Early Life and Early Career
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Mike Wallace, longtime CBS 60 Minutes reporter, and Norma Kaphan. His parents divorced when he was one year old. He grew up with his stepfather, future CBS News President Bill Leonard. He did not develop a relationship with his biological father until the age of 14. Leonard gave him early exposure to political journalism, hiring him as an assistant to Walter Cronkite at the 1964 Republican National Convention.
Wallace attended 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.
Although accepted at Yale Law School, Wallace instead took a job with The Boston Globe. 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.
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