Mike Wallace and University of Michigan President, Mary Sue Coleman, at the 2006 Hovey Lecture in the garden of Wallace House.
Since his graduation from the University of Michigan in 1938, legendary newsman Mike Wallace has been a devotee of the University in general – and the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows in particular. Through the years, Wallace has been an enthusiastic and generous supporter of the Knight-Wallace program, endowing an investigative reporting fellowship and donating an additional $1 million for the program. But perhaps most precious to the Knight-Wallace Fellows is the gift Wallace and his wife Mary bestowed upon the program in 1992: the beautiful Tudor home that serves as the heart of the Fellowship, housing the program’s offices and serving as the perfect gathering space for the Fellows during their year in Ann Arbor.
Mike Wallace greets Fellows of the class of 2007.
Wallace’s financial generosity has been easily matched by the contribution of his time, expertise and energy to the Knight-Wallace Fellows. For decades, Wallace has played an integral and influential role in shaping the Fellowship itself, as well as the mid-career journalists who emerge from the program. (He was also a founding judge of The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.) Each year, Wallace comes to Ann Arbor to visit with the fellowship class and share his vast experience, wisdom and encouragement. His affection for the University of Michigan and the Knight-Wallace Fellows is immense and infectious.
A beacon of journalistic integrity and a beloved household name, Mike Wallace has enjoyed a career that harkens back to the Golden Age of reporting. After graduating from U-M, Wallace started out in radio broadcasting in Grand Rapids and Detroit, later moving on to Chicago. During World War II, he served as a naval communications officer and in 1951, he joined CBS, where he would spend the bulk of his career.
Mike Wallace and three of his grandchildren visit Wallace House in 2006.
In 1968, Wallace was part of the team that launched the seminal news magazine “60 Minutes.” It was there that, over the next four decades of reporting, Wallace sealed his reputation as a hard-charging, no-holds-barred interviewer. His style and integrity earned him the trust of viewers and news-makers alike and resulted in some of the most impressive and exclusive “gets” in the broadcast history. His most memorable moments at “60 Minutes” have often been news-making events in their own rights, including his legendary 2000 joint interview with Louis Farrakhan and the eldest daughter of Malcolm X and his 2006 conversation with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. Wallace broke the Major League Baseball scandal wide open with his 2005 interview with Jose Canseco and was the first to interview Dr. Jack Kevorkian upon the euthanasia advocate’s release from prison in 2007. In 2005, Wallace’s greatest moments included two remarkable achievements: an interview with Russian Prime Minister (then president) Vladimir Putin and an exclusive conversation with noted mathematics genius and schizophrenic John Nash. In 2006, Wallace became a correspondent emeritus for CBS, where he now contributes occasionally to “60 Minutes” and the network’s other news shows.
Charles Eisendrath takes Mary Wallace for a ride.
