you think more may pop up? >> i don't know. do you know? >> you would know more than i do. it carries a lot more weight. could we possibly see yourselves? >> of course not. >> why not? >> i rejected that 16 years ago, and i've given more than one explanation for it. >> you're relatively youthful in political termless. >> i'm going to be 75 on my next birthday. i'm in good health, but even if i was 20 years younger, it isn't me. as i've said many, many times. >> was it your wife in the end who decided? >> it was me. >> it was you and not your wife? >> no. i never woke up a single morning thinking it was the right thing for me. i served my country in other ways. secretary of state after making that announcement. i served my country for 40 years in government and trying to serve it every way i know and how now. worked at youth programs.

one of our greatest challenges is to make sure we educate our young people for a 21st century world and 21st century economic system in the united states is different than the economic system 25 years ago. >> we talked about extremities in washington being unhelpful. to my mind that narrows down the republican field quite markedly, because you would rule out probably most of the tea party candidates, most people perceive to be on the extremities. so i'm guessing that your natural instincts would be heading more towards a romney-style, a huntsman-style candidate. >> you turned into a shrink. >> am i a good shrink or bad shrink? >> stick to being on television. >> are you more moderate by nature? >> yes. but here's the rub. you have to act one way politically to achieve the nomination of your party. if you just focus on achieving the nomination of your party either on the left or right, that isn't enough to win a

national election. so you then have to decide how far can you come back from the positions that you took to get that nomination not going on the other side of the center point, but how do you get more of the people closer to the center point so you can win an election. it's really two elections taking place here. one to win the nomination and for that you have to show appeal to the extremes or, let me say, the further extremes of your individual party or democrat or republican. but then you'd better be ready in the general election to move

back to somewhere closer to the middle in order to get the moderates who are judging you not on the basis of your party affiliation but on the basis of what are your policies? what is this person going to do? that's why i say we will see next year this campaign hasn't started yet. we have a year. >> what do you make of herman cain? >> i've known herman for 15, 16 years. when i started america's promise, our youth foundation that my wife now runs, herman was president of national restaurant association, and he was very helpful to us. a very dynamic individual that worked a lot with young people. now he offered himself up for the presidency, and i thank him for his commitment to service. >> he's a military parlance getting it with full barrels. is it fair what's going on with herman cain? is it the man you recognize with all the claims? >> i don't know whether the claims are valid or not, and this is something for herman to deal with. when you enter political life, you should expect these kinds of issues to arise. i don't know what the merit of these claims are, and we will see in the days and weeks ahead. >> if they turn out to be credible -- >> i don't know they'll turn out

to be credible, therefore i'm not going to speculate on what might be the result. >> coming up -- 49 years, and you met on a blind date. >> yes. when i walked in, she was very attractive. she apparently didn't reject me outright. progresso. it fits! fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less.

you've been in a fortunate position, you've had an incredible match, 49 years. you met on a blind date. >> yes. >> do you remember that? >> very well. >> i've never been on a blind date. >> you ought to try it. >> for that moment when your wife-to-be walked in, that's a big moment on a blind date, isn't it? >> a friend of mine took me insisted that i go with him on this blind date. i was stationed in massachusetts about 40 miles outside of boston. he was interested in this young lady, and the young lady had a roommate. he asked me to go with him to pick off the roommate. the roommate was being told the same thing about her roommate, and she didn't like it and she didn't think the parents would approve of her dating an infantry lieutenant. when i walked in, she was very

attractive and she apparently did not reject me outright. the other couple never did form a relationship, and we were married about nine months later. >> you never bought her an engagement ring for years. how did you get out of that? >> she said an interesting thing. >> i bought her rings over the -- it's been 49 years. >> i'm coming to how it ends, but she said that your relationship would not be defined or be successful based on any ring you bought her at that time. you sorted your lies out and did what you had to do. the longevity of maernl is not based around -- >> people sometimes system me about her views on politics and other things. my answer to them, you know, we

got married when i was a young first lieutenant heading to war. i was leaving for a year, and we had only known each other for roughly nine months. i would be gone for a year, and when came back i would be something still of a stranger. she took that risk. i never forget the fact she didn't marry a general, a secretary of state. she married a young first lieutenant. and she sacrificed a lot and i owe her a lot. it's been 49 years. >> what's the secret of a happy marriage? >> getting along. love. what you would expect. >> what are the key values to you that you think most people should really have as priorities? >> service to others, service to something greater than yourself, service to country, serving a purpose in life. why are you here, what are you doing? secondly, being kind to people.

