Brokaw, the guest speaker at the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry's 134th annual dinner, warned of a great divide created by the partisan political environment.

"Our political landscape has been converted into a war-game battle," Brokaw said.

"We talk about it in terms of red state versus blue state. The operating strategy of both parties is to alienate and conquer, suppress any suggestion of compromise, to kill and kill again."

Brokaw stepped down in December 2004 after 21 years as the anchorman and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News." His 44-year career included three years as NBC's White House correspondent, covering the Watergate scandal, and host of "The Today Show" before being named anchorman in 1983.

During his speech Monday, Brokaw praised Pennsylvania as one of the few states that has maintained a sense of political balance.

He warned, however, that the looming U.S. Senate race most likely pitting incumbent Republican Rick Santorum against Democrat Bob Casey will bring in the "hired gunmen who run campaigns that create fears and exploit them."

"Fair warning: They're coming your way in Pennsylvania, especially in the Casey-Santorum race. You'll see some vicious exchanges," Brokaw said.

Brokaw, 66, prefaced his speech, titled "An Anchorman Looks at the World," by describing it as "a dialogue about the issues that concern me as a citizen and a journalist."

Brokaw, who spent several months in Iraq, begged the audience to put partisanship aside while the nation is at war. He praised the U.S. soldiers in the field.

He also defended his profession against those who suggest journalists have not been balanced in covering the war and have ignored certain stories.

"Twenty-two journalists were killed in Iraq last year alone," he said. "My dear friend at ABC News, Bob Woodruff, narrowly escaped death."

Brokaw said there is a mutual respect between journalists and the military in the field, despite not "always seeing the world through the same prism." He also said the two professions share similarities.

"We (both) live unconventional lives, we like to live off the land," he said. "Most of all, we like to get the bad guys and point out where evil is," Brokaw said.

Before Brokaw spoke, the Lancaster Chamber presented a number of awards at the Franklin & Marshall College Alumni Sports and Fitness Center.

Three local business leaders were honored at the dinner: Liz Martin, president and owner of Martin Insurance Agency, who received the chamber's Athena Award; Walt Legenstein, president and chief executive officer of Certified Carpet, who received the Exemplar Award; and Chip Cargas, president and CEO of Cargas Systems, who was presented with the Small Business Person of the Year Award.

After the dinner, Brokaw, author of "The Greatest Generation," told stories about those who grew up during the Great Depression and then were asked to sacrifice even more when World War II broke out.

He spoke specifically of how heroes like Bob Dole, Daniel Inouye and Phil Hart exemplified their generation by serving as U.S. senators after being severely wounded in combat during the war.

"To me, they represented not just the best and the brightest generation, but the hope of this country," Brokaw said. "They understood public service, something we treat as idle thought."

The former news anchor talked about dozens of encounters with political, business and entertainment leaders like Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett and Stephen Spielberg.

At the end of the night, Brokaw answered questions submitted by audience members that were posed by chamber president Tom Baldrige.

Brokaw said his biggest "missed" story was not putting the pieces together before Sept. 11, 2001, to warn of the emerging threat of Islamic fundamentalism.

"Young Muslims who live in politically and economically oppressive regimes fall easy prey to religious teachers who preach every day of jihad against the West," Brokaw said.

"A military response is only part of the equation. If that rage and hostility is not addressed in a more effective manner by both the West and the Islamic world as well, both sides will live in a perpetual state of terrorism."

Covering the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was his most taxing assignment, Brokaw said, because of its suddenness and the enormous grief it caused.

Brokaw said, "9/11 was easily the hardest time I ever spent on the air ... It took everything I had as a human being and as a journalist to get through it.

"If it had to happen, I'm just glad it happened toward the end of my career. It was the most arduous exercise I will ever go through."

Contact Pat Burns at pburns@lnpnews.com