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Weekend of May 8-9, 2004

CHRIS MATTHEWS, host:

Today, on THE CHRIS MATTHEWS SHOW, monster's ball.  Rummy takes it in the

tummy.

Plus, separate tables.  Still black and white in the red, white and blue.

Those hot topics and more on today's show.

Tracking the Iraqis.  Interrogation of the prisoners shows the ugly side of

occupation.  Is this how we lose the war?

Is it worth it?  More and more Americans say no but stick with the president

and the cause.  Meanwhile, Kerry stays wary.

The race divide.  Fifty years after separate but equal, equal is still the

goal, separate is still the reality.

Plus, the nifty '50s, from Willie Mays to Elvis Presley.

All that and more with a razzmatazz roundtable on your weekly news show.

Announcer:  From Congress to the West Wing, he's been a Washington insider,

now he's one of the capital's top journalists:  Chris Matthews.

MATTHEWS:  Hi, I'm Chris Matthews, welcome to the show.  Let's go inside.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Profile: BBC's Katty Kay, Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page, NBC

News' David Gregory, and Atlantic Journal-Constitution's Cynthia

Tucker discuss White House response to Iraqi prison abuse and

the racial divide in America

CHRIS MATTHEWS, host:

Katty Kay covers Washington for the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Clarence Page writes a column for the Chicago Tribune.  David Gregory covers

and uncovers the White House for NBC News.  And Cynthia Tucker is the

editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

First up, cracking the Iraqis.  These are the pictures that try men's souls.

Will the mea-culpa amend it, or does Rumsfeld need to resign?  Here's the

president's apology.

President GEORGE W. BUSH:  I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the

Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families.

MATTHEWS:  David, it seems like the White House got the message, `This is big

trouble for us.'

Mr. DAVID GREGORY (White House Correspondent, NBC News):  They got the

message, but they again got it late.  These pictures came out, they were

horrible.  The story was building and again this White House is reactive.  The

president speaks to Arab television, he finally apologizes.  He gets mad,

we're told, that Rumsfeld--which is so unusual for them to leak that little

detail--so he got mad, he got mad late.  They're still in damage control mode.

The question is will it satisfy the rest of the world what we ultimately do

about this, not just what we say about it.

MATTHEWS:  Speaking of the world, Katty Kay, is this a problem?  I notice that

Karl Rove, who never speaks out of turn, the president's conciliarly, his

chief political advisor, said, `This is a problem that's going to hurt us in

the Arab world for de--a generation.' Why did he say that in public and is it

true?

Ms. KATTY KAY (Washington Correspondent, BBC):  Well, certainly, these

photographs have made the job of the Americans, of the Brits, of the Coalition

in Iraq much, much harder for the soldiers, for the aid workers.  For anybody

working there it's much more dangerous.  If you were an American soldier and

you were picked up by Iraqis now, you are in trouble because of these

photographs.  Your future is a lot more uncertain.  But you also have to

remember Arab sensitivities here.  These photographs show something that is

particularly humiliating for Arabs.  This is an area of the world where men

and women don't interact very much.  Shaking hands is sometimes frowned upon.

Sex is completely hidden.  For an American woman soldier to be there dressed

with Arab men naked in front of her is a real humiliating gesture, and it's

going to be taken by all of the Arab world as that.

MATTHEWS:  Do you think that this is something the president has been able to

deal with, or is this going to burn a couple of weeks?

Mr. CLARENCE PAGE (Chicago Tribune):  It's burning rather brightly right now,

and it's hard to imagine it going away.  And I suspect, as a lot of

oth--other--other people do, we haven't heard the last of this.  Are there

more photos to come out?  Is there more information?  The--the report that

Rumsfeld and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs haven't gotten around to reading

is about a foot and a half thick.  Just the summary of it is over 50 pages.  I

mean, there's a lot out there that's still going--going to come dribbling out

in coming days.  Is it the drip, drip, drip that will bring Rumsfeld down?  I

think that's the big question.

MATTHEWS:  Let me ask you, Cynthia, it seems like the climactic moment will be

when another American does get picked up over there and they decide with their

own camera crews to show what they can do to us.

Ms. CYNTHIA TUCKER (Editorial Page Editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution):

Absolutely.  I think we already understand from the American contractors who

were shot and their bodies burned and mutilated that many Iraqis are capable

of hideous cruelty, and I think that our torturing Iraqi prisoners is just

going to open the door for more of that.  I think there's another problem

here.  Rumsfeld talked this morning about--or Rumsfeld talked earlier about

the fact that a lot of this will be taken care when Iraqis meet with American

soldiers day after day after day.  A lot of goodwill will be built up by that.

