Tom Brokaw

OXFORD, Miss. - Tom Brokaw's appearance at the University of Mississippi Sept. 25 may be tempered with a touch of sadness. Original plans called for him to join NBC News anchor Tim Russert, who died unexpectedly this year.

"Tim was so excited about appearing at Ole Miss. I will keep the date and soldier on," Brokaw said in a recent e-mail to the university.

Brokaw, a former longtime NBC News anchor, plans to deliver a public address at 7:30 p.m. in Fulton Chapel, followed by a question-and-answer session. All tickets to the event have been distributed, but the discussion is to be simulcast in Farley Hall Auditorium (Room 202) and on the Grove Stage.

The program is among dozens of campus events planned around the first 2008 presidential debate, hosted at UM Sept. 26. It is one of several sponsored by UM's Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics.

Former Boston Globe reporter Curtis Wilkie, the first Overby Fellow and associate professor of journalism, said Brokaw will discuss the significance of the presidential debate and his personal experiences covering presidential elections.

"It will be a nice, informal, rambling discussion about the presidential debate and politics," Wilkie said. "Tom is a friend of Ole Miss, and I expect the discussion to be a wonderful opportunity for our students to hear the thoughts of a man who has covered politics since the 1960s."

It will not be Brokaw's first trip to Oxford. He has visited the campus for two football games and has spoken publicly of his respect for the university and for Chancellor Robert Khayat.

In an interview on the PBS-syndicated Charlie Rose talk show, which aired in April, Brokaw remarked that meeting incoming UM Alumni Association president Rose Flenorl at a 2007 football game in Oxford was one of the most striking examples he has seen of the changes in race relations in America.

"As I go across the South especially, I see what I call metaphorically the grandchildren of Dr. Martin Luther King," Brokaw said. "They are taking their place in the state legislatures, and they are in the law firms.

"I suppose one of the most striking moments I've seen in the past year or so was that I was at Ole Miss visiting one of my friends who left Ole Miss. I met the president of the Ole Miss Alumni Association. She's an African-American woman. That's a real statement."
Both Oxford and the university are honored that Brokaw will be here for the discussion session and for the presidential debate, Khayat said.

"Tom Brokaw is a highly respected journalist who has seen presidential politics firsthand in his work over the past 40 years," he said. "He also has been a friend of the university through the years. Our students will benefit greatly from hearing about his experiences, and we are delighted to host one of the truly outstanding journalists of our time."

Brokaw retired from his post as anchor of "NBC Nightly News" in 2004 after more than 30 years with the network. He covered such events as the Watergate scandal and the opening of the Berlin Wall. He was the first American anchor to travel to Tibet to report on human-rights abuses and to conduct an interview with the Dalai Lama. He has interviewed every president since Lyndon Johnson and has covered every presidential election since 1968.

Following Russert's death in June, Brokaw took over Russert's post as anchor of "Meet the Press" and will hold the position through the presidential election. He continues to report for NBC News as a special correspondent and to produce documentaries. He has received numerous honors, including the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award and the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and he was inducted as a fellow into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the best-selling author of "The Greatest Generation," "Album of Memories," "A Long Way from Home" and "Boom! Voices of the Sixties."

For more information, visit http://www.debate.olemiss.edu . For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7236.