Chris Wallace: How brother's tragic death reunited Fox anchor with his father Mike and inspired his journalism
Chris Wallace, the famed Fox News Sunday host, is respected by his colleagues on both sides of the political fray despite working at the conservative news station for more than 16 years. Known for his impartial reporting and confrontational questioning, Wallace is often feared by everyone he interviews. Wallace's career as a respected journalist, however, would not have been possible if it were not for the tragic demise of his elder brother.
Wallace, son of the famed '60 Minutes' newsman Mike Wallace, is often compared to his father and his old style of news interviewing, something which the Fox News host continues to practice to this day. While speaking to Parade of his father, Wallace had said in 2014: "I think that it's in the Wallace DNA to come at stories and come at people straight on." Wallace, however, was not close to his father while growing up, he had little interaction with his showman father. Mike Wallace admittedly put his entertainment career before his family. Wallace eventually became estranged from his dad at an early age after his parents divorced.
For young Wallace and his older brother Peter, their stepdad Bill Leonard became a father-figure. However, Peter's tragic death in the summer of 1962 changed Wallace's equation with his estranged father. If it were not for Peter's death, the showman and the young Wallace would never have rekindled their relationship, which ultimately led to Wallace's professional inspiration as he followed his father's footsteps.
Peter Wallace, on August 31, 1962, died at the age of 19. He was backpacking in the mountains of Greece near Corinth and fell to his death. Wallace was just 14 at the time of his elder brother's demise. Mike Wallace, after Peter's death, however, vowed to reconnect with his younger teenage son. He reportedly quit acting and advertising work and took on a steady job as a CBS News Correspondent to spend more time with his son.
As the two reconnected, the elder Wallace gradually took on the seat of a new show offered to him at that time which famously became known as '60 Minutes.' Mike Wallace's expertise in interviewing made him the star of the show, which CBS famously called the "ambush interview." His father's career in broadcast journalism inspired Wallace to forge his own path in the industry as he held his father's teachings intact. Wallace, while talking to Town & Country Magazine, once explained his position in news broadcasting, stating, "I view my job as being the cop on the beat, walking around with a nightstick and trying to keep people honest — both Republicans and Democrats."
When once asked by Parade who his inspiration in his interviewing style was, Wallace replied saying, "Not in a sense that I self-consciously copied him, but obviously my dad. First of all, he was one of the great reporters, one of the great interviewers, and you know, just being around him, watching how he conducted himself, watching how he prepared to do his stories, that had an enormous influence on me. I can't think of a better teacher."
Wallace, after his father's death in 2012, told LA Times about his father: "My dad was everything you saw on television: fascinating and funny, challenging and exasperating. He was the best reporter I have ever known. And while work often came first for him, over the last 20 years, he worked hard to make connections with his family. He became my best friend. And at the end, he was surrounded by children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. I already miss him terribly."