George Stephanopoulos

At 63 years old, George Stephanopoulos has this physical status:

George Robert Stephanopoulos (born February 10, 1961) is an American television host, political commentator, and former Democratic strategist.

Stephanopoulos is now the head anchor and political reporter on ABC News, coanchor with Robin Roberts of Good Morning America, and host of ABC News' Sunday morning's current affairs news show.

Stephanopoulos has also appeared as a regular substitute anchor on ABC World News Tonight. Stephanopoulos served as an adviser to the Democratic Party before his time as a journalist.

He rose to early prominence as a communications director for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and then became White House communications director.

He served as a senior advisor for policy and strategy before retiring in December 1996.

Early life and education

George Stephanopoulos was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, and the son of Nickolitsa "Nikki" Gloria (née Chafos) and Robert George Stephanopoulos. His parents are of Greek descent. His father is a Greek Orthodox priest and dean emeritus of the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City. His father, a retired priest in St. Louis, is a former priest. In Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. His mother served as the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America National News Service for many years.

Stephanopoulos left Purchase, New York, to Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated in 1978 from Orange High School in Pepper Pike.

Stephanopoulos earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science summa cum lauded from Columbia University in New York in 1982 and was the salutatorian of his class. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year and was given a Harry S. Truman Scholarship while at Columbia University. He also worked as a sports broadcaster for 89.9 WKCR-FM, the university's radio station. He grew up in Carman Hall and East Campus as a student.

George, a necrotic who told his father that he would attend law school eventually, worked in Washington, D.C., as an aide to Ohio Democratic Congressman Ed Feighan. He became Feighan's chief of staff.

Stephanopoulos earned a Master of Arts in Theology at the University of Oxford in England, as a Rhodes Scholar.

Personal life

Stephanopoulos, a Greek Orthodox Christian, has earned a master's degree in theology.

On New York's Upper East Side, Stephanopoulos married Ali Wentworth, an actor, comedian, and writer, in 2001. They have two daughters, one born in 2002 and one born in 2005. Jerry Seinfeld introduced Stephanopoulos to transcendental meditation. "We're here because we have something in common," he said during a Good Morning America interview. We're all here because we have something in common—we all practice Transcendental Meditation." "I believe that people don't really know what it is and what a difference it has made in people's lives."

While self-quarantining in their New York home, Wentworth revealed on Instagram on April 1, 2020 that she was struggling with COVID-19. Stephanopoulos reported on April 13, 2020, that he had tested positive for COVID-19, but that he was asymptomatic.

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Career

Stephanopoulos served on the Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign in 1988. Dukakis, a Greek-American liberal from Massachusetts, was one of his campaign's draws. Stephanopoulos became a senior floor assistant to Dick Gephardt, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, after this campaign; he was in possession of this position until he joined the Clinton campaign.

Stephanopoulos, along with David Wilhelm and James Carville, a leading candidate in Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, was a leading participant. In the 1993 documentary film The War Room (1993), his participation on the campaign is depicted.

Stephanopoulos served as a senior advisor on policy and strategy during the Clinton administration. His efforts were largely focused on crime control, affirmative action, and health care. Stephanopoulos also served as the de facto press secretary at the start of Clinton's presidency, briefing the public even though Dee Dee Myers was officially the White House Press Secretary. Stephanopoulos was thought of as a member of Bill Clinton's inner circle.

Stephanopoulos and James Carville attempted to discredit Bill Clinton's allegations against Clinton in 1994, after Paula Jones accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. Jones was just trying to get money for her account, according to both men. Stephanopoulos has also managed to keep Jones' news conference off television. Stephanopoulos called NBC journalist Tim Russert, CNN chairman Tom Johnson, and many others, who were convinced not to keep her appearance off television.

Stephanopoulos and Harold Ickes spoke with Roger Altman on February 25, 1994 to discuss Resolution Trust Corporation's selection of Republican lawyer Jay Stephens to lead the Madison Guaranty probe, as well as discussing whether Stephens could be arrested. The Madison Guaranty probe would lead to the Whitewater scandal later in life.

He had a collision with a parked vehicle in 1995 as he was pulling out of a parking space in front of a restaurant in Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood. Stephanopoulos was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a collision and driving with a revoked license and license plates. President Clinton told Stephanopoulos "not to worry about" the accident, but that his license should be renewed, according to White House press secretary Mike McCurry. The charge of leaving the scene of an accident was dropped shortly.

