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Tom Brokaw

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Tom Brokaw
Brokaw at the 2014 Peabody Awards
Born
Thomas John Brokaw

(1940-02-06) February 6, 1940 (age 84)
Webster, South Dakota, U.S.
Occupation(s)Television journalist, author
Years active1966–present
Notable credit(s)Today co-anchor
(1976–1981)
NBC Nightly News anchor
(1982–2004)
NBC News Special Correspondent
(2004–present)
Meet the Press moderator
(2008)[1]
Spouse
Meredith Lynn Auld
​
(m. 1962)​
Children3

Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw (/ˈbroʊkɔː/; born February 6, 1940)[3] is an American television journalist and author, best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004.[4] He is the author of The Greatest Generation (1998) and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He is the only person to host all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, briefly, Meet the Press. He now serves as a Special Correspondent for NBC News and works on documentaries for other outlets.[5]

Along with Peter Jennings at ABC News and Dan Rather at CBS News, Brokaw was one of the "Big Three" news anchors in the U.S. during the 1980s and 1990s. The three all hosted their network's flagship nightly news programs for over 20 years, and all three started and retired within a year of each other.[6]

Early life

Brokaw (left) greeting the 20,000th visitor to the Gavins Point Dam in 1958; Brokaw was a tour guide here

Brokaw was born in Webster, South Dakota, the son of Eugenia "Jean" (née Conley; 1917–2011),[7] who worked in sales and as a post-office clerk, and Anthony Orville "Red" Brokaw (1912–1982).[8] He was the eldest of their three sons and was named after his maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Conley. His father was a descendant of Huguenot immigrants Bourgon and Catherine (née Le Fèvre) Broucard, and his mother was Irish-American.[9] His paternal great-grandfather, Richard P. Brokaw, founded the town of Bristol, South Dakota, and the Brokaw House, a small hotel and the first structure in Bristol.[10]

Brokaw's father was a construction foreman for the Army Corps of Engineers. He worked at the Black Hills Ordnance Depot (BHOD) and helped construct Fort Randall Dam; his job often required the family to resettle throughout South Dakota during Brokaw's early childhood.[11] The Brokaws lived for short periods in Bristol, Igloo (the small residential community of the BHOD), and Pickstown, before settling in Yankton, where Brokaw attended high school.[9][11]

As a high school student attending Yankton Senior High School,[12] Brokaw was governor of South Dakota American Legion Boys State, and in that capacity he accompanied then-South Dakota Governor Joe Foss to New York City for a joint appearance on a TV game show. It was to be the beginning of a long relationship with Foss, whom Brokaw would later feature in his book about World War II veterans, The Greatest Generation. Brokaw also became an Advisory Board member of the Joe Foss Institute.[13]

Brokaw matriculated at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, but dropped out after a year as he apparently failed to keep up in his studies, in his words majoring in "beer and co-eds". In tribute to his fun-loving freshman year, the Airliner Bar has named a booth in his honor. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of South Dakota in 1964.[12]

For several years, Brokaw mountain climbed with the "Do Boys", whose members included Yvon Chouinard and Douglas Tompkins.

Broadcasting career

Early years

Brokaw's television career began at KTIV in Sioux City, Iowa followed by stints at KMTV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska, and WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia,[14] In 1966, he joined NBC News, reporting from California and anchoring the 11 p.m. news for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. In 1973, NBC made Brokaw White House correspondent, covering the Watergate scandal, and anchor of the Saturday editions of Nightly News. He became host of NBC's Today Show in 1976 and remained in the job until 1981.

NBC Nightly News

Brokaw preparing for a live broadcast in the aftermath of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

On April 5, 1982, Brokaw began co-anchoring NBC Nightly News from New York with Roger Mudd in Washington. After a year, NBC News president Reuven Frank concluded that the dual-anchor program was not working and selected Brokaw to be sole anchor.[15] The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw commenced on September 5, 1983. Among other news items, he covered the Challenger disaster, EDSA Revolution, Loma Prieta earthquake, fall of the Berlin Wall and Hurricane Andrew. [citation needed]

