--- title: "‘Connie’ Breaks a Story: Her Own" date: 2024-09-06T11:30:00-04:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/connie-breaks-a-story-her-own" section: Articles --- # ‘Connie’ Breaks a Story: Her Own *September 6, 2024* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/authors/karen-shih-09) - *Photos by Stephanie S. Cordle* > Trailblazing journalist Connie Chung ’69 battled misogyny and racism to reach the pinnacle of TV news. In a new self-titled memoir, she shares what it took to get there. *Connie Chung sitting at a table with her book in front of her* *four pictures of Connie with her book: one with book open looking surprised, one with the book on her head, one with her biting the book, one with her smiling — Chung’s memoir, “Connie,” comes out Sept. 17.* --- ## FROM THE ’VOUS TO TV **IN ANOTHER LIFE,** Chung could have been an accountant or a scientist, toiling in obscurity. Her parents had barely escaped as China fell under Communist rule in the 1940s, bringing her four older sisters to America by boat and settling in Washington, D.C., where Chung was born. But her discovery of boys and beer while at the University of Maryland put those more traditional paths to rest. Busy drinking at popular bar the ’Vous and dancing to the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” at fraternity keg parties, she saw her grades plummet in business, then biology, and she had to find a major for the third time. *Connie Chung yearbook photo — Chung was elected “Freshman Queen” by her UMD peers, as shown in the 1966 “Terrapin” yearbook.* --- ## ‘AS STRONG AND TOUGH AS THE NEXT GUY’ *Connie Chung among crowd of white men — Chung, then a young reporter for CBS, stands among a crowd of mostly white men after a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Watergate.* **IN 2020**, a photo of young Chung (above) went viral on social media. She’s facing the camera, looking tired and exasperated among a sea of white men after a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Watergate. Journalist [Marian Wang’s Twitter post](https://x.com/mariancw/status/1311324627990384640) declared it a “mood,” and commenters said they couldn’t imagine “the amount of B.S. she put up with” and that “all women know what she’s thinking.” What Chung felt was this: She was thrilled to be covering the scandal as a young reporter—but she always felt the pressure to “give 200%” and prove herself in a male-dominated industry. The networks had hired no women until they were forced to do so after the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed sex discrimination, says Merrill College Professor Emerita Maurine Beasley, a journalism historian. “They were afraid of getting sued.” > I had swagger and false bravado—and a potty mouth.” — —Connie Chung But the men weren’t thrilled to have women in their midst. To navigate the countless “he either wants to f\*ck you or f\*ck you over” situations—like when presidential candidate Sen. George McGovern tried to kiss her in a deserted hallway—Chung writes that she relied on her quick wit. “I had to be as strong and tough as the next guy,” she says. “I lowered my voice. I had swagger and false bravado—and a potty mouth.” When she was thrust into the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, she chased key figures as they left for work before dawn, accosted others for a soundbite on their way to church and even cold-called those on his infamous “enemies list” at 3 a.m. Her relentlessness caught the attention of her role model, iconic CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, who sent her positive notes through interoffice mail. He was “just plain nice,” she writes, and his encouragement pushed her to keep going. Hours before Nixon’s resignation, Chung got exclusive insight into the outgoing president’s mood from his top aide, which led to her first on-air appearance with future co-anchor Dan Rather. He was magnanimous and friendly then, but their relationship soured as she climbed the ranks. --- ## RISE AND FALL AT CBS **AFTER BARBARA WALTERS** became the first woman to co-anchor an evening news program in 1976, it took nearly two decades for another to follow in her footsteps. But while graphics had gotten snazzier and shoulder pads had gotten bigger, male egos and attitudes hadn’t changed. What started as Chung’s proudest achievement also became her most painful experience. *Tonya Harding and Connie Chung — Tonya Harding abruptly ended her 1994 interview with Chung over questions on what she knew about the attack a month earlier on fellow ice skater Nancy Kerrigan.* *Chung with co-anchor Dan Rather — Chung with co-anchor Dan Rather during her two-year run on the “CBS Evening News,” where she became the first Asian American and second woman to hold a nightly news anchor spot.* --- ## INSPIRING A NEW GENERATION **GRAPPLING WITH HER** legacy has always been a challenge for Chung, who rebuilt her career by returning to newsmagazines after leaving CBS. “I’m perpetually wondering if I should have taken the other road,” says Chung. “I’m a big ‘woulda-coulda-shoulda’ person—it drives my husband crazy.” That husband is Maury Povich of “You are the father!” fame on his eponymous three-decade talk show known for its DNA test reveals. But to her, he was her steadfast support as she navigated the treacherous waters of television news. “I have always, for the last 40-odd years, thought of myself as ‘Mr. Chung,’” he says—a nod to how their doorman addressed him when they first got married. The one thing she’s sure of is adopting their son, Matthew, when she was almost 50 years old. She struggled for years with failed IVF procedures and miscarriages, and writes that she was humiliated when CBS pressured her into putting out a statement when “Face to Face” was canceled, saying she was leaving to focus on conceiving a child. “I never wanted my private life to be public,” she says. Serendipitously, she got the call that Matthew would be born right when she lost the co-anchor job, giving her time to devote to being a full-time mom. “Matthew is meant to be my son and Maury’s son. This is the way it was supposed to be for me. It’s so fulfilling and heartwarming and indescribably wonderful.” Deciding she was too old to have another, she didn’t adopt a little Chinese girl as originally planned. But in 2019, she was contacted by fellow journalist Connie Wang, who had discovered dozens of Asian Americans like her born throughout the 1970s to 1990s and named Connie in homage to Chung. “I always knew she had that kind of impact, but she never believed it,” says Povich. “It took that moment for her to realize. All she cared about was doing the job. She had blinders to how much the other aspects of her life were so meaningful.” My immigrant parents were among many who took comfort and pride in Chung’s achievements when they arrived from Taiwan (though they didn’t go so far as to name me Connie). They looked to her as a hopeful possibility as their daughter eschewed their plans for law or med school to instead scribble in a notebook and tell stories for a living. Subverting expectations is a theme Chung heard over and over when she finally met 10 of her namesakes at the photo shoot for the “[Generation Connie](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/11/opinion/connie-chung-named-after.html)” piece in The New York Times. As photographer Connie Chung Aramaki told her, being named “Connie” means “your parents want you to work hard and be brave and take chances.” “I’m finally able to get my arms around this phenomenon ... my living legacy,” Chung says. Her impact is broad and undeniable. Just turn on the TV to watch Norah O’Donnell solo-anchoring CBS’s weeknight newscast or John Yang hosting “PBS News Weekend.” During Chung’s book tour this fall, she’ll have the chance to encourage even more women and people of color to blaze their own paths. “I’m hoping that for those who loved her and loved her work, the memoir will confirm that,” Povich says. “And for those who may never have seen her work at all, the younger generation, this will be an inspiration.” **TERP** --- ## CLOSE-UP ON COUPLE’S SUPPORT *Maury Povich and Connie Chung — Photo by Judie Burstein/Zuma Wire via Alamy* --- ## CHUNG'S MOST FAMOUS INTERVIEWS *Magic Johnson — Photo courtesy of CBS* *Kathleen Gingrich — Photo courtesy of CSPAN* *Gary Condit — Photo courtesy of CBS* **Issue:** [Fall 2024](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/fall-2024) **Types:** [Features](https://terp.umd.edu/category/features)