Mark Halperin is a journalist whose world is American politics. He is obsessed with explaining the politics, policy and personality of those who inhabit the world of government, and perhaps more, those who participate in the art and science of elections.

Halperin has been around politics and government all his life. His father is Dr. Morton Halperin, a distinguished PHD in International Relations from Harvard who served in the Nixon administration.

After graduating from Harvard in 1987, Mark Halperin began in journalism at ABC News, working for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. From 1997 to 2007, he was the political director of ABC News. He started The Note, a popular online political newsletter, which showed the promise and possibilities of digital media in political reporting as it explained not just the story but the ambition of newsmakers and the drama behind the story, as well as news about the people in media.

Since 1988, over several decades, Halperin covered politics from the state house to the White House and legislatures and courts for a number of major news organizations, including ABC News, Time magazine, Bloomberg News, NBC News and Showtime.
Halperin wrote several best-selling campaign books with his reporting partner, John Heilemann.

Mark Halperin lost his place after allegations of sexual misconduct. He has come back to a position of influence as editor-in-chief of 2WAY, the interactive political media platform, where he hosts The Morning Meeting and 2WAY Tonight. He also hosts Next Up, a podcast on Sirius, and publishes his political reporting and analysis through a newsletter, Wide World of News.

It is an important moment in politics as primaries choose candidates for the midterms and voters get a chance to express their judgment on the first two years of the second Trump administration.

We will talk about many subjects, including President Trump, Democratic candidates, policies, socialism, turnout, polls, 2028 candidates, and issues like the Iran war, the Ukraine war, China, cost of living, White House construction, ICE and artificial intelligence.

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David McCullough is one of America’s best-known, bestselling, and beloved historians. His books include John Adams, The Johnstown Flood, The Wright Brothers, Truman, The Great Bridge, and The Path Between the Seas. They’re all the story of America.

His varied television presentations have made him a popular chronicler of our people, institutions, and events. He’s received Pulitzer Prizes for Truman and John Adams. He garnered a National Book Award for The Path Between the Seas, the creation of the Panama Canal, and wrote a biography of Teddy Roosevelt called Mornings on Horseback.

He received the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. McCullough attended Yale and worked at Sports Illustrated and the U.S. Information Agency before devoting his life full-time to writing.

He died on August 7, 2022.

David McCullough appeared in conversation with me nine times. To celebrate America’s birthday, July 4, we go to the archive for a composite of David McCullough conversations.

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America is 250 years old.

The ideas that shaped it are even older - ideas like freedom, justice, and respect for the rule of law. Others, like equality under the law, have evolved over time.
To better understand the American journey from 1776 to 2026, we’re turning to historians like David McCullough and journalists like Bret Stephens.

Bret Stephens has been an opinion columnist for The New York Times since 2017. Previously, he served as a foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor at The Wall Street Journal. In 2013, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. From 2002 to 2004, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post in Israel. Stephens holds degrees from the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics.

This conversation comes at a pivotal moment, as many Americans are asking fundamental questions about the state of the American idea—and America itself.
We’ll explore those questions, including the presidency of Donald Trump.

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As America celebrates its 250th birthday, we’re not the only ones marking a major milestone. The legendary filmmaker and comedian Mel Brooks has just celebrated his 100th birthday.

We also have something to celebrate - with your help. If Charlie Rose Global Conversations gains 100 more YouTube subscribers, we’ll reach 300,000 subscribers, an important milestone for us.If these conversations have added something to your life, please subscribe and help us reach that goal. Your support will help us continue to make everything we do even better.

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Thank you. And now, back to Mel.

Few people have accomplished as much across so many mediums. Mel Brooks has created some of comedy’s greatest masterpieces. In this conversation, he joins Carl Reiner, his longtime friend and collaborator, with whom he created the brilliant The 2000 Year Old Man.

His 100th birthday is a wonderful occasion to celebrate his extraordinary life and legacy. In this conversation, we explore many of the moments, people, and ideas that made his world so magical.

America celebrates its 250th birthday this July 4, 2026. It has become a time to ask: What is the American idea, and how is it doing after 250 years?

Across America, celebrations and evaluations are taking place. Questions are being asked. We have listened to those voices.

We begin this evening with the great historian David McCullough, who died in 2022 after receiving two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards, and who engaged in numerous conversations with me about his books and the significance of knowing history. His last conversation was about his book The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For.
As America marks its 250th year, it is a moment to ask: How are we doing?

David McCullough talks about many of the ideas and people who make our history. I was proud to know him and call him a friend.

