A Charlie Rose Global Conversation

Epizodes

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  The Voice of American History: David McCullough on America's 250th 07.08.2026 57min

  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 at 250: Where Do We Go From Here? 07.08.2026 1h 8min

  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. Then, tomorrow, on the Fourth of July, we'll revisit an archival conversation with the late David McCullough.Today, I'm pleased to welcome New York Times columnist Bret Stephens.
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  Mel Brooks at 100: Stories, Laughter & The 2000 Year Old Man | Charlie Rose 01.07.2026 35min

  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.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.
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  David McCullough, America's Most Popular Historian On Who We Are and What We Stand For 01.07.2026 34min

  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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  Remembering Clive Davis 01.07.2026 36min

  Clive Davis, the music empresario responsible for so many talents in the music industry, died today. He was 94.It's an interesting time to talk about the life of Clive Davis as the music industry undergoes so many changes because of the digital revolution. We talked of many things including Clive Davis's philosophy of music, what makes a great talent, his famous parties, and the changes in the music industry. Interviews from Charlie Rose.com: 9/28/20004/5/2013
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  Remembering Alan Greenspan | A Charlie Rose Global Conversation 22.06.2026 55min

  Alan Greenspan, a powerful voice in shaping the American economy as Chairman of the Federal Reserve for 20 years, died today. He was 100.Greenspan was a champion of capitalism, markets, and managing interest rates to fight inflation. His critics argued he did not do enough in regulating the new financial instruments that were responsible for the financial crisis.Greenspan, along with his wife, the respected NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, was a well-known mover and shaker in the Washington social establishment. In his earlier life, Greenspan was an intellectual companion of the writer Ayn Rand and, throughout his life, reflected a fierce curiosity about economic theories and political policy.It is an interesting moment to consider the career of Alan Greenspan as a new Fed Chairman, Kevin Warsh, takes office and President Trump often expresses his combative position in favor of lower interest rates.Here is a conversation from 2007 about his then newly published autobiography, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.
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  David Petraeus on Ukraine, Iran, China - and the Next Global Conflict 06.06.2026 56min

  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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  The Rise of China and America's Response With Evan Osnos 05.06.2026 1h 5min

  Evan Osnos won the prestigious National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2014 for his book Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China. The rise of China has been a focus of his reporting career, along with American politics and the impact of our wealthiest individuals.Osnos graduated from Harvard and, since 2008, has been a staff writer for The New Yorker. Previously, he was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, covering the Middle East.He worked in China for both The New Yorker and the Chicago Tribune and witnessed the country’s economic growth within the tight political control of the Communist Party. His subject was often the people impacted by the transformation.Evan Osnos has written several books that reflect his reporting. They are:• The Haves and the Have-Yachts • Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury • Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now • Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China Evan Osnos was in Shanghai and Beijing for the summit meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.
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  David Ignatius on Trump, Iran, China, Russia, and the Thing That Worries Him Most 03.06.2026 1h 19min

  A Charlie Rose Global Conversation.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 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 (CEO of The Atlantic) on AI, Ambition, and Running As a Metaphor 03.06.2026 1h 17min

  Nicholas Thompson has been one of the definers of thedigital revolution in all of its impact on our life. After graduating fromStanford 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 becamemore pervasive. Now he is the CEO of The Atlantic as artificial intelligencebecomes more involved in our daily life.Thompson has written two books. The first was The Hawk andthe Dove about Paul Nitze, the hawk, and George Kennan, the dove. Nitze wasThompson’s maternal grandfather.The second, published in 2025, is The Running Ground aboutThompson’s life as a serious and successful marathon runner. It is much morethan a book about running. It is about his cancer struggle and the emotionalstory of his relationship to his father. Thompson makes running central to hisidentity and attitudes about competition, fear, ambition, and endurance.Nicholas Thompson has achieved great success, but in The Running Ground useshis success in running to explore not only the joy of victory but also itscost.As we learn more about the progress in artificialintelligence, 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, thedigital revolution, social media, and the impact of artificial intelligence onall of us.
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  Barney Frank on Human Rights and Financial Regulation | An Appreciation 22.05.2026 1h 1min

  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 on the Meeting Between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump and What It Means for the World 15.05.2026 34min

  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: Bold, Brilliant, and Unforgettable | He Changed Things 07.05.2026 52min

  A Charlie Rose Global Conversation from 7/23/2004.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 On His Jewish Faith, A Palestinian State, Iran and the Important Question 02.05.2026 32min

