Book #69: Connie by Connie Chung

 

Connie

Connie Chung

 Released: September 17th, 2024

My 12th book for 2025 was Connie Chung's “Connie”.  

I've always heard the name "Connie Chung" before, and knew it was a real person, but I didn't know her story.  I knew she did something in the news.  She's one of those names I would hear on Wayne's World or similar shows where people would discuss random names in pop culture.

Last fall, I was at Curious Iguana in downtown Frederick, MD.  I saw Connie's memoir there and was interested in it.  She was scheduled to do a book signing there within a week.  I flipped though the cover sleeve and found out she is married to Maury Povich.  I debated getting the book and then meeting her at the book signing, but my schedule did not allow it.

I picked it up a little while later and kept telling myself that I needed to read it.  I love a good biography, and after A Reporter's Life, Walter Cronkite's book, this seemed right up my alley.

I really enjoyed reading this.  It was interesting to see how she grew up, and the struggles she overcame to become the person she is.  I learned a lot about the news industry and find her admiration of Walter Cronkite to be endearing.  She has conducted many great interviews with dozens of famous and interesting people.  

Something that really stuck out to me is her acknowledgement that the news industry has changed over time.  Back in the old school era, you cracked the stories, wrote the news, and presented it objectively and professionally.  With the growth of the 24-hour news cycle, media has become more concerned with breaking the story, than necessarily learning all the details beforehand.  Also, news networks have become vastly more opinionated in their presentation of the news and commentary shows.  Add in that most anchors have "Big Ego-itis", we now have egotistical professionals, pushing their opinion on everyday news.  I felt this describes part of what is dividing America.  I've always been a firm believer in Cronkite-style news (Who, What, Where, When.  You determine the Why).

I also found out she was from suburban DC.  Growing up, my father worked in the DC area, so it was cool to see where she's been, and compare that to places I saw as a child running around with my dad growing up.  

She has made quite the journey, going from DC to Los Angeles, and then finally on to New York City.  All the tales and adventures she recounts are unique, funny, and intriguing.

Throughout the book, there is a very clear narrative of things that held her back.  Sexism, racism, and other factors attempted to keep her from achieving her goals.  She even mentions wanting to be "one of the big white men" who ran the industry.  She would crack jokes and pull pranks back on them.  She is intelligent, resourceful, and a hard worker, and built her legacy on merit.  Even having her entire family depend on her salary was a big obstacle.  (For perspective, imagine renting both an apartment and buying a house in Los Angeles these days on a modest salary).

Another thing that struck me was when she was sexually abused by a childhood doctor.  While respectfully, the story is hers to tell, and she played a large part in the #MeToo movement, it can be mentally and emotionally devastating (let alone if there were any physical ailments).  In the end, what was done to her was wrong, and regrettably the guilty party passed before justice could be done.  It impacted her life and caused her to be more cautious around different people.

I learned a bit about Maury as well.  I used to watch his show a lot growing up.  Sort of a PG Jerry Springer, but with a little more substance to it.  He and I share a voracious appetite for biographies and reading.  I love learning about different people, and how it shapes my perceptions of those among us.  He is essentially the opposite of Connie.  She is very researched, and studies for preparedness.  Maury gets the basic details and ad-libs a lot of what he does.  He has a natural knack for improv with interviews and show segments.  I would be interested in reading a biography on him at some point in time.

Here is what I learned:

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• When she first broke into TV in the 1960’s, it was dominated by white men.

• She is 5’3 and a half.  (Don’t forget the half).

• She was the youngest of five sisters. 

• Her 4 older sisters who treated her like helicopter moms.

• As a child she would “interview” people with the hose of a vacuum cleaner.

• Many men in television news, especially those who became anchormen, contracted a disease called “big-shot-itis”.

• Her mother was illiterate.

• China believes a male birth is better than a female birth.

• Her mother had 5 girls as well as 2 boys who were lost as infants.

• Due to the losses, 

• Her father asked her to carry on the family name.

• Her father worked for the Nationalist Chinese government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (pre-Communist).  (This was the Chinese equivalent of the CIA).

• China had a long history of concubines - philandering males who faced no consequences.

• Connie was the only child to be born a U.S. citizen.

• Her family immigrated to America in 1937.

• Her mother had an abortion in 1945.  It would have been a son.  This was a family secret for decades.

• Connie Chung was born August 20th, 1946 in Washington D.C.

• She was named after Constance Moore, a B-list actress/singer with long brown hair whose career mostly consisted of wartime musicals.

• Her birth name was Constance Yu-hwa Chung, but she was called Connie since birth.

• She used to tell people that “Yu-hwa” meant the melodious ivory keys of a grand piano being played.  A story she made up.

• She was intimidated by elementary school.

• Her favorite book was “Kiki Dances” by Charlotte Steiner.

• In 1950’s Washington D.C., landlords simply would not rent to Chinese people.

