Dan Rather

News Anchor / Reporter

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About

About this interview

In his nearly eight-hour interview, Dan Rather talks at length about growing up in Houston, TX and his early years as a radio and television journalist in the local market. He describes in detail his work at KHOU-TV, where his dramatic continuous coverage of Hurricane Carla garnered national recognition and brought him to the attention of CBS News. In addition, he explains the challenges and lessons he learned from covering monumental moments in the Civil Rights Movement and the assassination of President Kennedy, and why CBS News, due to logistics, did not broadcast live television's first on-air murder -- that of Lee Harvey Oswald. He concludes with recollections on covering the war in Vietnam, the Nixon White House, and 9/11, and also speaks of his work on 60 Minutes and on succeeding Walter Cronkite as anchor of CBS Evening News. Don Carleton conducted the two-part interview on April 7 and November 7, 2005 in New York, NY.

All views expressed by interviewees are theirs alone and not necessarily those of the Television Academy.

"I think one reason that a lot of people get into journalism is the opportunity to feel that you lead a purposeful life, in some small way. And if you're lucky and God smiles, at least you'll have a few opportunities to feel that you're contributing to something that's larger than just yourself and your own self interests. I can think of no other craft or profession or practice or anything in which I would have had more joy."

People Talking About ...

Dan Rather

Highlights

Dan Rather on the news profession and what it means to him "to live a purposeful life"

03:10

Dan Rather on covering 9/11

04:06

On the craft of reporting "you have to love the news"

02:07

On changing America's view on the Vietnam War

00:44

Dan Rather on his training grounds in becoming a journalist

On his tete-a-tete with Nixon at the 1974 Houston press conference

05:04

On the addictive nature of journalism

00:31

Dan Rather on being naive about how to look and sound on television when he first started, on not needing an "announcer" voice

01:47

Full Interview

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Chapter 1

On his early childhood, education, and influences

On his childhood dream of wanting to be a reporter; on starting his career in radio

Chapter 2

On his early work at KRRH radio in Texas;

On how he got a break to write his first newscast; eventually becoming Director of News and Public Affairs for KTRH in 1956

On what he learned in radio working there for six years, his training grounds for becoming a journalist; on the impact early television made on him

Chapter 3

On the gradual transition from radio to television

On working for KTRK in Houston on "The Coaches Show", his first foray on television; on being naive about how to look and sound on television; on not needing an "announcer" voice

On what a reporter's job is; on hitchhiking to the 1956 Democratic convention; on what made him want to do television news

Chapter 4

On how he became interested in television news; on his first on-air audition

On his first job as news director and host in 1960 at KHOU-TV in Houston, TX (a CBS affiliate); on learning from that job more about the craft of reporting "you have to love the news"

On decisions about building the news program at KHOU; being a "breaking news" station whose slogan became "when the news breaks out, we break in"; on shooting film himself and also conducting interviews

Chapter 5

On the early process of filming the news in 1960 while at a CBS affiliate in TX; "shoot film and get out" as the slogan for the start-up news organization

On covering "Hurricane Carla" in Texas while developing the news program there; on being sent overseas for the first time and meeting President Eisenhower in 1960

Chapter 6

On covering Hurricane Carla

On how news television was transmitted in the early 1960s via telephone lines and microwaves

Chapter 7

On the first time television carried an image of a live hurricane; Walter Cronkite's reference to him as being up to his ass in water moccasins

On the impact the hurricane coverage in Galveston had on his career

On the importance of his profession; on why he loves being a journalist

On being offered a job at CBS News after his reporting on the Hurricane in Texas

Chapter 8

On joining CBS News; on his screen-test for the station; on meeting legendary newsman Charles Collingwood who became his mentor

On how Charles Collingwood helped him greatly when Rather went to Laos and was having trouble gaining access

On moving to Dallas to cover the Civil Rights movement in the mid-1960s

Chapter 9

On the riots when James Meredith entered the University of Mississippi

On being threatened with violence while covering the Civil Rights Movement and his own views on Civil Rights at the time

On being in Dallas, Texas in 1962-3

On the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated

Chapter 10

On the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (continued); on how the assassination and its aftermath changed television news; on why the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald was not broadcast on CBS

On seeing the Zapruder film just a day or two after the assassination; on how he reported on the footage for CBS, and on losing out on the rights to Life magazine; on the emotional impact of the assassination; on conspiracy theories about the assassination

Chapter 11

On reporting on President Lyndon Johnson

On his path to reporting from Vietnam

On his experience reporting on the India-Pakistani Way and how it shaped him as a foreign correspondent

On reporting from Vietnam

Chapter 12

On how covering the war in Vietnam changed him

On CBS executive Fred Friendly

On covering the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago

Chapter 13

On the Nixon administration's relationship with the press

On Nixon's 1974 press conference in Houston

Chapter 14

On 60 Minutes

On the path to succeeding Walter Cronkite as anchor of CBS Evening News

Chapter 15

On preparing to be Walter Cronkite's successor as anchor of CBS Evening News

On his style and image as an anchor

On working with Tom Bettag and the blank screen that aired on CBS Evening News during the 1986 U.S. Open

Chapter 16

On the blank screen that aired on CBS Evening News during the 1986 U.S. Open

On interviewing Saddam Hussein

On covering 9/11/01

On retiring from CBS Evening News

On the controversial story about President Bush's military service

On his legacy and the craft of journalism

On the future of television news

Shows

60 Minutes

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Dan Rather on 60 Minutes

15:47

Dan Rather on 60 Minutes

15:47

CBS Evening News with Dan Rather

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Dan Rather on becoming the CBS Evening News anchor and succeeding Walter Cronkite