Brokaw scored a major coup when, on November 9, 1989, he was the first English-language broadcast journalist to report opening of the Berlin Wall. Brokaw attended a televised press conference organized in East Berlin by Günter Schabowski, press spokesman for the East German Politburo, which had just decided to allow East Berliners to cross to the West without prior approval. When Schabowski was asked when this epoch-making freedom would take effect, he glanced through his notes, then said, "sofort, unverzüglich" ("immediately, without delay") – touching off a stampede of East Berliners to the Wall. Brokaw subsequently obtained an interview with Schabowski, who when pressed repeated his "immediately" statement. Later that evening Brokaw reported from the west side of the Brandenburg Gate on this announcement and the pandemonium that had broken out in East Berlin because of it.[16]

As anchor, Brokaw conducted the first one-on-one American television interviews with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He and Katie Couric hosted a prime-time newsmagazine, Now, that aired from 1993–94 before being folded into the multi-night Dateline NBC program. [citation needed]

Brokaw with Vladimir Putin before an interview on 2 June 2000.

On September 11, 2001, Brokaw joined Katie Couric and Matt Lauer around 9:30 a.m., following the live attack on the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and continued to anchor all day, until after midnight. Following the collapse of the second tower, Brokaw observed:

This is war. This is a declaration and an execution of an attack on the United States."[17][18]

He continued to anchor coverage to midnight on the following two days. Later that month, a letter containing anthrax was addressed to him as part of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Brokaw was not harmed, but two NBC News employees were infected. In 2008, he testified before the Commission on Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism about the anthrax attacks, publicly discussing his experiences for the first time in a detailed, day-by-day account.[19]

In 2002, NBC announced that Brokaw would retire as anchor of the NBC Nightly News following the 2004 Presidential election, to be succeeded by Brian Williams. Brokaw would remain with NBC News in a part-time capacity from that point onwards, serving as an analyst and anchoring and producing documentary programs. Brokaw closed his final Nightly News broadcast in front of 15.7 million viewers on NBC on December 1, 2004, by saying:

That's Nightly News for this Wednesday night. I'm Tom Brokaw. You'll see Brian Williams here tomorrow night, and I'll see you along the way.

By the end of his time as Nightly News anchor, Brokaw was regarded as the most popular news personality in the United States. Nightly News had moved into first place in the Nielsen ratings in late 1996[20] and held on to the spot for the remainder of Brokaw's tenure on the program, placing him ahead of ABC's Peter Jennings and World News Tonight, and CBS's Dan Rather and the CBS Evening News.

Brokaw in 2006 speaking about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Along with Jennings and Rather, Brokaw helped usher in the era of the TV news anchor as a lavishly compensated, globe-trotting star in the 1980s. The magnitude of a news event could be measured by whether Brokaw and his counterparts on the other two networks showed up on the scene. Brokaw's retirement in December 2004, followed by Rather's ouster from the CBS Evening News in March 2005, and Jennings' death in August 2005, brought that era to a close. [citation needed]

After Nightly News

After leaving the anchor chair, Brokaw remained at NBC as Special Correspondent, providing periodic reports for Nightly News. He served as an NBC analyst during the 2008 presidential election campaign[21] and moderated the second presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain at Belmont University. He reported documentaries for the Discovery Channel and the History Channel and in 2006 delivered one of the eulogies during the state funeral of former President Gerald R. Ford.

On June 13, 2008, when NBC interrupted its regular programming to announce the sudden death of NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert, Brokaw served as the announcer. A week later, NBC announced that Brokaw would serve as host of Meet the Press on an interim basis. He was succeeded by David Gregory in December 2008.

Brokaw serves on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Rescue Committee and the Mayo Clinic. He is also a member of the Howard University School of Communications Board of Visitors and a trustee of the University of South Dakota, the Norton Simon Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the International Rescue Committee. He also provides the voiceover for a University of Iowa advertisement that airs on television during Iowa Hawkeyes athletic events.[22]

On May 29, 2011, Brokaw began hosting The Boys in the Hall, a baseball documentary series for Fox Sports Net.[23]

In December 2012, Brokaw starred in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's annual Christmas concert, with live audiences of 84,000 and a nationally televised broadcast titled Home for the Holidays.[1]

In April 2014, a new broadcast facility opened on the Universal Studios Hollywood lot, and named in Brokaw's honor as the Brokaw News Center.[24] The facility houses KNBC, Telemundo owned-and-operated station KVEA, and the Los Angeles bureau of NBC News.

