In the Line of Fire, 3rd Edition

Foreword

Baptism Under Fire

I love the urgency of what we do. I like the battles that take place, the jousting!¹

Mike Wallace

■ The Grand Inquisitor ■

In the late 1960s, I returned to my native New York from Stanford University with my newly minted master’s degree in speech, drama, and television firmly clutched under my arm, ready to take on the world of media and communications. I was lucky enough to land a job at CBS Television as an associate producer at WCBS-TV, the local flagship station. But my job had less to do with Aristotle, William Shakespeare, and Federico Fellini, all of whom I had studied and fully intended to emulate, and more to do with research and logistics. I spent long hours into the night, every night, reading stacks and ...