Tom Brokaw retires from NBC News

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Former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw is officially retiring from NBC News, the network announced Jan. 22, 2021.

Brokaw anchored “Nightly” from 1983 to 2004 and had also been anchor of “Today,” “Dateline” and other NBC productions over his career at the peacock.

During his tenure, “Nightly News” rose to first place in the ratings, overtaking the once dominant “CBS Evening News” after iconic anchor Walter Cronkite retired. That streak would remain for years but has begun to slip behind “ABC World News Tonight” in recent years.

After departing the “Nightly” anchor desk, Brokaw became a special correspondent for the network and continued to appear on air during special coverage.

Brokaw was noticeably missing during much of the 2020 election cycle coverage. He previously appeared during major political coverage in a sort of analyst role — rather than as lead anchor or co-anchor.

Video: @TomBrokaw warns opposition to more Hispanics in U.S. fueled by intolerant Republicans. “I hear, when I push people a little harder, ‘I don’t know whether I want brown grand babies.’” #MTP pic.twitter.com/sNJ8lxRcm3

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) January 27, 2019

He came under fire in 2019 after saying Hispanics should “work harder at assimilation” while appearing on “Meet the Press.” He would apologize for the comments the same day.

2018 saw two allegations of sexual misconduct made against Brokaw while working full time at NBC, which he denied.

Brokaw started in TV in Iowa before joining NBC News in 1966, anchoring for KNBC and reporting for the network.

In 1973, he was named chief White House correspondent and was in this position during the Watergate scandal. He would eventually start anchoring weekend “Nightly News” and began co-anchoring “Today” in 1976.

In 2014, NBC News named its west coast operations center the “Brokaw News Center” in his honor.

Brokaw will turn 81 Feb. 6, 2021.