  A Charlie Rose Global Conversation: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 on Iran, the U.S., and Global Stability 28.04.2026 46min

  A Charlie Rose Global Conversation: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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  Jon Meacham on America at 250: How Is the Nation Really Doing in 2026? 13.01.2026 1h 18min

  We live in historic times and stand at three significant milestones. Year two of President Trump’s second term begins on January 20, 2026. One quarter of the 21st century began on January 1, 2026. And on July 4, 2026, America will celebrate its 250th birthday.I am asking, on camera, a series of extraordinary people to help take the temperature of America in 2026. They come from around the world and from every walk of life spanning policy and poetry and many without fame or fortune. The central question is simple: How are we doing?Jon Meacham is a historian, biographer, speechwriter, commentator, teacher, and Pulitzer Prize recipient. He is an advisor and friend to presidents and the biographer of four American presidents Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and George H. W. Bush and is currently writing about Dwight Eisenhower. He has also written about the friendship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, as well as several acclaimed books, including The Soul of America, The Battle for Our Better Angels, and His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope.Jon Meacham teaches at Vanderbilt University and appears frequently on Morning Joe on MSNOW.
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  David Ignatius on Donald Trump, Venezuela, Greenland and Iran 11.01.2026 50min

  A Charlie Rose Global Conversation:David Ignatius join me for a continuation of a conversation that was posted this week but recorded before the U.S. military’s mission to Venezuela to arrest the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro and his wife.It also occurred before a fascinating interview between President Trump and 5 New York Times reporters on Wednesday evening, January 7, 2026
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  Tom Friedman On The Morning After The Morning After - In Venezuela 09.01.2026 26min

  We begin tonight a series of conversations about the United States military’s mission to arrest the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and bring him to the United States for trial on drug charges. Is it part of the controversial new initiative in American foreign policy?We start with Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times. He is one of the world’s most influential foreign affairs columnists and a speaker at conferences around the world. His ideas are read and sought out by influential leaders in capitals everywhere. His subject is global affairs in all its reality—from war and peace to politics, technology, climate, and biology—as well as the strategy and motivation of the leaders whose actions drive the forces that determine the future. He is the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and the author of seven books.This is an important moment to consider the consequences of the United States’ action.Throughout the multiple conversations, we will ask many questions about the mission, including why it was undertaken, the role of oil, what happens now, and the impact on China, Russia, Iran, Europe, and other nations in Latin America. Is it the first of other missions regarding the Western Hemisphere, part of a renewal of the Monroe Doctrine?
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  David Ignatius on Donald Trump After 1 Year and America at 250 Years 06.01.2026 1h 11min

  * This conversation was recorded on Dec 22nd 2025, before the events in Venezuela. We hope to follow up with David Ignatius soon on Venezuela and more.America is at an interesting moment.We are approaching one year into the second Trump administration and are one quarter of the way through the 21st century. On July 4, 2026, we will celebrate our 250th birthday. I am asking a series of extraordinary Americans - many without fame or fortune, and coming from prose and poetry - to help take the temperature of America in 2026.What is the American idea?What do we stand for?What values do we need to remind ourselves of?How is this country doing politically, economically, culturally, and as a force for good around the world?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 - more than 25 years.From 2000 to 2003, he was executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris, while continuing to write his column.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 the author of twelve spy novels, including Agents of Innocence, his first - considered by many who know the agency to be the best description ever written of spycraft and the CIA.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 in the world.
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  Marty Baron - Former Editor of the Washington Post - on Venezuela, Trump, and the Role of the Press 06.01.2026 1h 8min

  Freedom was at the heart of America 250 years ago on July 4th, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed. Freedom of speech was recognized as an American right. It was essential to the responsibility of journalism in America to hold power accountable. How was journalism doing as America celebrates its 250th birthday, enters the second quarter of the 21st century and the second year of the second Donald Trump presidency. Martin "Marty" Barron is America's most celebrated newspaper editor lionized in the Academy Award film spotlight as the executive editor of the Boston Globe, which received a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for its coverage of the Boston Catholic sexual abuse scandal. In January 2013, he became executive editor of the Washington Post, which was purchased by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos from the legendary Graham family after the death of Katherine Graham. During his editorship, the Washington Post received a number of Pulitzer prizes.Baron retired in early 2021 and wrote his memoir, Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post. He was also executive editor of the Miami Herald and has worked at the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. He has received many journalism honors in addition to the Pulitzer Prizes.