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March 14, 2006 1:58 PM

Mike Wallace To Retire

Posted by Vaughn Ververs
(CBS)
Jacques Steinberg reports on The New York Times Web site that “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace will retire when the show wraps up its current season this spring. Wallace has been with "60 Minutes" since its premier in 1968 and first joined CBS in 1951. From The Times:


After serving as a correspondent on "60 Minutes" since its inception in September 1968, Mr. Wallace said today that he had decided to retire this spring, at the end of the current television season. He said that the move had come at his initiative, and that "CBS is not pushing me."

"As I approach my 88th birthday, it's become apparent to me that my eyes and ears, among other appurtenances, aren't quite what they used to be," said Mr. Wallace, whose birthday is May 9. "The prospect of long flights to wherever in search of whatever are not quite as appealing."
Update: Wallace will stay with the network as Correspondent Emeritus and CBS News has released statements from CBS News President Sean McManus and "60 Minutes" Executive Producer Jeff Fager regarding Wallace's planned departure. From McManus:
Mike Wallace is one of a few giants of broadcast journalism for whom a list of endless superlatives can’t and don’t do justice. From his genre-creating early days in radio to his standard-setting work on 60 MINUTES for the past 38 years, and from datelines all over the world, Mike has completely embodied what good, tough, fair journalism should be over the course of his 60-plus years in the business. And he’s broken more than his share of big stories along the way. I’m very pleased that he’ll remain at CBS News as Correspondent Emeritus. There is no finer journalist from whom everyone in the news business can learn.
And Fager:
Mike Wallace as been the heart and soul of this broadcast since he and Don started it almost four decades ago. Millions and millions of Americans have tuned in to 60 MINUTES on Sunday nights over all those years to see him in action and to find out what questions he would be asking each week. I’m glad he’ll be around to do an occasional interview. He’s had such a powerful impact on all of us who work here, on how we conduct interviews and how we report stories, that there will always be a piece of Mike in everything we do.
Share your thoughts about Wallace in the comments section below.
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by geno8808 March 16, 2006 1:44 PM EST
Do you think Mr. Wallace has one more book in him. Frankly, his last title was most unsatifactory. I'd like to see a real "tell all" chronicling his seemingly interminable decade career at 60 minutes. My hope of hopes is that he really comes clean, not just some kind of kind of "limited hang out?" An interesting aside: Does CBS' indeminity of Wallace continue until his death?
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by CBSTV March 15, 2006 2:55 AM EST
Mike Wallace is living proof that someone can successfully transition from insubstantial television (game shows, commercials) to working at the "mother church" of broadcast journalism, as he puts it. I hope that CBS News will air the hour specials that he is proposing.
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by kathleenhale March 15, 2006 1:50 AM EST
I came to NYC in 1968, straight out of college. When I could afford a TV, I discovered 60 Minutes and Mike Wallace. Informed my world! And continued to. I once had the priviledge to go to Mike's birthday party. My birthday is the day after his and he gave me a hug I can still feel. Not only the ace trailblazer and inspired newsman, but able to hug a stranger and mean it. Stay a little, Mike. You will with me, all the way!
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by dumasjr March 15, 2006 1:25 AM EST
I heard Mr. Wallace address a group of about 500 people a couple of weeks ago. He does very well for a man almost 88. He couldn't hear the questions during a q&a, so he posed a couple. Do you think we should of invaded Iraq? Do you think Iraq was responsible for 9/11? Unlike his son, he is hard core liberal. He then mentioned he was bitter about the fact that George W. Bush is the only potus he hasn't interviewed since his career began and blamed it on Karl Rove. Times are changing and I just hope CBS can keep up. From memo gate to Simon's report on Denmark... they are losing the confidence of the American public.
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by peterbaldwin-2009 March 14, 2006 10:39 PM EST
Let's hope we all look that good at 88.
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by foobarbaz-2009 March 14, 2006 10:31 PM EST
The best legacy Mike Wallace is leaving for the world is his son, Chris Wallace. Chris strives to be everything that his dad isn't, which is fair and balanced. One can only hope that his son will rise to the prominence of his dad because it would be much more deserving in his son's case. Mike Wallace has been towing the liberal line for a long time, but he won't fess up to it. It's always a good thing when the part of the "old media" decides to hang it up--or slow it down.
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by mills121 March 14, 2006 9:47 PM EST
P.S. We love Mr. Wallace because we trust you and know you and you are like part of our family and if you ran for President of the United States you would win. Do you know how much we trust you? Do you know? Do you?
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by mills121 March 14, 2006 9:42 PM EST
Please oh please Mr. Wallace, before you go please oh please Mr. Wallace, ivestigate the claims in Arkansas that through all of the taxes we pay in the phone co. home, internet, cellular, sevice the high schools have extra millions to spend on sports at our hands tied expense. HELP! HELP !!!!!!
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by joan-ab1 March 14, 2006 7:37 PM EST
Need someone mature, experienced, sincere, credible, compassionate, stable and an added bonus--a warm, quirky sense of humor. My opinion and choice--Aaron Brown.
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by djman1142 March 14, 2006 6:19 PM EST
I was in graduate school at U of Mich when Michigan scion MWallace became the host/locomotive of 60 Minutes back in '68. I have always regarded him as fair and balanced even when the sirens of the left seduced Rather, Heyward, & many others off the path of dispassionate journalism. Nowadays, when "passion" often substitutes for maturity and perspective, the departure of Mike Wallace will remind us of how much better journalism can be when it is practiced from the middle of the road.
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by jaguar0 March 14, 2006 5:17 PM EST
Let me guess, a certain FALL replacement for Mike, will be, KC?
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