Frank Reynolds Papers 1

Frank Reynolds began his television career at CBS and ABC-affiliate stations in his hometown of Chicago. In 1965 he began his long connection with ABC News, as a network correspondent in Washington, D.C. In 1967 Reynolds was offered the anchor position on the ABC Evening News, but declined it. A year later however, he became ABC's anchor. He was later joined by Howard K. Smith as co-anchor. Reynolds began to deliver regular liberal commentaries on the Evening News (alternating with Smith's more moderate views), which created a large volume of response mail from viewers, and public anger from the Nixon Administration. Reynolds was relieved of his duties as anchor in 1970. After 1968, Reynolds became ABC's primary correspondent for major events, such as political conventions and space missions, until his reinstatement as ABC's anchor on the then new World News Tonight program. Although that news program began as an innovative attempt to split the anchor position into three persons (Reynolds in Washington, Peter Jennings in London, and Max Robinson in Chicago), Reynolds very quickly became the primary anchor. He continued as ABC's evening anchor and primary correspondent for major events until he became ill with bone cancer and its complications. Reynolds died on July 20, 1983. Reynolds was the recipient of many journalistic honors and honorary degrees, including the George Foster Peabody Award, which he recieved in 1979. He was also active with the United Way Campaign and the National Captioning Institute.