But you've got to remember, there are teen-age boys in Egypt and Saudi Arabia

and Algeria who are never going to cross--come across a US soldier.

MATTHEWS:  And this is the picture they're going to have.

Ms. TUCKER:  They will see these photos.

Ms. KAY:  This is the other problem, though.  This response of, `We're going

to have an investigation.  We'll have yet another investigation.' There was

Rumsfeld listing all the investigations we're going to have.  This is part of

the problem in the Arab world at the moment is that they don't think there's

been a response, they don't think that somebody has taken responsibility.  And

they're thinking...

MATTHEWS:  Right.

Ms. KAY:  ...`Hold on a second.  You knew about this in the Pentagon back in

January.  Why has it taken for an American television network to bring these

photographs out for it to be publicized?'

Mr. GREGORY:  Well, this is why it's going to take a generation.  But despite

these particulars, this is humiliation.  This is--we are the occupying power.

We own this place, we do it alone.  How are we going to be a force for good in

the world or at least for Iraq leading toward democracy when this is our

public image?  To say nothing of the fact that what this does on the quote,

unquote, "Arab street" in so many Arab countries who already hate us.

Ms. KAY:  And the conser--the conservative argument that, well, Arab

countries are doing this too and that there are people being tortured in Arab

jails simply doesn't wash, because Arab countries didn't come to America...

Mr. GREGORY:  But--but it's true.

Ms. KAY:  It's true, but Arab countries didn't invade America on the grounds

that they were going to...

MATTHEWS:  OK.

Ms. KAY:  ...bring better human rights and democracy and to end that kind of

thing.

MATTHEWS:  Let--let's speculate that it's really bad in the Arab world and

that Karl Rove is a pretty good political judge here.  He's right.  It's going

to last us a long time to work this down.  How do we make a down payment on

apology, on atonement?

David, are they talking to the White House about really giving a nudge to

Secretary Rumsfeld to quit?

Mr. GREGORY:  I don't think so.  The president was emphatic this week saying

that, `He's a part of my cabinet.' Maybe you could parse that statement a

little bit that it wasn't--he wasn't completely behind him, but he is standing

behind him.  It's the president's style to kind of work around problems, not

to jettison somebody like this under great pressure.  But I do think there's a

lot of people who will think someone's got to go, somebody has got to pay for

this.

MATTHEWS:  Right.

Mr. GREGORY:  There's got to be a result of some investigation.

MATTHEWS:  I thought he was parsing words the other day when he said he

thought he had done a very good job.  Very careful language about the kind of

service he had rendered.

Mr. GREGORY:  Look, the--goal one here is to insulate the president, make

sure that the president...

MATTHEWS:  Right.

Mr. GREGORY:  ...is the one saying, `Darn it.  Why didn't I know about this?

Somebody has made a big mistake and I was let down just like the American

people.'

MATTHEWS:  Well, let's take a look at some of the guesses or predictions of

our Matthews Meter.  These are the 12--we asked all of our 12 regulars about

the Defense secretary's fate?  Will Rumsfeld resign?  Ten said no--this is at

of the end of this week--but two of our Matthews Meter heavyweights say yes:

Time magazine's Joe Klein and Newsweek's Howard Fineman.  I guess Macy's talks

to Gimbel's.

                                    TEXT:

Will Rumsfeld Resign:

(Photo of Donald Rumsfeld)

NO  10

YES  2

MATTHEWS:  Is--do you think this is--is this in flow here, Clarence?

Mr. PAGE:  Well, it's in flow.  The president's statement the other day,

you're right.  It was tepid in--in its support and was surprising in its

criticism of Rumsfeld.  The president had to show not just Americans but the

world that he takes this seriously.  Will Rumsfeld be a scapegoat?  Will some

low-level enlisted person or officer be a scapegoat?

MATTHEWS:  But do you think the bad-apples thing will sell at this point in

the world, Katty?  Will the world buy the fact this is five or seven people

who just misused their authority?

