Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw is an American television journalist and author whose career spanned more than six decades, making him one of the most recognizable faces in broadcast news. Born on February 6, 1940, in Webster, South Dakota, he began his profession in the early 1960s at KTIV in Sioux City before moving through stations in Omaha and Atlanta, eventually joining NBC in 1966 where he would remain for the rest of his working life. He first gained national prominence as the co‑anchor of The Today Show from 1976 to 1981, sharing the desk with Jane Pauley and bringing a mix of hard news and human‑interest stories to morning viewers. In 1982 he succeeded John Chancellor as the anchor of NBC Nightly News, a role he held until his retirement from the anchor chair in 2004, during which time he covered historic events such as the Challenger disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the September 11 attacks, often delivering the first live reports that shaped public understanding. Brokaw’s versatility also led him to briefly moderate Meet the Press in 2008 and serve as a special correspondent, producing documentaries and investigative pieces well into the 2020s. Beyond the newsroom, he authored several bestselling books, most notably The Greatest Generation, which earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014 and cemented his reputation as a chronicler of American history. His personal life has been marked by a long marriage to author Meredith Auld since 1962 and the upbringing of three daughters, while his later years were touched by a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, from which he entered remission after successful treatment. Throughout his career, Brokaw received numerous accolades including multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards, reflecting his lasting impact on journalism and American cultural memory.