Pete Jennings Signs Off

Former ABC anchor Peter Jennings died on Sunday, just 4 months after announcing to the world that he suffered from lung cancer. He was 67.

For some reason, hearing this news this morning hit me like a ton of bricks. When he left ABC News earlier this year, the last of the Big Three to step down, we all new he was ill with a disease that ensured he would never recover. But still, I found myself unable to fathom the death of a man that for twenty five years had been, to my TV-glazed eyes, so strong, so wise, so infallible.

During my formative years, Jennings’ “World News Tonight”—with that regal calling of “Bum Bum Buh BAH!” and booming baritone "Good Evening, I'm Peter Jennings"--was a daily staple, following local news with Chet Curtis & Natalie Jacobson and preceding Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! on Channel 5. Every evening, from 6:30-7pm, the argument would rage within my house: I wanted to watch Simpsons reruns; Mom insisted on The News. Needless to say, she always won. But it wasn’t until I was much older that I appreciated the choice she made for me. Though Canadian by birth, Jennings always portrayed a definitively dignified yet familiar view of American history, politics and culture. Lacking Rather’s trademark drawl or Brokaw’s endearing cleft upper lip, Jennings was the most white bread of the three old white anchors, but yet always took pains to make concepts unfamiliar to my adolescent mind, like war, economics and the convoluted political process, seem utterly accessible and relevant.

Jennings’ departure from the network news came amid the turmoil that surrounded Rather’s retirement and the revelry that followed Brokaw’s, but unlike his “competition” Jennings never missed a beat up to his exit. And now, as my interest in the world around me reaches an apex and the familiar faces following the local news are no longer familiar, I find myself missing the stern kindness that Jennings provided. Though I never knew the man, a small part of me feels as though I’ve lost a good friend, one whom I visited with but for half an hour a day but from whom I learned so much. So long, Pete.