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Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long. >> reporter: but author todd purdum says even before kennedy's funeral, support for the law was building, and the success of the march, he says, was an important factor. >> if the march had been a disaster and the speech had been a dud, it might have hurt their chances at the law. so the fact that the march was a triumph and the speech was one for the record books, it can only have been icing on the cake. >> reporter: purdum also writes that news organizations here in washington were prepa...

Why don't you tell us about that. >> reporter: washington, d.c., in the summer of 1963 was more than a little nervous about the prospect of a big civil rights march coming to the city, and that worry extended from the president on down, a fear that if it went badly, it could derail the efforts to pass the nation's most important civil rights law. ♪ it's easy to see now why the march on washington is celebrated as a landmark in the civil rights movement. it helped to shape public opinion after decades of struggle, says todd perdom, author of a forth coming book about that period. >> i think i...

It's very, very tight. i think the principle and the spokesman are clearly in sync and i think you saw i think with the piece that todd perdom has done. high level of somewhat understandable self-pity in the white house right now. i think that gibbs is saying things that clearly the president believes, and i don't think it much matters what other people do say. >> there are sometimes, mike barnicle, where the white house sets up. there are different modeling to go by and some whis white houses leave a poor guy in the dark. and they actually, with scott mcclellan, they actually put a burlap sac...

Of michigan. todd perdom is with us. is our government dysfunctional beyond repair he writes. part of the answer may be depends on what you pay attention to. your day or their day, the washington game or some larger all-american game. it's obama's convict by keeping his head down and do his job he can also pursue a different strategy than one that works toward victory in the long run. todd, good to have you with us this morning. >> nice to be here. >> what is your take after the research and writing you've done? is washington broken beyond repair? >> i think there are a lot of signs it's pris ...

Aggravated assault. questions are now raised why such dangerous criminals were housed in a medium security facility where guards hadn't noticed right away they had cut through the fence and escaped. >> it appears to have been a human error on the part of several of that staff. >> reporter: a human error with deadly consequences for an innocent couple from oklahoma. this, as the manhunt continues in and around yellowstone and throughout the west. george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. >> george, thanks so much. when we come back here on "morning joe," the gridlock and blame game in washington are...