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Presidents, what i've been struck by most is our -- the pastor at the church where her father ministered, where we first learned the grace of her. some of my colleagues here say aretha franklin would e-mail them or text them or call them. african-americans, young, coming up in the business, saying stay at it, i'm proud of your work. do we me thaiss that part of he? how do you decelebrated that pa, not just the music? >> i mean, people come to the museum from all over the world. it is -- you know, part of what was so endearing about aretha franklin is she was this iconic celebrity but at the sa...

That's what aretha was all about. i know everybody heard about whatever it was that aretha supposedly and i was going through at one time, which i felt was, well, aretha is being aretha. so i just didn't dignify it, because i'm sure she would never have dignified it. so that has passed. no ill thoughts or memories about that for me. >> well, i'm glad that you guys -- listen, with friends and loved ones, you have ups and downs, agreements and disagreements. but for me, she meant so much to my family and to my mother and to people of your generation. you guys passed so much on to us. talk to us ...

>> van, you just mentioned george w. bush. we have some sound. this is the impact she had. when you cover politics, you're around a lot of celebrities and politicians. watching the face of the president of the united states, for example, whether it's george w. bush or barack obama, we have both. you understand when they understand they're in a special place because they're around famous people all the time. they're around celebrities all the time. they're themselves the president of the united states. they get chills being around aretha franklin. listen here to george w. bush. >> one record ex...

Other performer, but how could you touch it? and again, just years later in her career but standing on the steps of the capitol, the inauguration of the first african-american president. just wow. >> yeah, wow is all you can say. again, many people have sung the national anthem masterfully, but no one did what aretha franklin did right there. her command of voice, her command of talent, her ear, but also how she understood the cultural moment. she knew how significant it was to have an african-american president. she was on her "a" game. in south africa, she was on her "a" game. at the grammy'...

God put us all here for a purpose. you know, once we fulfill that purpose, his reward is to call us home. >> tell us about -- you guys came along at the same time. i've seen some of the images of you and stevie wonder, all of you in the same room. what was it like? you had to come up through the ranks then. it wasn't like someone pulled you off of star search. you had to earn it. both of you certainly did that. >> oh, absolutely. i remember when aretha first joined columbia records. they had her recording something that was so completely out of what we now know as aretha franklin's sound. but ...