Editing Tom Brokaw (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Brokaw-gavinspoint.jpg|thumb|left|Brokaw (left) greeting the 20,000th visitor to the [[Gavins Point Dam]] in 1958; Brokaw was a tour guide there.|230x230px]]
Brokaw was born in [[Webster, South Dakota]], the son of Eugenia "Jean" ({{née|Conley}}; 1917–2011),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://obits.ocregister.com/amp/obituaries/orangecounty/154559432|title=EUGENIA BROKAW Obituary (2011) |website=Orange County Register − Obits|date=April 9, 2024}}</ref> who worked in sales and as a post office clerk, and Anthony Orville "Red" Brokaw (1912–1982).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/77/Tom-Brokaw.html |title=Tom Brokaw Biography (1940–) |work=Filmreference.com |access-date=November 27, 2011}}</ref> He was the eldest of their three sons (brothers named William and Michael) and named for his maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Conley.

His father was a descendant of [[Huguenot]] immigrants Bourgon and Catherine (née Le Fèvre) Broucard, and his mother was [[Irish American]].<ref name="STL02">McGuire, John M. (November 6, 2002). "From Yankton to Yankee Town". ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', p. E1.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/brokaw/357/ |title=European Origins of the Brokaw |website=Genealogy.com}}</ref> His paternal great-grandfather, Richard P. Brokaw, founded the town of [[Bristol, South Dakota]], and the Brokaw House, a small hotel and the first structure in Bristol.<ref>Brokaw, Tom. (2003). ''A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland in the Forties and Fifties'', p. 9. New York: Random House.</ref>

Brokaw's father was a construction foreman for the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]]. He worked at the [[Black Hills Ordnance Depot]] (BHOD) and helped construct [[Fort Randall Dam]]; his job often required the family to resettle throughout South Dakota during Brokaw's early childhood.<ref name="MidwestToday">Jordan, Larry (February 1995). "[http://www.midtod.com/highlights/brokaw.phtml Tom Brokaw: A Heavyweight in a World of Lightweights] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191421/http://www.midtod.com/highlights/brokaw.phtml |date=March 3, 2016}}". ''Midwest Today''.</ref> The Brokaws lived for short periods in Bristol, [[Igloo, South Dakota|Igloo]] (the small residential community of the BHOD), and [[Pickstown, South Dakota|Pickstown]], before settling in [[Yankton, South Dakota|Yankton]], where Brokaw attended high school.<ref name="STL02" /><ref name="MidwestToday" />

As a high school student attending [[Yankton High School|Yankton Senior High School]],<ref name="Yahoo TV"/> Brokaw was the governor of the school's [[Boys State and Girls State|America Legion Boys State]] chapter, and in that capacity he accompanied then-South Dakota Governor [[Joe Foss]] to New York City for a joint appearance on a TV [[game show]]. It was to be the beginning of a long relationship with Foss, whom Brokaw would later feature in his book about World War II [[veterans]], ''The Greatest Generation''. Brokaw also became an advisory board member of the [[Joe Foss Institute]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joefossinstitute.org/about-jfi/our-leadership/|website=Joe Foss Institute|title=Our Leadership|access-date=July 21, 2014|archive-date=July 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716203409/http://www.joefossinstitute.org/about-jfi/our-leadership/|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

Brokaw matriculated at the [[University of Iowa]] in [[Iowa City, Iowa]], but dropped out after a year as he apparently failed to keep up in his studies, in his words majoring in "beer and co-eds".<ref>{{cite news |last=Munson |first=Kyle |title=Tom Brokaw's 'stuff' in Iowa is a window into his life |url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/kyle-munson/2017/04/10/tom-brokaws-stuff-iowa-window-into-his-life/99805406/ |work=The Des Moines Register |date=April 10, 2017 |access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref> He later transferred to the [[University of South Dakota]], where he graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] in 1962 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in [[political science]].<ref name="Yahoo TV">{{cite web|title=Tom Brokaw – Biography|url=https://tv.yahoo.com/tom-brokaw/contributor/213912/bio|work=Yahoo! TV|access-date=August 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615094721/https://tv.yahoo.com/tom-brokaw/contributor/213912/bio|archive-date=June 15, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Iowa, and later donated his papers to its library. He joked that the "honorary degree is especially coveted because it helps to make up for the uneven (to put it mildly) performance of my freshman year."

For several years, Brokaw mountain-climbed with the "Do Boys", whose members included [[Yvon Chouinard]] and [[Douglas Tompkins]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Roberts |first=Michael |title=Anchor's Away |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/1823086/anchors-away |work=Outside |date=December 1, 2004 |access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Lions in Winter: Tom Brokaw Goes to Patagonia |url=https://www.mensjournal.com/features/tom-brokaw-goes-to-patagonia-20131016/ |work=Men's Journal |date=December 2005 |access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref> He owned a home on 53 acres in [[Pound Ridge, New York]], for over two decades.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/g21565503/tom-brokaw-pound-ridge-home/|title=See Inside Tom Brokaw's Westchester County Home|first=Sam|last=Dangremond|date=June 15, 2018|website=Town & Country}}</ref>