-
Birth
Peter Jennings was born in Toronto, Canada. His parents were Charles Jennings and Elizabeth Osborne Jennings. -
First Journalism Jobs
On November 2, 1959 he was hired by CFJR, a local radio station , hired him as a memeber of its new department. By 1961, Jennings had joined CJOH-TV, a television station in Ottawa. Originally, he was an interviewer and co-producer for Vue, which was a late-night news show. Eventually, he became the host of Club Thirteen, which was a dance show. -
United State's youngest anchor
On february 1, 1965, ABC hired young Peter as the lead anchor of Peter Jennings with the News in an attempt to attract younger viewers. He was at the time, the youngest U.S. network anchor in history. ABC was also in bad shape at the time, which is another reason he was hired. -
Peter Becomes a Foreign Coorespondant
In 1968, Jennings established ABC's Middle East bureau in Beirut, Lebanon. The year after that, Jennings made a half-hour documentary about the Middle East called Palestine: A New State of Mind. The purpose of the making of the film was to demonstrate his expertise in Middle Eastern affairs. Soon after Jennings became very familiar with the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the rise of the Black September organization during the early 70's -
Covering the 1972 Munich Olympics
Jennings covered the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attacks. Jennings was actually there when the terrorists were attacking. Him and his camera crew were hiding near the crime scene. Him and his camera crew managed to get a clear shot of the terrorists. Beforehand, Jennings had gotten experience as a middle East correspondents, so he was able to explain the situation thoroughly to the U.S. audience. -
Peter Jennings gets a Peabody Award
Peter Jennings moved from anchor to foreign correspondent. He establsihed the first American television news bureau in the Arab world as ABC bureau chief in Beirut. He went on to win a Peabody Award in 1974 for a profile about Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. -
AM Amerca
After he was done in the middle east, Jennings returned to the U.S. to become the lead anchor and Washington Coorespondant of AM America, a news program that is considered the predessesor to Good Morning America. The show debuted on January 6, 1975, with Peter Jennings as the lead anchor. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled within ten months due to the competition of Channel 5's Today Show. -
Promotion
When Frank Reynolds fell ill with multiple myeloma, ABC's ratings fell down significantly. They knew that they needed a new anchor or the news station's ratings would go down even more. On August 9, 1983, Jennings signed a 4-year contract with ABC, and would be the sole anchor. He would also become the senior editor for World News Tonight. -
September 11 Attack Coverage
Peter Jennings is well known for his extensive, 17-hour long coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Jennings, like other news anchors, was praised for guiding Americans through the awful tragedy. Jennings at one point broke his composure on the air and told people, "We do not very often make recommendations for people's behavior from this chair, but, if you're a parent, you've got a kid in some other part of the country, call them up." -
Death
On August 7, 2005, Peter Jennings succomed to death after four months of battling lung cancer in his own home in Manhattan , New York City, New York.
