The Century for Young People

Peter Jennings, July 29, 1938 - August 7, 2005 Peter Jennings was born on July 29, 1938 in Toronto, Canada. His father was a reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Company at the time and at the age of nine, Jennings hosted a half hour weekly children's show for the CBC. jennings attended Carleton University and Rider College. In 1962, Jennings show more became co-anchor of Canada's first national commercial network newscast. In 1964 he moved to New York City and found a job as a correspondent for ABC. Jennings worked his way up and eventually became the anchor for ABC's nightly newscast for two years, from 1965 to 1967. He returned to reporting in 1968, and was appointed head of the ABC News Middle East Bureau in Beirut in the 70's. In 1971, Jennings received the National Headliner Award for his report on Civil War in Bangladesh. He won the Peabody Award for his report on the Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat in 1974. From 1974 to 1975, Jennings worked as the Washington correspondent for ABC's A.M. America, before heading to London as the chief foreign correspondent. Once in London, jennings co-anchored ABC's World News Tonight. once the show moved to New York City in 1983, Jennings was made sole anchor of the show. Jennings interviewed Saddam Hussein right before the Gulf War, one of the only western reporters to be allowed to do so. In 1998, he published "The Century," a book of photographs focusing on the American perspective of the 20th century. Jennings won numerous honors throughout his career, including 16 Emmys and two George Foster Peabody Awards. 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. 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. Jennings died on August 7, 2005 due to lung cancer. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Todd Brewster has served as Don E. Ackerman Director of Oral History at the United States Military Academy, West Point, and is a longtime journalist who has worked as an editor for Time and Life and as senior producer for ABC News. He has written for Vanity Fair, Time, Life, the Raffington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the New York Times, show more and is the coauthor with the late Peter Jennings of the bestselling books The Century, The Century for YoungPeople, and In Search of America. He lives with his wife and two sons in Ridgefield, Connecticut. show less