• She would get new pieces of utensils and  plates by saving tops of cereal boxes and trading them in.

• She learned to dance in the living room with her sisters.

• A Chinese adage says “All the most beautiful women were born in Suzhou.”

• She attended Blair High School in Silver Spring, MD.

• She was walking back to her homeroom when she heard the news of JFK’s assassination.

• She attended the University of Maryland in 1964.

• Her favorite watering hole was the “Rendezvous”.

• She discovered a love of journalism while working as an intern in New York Congressmen Seymour Halpern’s office.

• She was sexually molested by her family doctor.

• “In journalism, the golden rule is never to become involved in a news story. We do not take sides. We do not express our opinions.  If we do have an opinion, we ignore it. We must get all sides of the story and report them evenly. We never cross the line.”

• She was very much against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh due to the #MeToo movement.

• She first met her husband, Maury Povich at WGGT-TV Channel 5, when he was the Sports Director.

• Every administration in the White House employs press manipulation.

• William S. Paley was the head of CBS.

• His shows provided the profits while the news division gave his prestige.

• Back in the 70’s, you could joke about sex in the workplace and not have it be sinister.  It cut the tension in a stressful job.

• Dan Rather is from Texas.

• Rather replaced Walter Cronkite at CBS in 1980.

• Vice President Nelson Rockefeller was her favorite politician.

• Chung and other members of the press flew on a “zoo plane”.  A wide-body plane with first-class seats front to back.

• Reporters would smoke marijuana on the plane.

• Warren Beatty was a political junkie.

• George McGovern tried to kiss her at a house party once.

• She lived at home with her parents in her mid-twenties.

• Richard Nixon won the 1972 U.S. Presidential Election in a landslide.

• For Watergate, they could not run with any story without fully verifying every part of it.

• The Washington Post was on President Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List”.

• Connie made about $27,000 a year in 1974

• “Just remember this: you have to make more money.” - Richard Nixon

• Maryland Congressman Larry Hogan was the first Republican to announce that he would vote to impeach President Nixon.

• Dan Rather interviewed her live on-air after she spoke to Nixon’s assistant prior to his resignation speech.  It was the first time they appear together on camera.

• Nelson Rockefeller would often greet people “Hiya fella!”

• Nelson Rockefeller shows parallels to later President Donald Trump in terms of unpredictability and wealth.

• Rockefeller had a section of the ocean roped off and heated.

• He was turned down for VP reelection in 1976.

• He was always marked for the U.S. Presidency but always rejected the notion.

• He passed away in January 1979 of a heart attack “at his desk”.

• The circumstances of his death are murky because he traditionally did not work late hours, and the person who found him called 911 an hour after he collapsed.

• She gave her sister her life savings ($8,000) to buy a house.

• She was offered a job to anchor the local news in Los Angeles.

• “Flying to California, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.  Rebellion at age twenty-nine seemed a bit ludicrous, but better late than never.”

• She did war coverage in El Salvador.

• Her parents moved to Los Angeles from Maryland to be closer to her.

• She would accompany her parents to doctor’s appointments because they would be discriminated against.  With her, they received top level treatment due to her VIP status.

• Her father turned the sisters against Connie by equating money to love in letters to them.

• A corrupt Los Angeles doctor hired a private detective to tail Connie and dig up dirt on her.  The police raided the doctor’s office and found a report that detailed her “boring” life.  She decided to have a more active social life after that.

• One time a friend showed her a cocaine snorting tube, and she had no clue what it was.

• She grabbed a Blues Brothers poster from a party for the premiere.

• “You have to tell management what you want.  They can’t possibly know what all their employees or job applicants want.” - Mary Kellogg.

• LA was used for farming talent to NYC.

• She received an honorary degree from Brown University along with Stevie Wonder and the president of Portugal.

• Maury and Connie dated for 7 years before marrying.

• Maury is a rule-breaker, Connie is a rule-maker.

• Maury is from Washington DC.

• Once when co-opping a health care panel, Connie and Maury were given a large binder of material to study.  Connie studied line by line and took notes.  Maury skimmed it.  At the panel, Maury hit his element and casually ad-libbed his way, as Connie struggled to keep up.

• His father Shirley Povich wrote for the Washington Post for 75 years.

• Maury was once a batboy for the Washington Senators.

• Maury once smoked cigarettes.

• Marriage terrified her.

• Maury asked her parents for her hand in marriage.

• Connie and Maury married December 2nd, 1984.

• Connie was allowed to call Maury’s parents “Mom & Dad”.  Maury was asked to call her parents “Mr. and Mrs. Chung”.

• Martha’s a voracious appetite for reading — history, politics, biographies, novels, and literature of all kinds.

• Maury is addicted to golfing.

• In 2007, Maury created the “Flathead Beacon” which is a weekly newspaper in Flathead, Montana.

• They own a home in Flathead.

• She moved to New York to work for NBC.  She took a pay cut despite moving to National News, and working 3 different segments of programming.

