On NBC’s Today on Monday, co-host Savannah Guthrie teed up former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw to compare the Republican National Convention in Cleveland to Chicago’s violent Democratic convention in 1968: “It would not be a convention without NBC special correspondent Tom Brokaw. He has covered every election, every convention since 1968....I mentioned 1968. There's something about this time and how unsettled we are as a nation that reminds us.”
Brokaw noted differences between the two events but ultimately agreed with the comparison: “Yeah, you know, there was a different dimension to '68, we were in a big war....in Chicago, it was a running riot for every day of the convention....In the hall, there was a deep, deep divide about what the party should be. So there are some echoes of that here....this will be a real struggle for the soul of the party.”
Co-host Matt Lauer wondered: “I want your take on what is our responsibility, as the people covering this convention and covering these protests, to make sure we get it right?” After having just compared the upcoming GOP meeting to the “running riot” of 1968, Brokaw replied: “Well, I think be even-handed is the big issue....So we do our job. You know, people will look in on us and we’ve got to tell story as best we can about what is going on, what the motivation is, and how the police are responding to it.”
Earlier on Monday’s broadcast, Lauer demonstrated his idea of “even-handed” coverage by predicting the Republican convention would be loaded with “inflammatory rhetoric.”
Here is a full transcript of Brokaw’s July 18 segment:
8:23 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: It would not be a convention without NBC special correspondent Tom Brokaw. He has covered every election, every convention since 1968. Good morning, good to see you here in Cleveland.
TOM BROKAW: Good morning, good to be here.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Inside the GOP Convention; Brokaw on Policy, Preps & Politics]
GUTHRIE: You mention – I mentioned 1968. There's something about this time and how unsettled we are as a nation that reminds us.
BROKAW: Yeah, you know, there was a different dimension to '68, we were in a big war. We lost 16,000 people that year. The President of the United States was forced to step down in the Democratic Party, Lyndon Johnson. And then, in Chicago, it was a running riot for every day of the convention. We had Grant Park filled with protesters. In the hall, there was a deep, deep divide about what the party should be.
So there are some echos of that here. Donald Trump is really taking over the Republican Party. It's more a party now from the ground up, given the delegates that he has here. You have two pages of prominent Republicans who are not going to be here. Senators, governors, congressmen, that kind of thing. So this will be a real struggle for the soul of the party.
MATT LAUER: One of the things we've spoken about a lot, Tom, this morning with the mayor and in some of our pieces is security in the wake of what we expect to be wide-scale protests here in the streets of Cleveland. And I bring it up because I want your take on what is our responsibility, as the people covering this convention and covering these protests, to make sure we get it right?
BROKAW: Well, I think be even-handed is the big issue. I mean, in '68 it was a very emotional time because the kids really captured a lot of the people. But then when you look back on it, the kids did a lot of things that were completely out of line.
LAUER: But 1968, there was no social media and there weren't images that could be flashed immediately.
BROKAW: No, no, that’s right. I think – you know, look there are so many part – we're going to do a story this week on social media. And it really has taken a very, very prominent place underappreciated, I think, by mainstream media, about how the impact that social media has on voters out there. And they’ve moved a lot of what Donald Trump has realized here, I think.
So we do our job. You know, people will look in on us and we’ve got to tell story as best we can about what is going on, what the motivation is, and how the police are responding to it. There were no preparations in '68 for this kind of thing. They had a line of policeman outside, but they didn't have what we have to go through here, the long lines, all the credentials, that kind of thing. So it is a much, much different time. But this could be a pivotal moment in American politics because of Trump’s success.
GUTHRIE: We just have a few seconds left. You mention how Donald Trump is redefining the Republican Party and his supporters would say he’s moving it closer to where the base of the party is, where the people are, as opposed to the establishment folks who might not actually come to this convention.
BROKAW: Well, I think he's moving it to a piece of where the party is. I mean, the fact is we’re seeing in all the polls women and Hispanics and others are not as inclined to him as white working class males, and that will be the test. And if he is successful in the fall, then he’ll have a hold on the party. If he’s not, they’ll come back and say, “We want our party back.” So we’ll see.
LAUER: On that note, we’re back from Cleveland after your local news.
