Michele Clark
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Michele E. Clark (June 2, 1943 – December 8, 1972) was an American journalist. Clark was the first African–American woman to serve as a television correspondent for
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
. As a correspondent at
WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...
, Clark covered the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Clark died in the December 1972 crash of United Airlines Flight 553 at Chicago's
Midway Airport Chicago Midway International Airport is a major commercial airport on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Chicago Loop, Loop business district, and divided between the city's C ...
, while investigating the
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
. Her death has been widely described as cutting short a promising career. Michele Clark Magnet High School in Chicago is named after her.


Biography


Early life and education

Clark was born in
Gary, Indiana Gary ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it Indiana's List of municipalities in Indiana, eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historical ...
on June 2, 1943. Her parents were Harvey Clark, Jr. and Johnetta Clark. They met while attending
Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...
, and her father served in World War II and worked as a bus driver and the manager of an appliance store. Clark had a younger brother, also named Harvey Clark, who became a reporter at
WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed ...
. The family's decision to move into an all-white neighborhood of
Cicero, Illinois Cicero is a town in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,268, making it the 11th-most populous municipality in Illinois. The town is named after Marcus Tullius Cicero, a R ...
sparked the Cicero race riot of 1951, of which they were the victims. Clark attended the
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab, Lab Schools, or U-High, abbreviated UCLS) is a private, co-educational, day pre-school and K-12 school affiliated with the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Almost half ...
, followed by
Grinnell College Grinnell College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalis ...
and
Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls arou ...
. In 1970, Clark graduated from the Summer Program in Journalism for Members of Minority Groups there, and that program was subsequently renamed the Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists. Clark graduated from the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...
in 1972. Prior to the start of her career as a reporter, Clark worked at
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...
, and as a model.


Career

Clark began her journalism career at
WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...
, a CBS station in Chicago. She became a CBS News correspondent at a time when few women and few African Americans worked as network correspondents, and was hired at around the same time as three other women:
Connie Chung Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich (née Chung; born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist who has been a news anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks American Broadcasting Company, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her m ...
,
Lesley Stahl Lesley Rene Stahl (born December 16, 1941) is an American television journalist. She has spent most of her career with CBS News, where she began as a producer in 1971. Since 1991, she has reported for CBS's ''60 Minutes''. She is known for her ne ...
, and Sylvia Chase. Clark was the first Black woman network reporter for
CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. Even though she was a new reporter, Clark was assigned to cover the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries for CBS. This has been described as her "most prominent assignment". She was slated to become a correspondent on ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'' in 1973.


Death

Clark died on December 8, 1972, at the age of 29, in the crash of United Air Lines Flight 553 at
Midway Airport Chicago Midway International Airport is a major commercial airport on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Chicago Loop, Loop business district, and divided between the city's C ...
in Chicago. At the time of her death, Clark was working on reporting related to the
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
, which was still being covered up. This has led to speculation that, if Clark had not died, she might have broken news of the Watergate scandal. Clark's presence on the flight became a feature in conspiracy theories regarding the crash of Flight 553, suggesting that the crash was related to a cover-up of Watergate.


Recognition and legacy

Clark has been identified as a "star" journalist who died at the start of a promising career.
Bill Kurtis Bill Kurtis (born William Horton Kuretich; September 21, 1940) is a retired American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor. Kurtis was studying to become a lawyer in the 1960s, when he was asked to fill in on a ...
recalled that at Clark's funeral, CBS executive Richard S. Salant said that Clark's death was "as if Ed Murrow had died at a young age". Clark is the namesake of Michele Clark Magnet High School, a public magnet high school on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. The school was originally called Austin High School when it opened in 1972, but was renamed in honor of Clark in 1974. After Clark's death, the summer program that she attended at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
was renamed the Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists, partly in recognition of efforts she had made to keep the program running when it had run low on funds. Clark is also the namesake for the first fellowship of the
Radio Television Digital News Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dir ...
, the Michele Clark Fellowship. She has continued to be memorialized on CBS television. Clark was portrayed by actress Prema Cruz in the 2023 HBO miniseries ''
White House Plumbers The White House Plumbers, sometimes simply called the Plumbers, the Room 16 Project, ODESSA or more officially, the White House Special Investigations Unit, was a covert White House Special Investigations Unit, established within a week of the pu ...
''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Michele 1943 births 1972 deaths People from Gary, Indiana 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century African-American writers African-American journalists African-American women journalists Journalists from Indiana American political journalists American television reporters and correspondents American women television journalists CBS News people Grinnell College alumni Roosevelt University alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1972 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States