Jennings Peter life and biography

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings was the chief anchor of ABC-TV's World News Tonight from 1983 until shortly before his death in 2005. For many of those years he went head-to-head with two other longstanding network anchors, NBC's Tom Brokaw and CBS's Dan Rather. A Canadian by birth, Jennings was known for his dry, understated delivery and for his international outlook, honed by years as a foreign correspondent. Jennings also anchored the ABC evening news from 1965-67, which at the time made him the youngest network anchor in TV history.

September 11

No event tested Jennings' anchoring duties more than the September 11, 2001 attacks. He anchored ABC's coverage of that day's events for 17 straight hours, an effort described as "Herculean" by television critics. Like other network news anchors, he was widely praised for guiding Americans through the tragedy. At one point, Jennings broke his composure after receiving phone calls from his children. "We do not very often make recommendations for people's behavior from this chair," he said, "but...if you're a parent, you've got a kid in some other part of the country, call them up. Exchange observations."

His coverage was not without controversy though. After conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh criticized Jennings for supposedly denigrating President George W. Bush on-air during September 11, ABC was flooded with more than 10,000 angry phone calls and e-mails. Jennings, however, never made the remarks, and Limbaugh later apologized and made a retraction. On September 13, Jennings received more criticism from conservatives—this time for hosting a forum for Middle East experts that included his former girlfriend, Hanan Ashrawi. In the summer of 2002, Jennings and ABC refused to allow Toby Keith to open their coverage of July 4 celebrations with "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue", prompting criticism from Keith and country music fans, who highlighted the anchor's Canadian citizenship.

The events of September 11 added new meaning to In Search of America, the project Jennings and Brewster started after the success of their previous collaboration. The two began writing the book in early 2001; after the terrorist attacks, they revisited many of the people they had interviewed to see how the events had affected them. To promote the book, the anchor and World News Tonight started a 50-state tour of the United States in April 2002 as part of a yearlong project, 50 States/One Nation/One Year. Jennings also anchored a six-part television series in September 2002, which featured the same name as the book. Despite the success of the TV series and heavy promotion by the book's publisher, In Search of America failed to generate much interest or sales.

His work on In Search of America and the September 11 attacks contributed to his decision in 2003 to become a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. "I think that 9/11 and the subsequent travel I did in the country afterwards made me feel connected in new ways," he said. "And when we were working on the America project I spent a lot of time on the road, which meant away from my editor's desk, and I just got much more connected to the Founding Fathers' dreams and ideas for the future." His work had prepared him well for the citizenship test, which he easily passed. "Can you imagine I, who just finished a whole series on America and had been an anchorperson for an American broadcast...could you imagine if I had failed?" he asked. "It would have been horrendous." The anchor's formal pledge of allegiance took place at a regular citizenship ceremony on May 30 in Lower Manhattan. The occasion overwhelmed him. "I went in the front door and came out the front door. They were regular people. They were very touching. And I cried a little bit — my kids didn't cry, but I cried a bit — but I'm a fairly emotional character anyway."

After a long period in other roles, he was named the sole anchor of World News Tonight in 1983. Jennings announced in April of 2005 that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, but would continue to work as much as possible. He never returned to the air, passing away four months later.

Extra credits: According to ABC, "A former smoker who quit 20 years ago, Jennings resumed smoking briefly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks"... Jennings became a U.S. citizen in 2003. At age nine Jennings hosted a Canadian radio show for kids called Peter's People. In December of 2005, ABC News announced that Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff would succeed Jennings as anchors of World News Tonight.

Honors

Jennings won numerous honors throughout his career, including 16 Emmys and two George Foster Peabody Awards. His work on World News Tonight and Peter Jennings Reporting consistently won Overseas Press Club and duPont-Columbia awards. At the peak of his popularity, Jennings was named "Best Anchor" by the Washington Journalism Review in 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1992. The Radio and Television News Directors Association awarded Jennings its highest honor, the Paul White Award in 1995, in recognition of his lifetime contributions to journalism. In 2004, he was awarded with the Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting from Washington State University.

Just eight days before his death, Jennings was informed that he would be inducted into the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honor. His daughter, Elizabeth, accepted the insignia on his behalf in October 2005. On February 21, 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg designated the block on West 66th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West as Peter Jennings Way in honor of the late anchor; the block is home to the ABC News headquarters. In October 2006, The Walt Disney Company, which bought ABC in 1996, posthumously named Jennings a Disney Legend, the company's highest honor. He was the first ABC News employee so honored.

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