NEW YORK (AP) – He’s been reporting the news to Americans for nearly 40 years, and now Peter Jennings can say he’s one of them.

The Canadian native quietly became a U.S. citizen more than a month ago at a ceremony in Manhattan, and revealed it to friends at a Fourth of July party last weekend.

The 64-year-old anchor of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” who was born in Toronto and raised in Ottawa, will retain his Canadian citizenship.

He began considering the dual citizenship in the months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, feeling a deeper sense of connection to the United States. Still, the words don’t come easily when he was asked Tuesday to explain why.

“Not to sound too corny about it, but love, respect, gratitude, time,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about this for so long. This is not the kind of thing you can do overnight.”

Or easily. One of his requirements when applying for citizenship was to detail the times he’s left and returned to the United States over the past five years – a challenge for a journalist who frequently travels overseas.

Like any nervous student, he studied for his citizenship test and took practice exams. Jennings had a perfect score.

With his family in tow, Jennings was sworn in on May 30 at a government office with several other new citizens, none of whom spoiled his secret.

Jennings was called upon to deliver a toast to the United States in Philadelphia on Thursday at the dedication of a new museum celebrating the U.S. Constitution.

When he was done, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told Jennings, “not bad for a Canadian.” Jennings said he knelt beside Scalia and whispered the secret to him.

The next day, he told his friends.

Jennings’ citizenship has occasionally been raised by critics, most recently July 4, 2002, when ABC decided not to include country singer Toby Keith and his song, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” on an Independence Day special.

“My decision to do this has nothing to do with politics, it has nothing to do with my profession,” Jennings said. “It has everything to do with my family.”

He’s aware of the critics, but “I always felt it was more of a reflection on them than it was on me,” he said.

“People who don’t like what we do in the media will always find a reason to be critical,” he said. “I wish at the moment we were all a little less rhetorical. It’s quite nasty in the country in many respects. That would cause me great pain no matter where I was from, but it caused me particular pain as I went through this process.”

Now, as a new American, Jennings said he will feel more free to criticize his country at home and defend it abroad.

AP-ES-07-08-03 1759EDT