Ms. KAY:  No.  I think there is a perception out there, and this report from

the International Red Cross that was handed to the Pentagon in January did

seem to show that there was a systemic problem.  But I think on the Rumsfeld

issue, the trouble is that if he fires him now, if Rumsfeld has to go out now

it looks weak because you're responding to criticism.  If Rumsfeld had gone a

month ago, that might have been one thing and it might have satisfied the Arab

world.  I think Rumsfeld going now, frankly, wouldn't satisfy many people

abroad anyway.

MATTHEWS:  You're kidding.

Ms. KAY:  No, I don't think that--I think that they...

MATTHEWS:  Well, what do we have to do, chop off our heads?

Ms. KAY:  I think the damage had been done on this one.  I think it's very

hard to be over with damage just by Rumsfeld going.  I think...

MATTHEWS:  Well, I'm going to say something about that.  One thing in this

country that does really unite us is the belief you can only solve a problem

and the question is is there a solution.  You say there's none.

Ms. KAY:  Because--it would be--it would be seen to be in response to

criticism rather than being...

MATTHEWS:  Cynthia, what's the solution?

Ms. TUCKER:  There is no solution to the brutality of occupation.  That's the

problem here.  This is something Americans are in complete denial about.

Unfortunately, occupation, no matter who does it, whether there's the French

in Algeria, whether the US in the Philippines, occupation always breeds

savagery, brutality in the occupiers.

MATTHEWS:  Right.

Ms. TUCKER:  So there will be more episodes like these ones

MATTHEWS:  And more technically, if you occupy you're going to face

insurgencies.  If you're going to face underground insurgencies, you're going

to interrogate prisoners to crack those insurgencies, and some people get the

wrong message.  Let's take a look at...

Go ahead, David.

Mr. GREGORY:  Ultimately the Iraqis have to make some demonstrable progress

here to help us look better.  And we have to be seen as at least getting out

of the way of that progress.  But that could be a long way off.

MATTHEWS:  OK, next, politics in the national media.  The French postcards,

those cards, those awful pictures from Iraq have royaled the presidential

race.  But who gets the job in November could depend on how many jobs there

are in this country.  We've got new jobs numbers that came out that show that

the president is getting some help there.  Numbers are going up, lower--lower

unemployment in the battleground states especially.  Look at what they're

talking about in Ohio.

Unidentified Reporter #1:  (From WKYC/Cleveland, Tuesday) President Bush's bus

tour is rolling through the Buckeye State.  His talks in Dayton focus on the

economy.

Unidentified Reporter #1:  (From WCMH/Columbus, Tuesday) While Bush won Ohio

in 2000, it was by a narrow margin.  President Bush talked to a crowd of

mostly friendly, invited guests about the economic recovery.

MATTHEWS:  And just to get something else on the table, we also add a Matthews

Meter Match-up here.  We asked our 12 regulars, `Who won the week, Bush or

Kerry?' Last week it was almost unanimous for Bush, this week, no big

surprise, the entire dozen gave it to Kerry.  It could have been a baker's

dozen, everybody was so convinced.

                                    TEXT:

Who Won The Week?

(Photo of John Kerry)     KERRY  12

(Photo of George W. Bush) BUSH    0

MATTHEWS:  What did Kerry do right this week besides disappear?

Mr. PAGE:  He stayed--stayed out of the way, yeah.  I mean, Kerry didn't do

anything on his own.  He won the week by default because so much bad news came

in regarding the Bush administration that hardly anybody noticed the jobs went

up...

MATTHEWS:  Yeah, on Friday.

Mr. PAGE:  ....this week.  That was the kind of news that on a normal week...

Mr. GREGORY:  You know...

Mr. PAGE:  ...it would have been for Bush.

Mr. GREGORY:  ...at the same time, Kerry is still not capitalizing on what

has been about the most dreadful month, the month of April, for the Bush team.

He still has to redefine himself to voters, he's still losing in the

head-to-head.

MATTHEWS:  Kerry does?

Mr. GREGORY:  Kerry does, yeah, so I don't think that he's as far as he'd...

MATTHEWS:  The flip-flop thing...

Mr. GREGORY:  ...like to be.

MATTHEWS:  ...excuse me, the flip-flop thing is working.  I looked at all the

advertising, we've all seen it, and I looked at the numbers that came out from

NBC.

The numbers this week, the polling, it shows, Cynthia, that it's working.

They're looking at him as a flip-flopper.

