Barbara Walters

Barbara Walters spoke about her career in broadcasting with Don Carleton of the Archive of American Television on May 23, 2000. She explained her interviewing techniques and philosophies, and recounted many of her famous interviews with world figures.

On her difficult start with ABC, Walters said, “What saved me, if anything did, were letters primarily from women who said, ‘Hang in there. If you can do it, we can do it.’ And one telegram that I got one day, and this was somebody I hadn’t known, and I opened it up and it said, ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down.’ And it was signed ‘John Wayne.’ … But it was a terrible time. But again I say to young people, ‘Sometimes you have to go through something like this to know that it wasn’t all luck. And to know that you can work your way back at whatever it is, because I did, and it took years.’”

To learn more about Barbara Walters, read her profile on findingDulcinea.