As the civil rights movement gained national coverage, McGee's work came to the notice of NBC, which offered him a position with the network, based in New York City.

[5] McGee was a floor correspondent for the national conventions of both political parties in 1960, 1964, and 1968, one member of the so-called "Four Horsemen" that included NBC newsmen John Chancellor, Edwin Newman, and Sander Vanocur.

McGee was also on the air in 1968 when word came of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy following the California primary, and he calmly anchored the network's breaking news coverage.

In 1970, after Huntley's retirement ended The Huntley-Brinkley Report, McGee became one of a platoon of three anchors on the newly renamed NBC Nightly News, along with Chancellor and David Brinkley.

[3] When the network settled on Chancellor as permanent anchor the next year, McGee moved to The Today Show in 1971, replacing Hugh Downs, who had hosted the program since 1962.

[8] McGee moved Today into a more serious news presentation,[4] insisting on opening and closing the show by himself while sharing other duties with co-host Barbara Walters.

[10] McGee last appeared on Today on April 11, 1974, six days before his death at the age of 52 from complications from multiple myeloma, a type of bone cancer.

[1][2][11] Following that last show, he checked himself into Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City; his immune system was weakened by chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and he died of an overwhelming pneumonia.