Ms. TUCKER:  It is.  Negative ads do, in fact, work.  And they work in part

against John Kerry because he is little known to the broader American public,

so it's easy for President Bush's team to define him as they want.  But here's

where John Kerry could be helped.  It's still very early and this campaign is

extremely volatile.

MATTHEWS:  I agree with you.  I think people are going to pay attention until

the big conventions.

Anyway, before we go to break, some comic relief.  And I mean it.  Here's the

president tickling Kerry about his claim that foreign leaders tell him they're

rooting for him in this election.

Pres. BUSH:  He said, `What I said is true.' I mean, you can go to New York

City and you can be in a restaurant, and you can meet a foreign leader.  Just

because somebody has an accent and nice suit.  and a good table, it doesn't

make them a foreign leader.  Whoever these mystery men are...  They won't be

deciding the election.

Audience:  (In unison) Yeah!

Pres. BUSH:  The voters will be deciding the election.

MATTHEWS:  The velvet glove.  I'll be right back with the all-time American

divide:  Not red and blue states, but black and white America.  Plus, my

thoughts on those surprisingly nifty '50s.

(Announcements)

MATTHEWS:  Relations between blacks and whites in America.  How are we doing?

Plus, the nifty '50s.  Stick with me.

(Announcements)

MATTHEWS:  Welcome back.  Fifty years ago next week, the US Supreme Court

struck down the separate but equal defense of school segregation.  So today,

what's with the wall?  Is it race, class or both?  Here's the brilliant Chris

Rock and how he sees it.

Mr. CHRIS ROCK:  (From HBO/"Chris Rock:  Bigger and Blacker") There isn't a

white man in this room that would change places with me.  None of you.  None

of you would change places with me.  And I'm rich!

MATTHEWS:  Well, I hate to do this, Clarence, but respond.  Agree?  What was

he saying there?

Mr. PAGE:  Well, he was saying that, yeah, class is a lot more important than

it was 50 years ago, and we can thank God and a lot of sacrifices people made

for that, but race is still important too.  Race is still a factor out there.

We still have what I call "gilded ghettos" out in the suburbs, where, you

know, those of us who have started to make it and we move out to the suburbs

to a nicer house find the white folks are moving even farther out.

MATTHEWS:  Well, is that...

Mr. PAGE:  And so that's happening at Prince Georges County, right here

outside of D.C., for example.

MATTHEWS:  Sure.  On the part--on the part of the people who move out to those

nicer neighborhoods and do get together, is that a choice?

Mr. PAGE:  There's a lot of mythology around race still.  And unfortunately

we don't have enough candid conversation about it.

MATTHEWS:  Well, we're trying to do it here.

Mr. PAGE:  Blacks and whites still look at it in different ways.

MATTHEWS:  Is that a choice?  Do some people who make some money and can

afford to live in a nice neighborhood choose to live in a neighborhood that's

all blacks?

Mr. PAGE:  Well, a lot of people are discovering that they don't have to go

to a neighborhood that--that is all--I'm sorry.  You're talking about black

folks choosing.

MATTHEWS:  Yeah, exactly.

Mr. PAGE:  I--well, I have had some friends say, `I'm tired of chasing white

people.'

MATTHEWS:  Yeah.

Mr. PAGE:  Meaning, `I'm tired of moving to an integrated neighborhood and

find it resegregates after I move there.' But I think that's changing now

slowly, Chris.

MATTHEWS:  Yeah.

Mr. PAGE:  In this new century I'm more optimistic.

MATTHEWS:  Cynthia:

Ms. TUCKER:  Well, Chris...

MATTHEWS:  What do you think about what he just said?

Ms. TUCKER:  I think one of the most...

MATTHEWS:  Do you agree or disagree?

Ms. TUCKER:  ...interesting and most distressing observations about America

is 11 AM on Sunday mornings is still one of the most segregated hours.

MATTHEWS:  Right.

Ms. TUCKER:  Why is that?  I think that great strides have been made, but

socially, in our social lives, when we go home at 5 PM or 6 PM or 7 PM we go

to our segregated worlds.  And I remained a very optimistic Martin Luther

King Jr./John Lewis integrationist.  I believe in the beloved community.  But

I think...

MATTHEWS:  You live in an integrated community in Atlanta.

Ms. TUCKER:  I live in an integrated neighborhood, but I believe that many

African-Americans have also given up on that idea, and it doesn't matter how

much money they make.

Ms. KAY:  Yeah, it...

Mr. GREGORY:  But see, I think there's two things.

