George Stephanopoulos

Nice picture

### Occupation

Senior Advisor to the President (June 7, 1993 - December 10, 1996White House Communications Director (January 20, 1993 – June 7, 1993)Muse

## Appearances

### Appears in

Episode ThreeMedea

TV all the time

### Debut

Michael Dukakis 1988 U.S. Presidential Campaign

George Stephanopoulos whose image is briefly seen in Episode Three of ***The Office Life***.

## Early Life and Education

Stephanopoulos was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, 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. Currently, his father is a retired priest at Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox church in Cleveland Heights, OH. His mother was the director of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America National News Service for many years. She now also attends St Cons, and is a regular member of the church. In his youth, he became a follower of the Greek Orthodox faith, and long considered entering the priesthood.
Stephanopoulos speaking at Virginia Tech in March 2006
Following some time in Purchase, New York, Stephanopoulos moved to the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated in 1978 from Orange High School in Pepper Pike. While at Orange, he was on the wrestling team, competing at lower weight classes. He told Howard Stern in May 2020 that he would sometimes work out wrapped in plastic, so he could lose water weight before the weigh-in, prior to a match. Academically, he was the number two student in his graduating class.

In 1982, Stephanopoulos received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science *summa cum laude* from Columbia University in New York and was the salutatorian of his class. While at Columbia, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year, was awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship. He was also a sports broadcaster for 89.9 WKCR-FM, the university's radio station.

Stephanopoulos's father wanted his son to become either a lawyer or a priest.[*citation needed*] Promising his father that he would attend law school eventually, George took a job in Washington, D.C., as an aide to Democratic Congressman Ed Feighan of Ohio. He became Feighan's chief of staff.

Stephanopoulos attended Balliol College at the University of Oxford in England, as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a Master of Arts in Theology in 1984. He states that he spent much of his time trying to root his political leanings in the deeper philosophies that he studied while in college.[*citation needed*]

## Career

### Politics

#### 1988 U.S. presidential election

In 1988, Stephanopoulos worked on the Michael Dukakis 1988 U.S. presidential campaign. He has noted that one of his attractions to this campaign was that Dukakis was a Greek-American liberal from Massachusetts. After this campaign, Stephanopoulos became the "floor man" for Dick Gephardt, U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader; he held this position until he joined the Clinton campaign.

#### Clinton Administration

Stephanopoulos and President Bill Clinton prepare for the State of the Union Address in 1994. Stephanopoulos was, along with David Wilhelm and James Carville, a leading member of Clinton's 1992 U.S. presidential campaign. His role on the campaign is portrayed in the documentary film *The War Room* (1993). At the outset of Clinton's presidency, Stephanopoulos served as the *de facto* press secretary, briefing the press even though Dee Dee Myers was officially the White House Press Secretary.

#### Defamation lawsuit

Stephanopoulos and James Carville were sued for defamation by Gennifer Flowers. Stephanopoulos had made comments about her allegations that she had an affair with Bill Clinton. He accused Flowers of doctoring her taped conversation with Clinton to make her story look creditable. Stephanopoulos also called her story "tabloid trash", "garbage", and "crap". Although the suit was dismissed since his comments were not the basis for defamation.

#### Attempt to obstruct Regulatory Agency Investigation

Newsweek reported that Stephanopoulos attempted to obstruct a Regulatory Agency Investigation, with his objection to an appointee. On February 25, 1994, Stephanopoulos and Harold Ickes had a conference call with Roger Altman to discuss the Resolution Trust Corporation's choice of Republican lawyer Jay Stephens to head the Madison Guaranty investigation, that later turned into the Whitewater controversy. Stephanopoulos resigned from the Clinton administration shortly after Clinton was re-elected in 1996.

His memoir, *All Too Human: A Political Education* (1999), was published after he left the White House during Clinton's second term. It quickly became a number-one bestseller on *The New York Times* Best Seller list. In the book, Stephanopoulos spoke of his depression and how his face broke out into hives due to the pressures of conveying the Clinton White House message. Clinton referred to the book in his autobiography, *My Life*, apologizing for what he felt in retrospect to be excessive demands placed on the young staffer.

Stephanopoulos's book covers his time with Clinton from the day he met him in September 1991, to the day Stephanopoulos left the White House in December 1996, through two presidential campaigns and four years in the White House. Stephanopoulos describes Clinton in the book as a "complicated man responding to the pressures and pleasures of public life in ways I found both awesome and appalling".

### Journalism

#### ABC News

After leaving the White House at the end of Clinton's first term, Stephanopoulos became a political analyst for ABC News, and served as a correspondent on *This Week*, ABC's Sunday morning public affairs program; *World News Tonight*, the evening news broadcast; *Good Morning America*, the morning news program; along with other various special broadcasts.

