Mike wallace, the cbs news correspondent, was in california when the call came in. Fresh air remembers mike wallace of 60 minutes the cbs news correspondent who became famous for his twofisted interview style and hardhitting interviews with politicians, celebrities and. Mike wallace on his heartstarting 1957 interview of. He began studying the quran and the persian language from a young age. Mikes interview with irans revolutionary hero, the ayatollah khomeini, is, in my judgment, the best example of classic mike. His book, mike wallace asks, a compilation of interviews from night beat and the mike wallace interview, was published in 1958. The new 60 minutes book has a troubled history the new york. Mike wallace one of the original correspondents for cbs 60 minutes asked ayatollah khomeini what he thought of egyptian president calling him a. Wallace tells how he infuriated all sides with his reports from the middle east. He was the founder of the islamic republic of iran and the. The highlight reel might include his 1957 discussion on the mike wallace interview with the gangster mickey cohen, who asserted that he had killed no men that in the first place didnt deserve killing. The new 60 minutes book has a troubled history the new. Cbs reporter mike wallace became one of the nations bestknown broadcast journalists.
Wallace asked the ayatollah khomeini about president anwar sadat of egypts. In 1979, wallace asked the ayatollah khomeini about president. Mike wallace, morley safer, ed bradley and the big interviews the clintons, ayatollah khomeini, bob. Mike wallace discusses his interview with ayatollah.
Legendary tv personality mike wallace was a correspondent for cbss 60 minutes from 1968 until his departure in 2006. Khomeini wanted the united states to hand over the shah so that he could be tried for the crimes he committed against the nation. This video is part of the forthcoming investigating. Remembering mike wallace mike wallace, a legendary newsman known for impertinent, hardnosed interviews on cbss 60 minutes, has died at age 93, the network announced on sunday. Irans ayatollah khomeini probably said the same thing, but it wasnt translated. Critical reading and writing for postgraduates by mike wallace.
Would it have been so hard to actually show more than. Ayatollah sayyid ruhullah musawi khomeini, also called imam khomeini, was the founder of the islamic republic of iran and the leader of the 1979 iranian revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last shah of iran, mohammad reza pahlavi. Wallaces career, she notes, was built on years of feisty, confrontational interviews ranging from the 1982 tangle with gen. In one of his last interviews, mike wallace talks to charles lewis in 2008 about his exclusive interview with irans ayatollah khomeini in 1979. We wanted to honor the life and career of journalist myron mike wallace 19182012. Wallaces memorable exchanges was a 1979 interview with irans ayatollah ruhollah khomeini shortly after his followers seized the u. The message, delivered in a telephone call to new york late last week by an aide to ayatollah. You and me tv news veteran mike wallace has just published a book about his favorite interviews, titled between you and me. A vietnam deception, correspondent wallace interviews u. During the iranian hostage crisis in 1979, wallace asked irans ayatollah khomeini then a feared figure what he thought about being called a lunatic by egyptian president anwar sadat.
A new documentary about the late journalist mike wallace opens with wallace interviewing former fox news host bill oreilly. With coauthor beth knobel, wallace writes the book heat and light. This is his memoir written in 2005, seven years before he passed away. He was born in 1902 in khomeyn, in what is now irans markazi province. Wallace interviews the iranian leader ayatollah khomeini, using his trademark forgive me to ask his reaction to being called a lunatic by egyptian president anwar sadat. During his career at 60 minutes, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers, including deng xiaoping, mohammad reza shah pahlavi, ayatollah khomeini, kurt waldheim, yasser arafat, menachem begin, anwar sadat, manuel noriega, jeffrey wigand, john. Mike wallace interviews a ku klux klan grand wizard in the.
One of the last of a long line of tough, oldschool tv journalists, wallaces career started in entertainment on the radio. Wallace tells her that many americans hated her husband and her. Mike wallace, the cbs reporter who became one of americas bestknown broadcast journalists as an interrogator of the famous and infamous on 60 minutes, died on saturday. His memoir close encounter, coauthored with gary paul gates. The most memorable interview may be the one in 1979 with ayatollah khomeini, at the beginning of the iranian hostage crisis. Wallace famously interviewed religious leader and head of the 1979 iranian revolution, ayatollah khomeini, during the american hostage crisis in the early 80s. William westmoreland over whether the military had deliberately misled americans about troop reductions in vietnam, to the moment he told irans ayatollah ruhollah khomeini that egyptian president anwar sadat considered. Its unsettling to watch wallace really stick it to bette davis and barbra streisand and then engineer event journalism coups like an interview with the ayatollah khomeini of iran, whose pronouncements in said interview arguably precipitated the assassination of egypts anwar sadat. Just three years after talking with the shah, mike wallace conducted an interview with irans ayatollah khomeini, asking him for a response to being called a lunatic by egypts president sadat. Mike wallace talks about his exclusive interview in 1979 with irans ayatollah ruhollah.
