Dan Rather

Dan Rather

Dan Rather was born in Wharton, Texas, on 31st October, 1931. He studied journalism at the Sam Houston State College. After graduating he worked for the United Press International (1950-52), KSAM Radio in Huntsville (1950-53) and The Houston Chronicle (1954-55). He became news director of KTRH in 1956 and a reporter for KTRK-TV Houston in 1959.

In 1963 he became chief of the CBS Southern Bureau in New Orleans. He was with John F. Kennedy when he visited Dallas on 22nd November, 1963. However, he was in the press bus outside Dealey Plaza. Rather had not even heard the assassination taking place. He told another journalist: "Keep in mind that I had heard no shots. I didn't know what was wrong. I only knew that something appeared to be very wrong... and so I began running, flat out running, sprinting as hard as I could the four blocks to our station... I got through to Parkland Hospital . And the switchboard operator was not panicked but not calm. And very quickly she told me it was her understanding that the President had been shot, and was perhaps dead. And I'll never forget her saying that. And I followed up with that, and tried to talk to one of the doctors and a priest at the hospital, both of whom said that the President was dead. But nobody had said this officially." Rather was a strong supporter of the lone gunman theory and along with Walter Cronkite made a controversial television series supporting the accuracy of the Warren Commission.

As a television newsman Rather covered the Vietnam War (1966-73). He made the news himself on 27 th August when he was beaten up while on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 1981 Rather became the anchor man on CBS Evening News. In August 1990 carried out an interview with Saddam Hussein about the invasion of Kuwait.

Rather hosted a CBS program on the JFK movie. Rather pointed out that he had reported the Kennedy assassination at the time. He went on to argue: “Long after Oliver Stone has gone onto his next movie and long after a lot of people who have been writing about this now have stopped, I’m going to keep coming on this one.” Rather suggested that a journalist was much more reliable than a film director for interpreting the past: “We do know a lot and there is much to support the Warren Commission’s conclusions, but unanswered questions also abound. Not all of the conspiracy theories are ridiculous… They explain the inexplicable, neatly tie up the loose ends, but a reporter should not, cannot find refuge there. Facts, hard evidence are the journalist’s guide.”

In the interview that Rather carried out for the CBS documentary, he asked Oliver Stone: “I don’t understand why you include the press as either conspirators or accomplices to the conspiracy”. Stone replied: “Dan, when the House Report came out implying that there was a probable conspiracy in the murder of both Kennedy and King, why weren’t you running around trying to dig into the case again? I didn’t see you, you know, rush out there and look at some of these three dozen discrepancies that we present in our movie.” Stone added that “whether you accept my conclusion is not the point, we want people to examine this… subject”.

Rather created a great deal of controversy when he said on BBC Newsnight (16th May, 2002): "It is an obscene comparison - you know, I am not sure I like it - but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions, and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often. And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism."

As well as appearing on CBS Evening News he is currently heard reporting on more than 300 radio stations across the country. Books by Rather include The Palace Guard (1974), The Camera Never Blinks (1977), Dan Rather and Other Rough Drafts (1987), The Further Adventures of a Television Journalist (1991), I Remember (1992), Deadlines and Datelines (1999), Profiles in Journalism (2000) and The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation (2002).

Primary Sources

(1) (1) Dan Rather, The Warren Report: Part 1, CBS Television (25th June, 1967)

The basic story pieced together by that Warren Commission Report on the assassination is this: A man named Lee Harvey Oswald crouched here in this dingy window of the Texas School Book Depository as the President passed below. Oswald, the Commission tells us, fired three shots. One missed. One struck both the President and Texas Governor John Connally, riding with him. The third killed the President. Oswald, the Report had it, hid his rifle over there, then ran down the stairs, left the building on foot, and hurried down Elm Street. He made his way to his rented room, picked up a revolver, and about twelve minutes later shot Police Officer J. D. Tippit.

(2) Dan Rather interviewed Charles Wyckoff for the documentary The Warren Report: Part 2, CBS Television (26th June, 1967)

Dan Rather: From a physicist's point of view, from a photographic analysis point of view, what can you tell about the direction of the bullet?

Charles Wyckoff: Well, the - in frame 313, the - there was an apparent explosion at this point, which would be on the front side of-of-the head. Now, characteristically, this would indicate to me that the bullet came from behind, and this is what's called spalling. It's a minor explosion where pieces of material have - have left and go generally in the direction of the bullet.

Dan Rather: But now, the explosion, this minor explosion, occurs forward of the President. Now, wouldn't that indicate the bullet coming from the front?

Charles Wyckoff: No, quite contrary. It does indicate that the bullet was coming from behind.

Dan Rather: Well, you're aware that some critics say that by the very fact that in the picture you can clearly see the explosion of the bullet on the front side of the President, that that certainly indicates the bullet came from the front.

Charles Wyckoff: Well, I don't believe any physicist has ever said that. This picture might explain the principle that we've been talking about just a little bit more clearly. It's a picture taken in a millionth of a second, of a thirty calibre bullet being shot through an electric light-bulb The bullet was traveling from this direction, entered the light-bulb here, passed through and caused a rather violent explosion to occur on the exiting side, and it's very similar to the situation in the Zapruder Kennedy assassination films.

(3) Dan Rather interviewed Barney Weinstein, The Warren Report: Part 3, CBS Television (27th June, 1967)

Dan Rather: Ruby operated a pair of sleazy nightclubs, The Carousel and The Vegas. In the free and easy atmosphere that seemed to characterize the boom city, Ruby was also a hanger - on of the police, entertaining off - duty officers in his strip joints, often carrying sandwiches over to the Police Building for his on-duty friends.

These are some of the people of Jack Ruby's world - his roommate, a competing nightclub owner, and two of Jack Ruby's girls. Mr. Weinstein, why do you think Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald?

Barney Weinstein: I think it was on the spur of the moment, that he really wanted to make himself look like a big man. And he thought that would make him above everybody else, that the people would come up and thank him for it, that people would come around and want to meet him and want to know him, "This is the man that shot the man that shot the President."

(4) Dan Rather, The Warren Report: Part 3, CBS Television (27th June, 1967)

I'm contented with the basic finding of the Warren Commission, that the evidence is overwhelming that Oswald fired at

the President, and that Oswald probably killed President Kennedy alone. I am not content with the findings on Oswald's possible connections with government agencies, particularly with the CIA. I'm not totally convinced that at some earlier time, unconnected with the assassination, that Oswald may have had more connections than we've been told about, or that have been shown. I'm not totally convinced about the single-bullet theory. But I don't think it's absolutely necessary to the final conclusion of the Warren Commission Report. I would have liked more questioning, a more thorough going into Marina Oswald's background. But as to the basic conclusion, I agree.

(5) Dan Rather, The Warren Report: Part 4, CBS Television (28th June, 1967)

The Commission had before it the hard fact that Oswald's notebook contained the name, phone number, and license plate number of Dallas FBI agent, James Hosty. The FBI's explanation was that Hosty had asked Ruth Paine, with whom Marina Oswald was living, to let him know where Oswald was staying, that he jotted down his phone number, and that Marina, under prior instructions from her husband, also copied down Hosty's license plate.

(6) Dan Rather, BBC Newsnight (16th May, 2002)

It is an obscene comparison - you know, I am not sure I like it - but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions, and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often. And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism."