America will miss Tom Brokaw.

[Snowden]

<DIV>The Anchor-Historian Signs Off
America will miss Tom Brokaw.

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 12:00 a.m. EST

NEW YORK--At 5:30 or so on the morning of Nov. 3, NBC's chief anchor looked into the camera to address that part of the election-night audience that was still awake to say a few words. "Address" is too formal a term, perhaps, to describe what Tom Brokaw was about in those few moments as he delivered a kind of thanks and farewell to viewers on the last election he would cover in the anchor's chair. Still, there could be no doubt that the brief commentary delivered by the impossibly fresh-looking Mr. Brokaw had to do with matters above and beyond a personal farewell. Along the way, he took the opportunity, that morning after the election, to say that the results might be in dispute (as they still were at the time), but that, in the system under which Americans were privileged to live, we were as ever, secure in the knowledge it would all be resolved. There were, he pointed out, no tanks in the streets, no troops required.

A viewer or two might have been inclined to retort that there would have been, in the same circumstances, no tanks in the streets in England, either, and a few other countries, but it hardly mattered. Most people would have understood his meaning, particularly those acquainted with his first book, "The Greatest Generation" (1998)--a work in which, its calm narrative voice notwithstanding, there beats a steady undertone of wonderment at the Americans who had, at such cost, gone to war, fought and endured, unsung, and then gone on to build new lives. Its author's marveling tone encompassed a truth too obvious to need spelling out: namely, that the greatness of the great generation reflects the nation from which it came.

That consciousness, and a bottomless capacity to absorb the experiences of those former combatants--deeds of valor nearly inconceivable, heard in the quiet of peacetime lives, or memories of wartime's terror and suffering--propelled him into a second career as a writer after 38 years in journalism, 21 of them as anchor of NBC's "Nightly News." In this, as in his television journalism, he's been abetted by an invaluable asset not notably widespread in the profession. That would be his talent for listening--listening of a distinctly self-effacing kind, while preserving his own strong journalistic presence. No small feat, that.

Still, nothing seems to have been as valuable to him, in his quest to portray the World War II generation, as that avid determination of his to hear it all: all the details, all the lives and all the deeds, to grasp what it must have been like to be there, on those gliders, those invasion boats, those shores. There is a tireless urgency about the portraits in "The Greatest Generation"--the tone of a reporter who has gathered volumes about a subject that has him by the throat, and could listen to a lot more. Forever.





One saw this aspect of Mr. Brokaw way back, in his reporting on the veterans of the Normandy landings. The first of the two much-covered commemorations--the 40th anniversary of the invasion, observed in June 1984--had an electrifying effect on American audiences. These viewers included members of the youth culture, generally considered well educated, in the early '80s, if they could manage to remember whether the Americans had been fighting the Japanese or the British in World War II. Suddenly, for a full week, the TV screens were filled with the great invasion, stories about the 5,000 ships, with interviews and testaments about the preparations for Overlord. Above all, there were the stories of those who'd fought their way to the beaches in the first wave, the Rangers dauntlessly climbing the sheer cliffs. Young reporters at TV stations watched in amazement, more than one told me, as they heard the details, most for the first time, some moved to tears. They had had little idea of any of this. The D-Day anniversary coverage had delivered an education, with impact.

In the middle of it all, conducting his interviews, was Mr. Brokaw, on whom, perhaps, the impact of this event, whose history he knew well, was as great as anyone hearing of it all for the first time. So it seemed as one watched the NBC film showing him among these now aging men walking on Omaha Beach--Harry Garton, of Pennsylvania, legs blown off by a land mine, who had to lean on the journalist's shoulder to navigate the dunes. Gino Merli, Medal of Honor winner, who had held on to his machine gun, covering the withdrawal of other Americans even as the Germans overran his position. He would end up killing 50 enemy attackers.

For most journalists conducting these interviews, it seemed enough to get the veterans of D-Day to share whatever feelings they would. It was probably true of Mr. Brokaw, too. Still, watching him, one had the sense, in the midst of the most diffident of his queries, of a wish for more. The correspondent talked to Leonard Lomell, head of the Ranger unit that scaled the cliffs of Pointe-du-Hoc, looking for answers, as always, to the same kind of questions: How is it done, what was it to be here--and, implicitly--how is such courage born? Climbing cliffs, in the face of the murderous fire from above, comrades dying left and right? There could be no answer to that last, of course--no satisfactory one. Which did not prevent Mr. Brokaw from going on to become a historian of sorts for this generation--men capable of the highest valor, performed at frightful cost, because it had to be done.





A television audience of 10.3 million saw the NBC documentary, "Desperate Days in Blue John Canyon," reported by Tom Brokaw, about mountain climber Aaron Ralston, who had to cut off his arm to free himself when he was trapped in a slot canyon in the wilds of Utah. In this saga, which aired in September, we found Mr. Brokaw, as ever intent on searching out the answers to certain questions, familiar concerns--all having to do with the nature of character, survival, courage. So expert a self-effacing interrogator has he become, by now, one hardly noticed that the anchor was inside the terrifying canyon all during the re-enactment, or for that matter the way he rapelled down the side of the cliff to get out. All focus remained on the film's subject. Mr. Brokaw will be saying his goodbye as NBC anchor tonight. He has no plans, he informed me recently, to go off to a home for old anchors and sit in a lap robe. He will doubtless have plenty to do. We will miss him.



http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110005963

[Betty Boop]

Can't speak for the rest of the nation, but I know I will miss Tom Brokaw. From the time I was 9 years old and he was in L.A., Tom Brokaw was a part of my family's dinner table. Friendly, folksy, but matter-of-fact. Enjoy your retirement, Tom - but not too much!!!