third, raising a good family. and i get asked all the time, what do you want on your gravestone? i said, i don't need much. just put good guy, he served well and he raised a good family and loved his country. that really is what has driven my wife, driven me, driven our family, and driven most of our friends. service to country, service to others. i'm very proud now i have a center named after me at alma mater at the city college in new york. we rejiggered the name. it wasingly to be the center for policy and studies. we made it the center for leadership and service. we're bringing up a new generation of immigrant kids out of new york city. they're from all over the world. they're minorities. they are not that wealthy, and this wonderful school has been educating kids like that for 160

years. that's where i got my free education. so i think that i am serving and meeting the value system that i got from my parents and i tried to develop over my life by giving back to my alma mater and helping a new generation of youngsters learn all about leadership in the service. >> what were your parents have made of your career? >> well, they were proud of me. i was raised in an extended immigrant family, west indian family, jamaican with a british background. they were british subjects when they came here. what they cared about was migt the expectations they had for us to get an education, get out of the house and get a job. that was it. you could be a doctor, lawyer, streetcar conductor. i have cousins who are subway conductors in london. i have other -- >> do you really? >> yes.

and it didn't make any difference what you actually became. it was important that you became something. and that you never embarrassed the family and that you met our expectations. our expectations are you will do better than we did, you will get a job, and you will make us proud in your work. my father died before i became general. my relatives were not happy with me staying in the army, particularly my aunts. what are you doing? nobody stays in the army. you get drafted and come out. i like it and do it well. they were never satisfied with that answer until i told a more pushy aunts that you get a 50% pension after 20 years. i'll be 41 and i can retire. oh, good. that's all we need. the army was very good to me. it was my life and profession. i'm often calmed a statesman and politician. i'm a soldier and infantry officer. that's what i wanted to do when i finished my education, and i did to the best of my ability for 35 years.

>> let's take a break and talk about your upbringing in harlem and how that can be relevant to the "occupy wall street" protestors. where you see where they're coming from, the lessons you learned on those hard streets all those years ago and what they should be doing.

back with general colin powell. you were raised in harlem in the bronx. it's a tough place to be brought up. money was not prevalent or much in your early life at all. when you see the "occupy wall street" protestors and see them spinning out now around america, kind of reflecting the overall feeling of dissatisfaction with america's economy and so on, when you remember how poor you were and how hard you had to fight for life, what do you think of these protestors? are they well-intentioned? do you support them? do you think they're misguided? >> i was born in harlem to immigrant parents, and my parents always had a job. we moved to the south bronx. i don't think either one of them made more than 50 or $60 a week but we got along on that back then. both my parents always worked and they always had work. so people are are concerned now that there is not that source of an income.

there isn't that work source that i remember. so what you're seeing with "occupy wall street" and the others are people who are unhappy, and they're directing their unhappiness right now towards wall street and towards those they think are doing too well in our society. i don't begrudge anybody who has earned a good salary. it's part of our capitalist system. so demonstrating like this is as american as apple pie. we have been marching up and down and demonstrating throughout the history. i get concerned when demonstrations turn into violence or when some of the demonstrators demonstrate absolute neilism and they're not interested in anything but destruction and tearing down the system. >> do you understand the anger particularly towards wall street, i think? i've said this many times on my show recently, because i picked this up from the protestors.