Interviewing former general william westmoreland about vietnam. Mike wallace documentary reminds us of journalisms power. The message, delivered in a telephone call to new york late last week by an aide to ayatollah ruhollah khomeini. Between you and me gave me an inside look on how many of his interviews came to be, some of his regrets as a journalist and a glimpse of the way he thought of himself as a journalist. Mike wallace speaks with iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad, right, in tehran, 27 years after wallace became the first western reporter to interview irans ayatollah ruhollah khomeini after. But for every one of wallaces setbacks, belkin answers with a clip of the newsman performing fearlessly in getting tough with the likes of tyrants vladimir putin and ayatollah khomeini. On a more troubling note, the film by avi belkin which was nominated for a grand jury prize at sundance suggests that wallace s 1979 interview with ayatollah khomeini contained an incitement. Settling in iraq, khomeini continued his outspoken denunciations, developing a. In belkins film, viewers see wallace sitting on the floor crosslegged to interview the iranian leader ayatollah khomeini during the late1970s hostage crisis. The ayatollah ruhollah musavi khomeini was the central actor of the 1979 islamic revolution in iran, and one of the truly transformational men of history. Wallace was a correspondent for cbss 60 minutes since its debut in 1968.
Produced for abcs the mike wallace interview, what began as one session quickly spilled into a second as the architect and the broadcast journalist tussled over wideranging topics that got wrights heart started, in wallaces words when my coauthor jane king hession and i considered candidates to pen the foreword of our book, frank lloyd wright in new york the plaza years. Ap insights ap definitive source ap images spotlight ap explore ap books. Mike wallace discusses his interview with ayatollah khomeini. Documentary mike wallace is here is a slambang look at. A look back at mike wallaces tough interviews duration. The worst example of this is the ayatollah khomeini interview. Educated in islam at home and in theological schools, in the 1950s he was designated ayatollah, a supreme religious leader, in the iranian shiite community.
Wallaces onair manner is softer than it was in the days of his most celebrated ambush interviews or in the 1979 segment in which he told the ayatollah khomeini that anwar sadat had called him. Asking irans ayatollah khomeini about egypts anwar sadat calling him a. We cut together two tapes in our archive featuring wallace telling the story of one of the defining moments of his career. Wallaces greatest legacy as a journalist was his ability to merge. Mike wallace and memorable interviews, television journalist mike wallace, who combined a confrontational interview style with showbusiness panache over a celebrated career that spanned seven decades, died saturday night at a care facility in new canaan, conn. Wallace interviews the iranian leader ayatollah khomeini, using his. Mike wallace, morley safer, ed bradley and the big interviews the clintons, ayatollah khomeini, bob dylan that have helped make it. More pleasantly, we see wallace in the 1950s interviewing a grandmotherly eleanor roosevelt. Mike sat down with the ayatollah khomeini for a profile that ran november 18, 1979.
Mike wallace, cbs pioneer of 60 minutes, dead at 93. A new documentary about mike wallace reminds us of. During his career at 60 minutes, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers, including deng xiaoping, mohammad reza shah pahlavi, ayatollah khomeini, kurt waldheim, yasser arafat, menachem begin, anwar sadat, manuel noriega, jeffrey wigand, john f. When confronted about his pugnacious onair style, oreilly points out. Mike wallaces legend is explored in new documentary the. Without understanding khomeini, one cannot understand the revolution, nor the state he left behind with which we are still dealing to this day.
Lesley stahl conducted the first interview with presidentelect trump after his victory in 2016. Onair segment of cbs special looking back at mike wallaces interview with ayatollah imam khomeini for 60 minutes, in november 1979. Imam khomeini insisted on preserving imam ali pbuhs patterns of justice, divine legacy wednesday, may, 2020 01. Mike wallace, interview the ayatollah khomeini in 1979. Here are five of wallaces most memorable 60 minutes interviews, starting with khomeini, in which he asked the leader if he were crazy. In mike wallace is here, 60 minutes newsman is under. Mike wallace and the ayatollah khomeini 50 years of 60.