Chris Wallace
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Chris Wallace | |
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Wallace in Washington, D.C., February 23, 2010
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Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
October 12, 1947
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Occupation | Television journalist and news anchor |
Years active | 1964–present |
Spouse(s) | Lorraine (Martin) Smothers (1997–present) Elizabeth Jane Farrell (1973–? divorced) |
Children | Peter, Margaret, Andrew, Catherine |
Parent(s) | Mike Wallace (father) Norma Kaphan (mother) Bill Leonard (stepfather) |
Website | foxnews |
Christopher "Chris" Wallace (born October 12, 1947)[1] is a Jewish-American television anchor who has won three Emmy Awards and the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton Award. As a broadcaster for Fox News, Wallace served as the host of the Fox Broadcasting Company/Fox News Channel program Fox News Sunday from 2003 to 2021. A previous moderator of Meet the Press, Wallace is the only person to date to have served as host/moderator of more than one of the major Sunday political talk shows. In December 2021, Wallace left Fox News for CNN.[2]
Contents
Early life and early career
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois,[1] the son of longtime CBS 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace and Norma Kaphan.[3] Both his parents were Jewish.[4][5] His parents divorced when he was one year old. He grew up with his stepfather, future CBS News President Bill Leonard.[6] He did not develop a relationship with his biological father until the age of 14.[7] Leonard gave him early exposure to political journalism, hiring him as an assistant to Walter Cronkite at the 1964 Republican National Convention.
Wallace attended The Hotchkiss School and Harvard College. He first reported news on-air for WHRB, the student radio station at Harvard. He memorably covered the 1969 occupation of University Hall by students and was detained by Cambridge police, using his one phone call to sign off a report from Cambridge City Jail.[8]
Although accepted at Yale Law School, Wallace instead took a job with The Boston Globe.[9] He says he realized he wanted to move to television when he noticed all the reporters at the 1972 political conventions were watching the proceedings on TV instead of in person. For a time in the early 1970s, he worked for Chicago CBS owned-and-operated station WBBM-TV.[10]
Network and cable television journalist
Wallace began his network journalism career with NBC in 1975, where he stayed for 14 years, as a reporter with WNBC-TV in New York City. Wallace then transferred to NBC's Washington bureau as a political correspondent for NBC News, and later served as Washington co-anchor for the Today show in 1982. He also served as chief White House correspondent (1982–89), moderator of Meet the Press (1987–88), and anchor of the Sunday edition of NBC Nightly News. Wallace's confrontational style was evident during President Ronald Reagan's news conference in March 1987, when Reagan admitted to dealing arms for hostages. During his questioning, Wallace asked Reagan why he had denied that Israel was involved with the arms sales to Iran "when you knew that wasn't true."[11]
Wallace left NBC in 1989 for ABC. At ABC News, Wallace was the senior correspondent for Primetime Thursday and occasionally hosted Nightline. During the first Gulf War in 1991, he reported from Tel Aviv on the Iraqi Scud missiles attacks. At the time, the Israeli Government did not want to advertise where the Scuds landed, in order to prevent the Iraqis from making adjustments to their launchers. On one episode of Nightline, Wallace started describing the location in Tel Aviv where a Scud missile landed. Nightline host Ted Koppel cut him off, and asked him to point to a general area rather than give a specific location.[12]
After another 14 years at ABC, Wallace left in 2003 to join the Fox News Channel. He has remarked in the past that his work at Fox opened his eyes to what critics cite as bias in the mainstream press. Wallace has stated, "Fox News wouldn't exist if it weren't for this kind of stuff going on in the mainstream media. That's why people are fed up with that and want the antidote to it because they get it and they've gotten it for years – the so-called bias in the objective press."[13] Wallace began hosting Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace in 2003 after replacing Tony Snow and is an occasional guest on the Howie Carr show on Boston's WRKO. In December 2021, Wallace left Fox News for CNN, to anchor newscasts for the network's new streaming service CNN+.[14] A few months later, Wallace's boss, Jeff Zucker, was fired amidst a series of sex scandals among CNN network producers.[15]
Accolades
- 2013: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association[16]
Personal life
Despite Wallace's blood relationship with his father Mike, his stepfather Bill Leonard had far more of an impact. Wallace stated that Leonard was "the single most important person in my life."[17] Wallace first developed a relationship with his father in his teens, after his older brother Peter died in 1962 climbing a mountain in Greece.[18]
Wallace has been married twice:
- In 1973, he married Elizabeth Farrell with whom he has four children: Peter,[19] Margaret, Andrew, and Catherine.[20]
- In 1997, he married Lorraine Smothers (née Martin) (b. 1959), the former wife of comedian Dick Smothers.[21] Lorraine has two children from her marriage to Smothers: Sarah Smothers and Remick Smothers.[22][23]
Wallace is on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.[24]
Political affiliation
On October 11, 2006, The Washington Post revealed that Wallace had been a registered Democrat for more than two decades. Wallace explained his party affiliation in terms of pragmatism, insisting that being a Democrat is the only feasible means of participating in the political process in heavily Democratic Washington, D.C. He maintained he had voted for candidates from both major parties in the past.[25]
References
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- ↑ Swamp Gatekeeper Chris Wallace Leaving Fox News Effective Immediately for New Position at CNN at the Conservative Treehouse
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- ↑ Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish By Abigail Pogrebin retrieved March 30, 2013.
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- ↑ “Honored and Delighted to Join Jeff Zucker and His Great Team” – Chris Wallace will Join CNN as Anchor for CNN+ at the Gateway Pundit
- ↑ https://thepoliticalinsider.com/chris-wallace-addresses-cnn-debacle-says-hell-be-fine-whether-its-with-cnn-or-some-place-else/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Fox News anchor Chris Wallace credits his success to 'three giants of broadcasting'". The Washington Post. March 8, 2012.
- ↑ Deborah Solomon. "The Newsman Makes News". The New York Times. October 8, 2006.
- ↑ "Weddings/Celebrations; Jennifer Breheny, Peter Wallace". The New York Times. June 27, 2004.
- ↑ Martha Smilgis. "For Chris Wallace of NBC's Prime Time, His 60 Minutes Rivals Are Dan, Morley, Harry—and Dad". People. July 30, 1979.
- ↑ "Ex-wife Of Dick Smothers". Chicago Tribune. September 21, 1986.
- ↑ Erik Meers. "Passages". People. July 21, 1997.
- ↑ Film Reference: Chris Wallace Biography (1947–). Retrieved April 8, 2012.
- ↑ http://www.jeffersonawards.org/board
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External links
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- Transcript of Clinton interview
- Transcript of Follow-up on Clinton interview
- Chris Wallace, Caught Off Balance?
- Wallace: 'Nightline' tribute had an agenda
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Media offices | ||
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Preceded by | Fox News Sunday anchor December 7, 2003 – present |
Incumbent |
Preceded by | Meet the Press Moderator May 10, 1987 – December 4, 1988 |
Succeeded by Garrick Utley |
- Articles with hCards
- 1947 births
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- Living people
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- American people of Russian-Jewish descent
- People from Chicago, Illinois
- Journalists from Washington, D.C.
- Washington, D.C. Democrats