Tom Brokaw Fast Facts

Here’s a look at the life of Emmy award-winning news anchor Tom Brokaw.

Personal

Birth date: February 6, 1940

Birth place: Webster, South Dakota

Birth name: Thomas John Brokaw

Father: Anthony Orville “Red” Brokaw, construction foreman

Mother: Eugenia “Jean” (Conley) Brokaw, post office clerk

Marriage: Meredith (Auld) Brokaw (August 17, 1962-present)

Children: Sarah, 1970; Andrea, 1968; Jennifer, 1966

Education: Attended University of Iowa in the late 1950s; University of South Dakota, B.A. in political science, 1962

Other Facts

Nominated for 39 Emmy awards and won 10. Also received an honorary Emmy.

Won two Peabody awards.

Timeline

1962-1965 – Morning news editor for a television station in Omaha, Nebraska.

1966 – Joins NBC as an anchor and correspondent at an affiliate station in Los Angeles.

1973 – Becomes NBC’s White House correspondent and weekend news anchor.

1976-1982 – Hosts “Today,” taking over for Jim Hartz.

April 1982-December 1, 2004 – Anchors “NBC Nightly News.”

November 30, 1987 – Brokaw’s interview with Mikhail Gorbachev airs. It is the first interview of a Soviet leader by an American journalist.

1988 – Wins an Emmy award as a writer for “Summer Olympics.”

1989 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Programs) for “Ronald Reagan...An American Success Story.”

1989 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a Single News Story (Programs) for “NBC News Special: Crisis in China.”

1989 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding General Coverage of a Single Breaking News Story (Segments) for “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw: Romanian Revolution Coverage.”

1989 – Wins a Peabody award for “To Be an American.”

1993 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a Single News Story (Programs) for “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw: Flood of ’93.”

1997 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding General Coverage of a Single Breaking News Story for “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw: Grand Forks Floods.”

1998 – Best-selling first book “The Greatest Generation” is published.

1999 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a News Story – Programs for “Dateline NBC: Killing at Columbine.”

October 12, 2001 – Brokaw’s assistant tests positive for a mild form of cutaneous anthrax, after opening a letter containing a suspicious white powder.

2002 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Interview for “Dateline NBC: America Remembers – 9/11 Controllers.”

2003 – Wins a Peabody award for “A Question of Fairness.”

2004 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Breaking News Story – Long Form for “NBC News Special: The Death and Funeral of Ronald Wilson Reagan.”

2004 – Receives the lifetime achievement Emmy award.

2004-2021 – Serves as a special correspondent for NBC.

2006 – Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

2008 – Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Breaking News Story – Long Form for “NBC News – Decision 2008.”

June 2008-December 2008 – Following Tim Russert’s death, serves as interim moderator of “Meet the Press.”

September 6, 2012 – Briefly hospitalized in Charlotte, North Carolina. Brokaw later tweets that he “mistakenly took a half dose of Ambien.”

February 11, 2014 – NBC announces Brokaw is being treated for cancer and he was “diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting blood cells in the bone marrow, in August at the Mayo Clinic.”

November 10, 2014 – The White House announces that Brokaw will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

December 21, 2014 – Brokaw releases a statement revealing his cancer is in remission and that he will soon begin a drug regimen in an attempt to keep the cancer from returning.

May 12, 2015 – Brokaw’s book, “A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope,” is published.

April 26, 2018 – Former NBC News correspondent Linda Vester accuses Brokaw of harassment in the 1990s, according to reports by the Washington Post and Variety. Brokaw denies the allegations in a statement provided to reporters by NBC.

January 27, 2019 – During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Brokaw says he thinks Hispanics should “work harder at assimilation” into American culture. Brokaw later tweets that he regrets the comment.

October 29. 2019 – Brokaw’s book, “The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate,” is published.

January 22, 2021 – NBC announces Brokaw’s retirement, after 55 years with the network.