Tom Brokaw Chosen to Give Class Day Speech

NBC News Anchor Tom Brokaw will be the keynote speaker at this year's Class Day celebration on June 5, the senior class marshals announced yesterday.

"We wanted someone who will represent the '90s when we look back on them," said Harvard First Marshal Peter S. Cahn '96. "We've gotten a very enthusiastic response."

Radcliffe First Marshal Miwa Powell '96 was also enthusiastic about the decision to invite Brokaw.

"I'm really excited because I have no doubt that Tom Brokaw will be a great speaker," Powell said. "I have a feeling he would be a great story teller."

The process of selecting a speaker for Class Day began soon after the senior class marshals were elected last fall, Cahn said.

"The speaker subcommittee put poster boards in the dining halls to get suggestions," Cahn said. "The gist was that students wanted someone who was not a politician, not an academic, someone entertaining and yet quasi-intellectual."

Professors and administrators also hailed the choice of the NBC News anchor.

"I think it's marvelous," said Marvin Kalb, Edward R. Murrow professor of press, politics and public policy at the Kennedy School and Director of the Joan Shorenstein Barone Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.

"I worked with Tom for seven years and he's been a colleague for a lot longer than that," Kalb said. "He's a superb journalist. He's just very good at what he does."

Kalb was chief diplomatic correspondent for NBC News from 1980 to 1987, and also moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press."

Jeffrey A. Zucker '86, the executive producer of NBC's "Today" show and a former Crimson president, said he has worked closely with Brokaw for several years and that the senior class made "a great choice."

Some students said they saw the selection of Brokaw as an attempt to balance the choice of National Institutes of Health Director Harold Varmus as Commencement speaker.

"He combines the interests of politics and media and thus provides a good contrast with Harold Varmus, who represents the scientific community," said Virginia A. Triant '96, a Crimson editor who is Adams House representative to the class committee.

A Career in News

Tom Brokaw will celebrate his 30th anniversary with NBC on May 2.

In 1973 he became White House correspondent for the network, and from 1976 to 1983 he hosted the "Today" show.

He has anchored NBC's nightly news telecast since 1983.

His contract expires this year and there has been speculation that the 56-year-old anchor might decide to give up the daily grind of network news.

Brokaw owns a radio station in South Dakota and a large ranch in Montana. In both states, Democrats have reportedly urged him to run for the U.S. Senate

And President Clinton reportedly once asked him to head the National Park Service.

But NBC and Microsoft recently announced the creation of a new cable TV network, MSNBC, and Brokaw has agreed to host a weekly one-hour live interview and call-in show on the new channel when it starts in July.

Brokaw's assistant said yesterday that Brokaw was on assignment in Los Angeles and could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the speech by Brokaw, the Class Day festivities will include the Harvard Oration, the Radcliffe Oration and the humorous Ivy Oration.

According to Cahn, each of the orations is selected competitively from many entries submitted by graduating seniors. The winners will be announced soon.

The Ames Award for public service will also be presented to one male and one female senior at the Class Day ceremony.

And the Class Ode--a humorous revision of "Ten Thousand Men of Harvard"--will be performed for the first time

And President Clinton reportedly once asked him to head the National Park Service.

But NBC and Microsoft recently announced the creation of a new cable TV network, MSNBC, and Brokaw has agreed to host a weekly one-hour live interview and call-in show on the new channel when it starts in July.

Brokaw's assistant said yesterday that Brokaw was on assignment in Los Angeles and could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the speech by Brokaw, the Class Day festivities will include the Harvard Oration, the Radcliffe Oration and the humorous Ivy Oration.

According to Cahn, each of the orations is selected competitively from many entries submitted by graduating seniors. The winners will be announced soon.

The Ames Award for public service will also be presented to one male and one female senior at the Class Day ceremony.

And the Class Ode--a humorous revision of "Ten Thousand Men of Harvard"--will be performed for the first time