59 Facts About Peter Jennings

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings was a Canadian-American television journalist who served as the sole anchor of ABC World News Tonight from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005.

Peter Jennings dropped out of high school, yet he transformed himself into one of American television's most prominent journalists.

Peter Jennings began his professional career with CJOH-TV in Ottawa during its early years, anchoring the local newscasts and hosting the teen dance show Saturday Date on Saturdays.

Peter Jennings became a foreign correspondent in 1968, reporting from the Middle East.

Peter Jennings returned as one of World News Tonight three anchormen in 1978, and he was promoted to sole anchorman in 1983.

Peter Jennings was always fascinated with the United States and became an American citizen in 2003.

Peter Jennings was one of the "Big Three" news anchormen, along with Tom Brokaw of NBC and Dan Rather of CBS, who dominated American evening network news from the early 1980s until his death in 2005, which closely followed the retirements from anchoring evening news programs of Brokaw in 2004 and Rather in 2005.

Peter Jennings was born on July 29,1938, in Toronto, Ontario; he and his younger sister Sarah were children of Elizabeth and Charles Peter Jennings, a prominent radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Peter Jennings's father was on a business trip to the Middle East when the show debuted; upon returning, Charles Jennings, who harbored a deep dislike of nepotism, was outraged to learn that the network had put his son on the air.

When Peter Jennings was 11 he began attending Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, where he excelled in sports.

Peter Jennings struggled academically, and Jennings later surmised that it was out of "pure boredom" that he failed 10th grade and dropped out.

Peter Jennings had hoped that the company would assign him to its Havana branch; instead, it located him to the small town of Prescott, Ontario, before transferring him to its nearby Brockville branch.

In 1964, CTV sent Peter Jennings to cover the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Peter Jennings started reporting for ABC at its New York news bureau.

At 26, Peter Jennings was, and remains, the youngest-ever US network news anchor.

Peter Jennings conducted the first American television interview with Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat.

In 1972, Peter Jennings covered his first major breaking news story, the Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes by Black September.

Peter Jennings's live reporting, which drew on the sympathy he had acquired for the Arab world, sought to influence Americans who were critical of the Palestinian group.

That year, Peter Jennings married for the second time, to Anouchka Malouf, a Lebanese photographer.

Peter Jennings returned to the US at the end of 1974 to become Washington correspondent and news anchor for ABC's new morning program AM America, a predecessor to Good Morning America.

In November 1975, Peter Jennings moved abroad, this time as ABC's chief foreign correspondent.

Peter Jennings continued to cover the Middle East, and in 1978 he was the first North American reporter to interview the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, then in exile in Paris.

In 1979, Peter Jennings married for the third time to fellow ABC correspondent Kati Marton.

Peter Jennings reported on the Iranian Revolution and subsequent hostage crisis, the assassination of Sadat, the Falklands War, Israel's 1982 conflict with the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon, and Pope John Paul II's 1983 visit to Poland.

When his contract expired with ABC in the early 1980s, Peter Jennings flirted with the possibility of moving back to Canada and working with the CBC on its new nightly newscast, The Journal.

Peter Jennings's absence caused a dip in the ratings for ABC's nightly newscast.

At the time, Peter Jennings expressed apprehension that the impending competition among the three newsmen was at risk of becoming superficial.

Peter Jennings spent his first year at the anchor desk educating himself on American domestic affairs in preparation for the 1984 presidential campaign season.

Peter Jennings was praised for his performance during the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, when he anchored ABC's coverage of the event for 11 straight hours.

Out of that concern, Peter Jennings hosted a 90-minute special, War in the Gulf: Answering Children's Questions the next Saturday morning; the program featured Peter Jennings, ABC correspondents, and American military personnel answering phoned-in questions and explaining the war to young viewers.

Peter Jennings was mindful of his audience, prefacing the coverage of the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas with remarks for children.

The couple had previously split in 1987 for four months after Peter Jennings found out that Marton was having an affair with Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen.

ABC increased its coverage of religious topics, and in March 1995, Jennings anchored Peter Jennings Reporting: In the Name of God, a well-received documentary on the changing nature of American churches.

At a taping of a "town meeting" segment for KOMO-TV of Seattle in February 1995, Peter Jennings expressed regret for his ABC radio remarks on the 1994 midterm elections.

Peter Jennings received the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism from Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in large part for his passion for the story.

Peter Jennings was credited for raising the profile in the US of another international story, the 1995 Quebec referendum.

Peter Jennings scrapped plans to develop a cable news channel.

None of the shake-ups helped Peter Jennings retake the nightly ratings crown, but World News Tonight still offered stiff competition at second place.

On March 29,1999, Peter Jennings anchored the first installment of ABC's 12-hour miniseries, The Century; production on the monumental project started in 1990, and by the time it aired, it had cost the network US$25 million.

Peter Jennings anchored a longer, 15-hour version, The Century: America's Time, on the History Channel in April 1999.

On December 31,1999, Peter Jennings was on the air for 23 straight hours to anchor ABC 2000 Today, ABC's massive millennium eve special.

Peter Jennings was the only American news anchor to travel to India for Clinton's trip.

At one point, Peter Jennings broke his composure after receiving phone calls from his children.

Peter Jennings anchored a six-part television series in September 2002, which featured the same name as the book.

Peter Jennings was noted for questioning General Wesley Clark over Clark's silence over controversial comments made by filmmaker Michael Moore, a supporter of Clark.

However, despite having almost always reported from the scene of any major news story, Peter Jennings was sidelined by an upper respiratory infection in late December 2004; he was forced to anchor from the ABC News Headquarters in New York during the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, while his competitors traveled to the region.

Peter Jennings posted another short letter of thanks on July 29,2005, his 67th birthday.

Peter Jennings read a short statement from the family, and disclosed that Jennings had died in his New York apartment with his fourth wife, two children by his marriage to Kati Marton, and sister at his side.

Peter Jennings left a US$50 million estate: half went to Freed, and most of the rest to his son and daughter.

On December 5,2005, after much speculation, and nearly eight months after Peter Jennings stopped anchoring, ABC named Vargas and Bob Woodruff co-anchors for World News Tonight.

Publishers Weekly described the book as "predictably positive" and "reminding readers of the commanding presence Peter Jennings held over broadcast journalism".

Peter Jennings won numerous honors throughout his career, including 16 Emmys and two George Foster Peabody Awards.

At the peak of his popularity, Peter Jennings was named "Best Anchor" by the Washington Journalism Review in 1988,1989,1990, and 1992.

Just eight days before his death, Peter Jennings was informed that he would be inducted into the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Peter Jennings was the first ABC News employee so honored.

In January 2011, Peter Jennings was posthumously inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Television Hall of Fame.

Peter Jennings concluded that Jennings "exhibited a facial expression bias in favor of Reagan".

Television critic Tom Shales noticed a pro-Reagan bias in Peter Jennings's reporting, referring to ABC as "a news organization that is already considered the White House favorite" in May 1985.

Peter Jennings stated in a 1996 interview that he was satisfied that ABC came in third in terms of OJ.