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General David Petraeus is a soldier-scholar of extraordinary talent: a 4-star Army general, battlefield commander, West Point graduate, PhD from Princeton, author of books on warfare, creator of counterinsurgency strategies, and architect of the surge in Iraq. He was famous for building relationships with local populations in war zones.

After service in Iraq and Afghanistan, Petraeus became Director of the CIA. He has held academic appointments at six universities.

He is now an executive with the financial firm KKR.

In 2023, Petraeus co-authored with historian Andrew Roberts Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza.

It is a moment to consider a changing world as wars in Iran and Ukraine continue, the two most powerful leaders in the world met in May in Beijing, and ongoing tension in different nations remains over cost-of-living issues.

We will talk of many things, including the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the competition between China and the United States, the threat of Russia to Europe, the ambition of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Benjamin Netanyahu, changes in how wars are engaged, the impact of technology including artificial intelligence, and always the global economy and the cost of living. We will ask about qualities of leadership and the lessons of our time.

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David Ignatius is the internationally admired foreign affairs columnist and associate editor at The Washington Post. He joined the paper in 1986, later served as foreign editor, and has written his twice-weekly column since 1998. From 2000 to 2003, he was executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris. Earlier in his career, he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering the State Department, the Justice Department, the CIA, and the Middle East.

He is also the author of twelve spy novels, including Body of Lies, which was adapted into a feature film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

Born into a family shaped by public service, educated at Harvard and King’s College, Cambridge, and based in Washington for much of his professional life, he has had a front-row seat to America’s actions around the world.

He is frequently on a plane, traveling to observe events firsthand, meet personally with newsmakers, and gather insights from his extraordinary sources in the national security arena. He talks to the people who don’t talk to the press.

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Nicholas Thompson has been one of the definers of the digital revolution in all of its impact on our life. After graduating from Stanford and engaging in freelance writing, he became editor of NewYorker.com. Later, he became Editor-in-Chief of Wired as the power of social media became more pervasive. Now he is the CEO of The Atlantic as artificial intelligence becomes more involved in our daily life.

Thompson has written two books. The first was The Hawk and the Dove about Paul Nitze, the hawk, and George Kennan, the dove. Nitze was Thompson’s maternal grandfather.

The second, published in 2025, is The Running Ground about Thompson’s life as a serious and successful marathon runner. It is much more than a book about running. It is about his cancer struggle and the emotional story of his relationship to his father. Thompson makes running central to his identity and attitudes about competition, fear, ambition, and endurance. Nicholas Thompson has achieved great success, but in The Running Ground uses his success in running to explore not only the joy of victory but also its cost.

As we learn more about the progress in artificial intelligence, it is a moment to consider its value and its risk.

We will talk about many things with Nicholas Thompson, including running as a metaphor for life, his relationship with his father, the digital revolution, social media, and the impact of artificial intelligence on all of us.

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Barney Frank was described as legendary and the funniest person in Congress by liberals and conservatives for his actions in Congress from 1981 to 2013, as a smart, quotable, liberal, iconic representative from Massachusetts.

He became a pioneer in human rights in 1987 as the first sitting member of the U.S. Congress to voluntarily disclose his sexual orientation, and for his legislative achievements as the co-author of the Dodd-Frank Bill, which overhauled financial regulations after the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Barney Frank died May 19, 2026. He was 86.

After graduation from Harvard undergraduate and law school, Barney Frank entered politics as an assistant to the Mayor of Boston, became a state legislator, and then was elected to the U.S. Congress, where he served for 32 years from January 1981 to January 2013, becoming Chairman of the Financial Services Committee and an ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While serving in Congress, Frank, in several instances, came under intense criticism for a couple of his social relationships.

Barney Frank wrote about his life in his 2019 memoir: “Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage.”

Before entering hospice care in April 2026, where he died, Barney Frank wrote his final book, “The Hard Path to Unity.” It sent a message to all political combatants, but especially his colleagues on the left, to find common ground on intractable issues. His message adds to his legacy of finding a solution to difficult issues that all sides can accept.

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Richard Haass is one of the best and best-known interpreters and explainers of foreign policy, the relationship between nations, and the management of their ambitions.

He has bridged the two poles of diplomacy and public intellectual at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he served as President and is now President Emeritus. A graduate of Oberlin College and a Rhodes Scholar, he served in government under Presidents Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush, and then spent 20 years as President of the Council on Foreign Relations.

This is a crucial moment to examine the forces at work in foreign policy with the meeting between the President of China and the President of the United States.

We will talk about the issues under discussion in Beijing and around the world as two of the most powerful people in the world meet in China and war continues in Iran and Ukraine.