Gennifer Flowers sued Stephanopoulos and James Carville in 1999 for defamation. Stephanopoulos had made a remark about her claims that she had an affair with Bill Clinton. Flowers accused Flowers of manipulating her taped talk with Clinton to make her story appear credible, according to her. Stephanopoulos also referred to her novel as "tabloid garbage," "garbage," and "crap." The lawsuit was dismissed because his allegations were not defamation-based.

Stephanopoulos resigned from the Clinton administration just after Clinton was re-elected in 1996.

Since leaving the White House after Clinton's second term, his book, All Too Human: A Political Education (1999), was released. It quickly became a top-one bestseller on The New York Times Best Seller list. Stephanopoulos wrote about his depression and how his face turned into hives as a result of the pressures of conveying the Clinton White House's word. Clinton referred to the book in his autobiography, My Life, apologizing for what he considered to be unnecessary demands placed on the young workerer in retrospect.

Stephanopoulos' book chronicles his time with Clinton, from the day he first met him in September 1991 to the day Stephanopoulos departed the White House in December 1996, spanning two presidential campaigns and four years in the White House. In the book, Stephanopoulos describes Clinton as a "complex man responding to the pressures and pleasures of public life in ways that I found both amazing and appalling."

Stephanopoulos left the White House at the end of Clinton's first term and spent as a reporter on ABC News' Sunday morning public affairs program; World News Tonight, ABC's evening news broadcast; and other special broadcasts.

Stephanopoulos became the host of This Week in September 2002, and ABC News has dubbed him "Chief Washington Correspondent" in December 2005. The new host's name was included in the program's name.

Stephanopoulos, a relative newcomer to the show, usurping long-serving panelists and short-term co-hosts Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, who, for a few years, briefly replaced longtime host David Brinkley.

Since competing NBC, CBS, Fox, and syndicated services, ABC News executives reportedly gave Ted Koppel, the program's former Nightline anchor, a fifth-place finish, and occasionally fifth-place finish in 2005. However, This Week beat Meet the Press on January 11, 2009, when Stephanopoulos interviewed president-elect Barack Obama.

Stephanopoulos co-moderated, with Charles Gibson, the twentieth-first, and eventually final, Democratic Party presidential debate debate between Illinois Senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton for the 2008 election cycle. Although the debate attracted record ratings, the moderators were chastised for focusing the majority of the first hour of the debate on scandals that occurred during the campaign rather than issues such as the economy and the Iraq war. Stephanopoulos acknowledged the legitimacy of the questions' order, but said they were questions that had not been covered in previous debates. ABC had sought out a woman who opposed Obama and aired a video of her asking a trivial question that was repeated by Stephanopoulos about why Obama wasn't wearing a flag pin. The query sparked a lot of negativity in the media.

Stephanopoulos' blog George's Bottom Line on the ABC News website during the 2008 presidential election campaign. Stephanopoulos wrote about Washington's political news and analysis.

After Sawyer was appointed anchor of World News, ABC News president David Westin gave Stephanopoulos Diane Sawyer's position on Good Morning America in December 2009. Stephanopoulos accepted the new position and began co-anchoring GMA on December 14, 2009. Stephanopoulos declared on January 10, 2010, that it would be his last broadcast as the permanent host of This Week. However, Stephanopoulos will return as host of This Week in December 2011 after his predecessor, Christiane Amanpour, left the show in the midst of sagging ratings. He has signed a contract with ABC to remain with the corporation until 2021, worth $105 million.

Stephanopoulos, co-moderator of a debate involving Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum, appeared on January 7, 2012. Stephanopoulos asked Romney repeatedly that the former governor of Massachusetts believes the Supreme Court should reverse a 1965 decision that prohibiting abortion prohibits states from prohibiting contraception. Romney said during the debate that it was a preposterous question.

Stephanopoulos, the Chief Anchor at ABC News from 2014 to 2020, following Diane Sawyer's departure from World News at the end of August 2014, while also continuing his roles on GMA and This Week. Stephanopoulos leads a new documentary team for Disney's digital media and hosts four primetime hour specials on the ABC network each year.

Stephanopoulos spoke at the annual Tri-C Presidential Scholarship Luncheon held at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel in 2009 and praised Cuyahoga Community College.

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