what really gets their goat is that a lot of these banks and bankers got bailed out by the taxpayers. the first chance they got, when they got back on their feet, to not give themselves huge bonuses again, they ignored that temptation and put their noses back in the trough. >> well, you know, i don't know how to be too critical of that. i mean, it has always been the case that there are certain fields in our economic system, such as in the financial world, where you take big risk and you get big rewards. one of the things that is of concern to all of us is there's an increasing gap between those who are doing very well and i'm doing well and those who are not doing as well and those who are not doing as well are not seeing their lives improving. there's frustration and angriness there and this is something our wall street friends, our business friends need to think about and something that our political leaders need to think about. it isn't enough to scream at the occupy wall street demonstrators.

we need our political system to start reflekting this anger back in to how do we fix it? how do we get the economy going again? how do we get businesses that have a lot of money stacked up? how do we get them to invest that money and create jobs. >> you said before with foreign policy that america should avoid saying we are going to instill our democracy on everybody. that it should be more reform. when you look inwardly at america, is that what america needs really, rather than a massive dramatic overlord, to reform, to rethink it is thinking. >> i think we need to take a hard look at our political system, as i have sean said, and see if we cannot get our leaders, particularly in congress, to start finding ways to reform themselves. to close some of the tax loopholes that exist. to take a hard look at what our expenses are and cut those

expenses and then see whether or not we have the revenue base for the expenses that are left. i have had a lot of business people sit down with me and say, you know, if i try to run my business the way the federal government runs its business i wouldn't have a business. how can we continue to run a budget of $3 trillion of which we borrow 1.3 trillion from outside sources. either printing money or borrowing from the china. so a lot of latin american countries now are focusing on world creation and fixing their economies and educating youngsters for the 21st century world. that's what we have to do. we have to get on with it. especially educating our youngsters. a third don't finish school. 50% of minority children don't finish school it. >> is outrageous. >> it isry outrageous. let's pay teachers more and give more incentive but not put it all on the educational system. the family and the home system has a great obligation to help us get these kids started properly.

>> general, you have had an extraordinary life. when you look back on it, excluding marriage and children's births, what's the single greatest moment of your life. >> i never answer single greatest or worst a questions. what i say to young people, you are a product of all of your experiences, you can't single out one thing. i learned as much from the bad as the good. i graduated with a c average and now i have a center named after me and i'm called a founder and distinguished visiting professor. my professors of 53 years old ago would roll over their in their graves if they heard that. it is not where you started life but where you end up along the way. that's the message i give to audiences, especially the young ones. believe in yourself, believe in

this country and listen to the people that care about you in life and just keep doing your best and be your own role model. >> when we come back after this short break, i'd like you to close with some final thoughts f you may, about veteran's day, about veterans and the current men and women who serve in the american military.

general, it is veteran's day, and there will be many veterans watching this interview, quite interested. also many current serving servicemen and women. what message would you give them on this particular day? >> i'm so enormously proud of all of those who are serving now and all of those who served in the past. we have been so blessed to have people who are willing to put their lives on the line for this country. i was in a hospital in california, veteran's hospital last week, and i go up to walter reed and see wounded soldiers and i have seen soldiers who have lost arms and legs, and if they know they can get back in shape, what do they say, i want to rejoin my buddies. i want to be with my buddies. on this veteran's day i'd like

to offer my profound thanks and speaking for all of my colleagues in the military t who have served a special thanks for those who are serving now. iraq and afghanistan is one of the dt most difficult conflicts we have had. it is a daily war not just waiting for d-day or the battle of the bullable but every day and we have a lot of youngsters who are suffering as a result. they have been wounded. they have had traumatic amputations, dra traumatic brain injuries. we have a lot of veterans who are homeless, a lot of veterans who found it unbearable and committed suicide. we have a lot of work to do. on this veteran's day, one of the things we should emphasize it can't just be veteran's day on november 11th, it has to be veteran's day every day and with we have to do everything we can through our governmental services to help your youngsters and we especially have to in their communities help them. there's just so much a veteran's department can do. if you see in your community a veteran that needs something, needs their kid watched or a job or some kind of help, don't wait for a veteran's organization to do it. you do it. look around your community. you will need a veteran in need. you will find a veteran