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Ted Turner died May 6, 2026. He imagined himself a great man. He was, in multiple ways. He created a huge institution: CNN. He changed things. After CNN, global news was not the same.

He won things. The America’s Cup in sailing is the fiercest challenge, not only against other sailors, but against fast boats and the weather. He fulfilled other men’s dreams: owning a major league baseball team and marrying a beautiful, smart actress.

He was a rich man, owning companies and land worth billions of dollars. He was a good man, giving huge amounts of money to philanthropy. He was an admired man and a tragic man, climbing the tallest mountains and falling.

He was there for all to see: brash, cocky, driven, opinionated, sometimes unpleasant, and full of himself.

And yes, Ted Turner died knowing he had touched lives and made a difference. In the end, that is what makes a great life.

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Bret Stephens is a popular opinion columnist for The New York Times. He has held the position since 2017.

He was previously a foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor at The Wall Street Journal. In 2013, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. From 2002–2004, he was editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post in Israel.
Stephens holds degrees from the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics.

This conversation comes at a critical moment when Iran and America may resume negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, continue the ceasefire, and seek to find an end to the war, which began on February 28, 2026.

We will talk of many things, including who is winning the war, the negotiations to end the war, opening the Strait of Hormuz, the price of oil and gasoline, Iran’s nuclear program, and the status of buried enriched uranium.

Also President Trump’s war leadership and his conflict with Pope Leo, the war response of the regime in Iran, and the consequences of war.

We will conclude with America at its 250th birthday and its relationship with Israel, NATO, European and Gulf allies, and adversaries including Russia and China, whose president—President Xi Jinping—is scheduled to meet with President Trump on May 14–15 in Beijing, China.

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Bret Stephens is a popular opinion columnist for The New York Times. He has held the position since 2017.

He was previously a foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor at The Wall Street Journal. In 2013, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. From 2002–2004, he was editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post in Israel.

Stephens holds degrees from the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics.

This conversation comes at a critical moment when Iran and America may resume negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, continue the ceasefire, and seek to find an end to the war, which began on February 28, 2026.

We will talk of many things, including who is winning the war, the negotiations to end the war, opening the Strait of Hormuz, the price of oil and gasoline, Iran’s nuclear program, and the status of buried enriched uranium.

Also President Trump’s war leadership and his conflict with Pope Leo, the war response of the regime in Iran, and the consequences of war.

We will conclude with America at its 250th birthday and its relationship with Israel, NATO, European and Gulf allies, and adversaries including Russia and China, whose president—President Xi Jinping—is scheduled to meet with President Trump on May 14–15 in Beijing, China.

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Ken Rogoff is a distinguished Professor of International Economics and Summa Cum Laude graduate of Yale, with a PhD in economics from MIT.

Perhaps more interesting to some is that he is a brilliant grandmaster chess champion who had an extraordinary career, winning the U.S. Junior Championship before deciding at 18 to excel in economics. He served as chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. After teaching at Princeton, he is now the Maurits C. Boas Chair of International Economics at Harvard University.

This is a moment to talk about global economics, as the war in Iran has caused huge swings in the price of oil, gasoline, and fertilizer.

We will talk about many things, including the Iran war, the control of the Strait of Hormuz, the regime in Iran, and President Trump. Also the global economy, debt, the dollar, interest rates, the Federal Reserve, and the risks of artificial intelligence.

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David Ignatius is an internationally admired foreign affairs columnist and associate editor for The Washington Post. He is also a popular novelist, having written 11 fascinating books about the world he covers as a reporter and columnist. His latest, Phantom Orbit, is about space warfare.

Ignatius’s strength as a columnist and novelist lies in his extraordinary knowledge of—and access to—primary players in espionage, politics, government, and the private sector around the world. These are individuals on the front lines of the global struggle among nations to survive and dominate in both peace and war.

David Ignatius graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude and studied at King’s College, Cambridge. He has had a varied and distinguished career, working as an editor and reporter at The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and serving as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris. In addition to writing novels and a twice-weekly column, he is also a commentator for MSNBC, appearing often on Morning Joe. He has written frequently about the Iranian war.

This is an important moment in the Iranian war, as all parties pursue their objectives and search for an end.

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Norman T. Roule is, for many in and out of government, a go-to source for understanding Iran and the Middle East.

He is a 34-year veteran of the CIA and, from 2008–2017, was the national intelligence manager for Iran at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He lived many years in the Middle East.

It’s an important moment in the region as the Iranian war continues.

