Brokaw, Tom
Identification Television news anchor
Born February 6, 1940; Webster, South Dakota
In 1982, Brokaw became the youngest person ever to anchor
a national network evening news program.
When the 1980’s began, Tom Brokaw was the cohost
with Jane Pauley of the popular National Broadcast-
ing Company (NBC) morning program, theToday
show. Brokaw’s background was in news coverage;
he had covered civil rights violence in the South and
was the NBC White House correspondent during
the Watergate scandal. He was known for his ability
to function with a sometimes exceptional workload,
most conspicuously when, while on theTodayshow,
he also covered presidential primary elections and
campaigns. In 1982, he was offered a two-million-
dollar contract to co-anchor theNBC Nightly News
with Roger Mudd. Brokaw would report from New
York and Mudd from Washington. The previous an-
chor, John Chancellor, was to do occasional com-
mentary. Chancellor and Mudd eventually dropped
away, and Brokaw became the sole anchor on Sep-
tember 5, 1983. His style was easygoing and relaxed;
he projected decency and a sense of humor, and he
remained composed under stress. His charm was en-
hanced, rather than diminished, by a slight speech
impediment. While his broadcast was rarely the top-
rated news program during the early part of the de-
cade, his Nielsen ratings rose after 1984.
Arguably, Brokaw’s most significant broadcast of
the 1980’s was his 1989 coverage of the fall of the
Berlin Wall. The Wall had separated East and West
Berlin since it was erected by Communist leaders in- Already on assignment in Berlin, Brokaw was
present when travel restrictions were lifted, and he
reported on location as crowds of East Berliners
poured over the former border and as a woman at-
tacked the Wall itself with hammer and chisel.
The Eighties in America Brokaw, Tom 151
Todayshow host Tom Brokaw interviews the wife and mother of a hostage during the Iranian hostage crisis in January, 1980.(AP/
Wide World Photos)