OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
After ten years as co-host of the highly successful midday show “Outnumbered” on Fox News, Harris Faulkner has announced her next career move.
The Emmy-winning newscaster revealed to People Magazine that she is about to begin filming her most personal project yet, a series exploring how her father, a former Army combat pilot in the Vietnam War, influenced her upbringing.
Titled “Footsteps of My Father,” Faulkner’s limited series premiered on Fox on May 16th and is now available for streaming on its website. In her discussion with People, she described how filming the series posed new challenges to her abilities as an on-air talent.
“This is the most personal I have ever been in front of the camera,” she said. “Trekking my dad’s combat trail in Vietnam was almost too much for my heart to take at times. I carried his burial flag with me in my backpack. When I landed in Vietnam, there was a rush of emotions. I missed my parents more than ever.”
“What I thought I knew about that war and his involvement ended up being just a tiny snapshot of the realities of fighting in a war that U.S. citizens would come to protest against,” she continued. “My father served two tours of duty in America’s valiant effort to preserve democracy in a remote country that was succumbing to the spread of communism.
“At home, our own nation was struggling with a violent racial divide. Yet, my father told his younger brothers and anyone who listened, ‘I chose to go fight for America because it was the best place on the planet to live. The U.S. Constitution clearly defines excellence and potential for America.’ He added, ‘The Civil Rights struggle is American freedom on the move.’ My father was a patriot,” she said.
In the three-episode series, Faulkner travels to Vietnam to speak with residents who experienced the war and “now understand what America was trying to do.” Despite being under a communist government, the country continues to face the challenges typical of a poorly governed, third-world nation: low wages, hazardous working conditions, and a government that suppresses dissent.
“While I felt their kindness and openness to me and my Fox Nation team, they are a communist nation. In my special, you’ll see visible remnants and reinventions of that kind of government. And, you’ll actually hear my dad’s voice telling stories of his survival and near-misses in the war,” Faulker explained.
Her father passed away at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, she explained.
“My dad died Christmas Day of 2020. He was dressed for the day, looking sharp and at peace. The Lord has him now. Vietnam reminded me of my faith and my singular purpose to live a life that will deliver me to heaven to thank Dad with renewed vigor and understanding for his service to our great nation,” she added.
In a divided country and amid rising international tensions between the U.S. and nations like Vietnam, which are under the influence of China and other communist regimes even though those two countries engaged in a brief, bloody war in 1979, Faulkner and her husband are also teaching their two teenage daughters to think critically.
“It’s wonderful that Bella and Danika get to witness me living out my career dreams as a TV news anchor and host of two shows, a bestselling author, and more. I teach them to pray for peace, strength, and discernment. And to surround themselves with kind, creative and hardworking friends. And I remind them that dream chasing is hard work!” the Fox News star added.
