Tom Brokaw Biography Quotes 22 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Thomas John Brokaw was born on February 6, 1940, in Webster, South Dakota. He grew up on the Northern Plains, a landscape and community ethic that would shape his voice as a journalist: direct, unadorned, and attentive to ordinary people and the sweep of American history. After attending high school in South Dakota, he enrolled at the University of South Dakota, where he developed a serious interest in politics and public affairs and began to cultivate the craft of broadcasting. He graduated with a degree in political science, leaving Vermillion with a sense of mission about telling the nation's story to itself.

Entry into Journalism
Brokaw's first professional work came at local radio and television stations in the Midwest, where he learned the daily discipline of reporting and anchoring. His on-air poise and command of breaking news quickly led to larger assignments. By the mid-1960s he was in Los Angeles at KNBC, the NBC-owned station, reporting on a city and era in tumult. The experience, combining fast-moving events with the need for narrative clarity, made him a natural candidate for the national network.

Washington and the Today Show
NBC News moved Brokaw to Washington in the early 1970s, where he served as White House correspondent during a period defined by political crisis and transition. He covered the final years of the Nixon administration, the resignation, and the early Ford years, honing a reputation for steady reporting under pressure. In 1976 NBC named him co-host of the Today show, pairing him with Jane Pauley. The partnership helped modernize the morning program and positioned Brokaw as a familiar national presence. From the anchor desk he guided viewers through the late-1970s energy shocks, the 1980 presidential campaign, and the cultural upheavals that reshaped the country.

NBC Nightly News
In 1982 NBC turned to Brokaw to help lead its flagship evening broadcast, initially in a co-anchor arrangement with Roger Mudd. By 1983 he became the sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, succeeding the era personified by John Chancellor and ushering in a new one defined by tough international reporting and a calmer, more conversational style. For more than two decades, he was part of television's celebrated "Big Three" evening news anchors, alongside Peter Jennings at ABC and Dan Rather at CBS. The competition among the three was fierce but professional, and it elevated the standard of nightly journalism.

Defining Coverage
Brokaw's tenure is inseparable from some of the most consequential stories of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In November 1989 he broadcast from Berlin as the Wall opened, capturing the immediacy and symbolism of a divided continent rediscovering itself. He anchored coverage during the Gulf War, reported on the Oklahoma City bombing, and guided viewers through the razor-close 2000 election. On September 11, 2001, he helmed NBC's extended coverage, setting a tone of sobriety and civic focus during a national trauma. Election night after election night, he was a familiar steady presence, backed by colleagues across NBC News, including political reporters and analysts such as Tim Russert, whose work often complemented Brokaw's on-air role.

Author and Public Voice
Parallel to his anchoring, Brokaw emerged as a chronicler of American memory. The Greatest Generation, published in 1998, drew on interviews with men and women who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. The book resonated widely, inspiring follow-ups and placing Brokaw at the center of a national conversation about service, sacrifice, and civic responsibility. He later explored the legacy of the 1960s in Boom! and reflected on changes in American life and opportunity in The Time of Our Lives. After a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, he wrote A Lucky Life, Interrupted, a candid account of illness and gratitude that broadened his public persona from journalist to patient-advocate and memoirist.

Awards and Recognition
Over his long career, Brokaw received many of journalism's highest honors, including multiple Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards, and duPont-Columbia citations. In 2014 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, recognition not only for his reporting but for the cultural effect of his work as an author and national commentator. The accolade underscored his standing as a trusted interpreter of America's past and present.

Personal Life
Brokaw married Meredith Lynn Auld, and together they raised three daughters, Jennifer, Andrea, and Sarah. Family remained a private anchor throughout his public life, even as his work demanded constant travel and long hours. The couple's ties to South Dakota endured, and he lent his time and name to educational and civic causes, reflecting the small-town values that informed his approach to public life.

Later Years and Continuing Role
Brokaw stepped down from NBC Nightly News in 2004 after more than two decades at the helm; Brian Williams succeeded him on the evening broadcast, and later Lester Holt would take on that role as well. Brokaw did not leave the network outright, continuing as a special correspondent, essayist, and historian-in-residence for major anniversaries, elections, and national moments. His 2013 cancer diagnosis led to a period of treatment and reflection, but he continued to appear on NBC and MSNBC when occasions warranted. In 2021 he retired from NBC News, closing a 55-year chapter at the network.

Legacy
Tom Brokaw's legacy rests on a combination of attributes that are hard to reproduce: a reportorial grounding in the field, a calm on camera that made complicated events comprehensible, and a writer's feel for the American story. He helped define the standards of nightly broadcast news in competition and in conversation with peers like Peter Jennings and Dan Rather, while mentoring and collaborating with colleagues across NBC, from Jane Pauley and Roger Mudd to Brian Williams. Through his books, he gave voice to generations beyond the daily news cycle. For viewers who grew up with him in their living rooms, and for journalists who followed, Brokaw exemplified a belief that the evening news could be both rigorous and humane, rooted in facts and mindful of the people whose lives those facts describe.

Our collection contains 22 quotes who is written by Tom, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Justice - Friendship - Leadership - Writing.

Other people realated to Tom: Jessica Savitch (Journalist), Peter Jennings (Journalist), Linda Vester (Entertainer), Willard Scott (Entertainer), Jeff Zucker (Businessman), Andrea Mitchell (Journalist)

• 2014 A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope (Memoir)
• 2007 The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America (Book)
• 1999 The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections (Book)
• 1998 The Greatest Generation (Book)