With the same dignified style that was long a hallmark of his on-air presentation, "NBC Nightly News" anchor/managing editor Tom Brokaw said good night one last time yesterday as he stepped down from the network's flagship daily news program.
Richard Drew, Associated PressNBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw delivers his final broadcast in New York yesterday.
Click photo for larger image.
"We've been through a lot together, through dark days and nights and seasons of hope and joy. Whatever the story, I had only one job: To get it right," Brokaw said.
He acknowledged his NBC colleagues, "family to me," for which he said he was just the most conspicuous face, and he addressed viewers at home. "Thanks for all that I have learned from you. That's been my richest reward."
Brokaw, 64, has anchored "NBC Nightly News" since 1983.
Though partisans of one stripe or another can no doubt level charges of bias at Brokaw -- that does seem to have become the new national pastime -- for the vast majority of Americans, he'll be remembered as a fair-minded and dignified deliverer of the day's events.
From his start in broadcast journalism in Omaha in 1962, Brokaw led a distinguished career, one marked by professionalism and an absence of scandal or controversies.
The self-described political junkie joined NBC News in 1966 and served as the network's White House reporter during Watergate. He anchored "Today" from 1976 to 1981.
"I'd just come off Watergate and my first guest was the new Miss America and I treated her like a Watergate burglar: 'Where did you get the tiara?' " Brokaw recalled yesterday during a visit to "Today."
"I think [being on 'Today'] helped me. I think it relaxed me a little bit."
After being named anchor of "NBC Nightly News," Brokaw took the broadcast from last place to first. He particularly endeared himself to viewers after writing his first ode to World War II soldiers, "The Greatest Generation," which he considers his proudest achievement.
"I think we honor ourselves by honoring our pasts," Brokaw said. "These are the people who make our lives possible."
Bob Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, said popularizing the term "greatest generation" for the World War II cohort will be Brokaw's most lasting cultural contribution.
"Long after Brokaw the anchor is the subject of television history, my guess is that 'greatest generation' label is going to continue to be used to describe that group of people even though [people] may not remember Brokaw was the one who popularized it," Thompson said.
Brokaw acknowledged the "greatest generation" in his closing comments last night.
"The enduring lessons through the decades are these: It's not the questions that get us in trouble, it's the answers; and just as important, no one has all the answers. Just ask a member of the generation I came to know well ...," Brokaw said. "They weren't perfect, no generation is, but this one left a large and vital legacy of common effort to find common ground, here and abroad, in which to solve our most vexing in problems.
"They did not give up their personal beliefs and greatest passions, but they never stopped learning from each other. And most of all, they did not give up on the idea that we're all in this together. We still are."
Matthew Felling, media director at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based research group Center for Media and Public Affairs, said Brokaw departs the nightly news stage with his image unspoiled by the scandal that prefaced Dan Rather's retirement announcement last week.
"It's as if Rather was the hare running ahead to scoop the story and sometimes burning himself, and Brokaw shows that slow and steady wins the race," he said. "Both Brokaw and Rather were very homespun, but Brokaw was a decaffeinated Rather without all the 'frogs a-jumping' and 'lug nuts tightening.'
"Brokaw gave off the vibe that he was 'in' the media but not 'of' the media," Felling said. "It was easier for a lot of America to respect a man who paid respect right back, through his various books and projects."
Brokaw's "Today" show stint also helped burnish his everyman image, Thompson said.
"He was able to be both the guy in the apron next to Jane Pauley making chocolate mousse at 7 a.m. when you're shaving, and also the gravitas-laden anchorman delivering the most important international and national news of the day."
Brokaw's farewell on "NBC Nightly News" was his second of the day. Yesterday morning he briefly struggled to maintain his composure on NBC's "Today" show as he was being toasted by his staff.
"It's been a great, great ... privilege," Brokaw said before becoming visibly overcome with emotion. "I didn't think I was going to do that."
Making good on an exit plan announced in May 2002, Brokaw is stepping away from daily journalism, but his NBC association will continue under an agreement to host at least three documentaries a year.
Brian Williams, long groomed as Brokaw's successor, takes over "Nightly News" tonight. He begins at the top of the ratings, where "Nightly News" has reigned since 1997.
"NBC Nightly News" ended last night with Brokaw telling viewers, "I'll see you along the way," before a montage of Brokaw clips played on screen to the tune of Bob Hope singing "Thanks for the Memories" with lyrics long ago personalized for the now former anchor of "NBC Nightly News."
First Published: December 2, 2004, 5:00 a.m.