Personal life

Since 1962, Brokaw has been married to author and 1959 Miss South Dakota Meredith Lynn Auld.[citation needed] They have three daughters: Jennifer, Andrea, and Sarah.[25] Brokaw and his wife spend considerable time at their ranch near Livingston, Montana, which they bought in 1989.[26][27]

On September 6, 2012, Brokaw was hospitalized after appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe. He later tweeted that he was "all well" and explained his illness as having accidentally taken half a dose of Ambien in the morning.[28] He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in August 2013 at the Mayo Clinic.[29] Brokaw and his physicians are "very encouraged with his progress".[30] He has continued to work for NBC throughout his treatments. On December 21, 2014, Brokaw announced that his cancer is in full remission.[31][32][33]

Career timeline

Speeches

Books

Brokaw signing a book in Seattle in 2007
  • 1998 The Greatest Generation ISBN 0-375-50202-5 (hardback) ISBN 0-385-33462-1 (paperback) depicting the Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and fought World War II;
  • 1999 The Greatest Generation Speaks ISBN 0-375-50394-3 (hardback) ISBN 0-385-33538-5 (paperback);
  • 2001 An Album of Memories ISBN 0-375-50581-4 (hardback) ISBN 0-375-76041-5 (paperback);
  • 2002 A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland ISBN 0-375-50763-9 (hardback) ISBN 0-375-75935-2 (paperback);
  • 2006 Galen Rowell: A Retrospective ISBN 1-57805-115-0 (hardback) Foreword by Tom Brokaw;
  • 2007 Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today ISBN 1-4000-6457-0 (hardback);
  • 2011 The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America ISBN 978-1-4000-6458-8 (hardback);
  • 2013 Christmas from Heaven: The True Story of the Berlin Candy Bomber ISBN 978-1-6090-7700-6 (hardback);
  • 2015 A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope ISBN 978-1-4000-6969-9 (hardback) ISBN 978-0804-19500-3 (paperback).

Awards

Public and industry awards

  • 1989 Peabody Award for a report called To Be An American;[36]
  • Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism for Dateline NBC documentary special Why Can't We Live Together on hidden realities of racial separation in suburban America;
  • Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcast journalism for his interview with Mikhail Gorbachev;
  • Seven Emmy Awards including one for China in Crisis special report;
  • 1990 National Headliner Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews for advancing the understanding of religion, race and ethnicity;
  • 1992 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media presented by the Freedom Forum;
  • 1993 Emmy award for reporting on floods in the Midwest;
  • 1995 Dennis Kauff Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism from Boston University;
  • 1995 Lowell Thomas Award from Marist College;
  • 1997 University of Missouri School of Journalism Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism;
  • 1998 Fred Friendly First Amendment Award, a tribute to those "individuals whose broadcast career reflects a consistent devotion to freedom of speech and the principles embodied in the First Amendment.";
  • 1998 American Legion award for distinguished public service in the field of communication;
  • 1998 Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America's President's Award recognizing "devotion to helping young people through scholarships.";
  • 1999 Congressional Medal of Honor Society's "Tex" McCrary Excellence in Journalism Award;
  • 1999 Emmy award for international coverage of the Kosovo conflict;
  • 2002: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association[37]
  • 2003 Peabody Award for his special report called "A Question of Fairness";[38]
  • 2005 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences;
  • 2005 Four Freedoms Medal: Freedom of Speech And Expression;
  • 2006 Washington State University Edward R. Murrow School of Communications Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting Award;
  • 2006 Sylvanus Thayer Award: United States Military Academy at West Point;
  • 2006 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism at Arizona State University;[39]
  • 2006 Induction into the Television Hall of Fame;
  • 2007 Horatio Alger Award for overcoming adversity to achieve success through the American free enterprise system from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Inc.;
  • 2011 Charles Osgood Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast Journalism from WFUV (90.7 FM);
  • 2012 The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal awarded by Vanderbilt University;[40]
  • 2012 Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award awarded at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts;
  • 2013 Peabody Award for enhancing his reputation since he left the NBC News desk in 2004.[41]
  • 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom[42]

