As one of America's most distinguished journalists, Peter Jennings has reported many of the pivotal events that have shaped our world. He was in Berlin in the 1960s when the Berlin Wall was going up and there in the '90s when it came down. He covered the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1960s and the struggle for equality in South Africa during the 1970s and '80s. He was there when the Voting Rights Act was signed in 1965 and on the other side of the world when South Africans voted for the first time. He has worked in every European nation that once was behind the Iron Curtain. He was in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, and throughout the Soviet Union to record first the repression of communism and then its demise. He was one of the first reporters who went to Vietnam in the 1960s and went back to the killing fields of Cambodia in the 1980s to remind Americans that unless they did something the terror would return.

In broadcast journalism, Peter Jennings has a reputation for putting the most complex and difficult issues on the agenda when others have largely ignored them. From his early days in the Middle East and South Africa, to the contemporary challenges in Africa and the former Soviet Union, on education, health care and tobacco — these are issues with which Mr. Jennings' stewardship at "World News Tonight" and his special series, "Peter Jennings Reporting," have been associated.

He is the author, with Todd Brewster, of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller, "The Century." Structured as an epic tale about "ourselves," it features astonishing first-person accounts of the great events of the century. In 1999, he anchored the 12-hour ABC series, "The Century," and ABC's series for The History Channel, "America's Time." And in 2002, Peter Jennings and Mr. Brewster released their latest book, "In Search of America" in conjunction with a six-part television series for ABC.

On December 31, 1999, Mr. Jennings anchored ABC's Peabody-award winning coverage of Millennium Eve, "ABC 2000." 175 million Americans watched the telecast, making it the biggest live global television event ever. "The day belonged to ABC News," wrote The Washington Post, "…with Peter Jennings doing a nearly superhuman job of anchoring." Mr. Jennings was the only anchor to appear live for 25 consecutive hours.

Jennings led the network's coverage of the September 11th attacks and America's subsequent war on terrorism. He anchored more than 60 hours that week during ABC's longest continuous period of news coverage and was widely praised for providing a reassuring voice during the time of crisis. ABC News was the only network recognized with a Peabody Award for its coverage of September 11 and the events that followed.

Mr. Jennings joined ABC News on August 3, 1964 and briefly served as anchor of the "ABC Evening News" from 1965 to 1968. In 1972, he helped put ABC News on the map with his gripping coverage of the Summer Olympics in Munich as Arab terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage. He became chief foreign correspondent for ABC News and established the first American television news bureau in the Arab world when he served as ABC News' bureau chief for Beirut, Lebanon, a position he held for seven years. From 1978 to 1983 he was the foreign desk anchor of "World News Tonight."

Mr. Jennings was named anchor and senior editor of "World News Tonight" in 1983. In the five-year span in which the Washington Journalism Review recognized the country's best anchor, Mr. Jennings was honored each time. In 1995, the Boston Globe noted "the passing of Edward R. Murrow's mantle to Peter Jennings." He has won the Harvard University's Goldsmith Career Award for excellence in journalism and the coveted Radio and Television News Directors Paul White Award, chosen by the news directors of all three major networks. In 2001, he was awarded the Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast from the National Press Foundation.

His extensive domestic and overseas reporting experience has proven to be invaluable during "World News Tonight's" coverage of major crises. He has reported from all 50 states and locations around the globe. During the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 War in Iraq, his knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs brought invaluable perspective to ABC News' coverage. He has anchored the ABC News coverage of every major national election since 1984.

In "Peter Jennings Reporting," which debuted in 1990, he covers challenging issues in-depth during prime-time television. More than 16 million viewers watched "The Search for Jesus" on June 26, 2000 in which he traveled to the Middle East to report on new research being done on the life of Jesus. "Peter Jennings Reporting" has also focused extensively on international news with specials on tense relations between India and Pakistan, the conflict in Bosnia, the crisis in Haiti, the war in Iraq and the drug trade in Central and South America. The series has also tackled important domestic issues such as gun control policy, the politics of abortion, the crisis in funding for the arts and a highly praised chronicle of the accused bombers of Oklahoma City. "Peter Jennings Reporting" has earned numerous awards, including the Overseas Press Club Award for his examination of the United Nations peacekeeping role in Bosnia and the decision to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Mr. Jennings has a particular interest in broadcasting for the next generation. He has done numerous live news specials for children on subjects ranging from growing up in the age of AIDS, to prejudice and its effects on our society. After the events of September 11th and again on the anniversary he anchored a town hall meeting for children and parents entitled, "Answering Children's Questions."

He has been honored with many awards for news reporting, including 14 national Emmys, two George Foster Peabody Awards, several Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards and several Overseas Press Club Awards.

Mr. Jennings currently resides in Manhattan with his wife Kayce Freed. He has two children.