Legendary NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw announced his retirement on Friday, closing the curtain on his half-century career, narrating some of the most tumultuous times in the history of the United States.
Brokaw, 80, will turn off the microphone as the only anchor to lead all three of NBC’s top news programs: “Nightly News”, “TODAY” and “Meet the Press”.
“During one of the most complex and consequential eras in American history, a new generation of NBC News journalists, producers and technicians is providing America with timely, insightful and critically important information, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Brokaw in a statement. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Although Brokaw won several prestigious journalism awards, including Peabodys, Duponts, Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Award for his set of achievements in broadcasting, he could be best known for his work documenting the sacrifices made by Americans during World War II Worldwide.
His 1998 book “The Greatest Generation” profiled many of the Americans who grew up during that difficult period in the history of the United States.
Brokaw started his career at NBC in the Los Angeles office, where the network now operates its broadcast hub on the West Coast from the Brokaw News Center.
He covered the first candidacy of future President Ronald Reagan for public office, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 presidential campaign won by Richard Nixon.
He moved to the nation’s capital in 1973 and worked as an NBC News correspondent for the White House during the Watergate scandal, which forced Nixon to step down in 1974.
Then, in 1976, Brokaw co-hosted the “TODAY” program before becoming the anchor and editor in chief of “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw” in 1983.
He led the team there for 22 years before stepping down in late 2004 to become a special correspondent for NBC. He also served as a moderator for “Meet the Press” immediately after Tim Russert’s premature death in 2008.
President Barack Obama awarded Brokaw the Medal of Freedom, the country’s largest civilian tribute, in 2014.
