through his lawyer was the appropriate response. He denied absolutely that there was any assault, and there really is no way this can be resolved or solved. And I think we have to live with that uncertainty. I believe the President's word in this. I think it would be totally inconsistent with his personality and the character and the person I know. But I don't think that this is a fruitful way to explore or to pursue this issue, because it can't be resolved. There's no way to do it.

JIM LEHRER: What are you going to do now?

GREG CRAIG: I'm going to go back and practice law in Washington, DC, a place that doesn't have enough lawyers, and I'm going to add my any time to the list of lawyers that will represent people and companies that need adequate representation.

JIM LEHRER: You've done a lot of things in your life already. You're, what, you're 55 years old?

GREG CRAIG: No. Not quite.

JIM LEHRER: Not quite. Okay.

GREG CRAIG: I just turned 54.

JIM LEHRER: Okay. You just turned 54. Okay. Sorry about that. But you've already done a lot. Where is this experience of the last several months, this impeachment matter, where is it on terms of important things in your life?

GREG CRAIG: It's right up near the top. To sit in the well of the Senate working with Chuck Ruff and David Kendall, to have an opportunity to speak on behalf of the President of the United States during the impeachment trial, something that has happened only twice in the history of this country, it can't - there's no experience that I can imagine that can compare with it. But I am -- my mentor was Edward Bennett Williams and he loved the electricity of contest living. And hope that I am able in the course of my life to maintain that excitement and that electricity in my future endeavors.

JIM LEHRER: Okay. Thank you very much.

GREG CRAIG: Thank you, Jim.

FINALLY - DARK VISION

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, who died Sunday at age 70. He created many famous scenes. Here is one of them -- the beginning of nuclear Armageddon in the 1964 satire "Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Stop worrying and Love the Bomb." ("When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" playing in background)

ACTOR: Target orange grid reference, check. Target distance: Eight miles.

ACTOR: Roger, eight miles. Telemetric guidancecomputers in the orange grid.

ACTOR: Telemetric guidance computers for the orange grid.

ACTOR: Target distance: Seven miles. Correct track indicator, minus-seven.

ACTOR: Roger, seven miles. Set GPI and accelerate, faster.

ACTOR: GPI acceleration button set.

ACTOR: Target distance: Six miles.

ACTOR: Roger, six miles.

ACTOR: Pulse audit transponder active.

ACTOR: Pulse audit transponder activated.

ACTOR: Target distance: Five miles.

ACTOR: Five miles.

ACTOR: -- zero mode.

ACTOR: -- zero mode.

ACTOR: Target distance: Four miles.

ACTOR: Roger, four miles. Auto CDC to manual, teleflex link.

ACTOR: Auto CDC to manual teleflex link.

ACTOR: Target distance: Three miles.

ACTOR: Roger, three miles.

ACTOR: Target in sight! Where in hell is Major Kong?

ACTOR: Ya-hoo! Ya-hoo!

ACTOR: Hey, what about Major Kong?

ACTOR: Ya-hoo! Ya, ya-ha! Whoa! Oo-hoo! Ya!

RECAP

JIM LEHRER: Again, the major stories of this Monday: Baseball Great Joe DiMaggio died of complications from lung cancer surgery. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh's appeal of his conviction and death sentence. And computer chip maker Intel and the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement in a major antitrust case. We'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.