Key dates in Mike Wallace's career

The Associated Press

Key dates and events in the career of "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace:

— 1940s: Wallace begins his news career as radio news writer for the Chicago Sun.

— 1949: Wallace appears in a show called "Majority Rules" using his given name, Myron Wallace.

— 1951: Wallace begins working at CBS.

— 1950s: "Night Beat," a series of one-on-one interviews that first brought Wallace recognition for his style of questioning, begins airing on a local New York station. It later airs on ABC.

— 1959: "The Hate That Hate Produced," a highly charged program that Wallace helped create about the Nation of Islam that was later criticized as biased and inflammatory, airs.

— 1963: Wallace becomes a full-time newsman for CBS.

— 1968: Wallace is hired when late CBS News producer Don Hewitt puts together staff of "60 Minutes."

— 1970: Wallace wins first Peabody award at "60 Minutes" and second of five overall for the show's general excellence.

— 1977-78: "60 Minutes" reaches top 10 in ratings for first time, where it remains for years.

— 1979: During the Iranian hostage crisis, Wallace asks Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini what he thought about being called "a lunatic" by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Khomeini answers by predicting Sadat's assassination.

— 1982: CBS airs a documentary that accuses retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland and others of deliberately underestimating enemy troop strength during the Vietnam War. Westmoreland sues Wallace and the network for libel. He later drops the lawsuit but only after years of legal wrangling. Wallace says the case brought on depression that put him in the hospital for more than a week.

— 1999: "The Insider," a film based in part on a 1995 "60 Minutes" story about tobacco industry whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, premieres. Christopher Plummer stars as Wallace, who was unhappy with the film, in which he was portrayed as caving to pressure to kill a story about Wigand.

— 2006: Wallace retires as a regular correspondent for the show.

— 2008: "60 Minutes" airs Wallace's last interview, with Roger Clemens on his alleged steroid use.