Mike Wallace Would Be 100 Today: Brookline History

BROOKLINE, MA — Today, May 9, marks what would have been journalist Mike Wallace's 100th birthday.

Wallace, best known for his days as one of the original correspondents for CBS' 60 Minutes, which debuted in 1968. Wallace was born and raised in Brookline and originally had the name "Myron." His parents Frank and Zina Sharfman Wallace were Jewish immigrants from Russia, together they lived on Rawson Road. And in 1935 Wallace graduated from Brookline High School and gave the commencement speech, then called the class oration.

In it, he made a call to action. "We must have more to live by than mere moral abstractions. We must translate them into action." he said

"In these days of survival of the fittest of the fit, we must first realize - with a more mature understanding of the words - that it is necessary for us to force our respective ways through hard work, at any job whether it be the setting of a curbstone or the mapping out of an advertising campaign. Yet, more than that we must keep faith with ourselves. We are not all going immediately to be successful: for some of us it will be quite a considerable length of time before we shall be able to do that which we desire. it is necessary, in such times of stress and bitter disappointment, to grit our teeth and look ahead. If we would scale even the foothills of success, we must climb hard, never tiring. We cannot gaze back lovingly until all our work is done, else the fuits of our labor will disappear with the swiftness of Eurydice."

Wallace died on April 7, 2012 at his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, a month and two days before his 94th birthday.

Here read the entire Brookline High School Class of 35 speech, thanks to Ken Liss of the Brookline Historical Society for pointing it out.

Image courtesy Murivan archives screen grab from the 1935 year book.