We will talk about many things, including the status of the war, President Trump’s speech to the nation, regime change, the relationship between the United States and Israel, how the war started and how it ends, the Straits of Hormuz, the price of oil, and the global economy.

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For more than four decades, Professor John J. Mearsheimer, from his position at the University of Chicago, has examined global power and America’s role in the world—often challenging traditional assumptions and language, and creating debate about the aspirations of great powers.

He has suggested that nuclear weapons can enhance stability among nations and that the power of international institutions is limited. He has used the term “offensive realism” to argue that power is the critical factor in relationships among nations, largely setting aside moral considerations.

Mearsheimer has written articles and books that have provoked controversy, especially The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

Other books include: The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities, Why Leaders Lie, Conventional Deterrence, Nuclear Deterrence, and Liddell Hart and the Weight of History.

This is an important moment to consider the exercise of power—both militarily and economically—as war continues in Iran and Ukraine, and threats to sovereignty emerge elsewhere.

We will consider many issues, including the status of the war in Iran, the possibilities of regime change, how to end the war, the strategies of the United States, Israel, and Iran, the competition between the U.S. and China, the U.S. and Russia, Europe and Russia, what might happen in Cuba and Latin America, and the nature of war itself as drones increasingly dominate warfare in Ukraine and Iran.

Professor John Mearsheimer joins us from the University of Chicago.

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It is often said of Garry Kasparov that his intellectual abilities are so strong that they have enabled him to conquer two worlds—as a world chess champion and a champion of democracy.

Kasparov became the youngest World Chess Champion at age 22 in November 1985, when he defeated his longtime rival Anatoly Karpov.

He later lost a famous match to a computer called Deep Blue, an event that had important implications for the future of technology and artificial intelligence.

Kasparov dominated the game until March 2005, when he retired from professional chess to become a politician and proponent of democracy, emerging as a leading opponent of autocratic systems, especially Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia.

He has spoken and written extensively about the cause of democracy.
Kasparov has written several books, including:

How Life Imitates Chess
Winter Is Coming
My Great Predecessors
Deep Thinking

This is an important moment to talk about the conflict between democracy and authoritarianism, as wars rage in Ukraine and Iran and political battles unfold around the world.

We will discuss many issues, including the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the fear of a broader war in the Middle East, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and the ongoing struggle between democracy and authoritarianism.

Kasparov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union. He now lives in New York City and travels around the world making the case for democracy.

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Amos Yadlin has spent his life defending the State of Israel - first as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, later as deputy commander of the Israeli Air Force, and then as head of intelligence for the IDF - and now as a respected strategic thinker in Israel.

Amos Yadlin was one of eight F-16 pilots who destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. From 2006 to 2010, he helped oversee the 2007 Israeli strike that eliminated Syria’s covert nuclear facility and was head of military intelligence for the IDF during the cyber operations later revealed as Stuxnet in 2008. He now heads Mind Israel, a national security and strategic think tank.

This is a pivotal moment for the Middle East as the United States and Israel’s attack against Iran continues in its second week.

With consequences for Iran, its government and people, the future of the Middle East, and the world - including critical oil prices and the global economy.

We will talk about all things Iranian war, including the status on the ground, regime change, how the war ends, oil prices, its impact on the global economy, U.S. politics, global alliances, and great power rivalry.

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David Ignatius is the internationally admired foreign affairs columnist and associate editor for The Washington Post. He is also a popular novelist, writing 12 successful books about the world he covers as a reporter and columnist. His latest, Phantom Orbit, is about space warfare, in which a Russian scientist—educated in part in China—reconnects with an American woman he met in China who is now a CIA analyst.

Ignatius’s strength as a columnist and novelist is his extraordinary knowledge of and access to primary players in espionage and statecraft around the world—men and women who are on the front lines of the global struggle for power among nations to survive and dominate in peace and war.

To understand their complicated maneuvers for power, he travels the globe from his Washington base to learn firsthand about the power plays of the stories he writes about.

David Ignatius graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude and studied at King’s College, Cambridge. In a varied and distinguished career, he has worked as an editor and reporter at The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and was Executive Editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris.

Ignatius not only writes novels and a twice-weekly column for The Washington Post, but is also a commentator for MS-NOW, appearing frequently on Morning Joe.

It is a critical moment in the Iranian war of 2026 and the future of the Middle East.

We will talk about many subjects, including the decision of both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu to invade Iran, the factors that will determine its impact on Iran and the Middle East, the possibility of boots on the ground, the economic consequences for oil prices, and future actions by President Trump.

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