The Daily Nightly began on May 31, 2005. As Brian wrote in his first post it aims to provide a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News. Brian weighs in every weekday and NBC News correspondents and producers post regularly.
Brian Williams became the seventh anchor and managing editor in the history of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004. Read his full biography.
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NBC's Robert Windrem offers on our sister blog 'Hardblogger' his commentary on one of the most searing images of Saddam Hussein’s brutal reign, and also one of the first: a purloined Ba’ath Party video of the new Iraqi president watching as his henchmen arrested party members at a 1979 party conference in Baghdad.
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Link to thisWatergate, and the pardon of Richard Nixon, is still shadowing the principals, as I learned today digging into NBC presidential historian Michael Beschloss' fascinating interview with Jerry Ford -- to be published in Newsweek on Sunday. (Editor's note: Mr. Beschloss' Ford interview is available today on the Web. Just click here.)
Discuss (4 comments) Email this | Link to thisBy the time this is posted, the situation may well have entirely changed. It has been that kind of day. When our correspondents got word that the execution of Saddam Hussein was imminent, our network kicked into high gear... everyone is essentially on standby. That was many hours ago. And it may be many hours from now before we have any sense of when the execution will take place.
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It's not usual for us to send readers to other blogs -- sisterly or not -- on such a regular basis, but this is a fantastic read from Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a regular Hardblogger contributor and former CIA operative. In this piece, Francona writes about his covert work in 1996 to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Three sons of an Iraqi general Francona was working with were captured and killed, so the execution of Hussein has very personal meaning for him.
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NBC Correspondent Richard Engel has posted a dispatch on our sister blog "Blogging Baghdad" about the timing of Saddam Hussein's execution being a religious debate rather than a legal one.
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Campbell Brown previews some of the stories we're working on for tonight's broadcast, including the imminent execution of Saddam Hussein.
Click here or on the image to watch.
Discuss (11 comments) Email this | Link to thisIt is issue No. 1 for the President right now: a new strategy for Iraq. But is the President any closer to making a decision on just what that strategy should be? After a meeting today with his top national security advisors, the President said he needs still more input. Much of the reporting suggests the President is leaning toward a surge in the number of American forces, as many as 30,000 additional troops whose mission would be to secure Baghdad and Anbar. But top White House officials say Mr. Bush is not ready to make his case to the American people just yet. Kelly O'Donnell is in Crawford, Texas, with the President and will have more for us tonight.
Discuss (21 comments) Email this | Link to thisWhen people talk about Gerald Ford being unassuming and modest, it is an understatement. Decisive, strong-willed, occasionally partisan, always principled, but definitely unassuming.
I had followed the former President's career, of course, as a journalist, but in recent years had the privilege of getting to know him in a more personal way through my husband, who served as an economic advisor in the Ford White House. So, each summer, we attended Gerald Ford's World Economic Forum, a seminar on domestic and foreign policy he led near his summer home in Beaver Creek, Colo. Typically, Democrats and Republicans would gather, along with foreign leaders and members of Congress, to exchange ideas, often vigorously.
In the summer of 2001, we were invited to also stay at the Fords' home for the weekend of the conference. We arrived on a Friday night, late. We visited briefly, unpacked and went to bed. First thing Saturday morning, the President helped prepare breakfast (yes, that photo opportunity 30 years earlier was not something he put on for the cameras -- he did it every day). We then left for the conference.
Discuss (9 comments) Email this | Link to thisToday's afternoon editorial meeting was one of those rare occasions. Let me put it this way: President Ford had no detractors at this meeting. Everyone was in a contemplative mood -- the conversation centered around our coverage, and making sure we have the very best elements needed to tell his uniquely American story.
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Brian is back in the office today to cover the passing of President Gerald R. Ford. In today's vlog he details some of the ways Nightly News will mark the 38th President's death.
Click here or on the image to watch.
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