• She at one point would sleep in two 3-hour shifts daily.

• To raise her ratings from 3rd place, she began calling NBC affiliates around the country and encouraging them to carry her program.  After successfully lobbying, her program Sunrise shot to number 1.

• Bryant Gumble did not treat her fairly when she would co-anchor Today.

• When she interviewed Senator John Glenn at the 1984 DNC, her battery pack caught on fire.  Glenn helped save her by putting the fire out and stop the battery from melting down.

• She cracked walnuts with her bare hands on Late Night with David Letterman after being advertised to do so.

• Connie interviewed Indiana University Basketball coach Bobby Knight, where he was quoted as saying “I think if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it…”. This caused a backlash, but was aired with Knight explaining the context.  He likened it to an airplane going down with no chance for survival, so you just make the best of your remaining time on Earth.

• Years later, Knight held a grudge against Chung, stating that “If Connie Chung was on fire, I wouldn’t even piss on her.”

• She returned to CBS after NBC went more corporate and began buying out senior contracts.

• She became pregnant for the first time at age 43.

• She suffered the first of many miscarriages but it did not discourage her or Maury.

• She launched Saturday Night with Connie Chung with inspirations from Walter Cronkite’s 1950s CBS program “You Are There”.

• The program met with backlash as views felt recreating historical events on a news channel was inappropriate.

• CNN became the first 24-hour cable news in 1980.

• The Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound on March 24th, 1989.

• Connie got an exclusive interview with Captain Joseph Hazelwood.

• Connie signed an oil rig worker’s underwear in Alaska.

• Captain Hazelwood was accused of being drunk while operating the ship.

• He was nicely read, articulate, and well-versed.  

• He consumed 3 vodkas over the course of the day before taking control of the ship.

• He was found not guilty of being drunk, but was fined $50,000 for discharging oil.  Exxon was fined $5 Billion at first but the government whittled it down to $500 million.

• When Connie asks how this will affect him, Hazelwood responded that history will be kind to him.  He mentioned that nobody knows of Captain Smith anymore.  When Chung asked who that was, he stated that it was the captain of the Titanic.

• There exists a video of a young Bill Gates jumping over a chair from a standing position.  Connie encourages you to YouTube it.

• Gates was so upset over a question Connie asked about Microsoft taking over smaller companies, that he walked out on the interview.

• On November 7,1991, Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced he was retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers because he had tested positive for HIV.

• Magic’s favorite dish at Maurice’s Snack and Chat is the chicken and waffles with lots of gravy.

• He received the positive test when doing so for insurance reasons.

• While he didn’t acquire HIV, he does not have AIDS.

• Johnson had multiple partners over the years outside his marriage.

• She once interviews Michael Jordan, asking if he had a gambling problem.  Jordan responded “No. Because I can stop gambling.  I have a competition problem, a competitive problem.”

• On Thursday, May 14th, 1993, she was named the co-anchor to the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

• O.J. Simpson’s mom has no teeth.

• Maury told Connie that if they get any guest with no teeth, they send them to the dentist.

• She was caught up in “Bitchgate” where she interviewed Newt Gingrich’s mother, and got her to say that Newt called Hillary Clinton a “bitch”.

• Kramer’s mom beat Newt’s mom 2-to-1 in ratings.

• The Oklahoma City Bombing occurred on April 19th, 1995.

• The bombing killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children.

• She was fired from CBS Evening News after pushing to cover the bombing whole breather was on vacation.

• She and Maury opted for adoption.

• Matthew was their first born son.

• It was a closed adoption with all parties being unidentified.

• Connie enjoyed the transition to motherhood.

• Matthew was raised Jewish.

• A five-year-old has to apply to certain elementary schools in NYC.

• Connie and Maury raised him privately.

• She was initially offered a spot on The View with Barbara Walters but turned it down.

• She found herself competing with Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walter’s — 2 people she had assumed would be allies.

• When Barbara Walter’s’ “20/20” was moved to a bad time slot, Connie stood up for her and her staff unsuccessfully.

• She was slated to welcome in the year 2000 at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, but was changed to Las Vegas because Barbara wanted to go to Paris.

• She interviewed Congressmen Gary Condit oven the disappearance of Chandra Levy.  It was the highest rated news segment of the season.

• “Personal History” by Katharine Graham was the best memoir Maury had ever read.

• Every woman needs a mentor or a Maury.

• The first one through the door receives the heaviest gunfire.

• “Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and make a trail.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Connie Chung has a strain of weed named after her.

• The overall message she imparts (by way of describing her strain) “Remember to have a sense of humor, take your work seriously, don’t forget to have a life, and — most importantly — stretch your hand to others who are trying to climb on board.”

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Overall, a very good read.  Connie is attentive to detail, tells a great story with her life, and has accomplished some remarkable things.  
Recommended.

On to Book #70: "The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry" by Ranson Riggs.