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 covered the assassination of President John
F. Kennedy
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
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).
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(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."
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