MATTHEWS:  Go ahead, David.

Mr. GREGORY:  I think there's two things that are happening at once.  It's

interesting.  I mean, on the one hand, you know, people of my generation and

now, you know, my young son, as he'll grow up I think he'll be less aware of

the difference of race in his schools.

MATTHEWS:  He is already, probably.

Mr. GREGORY:  I--well, he's almost two years old.

MATTHEWS:  My kids were never.  Let me tell you what's changed.  I heard this

from a parent over 20 years ago, the first time I ever heard this, it was at a

Peace Corps doctrine, and he said, `You know, my kids came home the other day

and it wasn't until I went to PTA night I knew the teachers were black because

the kids never mentioned it.' It wasn't considered noteworthy.  Back in my

generation, your generation, we would note these things.

Ms. KAY:  I think that's true of people you know, don't you think?  So our

kids in school, you know, my children go to a school where I don't--they

wouldn't mention it whether their friends were black or white particularly.

And I think if you know somebody in a school context, in a work context, in a

social context, you don't notice it as much.  You know them because they're

friends of yours.  But it's to do with the people you don't know, people en

masse.  In that situation, are we still more comfortable with people who look

like us, be they Asian or black or white?  Or--or is it...

Ms. TUCKER:  Well...

Mr. PAGE:  Well, the kids are aware in a different kind of way now.  You

know, this is the hip-hop generation, and like, my son has a friend of his at

school, a white kid that wants to be black desperately.

MATTHEWS:  Yeah.

Mr. PAGE:  And just kind of--every time he comes around my son saying, `Eh,

Grady, what it is man!'

MATTHEWS:  And he is not alone.

Mr. PAGE:  You know, my son suddenly sounds like a Harvard don because he's

trying to get away from this kid.  But--but seriously, the saddest thing,

though, Chris, is the resegregation in the classroom.  Look at your gifted and

talented classes, almost all white and Asian.

MATTHEWS:  These are magna schools?

Mr. PAGE:  I'm talking about magna schools and general...

MATTHEWS:  Yeah.

Mr. PAGE:  ...integrated suburban schools, say, or grade high schools.

Ms. KAY:  Certainly, my children go...

Mr. PAGE:  And you'll find special ed is going to be black and latino.  And

that translates for a lot of these kids into a achievement being, quote, "act

and white." I mean, we got all those kind of problems to deal with, too.

MATTHEWS:  What's interesting too is you know what the paradigm is, like if

you go to any local station where there's a big community and there's a

diverse community, there's always a black and white anchor team, for example.

It's always the case.  So we know that's what we want it to be, because we

know that's what will sell in a very commercially oriented society.  In fact,

our business especially, TV, is very mixed up.  I mean, it's not like--but

I--every--you and I give speeches a lot, right?

Mr. PAGE:  Mm-hmm.

MATTHEWS:  And every time you--tell me about your experience going out to give

speeches.

Mr. PAGE:  Well, I find that--well, when--whenever we're talking about race,

it's interesting because sooner or later somebody is going to say, you know,

`This is the first time I've talked about race in a mixed group since the

'60s.'

MATTHEWS:  Right.

Mr. PAGE:  Because over the last few decades it's kind of been either, you

know, it's not PC or it's not polite or people are worried about being

intimidated or whatever.

Ms. KAY:  You know, what really struck me when I moved to America was how

little people talk about race between each other.  Why are they so terrified

of it?

MATTHEWS:  Let's get helpful or unhelpful.

Cynthia, you're an editorial writer.  You write lead editorials for that paper

down in Atlanta, which is the city too busy to--what is it?  Too busy to hate

or something?

Ms. TUCKER:  Too busy to hate.

MATTHEWS:  Is that a fact?

Ms. TUCKER:  That's--that's a mythology.

MATTHEWS:  Is that a fact down there?

Ms. TUCKER:  There are some wonderful, remarkable things about Atlanta,

mostly evident in the rise of this huge affluent, black middle class.  But

does race remain a factor?  Absolutely.  There as it does everywhere else in

American life.

MATTHEWS:  OK.  You're younger than me.  Give me a trend line.  From the time

of your youngest memories to now and then projected in the future, is there

progress?

Ms. TUCKER:  Oh, of course, there's progress.  I mean, I wrote a column

recently about feeling ashamed.  I have a five-year-old niece who is part

black, part Mexican.  She never--she has all kinds of friends.  You go to her

birthday parties and they're like a little United Nations.  But I want to know

exactly what color her friends are.  So I know that I am still stuck with

that...

