October 29, 2008 [LINK / comment]
Tom Brokaw on Election 2008
I was privileged to have a front-row seat when NBC's former anchorman Tom Brokaw spoke to several hundred people at the University of South Dakota's Neuharth Media Center yesterday. Regarding the current economic crisis and national security threats, he said he couldn't "remember when there has been such a uniform crisis of confidence across America." Brokaw refrained from saying who was more likely to win the election, but emphasized the need for national unity and appealing the centrist voters. He said that whomever is elected president next Tuesday, there will be an extraordinarily daunting set of challenges to face. He harked back to FDR in 1933 and John F. Kennedy in 1961 as precedents for the new era we are about to enter. See the Sioux City Journal.
After his lecture, Brokaw invited questions from the audience -- from anyone except his former professor Dr. Clem, that is. 
My dad got a kick out of the good-natured recognition. Brokaw majored in political science at USD during the early 1960s, and he also paid tribute to Dr. Bill Farber, who was chairman of the department for many years. Farber always encouraged his students to make a career out of public service. Photos from this special event will be posted in the next few days...