1960s Brokaw: NBC Correspondent and 'Weekend Hippy'

A long time NBC anchor spent his weekends as a hippy. Appearing on the January 23 edition of "The View" to promote his book "Boom," former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw described himself as "kind of a weekend hippy" when he lived in California in the 1960's. Brokaw recalled "wearing bell bottom trousers and sandals" and attending the Renaissance Faire. Of course on Mondays he would put on a coat and tie and "be a network correspondent."

Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked the "did you inhale" question to which Brokaw responded "as Senator Obama has said, isn’t that the point?"The veteran journalist then recounted the strong marijuana culture in 1960's California and that he himself "experimented with it."

The entire transcript is below.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Tom, you know, I want to go back in time a bit. We know in ‘76 you took over at the "Today" show as Barbara was leaving to come here to ABC. But I want to go back even further into the 60's with the emergence of the drug culture, and Barbara alluded to this earlier in the segment prior to this. Did you inhale?

TOM BROKAW: As Senator Obama has said, isn’t that the point?

[laughter]

HASSELBECK: Good for you.

BROKAW: You know, when I moved to California in 1966, it was pretty startling because I grew up in the working class town in the Great Plains, and I was a beer and whiskey kid from the 50's. And suddenly in California, marijuana was everywhere. I mean, it was served as a dessert course, kids were choking up on the corner. You know, they doing everything but smoking in class. And, so sure, I experimented with it, it didn’t particularly take with me. Sometimes it took too well with me. And then I kind of then went back to good red wines and the sup of my youth.

BARBARA WALTERS: You were pretty square.

BROKAW: Well, I was.

WALTERS: When I met you 40 years ago you were pretty square.

BROKAW: Well, of course I had come out of the 50's. I was kind of a weekend hippy. I would take my kids, you know my daughters. And on weekends, Meredith and I would, I’d put on my bell bottom trousers and my sandals and we’d go off to the Renaissance Faire outside of Los Angeles.

JOY BEHAR: Oh my God.

HASSELBECK: Are you serious? Tom!

BROKAW: And hang out there, and then on Monday mornings I’d put on my white button down shirt and my narrow tie and my jacket and then I’d go off and be a network correspondent and I looked like that.