MATTHEWS:  Yeah, and she's not.

Ms. TUCKER:  ...in a way she won't be.

MATTHEWS:  So, anybody that's ready, we only got a second here, is it getting

better?

Mr. GREGORY:  I just see a static trend line.  I mean, I think there's better

awareness, better relationships, but still so much separateness in positions

of power...

MATTHEWS:  Yeah.

Mr. GREGORY:  ...even in--even in major institutions like our businesses.

MATTHEWS:  How about the US Senate?  Start there.  Let me go to Katty.

Tell me something I don't know.

Ms. KAY:  In June, the Supreme Court will rule on the Guantanamo detainees

and the two Americans who are being held in the war on terrorism.  Republicans

were worried before these photographs came out that the Supreme Court would

rule in favor of the Guantanamo detainees and the two Americans.

MATTHEWS:  What's the issue?

Ms. KAY:  The issue is whether they should have some sort of legal process to

have their--their cases heard.  Republicans were all worried--already worried

that the Supreme Court was going to rule in their favor, which would be a blow

to the White House.  After these photos it looks even more likely.

MATTHEWS:  Clarence, tell me something.

Mr. PAGE:  Chris, the world of marketing suffered a setback when baseball

rejected a Spider-Man logo on the bases, but it's not going away.  You're

going to see more over the next year, so maybe on the catchers' mitts you'll

see...

MATTHEWS:  Besmirchment.

Mr. PAGE:  ...Acme products.  Yeah.

Mr. GREGORY:  A prediction, Chris.  I think we may be looking in the wrong

direction when we're talking about Rumsfeld stepping down.  I think--think

about it, Iraqis see US troops in their presence.  I think General Sanchez may

be the one who's...

MATTHEWS:  Fifth commander.

Mr. GREGORY:  ...vulnerable here as the top commander in Iraq.

MATTHEWS:  Cynthia:

Ms. TUCKER:  I think by October, President Bush will have a secret strategy

for ending the US occupation of Iraq.  I think he'll be talking about drawing

down US troop involvement drastically in 2005.

MATTHEWS:  Will that be announced before the election?

Ms. TUCKER:  Absolutely.  October.

MATTHEWS:  So Iraqification before the election.

Ms. TUCKER:  He'll find himself in a tight election race.

MATTHEWS:  You're announcing the October surprise here in May.  Thank you very

much.

Thanks to a great roundtable--Katty Kay, Clarence Page, David Gregory,

Cynthia Tucker.  We should continue this conversation for the next couple of

years, by the way.

Next week we've got another all-star lineup:  Sam Donaldson, Ed Gordon, Norah

O'Donnell and Peggy Noonan.  She hasn't been around in a while.

I'll be right back with some golden oldies from a surprisingly rich decade.

Wait until you catch it.  Stick around.

(Announcements)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Commentary: The Nifty '50s

CHRIS MATTHEWS, host:

Fifty years ago the US Supreme Court killed the separate by equal defense of

segregated schooling.  Looking back, 1954 was a year of other intriguing

transitions, a time of records getting broken, doors being thrown open, and

not just in the classroom.  It was the year that Roger Bannister broke the

four-minute mile, that Jonas Salk beat polio, that Ernest Hemingway won the

Nobel prize for a little book about a Cuban fisherman who loved Joe DiMaggio.

It was the year that that other graceful centerfielder, the "Say-Hey Kid,"

Willie Mays, led the Giants, still playing in the polo fields of Manhattan, to

a four-game sweep over Cleveland in the World Series.  You knew he'd catch it

once he patted that glove.

There are other breakthroughs in the middle of a supposedly conformist decade.

It was the year that "On the Waterfront" attacked dockside thorny and the

longshoreman's unions, but really landed a blow for any guy or woman with the

guts to tackle the powerful, to show us all that the way things are is not the

way they have to be.  It was the year that my city of Philadelphia gave the

world a queen, Grace Kelly, whose father had been kept from competing in

England's Diamond Skulls because he had worked with his hands.  The year the

kid from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley, took R&B and made it rock.  His

first big song: "That's All Right, Mama."

Speaking of that, Happy Mother's Day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sign-off: The Chris Matthews Show

CHRIS MATTHEWS, host:

That's the show, thanks for watching.  See you right here next week.