at abc news. connie, great to have you on tonight. tell us your thoughts as you hear this sad news about barbara walters. alyson, i can t imagine journalism without barbara. barbara was one of a hand full of women who was in a news business at the time i started but beyond that, she blazed a trail for the men, too. in other words, the men were sitting back there not aggressively going after interviews, one on one interviews and they were not picking up the phone, frankly. she did everything she could to get an interview. she was emphaticable. i met her in 1969 first when i was working at a local station in washington d.c. and she was just she was bigger than life. she met me at her limousine at the southwest gate of the white
reporter: it didn t take long for walters to become part of pop culture. hello. this is barbara wawa. reporter: the same network that made fun of her is where she got her big break. i kicked the door open because after being there for 11 years i was named the first co-host of a morning program. reporter: but shifts not permitted by her co-host to ask a question until he posed three. harry reasoner. barbara walters. reporter: it got worse when walters, to the surprise of many, was named the first female co-anchor of a network evening newscast. i ve kept time on your story than mine, then i you owe me four minutes. reporter: she later described it as drowning without a life preserver. the barbara walters special. the specials saved my life. good evening. i m barbara walters. reporter: and launched a legendary career at abc, capped by creating and co-hosting the
it s nice to hear your experience. she was certainly nothing but supportive with me but she did have to fight. she was so demeaned and she would tell us stories about the things that harry would say and do to her and i think that it really compelled her to feel like she had to push harder and fight harder as well and again, i don t know that we would be doing what we re doing if it weren t for the likes of barbara walters and connie chung who engaged in the battles for us so we wouldn t have to fight the same battles and they were hard. connie talked about how she and both barbara adopted their children because they missed that opportunity. they had to make so many
being and not as the scelebrity interviewer and she really relished that and loved being able to just speak freely and give her opinions and talk so openly what she was experiencing in her life. that s interesting because obviously, that s so different than how she was trained. obviously as a journalist, you re not supposed to share your opinions. she was trained in that old school of thought and i saw that clip and maybe you saw it now, too, of the view, where it can get spicy and there is sex talk and girl talk and barbara seemed to be blushing basically when it would veer in that direction? alyson, she loved it. she absolutely loved it. i was listening to connie talk about it. i was in my mid 20s but i will never forget the stories and she
the only one interview. you are always like this, barbara. reporter: she said her 1977 interview with cuba s fidel castro was a news coup. castro didn t make it easy. blowing the cigar he smokes in my face for 3 1/2 hours, i didn t mind it. it was a different time. reporter: about 74 million people t most viewers for a news program tuned in to see monica lewinsky. what will you tell your children when you have them? mommy made a big mistake. reporter: she got a reputation for making her interview guests cry. you never got to know and you won t feel so big.