As the first female correspondent on 60 Minutes and the anchor of ABC World News, Diane Sawyer has blazed a path for women in broadcast journalism.
Background
Ethnicity:
She has German, Irish, English and also Scots-Irish roots.
Diane Sawyer was born on December 22, 1945 in Glasgow, Kentucky, USA as Lila Diana Sawyer. She is a writer, known for ABC Evening News (1953), 60 minutes (1968) and Primetime Live (1989). She began her journalism career in the local Kentucky news before moving on to the White House press office under President Richard Nixon. A few years after Nixon's resignation, Sawyer began rising through the ranks at CBS News. In 1984, she was the first woman correspondent for CBS's marquee news magazine 60 Minutes, and from there her career has been a ceaseless climb up the news ladder, culminating in an array of honors and awards and a spot in the echelon of American news reporters.
Education
Diane Sawyer was a senior at Seneca High School after returning from Mobile, Ala., where she was named America's Junior Miss.
Sawyer majored in English, was a member of the Wellesley College Blue Notes and Phi Sigma lecture society; from Missouri, Clinton (then Hillary Rodham) majored in political science, led fellow students in advocating for more student involvement in campus decisions, and delivered Wellesley’s first-ever student commencement speech. Diane received her degree in English from Wellesley in 1967. After graduating, she attended the University of Louisville Law School for one year before she decided to pursue a career in broadcast journalism.
Career
After Sawyer approached a local TV station for a job, her Junior Miss crown came in handy. The locals knew all about her and hired her on as the “weathergirl,” one of the few positions available to women in the news industry at the time.
When her shift was over, Sawyer stayed at the station late into the night, learning how to operate the camera and edit film. She also pushed for more on-air assignments and was finally given the chance when she was sent out for a story on Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. With that one under her belt, Sawyer pushed harder for any story the station could give her, and she was eventually promoted to full-time news reporter.
In 1970, Sawyer left the newsroom for Washington and became a press assistant to President Richard Nixon. It was a job that redefined stress for the young professional, and she recalls, “I remember the terror, the terror of making a mistake. A mistake I made could alter history.”At first, Nixon referred to her as the “tall girl,” but as she proved her mettle, the president revised her moniker to the “smart girl.”
Four years later, she was witness to Nixon’s downfall when, on August 9, 1974, he resigned the presidency in shame in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Sawyer became part of a small group of loyalists who left D.C. with Nixon, essentially into exile, and for four years she helped his legal team with research and assisted Nixon in writing his memoirs.
Worn out, Sawyer returned to reporting in 1978 as a correspondent for CBS News. From this point her path was set, and it had her rising steadily through the ranks of major news agencies and programs. As the co-anchor of CBS Morning News, Sawyer worked with legendary television journalist Charles Kuralt from 1982 to 1984. And in 1984, she broke new ground as the first woman to work as a correspondent on award-winning news magazine 60 Minutes.
Leaving CBS in 1989, Sawyer went to ABC to co-anchor Primetime Live with Sam Donaldson. While working on this program, she covered a number of crucial stories, including the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Sawyer then became the co-anchor of Good Morning America with Charles Gibson in 1999 and was the co-anchor of Primetime Live from 2000 to 2006. From there, Sawyer became anchor of ABC World News, the network's flagship nighttime news program, a position she held until 2014.
Politics
In an interview to "Ladie's Home Journal" asking the question: "Do you let your own politics be known when you’re behind closed doors?", Diane said: "My husband has said even he doesn't know my politics. In the nonromantic-compliment category, that's a good one.” In the same interview, Sawyer proclaimed she could never be as enthusiastic as that energetic Bill Clinton.
Views
Quotations:
[on co-hosting Good Morning America (1975)] "The scariest part about taking this job was how many people would know what I really look like when I get up in the morning". (From "Ladies' Home Journal" interview)
"An investigation may take six months. A quick interview, profile, a day."
"Great questions make great reporting."