Tom Brokaw Anchor and Managing Editor, 'NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw'
Contributing Anchor, 'Dateline NBC'
Program Anchor, MSNBC
Author, “The Greatest Generation,” “The Greatest Generation Speaks” and “An Album of Memories”

Tom Brokaw, anchor and managing editor of the top-rated “NBC Nightly News,” is equally at ease covering news events from the world’s capitals or in small towns across America, whether from his anchor desk at NBC News’ world headquarters in New York, or from locations across the country or around the world.
The sole anchor of weekday “NBC Nightly News” since 1983, Brokaw has an impressive history of “firsts.” He conducted the first exclusive U.S. one-on-one interview with Mikhail Gorbachev, earning an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. Brokaw was the only anchor to report from the scene the night the Berlin Wall fell. He was the first American anchor to report on human-rights abuses in Tibet and to conduct an interview with the Dalai Lama. In 1995, Brokaw was the first network evening news anchor to report from the site of the Oklahoma City bombing, and in 1996, from the scene of the TWA Flight 800 tragedy. He was the first anchor to find and interview Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung, key figures in the 1997 campaign finance abuse scandal. In 1999, Brokaw traveled to Moscow to conduct the first North American television interview with Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, and that spring, he was the first of the network evening news anchors to travel to Tirana, Albania during the NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia. In 2000, Brokaw again returned to Moscow for the first American television interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he served as the first Master of Ceremonies for the opening of the National D-Day Museum, on the 56th anniversary of the Normandy invasion by the Allies.
In addition to “Nightly News,” Brokaw anchored The Brokaw Report (1992-93), a series of prime-time specials that examined critical issues facing our nation. He also co-anchored the prime-time news magazine Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric (1993-94). In addition, Brokaw has played an active role in many other prime-time NBC news specials and in-depth reports. In June 1997, he anchored the “Dateline NBC” documentary special, Tom Brokaw Reports: Why Can’t We Live Together, which examined the hidden realities of racial separation in America’s suburbs. Brokaw earned an Alfred I. duPont- Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcast journalism for this special report.
Brokaw has received numerous awards for his work, including a Peabody for his report entitled “To Be an American.” He has also received seven Emmy awards, including one for his “China in Crisis” special report, for his reporting on the 1992 floods in the Midwest and in 1999 for international coverage of the Kosovo conflict. In 1990, he won a National Headliner Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews for advancing the understanding of religion, race and ethnicity. In 1995, he received the Dennis Kauff Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism from Boston University, and the prestigious Lowell Thomas Award from Marist College. In 1997, Brokaw received the Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism and was inducted into Broadcasting and Cable’s prestigious TV Hall of Fame. In 1998, Brokaw received the American Legion’s top award for distinguished public service in the field of communications. In May 1998, Brokaw was honored with the 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.” In 1999, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s “Tex” McCrary Excellence in Journalism Award. In the spring of 2001, Brokaw was honored by Men’s Journal as an “American Hero” for his extraordinary achievement in journalism.
Complementing his distinguished broadcast journalism career, Brokaw has written articles, essays and commentary for several publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Life, Outside and Interview.
In December 1998, Brokaw wrote his first book, now a bestseller, “The Greatest Generation,” an exquisitely written account of the generation of Americans born in the 1920s who came of age during the Great Depression, fought in the Second World War, and went on to build America. “The Greatest Generation” was also the subject of an NBC News documentary special that aired in January 1999.
Inspired by the avalanche of mail Brokaw received from “The Greatest Generation,” a second book, “The Greatest Generation Speaks” was published on December 7, 1999. In this book, the families now speak for themselves through their powerful letters and Brokaw reflects on why their lives of difficulty and triumph continue to strike such a deep cord in Americans today.
In May 2001, Brokaw will publish his third book, “An Album of Memories.” The book is a family album of stories, reflections, memorabilia and photographs that pay tribute to the men and women of the Greatest Generation. In this new book, Brokaw shares the remarkable experiences of ordinary people during historic moments like Guadalcanal, the D-Day invasion, the Battle of the Bulge and Midway.
Brokaw has received honorary degrees from a number of universities, including Notre Dame, Duke University, Washington University in St. Louis, Boston College, the University of Pennsylvania and Fairfield University. He is on the board of trustees of the University of South Dakota, his alma mater, the Norton Simon Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History. He also serves on the Howard University School of Communications Board of Visitors.
In 1997, NBC established the Tom Brokaw Scholarship Program in commemoration of Brokaw’s 30 years of service to NBC News. The Scholarship Program benefits the children of full-time NBC News employees who plan to pursue higher education. In 1998, Brokaw received the Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of America’s President’s Award in recognition of his “devotion to helping young people through scholarships.”
Brokaw joined NBC News in 1966, reporting from California and anchoring for KNBC, the NBC television station in Los Angeles. From 1973 to 1976 he was NBC’s White House correspondent, and from 1976 to 1981, he anchored NBC News’ “Today.” An acclaimed political reporter, Brokaw has covered every presidential election since 1968. Brokaw began his career in journalism after graduating from the University of South Dakota in 1962 at KMTV, Omaha. In 1965 he anchored the late-evening news on WSB-TV in Atlanta.

[Caldric]

I always liked his voice, he was very good with a very uncommon voice that grabbed my attention.