Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw (born February 6, 1940) is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. 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.
Easton Press Tom Brokaw books
The Greatest Generation - Signed limited edition (3000 copies) - 1999
A Long Way From Home - signed first edition - 2002
Boom! Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today - signed first edition - 2008
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Journalist Tom Brokaw
Thomas John Brokaw was born in Webster, South Dakota to Anthony Orville Brokaw and Jean Conley; he was the eldest of their three sons. He was named after his maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Conley. His father was of Huguenot descent, and his mother was Irish. 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.
Brokaw's father was a construction worker 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 during Brokaw's early childhood.[4] 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.
As a high school student, 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.
Tom Brokaw dropped out of The University of Iowa, where he says he majored in "beer and co-eds" before receiving his B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion in 1962.
He has been married to Meredith Lynn Auld (a former Miss South Dakota and author) since 1962. They have three daughters, Jennifer Jean, Andrea Brooks and Sara Auld.
Career
His television career began at KTIV in Sioux City, Iowa, followed by a three-year stint at KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1965, he became an editor and anchorman of the late-evening news on WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. The following year he joined NBC News, reporting from California and anchoring the 11 p.m. news for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. From 1973-1976 he was an NBC News White House correspondent, covering the Watergate scandal. During this time, he was asked by the higher-rated CBS News to join it after CBS's management had decided its reporter, Dan Rather, was too hostile to then-President Richard Nixon. The switch never happened after word of it was leaked to the press.
In 1976, Brokaw became NBC News' Today Show host. He was also the floor reporter for the two major parties' presidential nominating conventions.
In 1982, Brokaw began co-anchoring NBC Nightly News, along with co-anchor Roger Mudd. When Mudd went on to host Meet the Press and American Almanac, a weekly newsmagazine, Brokaw became the sole anchor of the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on September 5, 1983.
In 1987, he wrote The Arms, the Men, the Money, investigating Contra rebels. That same year he conducted the first one-on-one American TV interview with Mikhail Gorbachev, and won an A.I.duPont-Columbia University Award. He also moderated the debates among all declared presidential candidates of both parties.
In 1989, he reported the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Also in January of 1989, he was the first person ever to do a The More You Know public service announcement.
From 1992-93 he anchored The Brokaw Report series of prime-time "critical issues" specials. He was also host, with Katie Couric, of a prime-time newsmagazine called Now. The show aired from 1993-94, and was folded into the multi-night Dateline NBC program.
In 1995, Brokaw reported from the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. The following year he reported from the scene of the TWA flight 800 tragedy.
In 1997, he interviewed Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung, key figures in the campaign finance abuse scandal.
In 1999, he conducted the first North American TV interview with Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, in Moscow. He also traveled to Tirana, Albania during NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia.
In 2000, he conducted the first American TV interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow. He was also Master of Ceremonies at the opening of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Brokaw was Grand Marshall for the 112th Tournament of Roses parade in 2001.
On September 11, 2001, Brokaw joined Katie Couric and Matt Lauer around 9:30 AM, following the live attack on the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and continued to anchor all day, until after midnight, when MSNBC took over coverage. During the early stages of the disaster, Brokaw famously responded to Lauer's speculations over loss of life after the second tower fell by saying, "This is war. This is a declaration and execution of an attack on the United States." He also asked "Are we at war?" and exclaimed "War! War!" in the style of a sports chant.
Throughout the day, Brokaw was joined by David Bloom, Jim Miklaszewski from the Pentagon, author Tom Clancy, Senator John McCain, and NBC Aviation expert Robert Hager at different points in the day, just to name a few.
Brokaw returned for the following two days and expanded the NBC Nightly News to midnight, as well. Along with his contemporaries, Peter Jennings of ABC and Dan Rather of CBS, the three anchors provided thorough and blanket coverage of the attacks.
In late September 2001, a letter containing anthrax was addressed to him as part of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Brokaw wasn't harmed, but two NBC News employees were infected.
In 2002, Brokaw announced his intention to go under retirement as anchor of the NBC Nightly News effective after the 2004 Presidential election. NBC then announced that Brian Williams would be Brokaw's successor as the anchor of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004. NBC also announced that Brokaw will remain with NBC News in a part-time capacity through 2014 serving as an analyst as well as anchoring and producing documentary programs. By the end of his time as Nightly News anchor, Brokaw was regarded as the most popular news personality in the United States. His program was consistently rated the highest evening news show, topping Dan Rather and Peter Jennings in the evening news ratings. This may explain why Brokaw was the only one of the three evening news anchors to have a sit-down interview with President George W. Bush.
Along with the two other pillars of the so-called "Big Three" — Peter Jennings (ABC) and Dan Rather (CBS) - Brokaw had ushered in the era of the TV news anchor as 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 finally Jennings's death in August 2005, brought that era to a close.
He closed his final Nightly News broadcast in front of 15.7 million viewers on NBC by saying:
"That's Nightly News for this Wednesday night. I'm Tom Brokaw. You'll see Brian Williams tomorrow night; I'll see you along the way."
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 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.
On May 29, 2011, Brokaw began hosting The Boys in the Hall, a baseball documentary series for Fox Sports Net.
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.
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. The facility houses KNBC-TV, Telemundo owned-and-operated station KVEA, and the Los Angeles bureau of NBC News.
Tom Brokaw books in order
The Greatest Generation (1998)
The Greatest Generation Speaks (1999)
An Album of Memories (2001)
A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland (2002)
Galen Rowell: A Retrospective (2006) Foreword by Tom Brokaw
Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today (2007)
The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America (2011)
Christmas from Heaven: The True Story of the Berlin Candy Bomber (2013)
A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope (2015)
The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate (2019)
Never Give Up: A Prairie Family's Story (2023)
Source and additional information: Tom Brokaw