Honorary degrees

References

  1. ^ "Tom Brokaw – Council on Foreign Relations". Retrieved 2008-02-07.
  2. ^ "Anchor's Pay Package May Change Standards - The New York Times". The New York Times. December 20, 2001.
  3. ^ "Tom Brokaw Biography: News Anchor, Journalist (1940–)". Biography.com (A&E Networks). Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  4. ^ Brokaw, Tom. "Tom Brokaw Reflects On Cancer, 'Nightly News' And His 'Lucky Life'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
  5. ^ "John Glenn College of Public Affairs | Tom Brokaw". glenn.osu.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
  6. ^ "Anchors could bring new era of network stability". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
  7. ^ "Eugenia Conley Brokaw Obituary".
  8. ^ "Tom Brokaw Biography (1940–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
  9. ^ a b McGuire, John M. (November 6, 2002). "From Yankton to Yankee Town". St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. E1.
  10. ^ Brokaw, Tom. (2003). A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland in the Forties and Fifties, p. 9. New York: Random House.
  11. ^ a b Jordan, Larry (February 1995). "Tom Brokaw: A Heavyweight in a World of Lightweights Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine". Midwest Today.
  12. ^ a b "Tom Brokaw – Biography". Yahoo! TV. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  13. ^ "Our Leadership". Joe Foss Institute. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  14. ^ Wishart, David J. (2004). Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press. p. 507. ISBN 9780803247871.
  15. ^ Frank, Reuven. Out of Thin Air: The Brief Wonderful Life of Network News (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), pp. 383–84.
  16. ^ "Brokaw reports from the Berlin Wall". NBC NEWS. 1989-11-09. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  17. ^ Owen, Rob (September 12, 2001). "Tuned In: This was reality TV at its most horrific". Post-gazette.com. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  18. ^ "NBC World Trade Center Part 12: YouTube (accessed 2009-11-22)". Youtube.com. 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
  19. ^ Biological Threat Assessment[permanent dead link], c-spanvideo.org; accessed February 19, 2014.
  20. ^ "CBS tops Nielsens 2nd week in row". SFGate.com. San Francisco Examiner. 1997-03-12.
  21. ^ "Inside Cable News". Insidecable.blogsome.com. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  22. ^ "The University of Iowa, Tom Brokaw, and because each student (and young) with their research should Alt". Online University. Retrieved 2010-03-16.[dead link]
  23. ^ "Fox Sports Net Orders 'The Boys in the Hall' Baseball Series, Hosted by Tom Brokaw". Media Bistro. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  24. ^ "NBC names L.A. facility for Brokaw".
  25. ^ Brokaw, Tom (2003). A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland in the Forties and Fifties. Random House Trade Paperbacks. p. Acknowledgements, x. ISBN 978-0375759352.
  26. ^ OKeefe, Eric (May 1, 2007). "The Tom Brokaw Interview". Land Report. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  27. ^ Ronnow, Karin (September 17, 2006). "'Big Sky Cooking'". Montana Standard. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  28. ^ "UPDATE: Tom Brokaw Says He's Fine After Hospital Run". Deadline. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  29. ^ "Tom Brokaw Diagnosed With Cancer, Prognosis Encouraging". NBC News.
  30. ^ Byers, Dylan (February 11, 2014). "NBC's Tom Brokaw diagnosed with cancer". Politico. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  31. ^ "Tom Brokaw: NBC Nightly News Anchorman's Multiple Myeloma Cancer Is In Remission". The Inquisitr News.
  32. ^ Duke, Alan (February 11, 2014). "Tom Brokaw reveals cancer diagnosis; doctors are 'optimistic'". CNN. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  33. ^ Winograd, David (February 11, 2014). "Tom Brokaw Reveals He Has Cancer". Time. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  34. ^ a b c d e f g h "Tom Brokaw - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com". Msnbc.msn.com. June 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  35. ^ "Tom Brokaw Addresses HPU's Class of 2015". highpoint.edu. High Point University. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  36. ^ 48th Annual Peabody Awards Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, May 1990.
  37. ^ "Paul White Award". Radio Television Digital News Association. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  38. ^ 63rd Annual Peabody Awards Archived August 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, May 2004.
  39. ^ Arizona State University. "Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication". Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  40. ^ "Brokaw to Vanderbilt grads: Become the next 'greatest generation'".
  41. ^ 73rd Annual Peabody Awards Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, May 2014.
  42. ^ "President Obama Announces the Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients". The White House. November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  43. ^ "One Hundred Sixty Fourth Annual Commencement".
  44. ^ "Tom Brokaw to speak at MSU Feb. 28". Montana State University. Retrieved September 4, 2011.
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Preceded by Today Co-Anchor with Jane Pauley
June 7, 1976 – December 31, 1981 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NBC Nightly News Anchor
April 5, 1982 – December 1, 2004
(co-anchor with Roger Mudd until September 5, 1983) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Meet the Press Moderator
June 29, 2008 – December 7, 2008 		Succeeded by
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