Dan Rather
News Anchor/ Reporter
About This Interview
Dan Rather was interviewed for nearly eight hours (in two sessions) in New York, NY. He talks at length about growing up in Houston, Texas 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. The two-part interview was conducted by Don Carleton on April 7 and November 7, 2005.
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Highlights
Dan Rather on covering 9/11
Clip begins at: 14:02, Duration: 04m 06s
On the craft of reporting "you have to love the news"
Clip begins at: 15:28, Duration: 02m 07s
On changing America's view on the Vietnam War
Clip begins at: 25:43, Duration: 00m 44s
On how the coverage of JFK's assassination changed television news
Clip begins at: 06:15, Duration: 02m 31s
On his tete-a-tete with Nixon at the 1974 Houston press conference
Clip begins at: 23:00, Duration: 05m 04s
Chapters
- Chapter 1
- On his early childhood, education, and influences
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On his childhood dream of wanting to be a reporter; on starting his career in radio
Clip begins at: 11:22 - Chapter 2
- On his early work at KRRH radio in Texas;
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On how he got a break to write his first newscast; eventually becoming Director of News and Public Affairs for KTRH in 1956
Clip begins at: 07:07 - 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
Clip begins at: 21:38 - Chapter 3
- On the gradual transition from radio to television
Clip begins at: 0:0 - 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
Clip begins at: 07:23 - On what a reporter's job is; on hitchhiking to the 1956 Democratic convention; on what made him want to do television news
Clip begins at: 21:01 - Chapter 4
- On how he became interested in television news; on his first on-air audition
Clip begins at: 0:0 - 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"
Clip begins at: 15:30 - 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
Clip begins at: 19:32 - 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
Clip begins at: 0:0 - 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
Clip begins at: 10:18 - Chapter 6
- On covering Hurricane Carla
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On how news television was transmitted in the early 1960s via telephone lines and microwaves
Clip begins at: 16:42 - 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
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On the impact the hurricane coverage in Galveston had on his career
Clip begins at: 07:46 - On the importance of his profession; on why he loves being a journalist
Clip begins at: 10:22 - On being offered a job at CBS News after his reporting on the Hurricane in Texas
Clip begins at: 17:27 - Chapter 8
- On joining CBS News; on his screen-test for the station; on meeting legendary newsman Charles Collingwood who became his mentor
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On how Charles Collingwood helped him greatly when Rather went to Laos and was having trouble gaining access
Clip begins at: 11:34 - On moving to Dallas to cover the Civil Rights movement in the mid-1960s
Clip begins at: 17:06 - Chapter 9
- On the riots when James Meredith entered the University of Mississippi
Clip begins at: 0:28 - On being threatened with violence while covering the Civil Rights Movement and his own views on Civil Rights at the time
Clip begins at: 10:06 - On being in Dallas, Texas in 1962-3
Clip begins at: 16:03 - On the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
Clip begins at: 22:36 - Chapter 10
- On JFK's assassination
Clip begins at: 0:27 - On the Zapruder film
Clip begins at: 13:10 - On his personal response to JFK's assassination and what he believes happened that day
Clip begins at: 24:02 - Chapter 11
- On reporting on President Lyndon Johnson
Clip begins at: 0:28 - On his path to reporting from Vietnam
Clip begins at: 09:12 - On his experience reporting on the India-Pakistani Way and how it shaped him as a foreign correspondent
Clip begins at: 19:37 - On reporting from Vietnam
Clip begins at: 21:59 - Chapter 12
- On how covering the war in Vietnam changed him
Clip begins at: 0:30 - On CBS executive Fred Friendly
Clip begins at: 05:45 - On covering the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago
Clip begins at: 09:23 - Chapter 13
- On the Nixon administration's relationship with the press
Clip begins at: 0:28 - On Nixon's 1974 press conference in Houston
Clip begins at: 19:25 - Chapter 14
- On 60 Minutes
Clip begins at: 0:30 - On the path to succeeding Walter Cronkite as anchor of CBS Evening News
Clip begins at: 16:17 - Chapter 15
- On preparing to be Walter Cronkite's successor as anchor of CBS Evening News
Clip begins at: 0:31 - On his style and image as an anchor
Clip begins at: 19:17 - On working with Tom Bettag and the blank screen that aired on CBS Evening News during the 1986 U.S. Open
Clip begins at: 22:55 - Chapter 16
- On the blank screen that aired on CBS Evening News during the 1986 U.S. Open
Clip begins at: 0:29 - On interviewing Saddam Hussein
Clip begins at: 01:54 - On covering 9/11/01
Clip begins at: 14:02 - On retiring from CBS Evening News
Clip begins at: 18:08 - On the controversial story about President Bush's military service
Clip begins at: 19:38 - On his legacy and the craft of journalism
Clip begins at: 21:21 - On the future of television news
Clip begins at: 26:41
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It's so interesting to hear him talk about his "Rather-isms".
this interview is pretty incredible.
Dan's the Man! Bush Sabotaged him! fuck the government! power to the people! direct democracy Now!
"sweet daddy cool" @18:05 hahaha
oh fuck yea! thanks tvlegends for this.
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