##### 2002–2009: ABC's *This Week*

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talk with George Stephanopoulos in December 2009 in Washington, D.C.
In September 2002, Stephanopoulos became host of *This Week*, and ABC News officially named him "Chief Washington Correspondent" in December 2005. The program's title added the new host's name.

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

Opinion columnist and part-time ABC News commentator George Will was the only remaining member of the original *This Week* panel from the Brinkley days to participate consistently in the weekly show until 2013; Donaldson and Roberts were phased out and only appeared on the program on a very limited basis. Fareed Zakaria was a weekly panelist during the first five years of Stephanopoulos' tenure, broadening the show with his perspective on world and Middle Eastern issues.

In 2017-2018 [07-08?] ratings for This Week fell to 3rd place after competitors Meet The Press and Face The Nation, in all ratings metrics of the audience. The program finished ahead of only "Fox News Sunday."

ABC News executives reportedly offered Ted Koppel, former *Nightline* anchor, the *This Week* host job in 2005 after the program's ratings had become a regular third-, fourth-, and sometimes fifth-place finish after competitors NBC, CBS, Fox, and syndicated programs. However, *This Week* beat *Meet the Press* on January 11, 2009, when Stephanopoulos interviewed president-elect Barack Obama.

In February 2009, the gap between NBC's *Meet the Press* and its competitors – CBS' *Face the Nation* and ABC's *This Week* – began closing. *Meet the Press* posted its lowest ratings since NBC's David Gregory became moderator in early February, with the show airing Sunday, February 1, averaging just 3.9 million viewers. *Face the Nation* averaged 3.33 million total viewers, while *This Week* came in just behind with 3.32 million total viewers.

##### 2008 U.S. presidential debate

On April 16, 2008, Stephanopoulos co-moderated, with Charles Gibson, the twenty-first, and ultimately final, Democratic Party presidential debate between Illinois Senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton for the 2008 election cycle. While the debate received record ratings, the co-moderators were heavily criticized for focusing most of the first hour of the debate on controversies that occurred during the campaign rather than issues such as the economy and the Iraq War. Stephanopoulos acknowledged the legitimacy of the concerns over the order of the questions, but said they were issues in the campaign 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, repeated by Stephanopolous, about why Obama wasn't wearing a flag pin. The question brought widespread criticism from the media.

##### 2009–present: *Good Morning America* and return to *This Week*

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen is interviewed by *Good Morning America*'s Stephanopoulos.

Stephanopoulos interviews President Joe Biden in 2021

In December 2009, ABC News president David Westin offered Stephanopoulos Diane Sawyer's job on *Good Morning America* after Sawyer was named anchor of *World News*. Stephanopoulos accepted the new position and began co-anchoring *GMA* on December 14, 2009. Stephanopoulos announced on January 10, 2010, that that would be his last broadcast as the permanent host of *This Week*. However, after his successor, Christiane Amanpour, left the show amid sagging ratings, it was announced that Stephanopoulos would return as host of *This Week* in December 2011. He signed a deal to stay with ABC until 2021 worth $105 million.

Stephanopoulos was one of the substitute anchors for Sawyer on nights when she was away on assignment or unavailable.

#### 2012 Republican debate moderator

On January 7, 2012, Stephanopoulos was the co-moderator of a debate among Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. During the debate, Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked Romney whether the former Massachusetts governor believes the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn a 1965 ruling that a constitutional right to privacy bars states from banning contraception. During the debate, Romney said it was a preposterous question. During the fall presidential campaign, the Obama campaign used the question and answer to intimate there was a political "war on women."

#### 2014–2020: ABC News chief anchor

Following Diane Sawyer's departure from World News at the end of August 2014, Stephanopoulos was the Chief Anchor at ABC News 2014-2020 while retaining his roles on *GMA* and *This Week*. Stephanopoulos was from 2014-2020 the lead anchor for coverage of breaking news and major special events. In 2021, ABC anchor David Muir took over control as lead anchor of breaking news in the evenings, prime time and special event coverage for the network. Stephanopoulos, demoted to breaking news anchor for mornings only, will also lead a new documentary unit for Disney's digital platforms and host four primetime hour-long specials on the ABC network annually.

#### Online

During the 2008 presidential election campaign, Stephanopoulos launched a blog *George's Bottom Line* on the ABC News website. Stephanopoulos blogged about political news and analysis from Washington.

In October 2008, Stephanopoulos began posting updates to Twitter, a social-networking website. He also launched a public profile page on Facebook.

### Speaking engagements

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

## History With the Actors

The actors of *The Office Life* performed a comedic-absurdist adaptation of *Medea* by Christopher Durang and Wendy Wasserstein at the high school's Christmas Open Mic that briefly mentioned George Stephanopoulos. Actor **Liza** likely at this in mind when doing her research as Martha**.**

## Appearance in *The Office Life*

The character of Martha researches George during a work montage of Episode Three.