Nixon
During the presidency of Richard Nixon, critics accused Rather of biased coverage against President Nixon. At a Houston news conference in March 1974, Nixon fielded a question from Rather, still CBS's White House correspondent, who said, "Thank you, Mr. President. Dan Rather, of CBS News. Mr. President.... Mr. President...." The room filled with jeers and applause, prompting Nixon to joke, "Are you running for something?" Rather replied "No, sir, Mr. President. Are you?". In his question, Rather accused Nixon of not cooperating with the grand jury investigation and the House Judiciary Committee in relation to the Watergate scandal.
According to NBC’s Tom Brokaw, the network considered hiring him, Brokaw, as its White House correspondent to replace Rather. But these plans were scrapped after word was leaked to the press. The controversy did little to dent Rather's overall tough coverage of the Watergate scandal, which helped to raise his profile.
Afghanistan, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush
During the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Rather was on camera wearing a traditional Mujahadeen headdress and garments while reporting from near the front lines. These reports helped Rather gain prominence with the Evening News audience (and the nickname "Gunga Dan"; Rather's reports were also spoofed by the comic strip
Doonesbury). It later turned out that Rather's reports played a role in moving Congressman Charlie Wilson to try to help the struggling mujahideen, which led to the largest ever CIA covert operation in supplying aid and advanced arms to the mujahideen, which in turn eventually led to the Soviets quitting Afghanistan.
Rather's energy and spirit helped him out-compete Roger Mudd for the anchor spot on the
Evening News. Mudd was a more senior correspondent and a frequent substitute anchor for Walter Cronkite on the
Evening News, and he also anchored the Sunday evening broadcast. But it was Rather who traveled through Afghanistan when the news led there. A few years into his service as anchorman, Rather began wearing sweaters beneath his suit jacket to soften and warm his on-air perceptions by viewers.
Later during the 1980s, Rather gained further renown for his forceful and skeptical reporting on the Iran-Contra Affair, which eventually led to an on-air confrontation with then Vice President George H. W. Bush: Bush referred to Rather's "dead air incident" saying, "I want to talk about why I want to be President, why those 41 percent of the people are supporting me. And I don't think it's fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran. How would you like it if I judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?" Rather ignored Bush's comment.
Shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait, Rather secured an interview with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
There is no powerful and quick strike that a people could deliver, whatever their overall power. The United States depends on the Air Force. The Air Force has never decided a war in the history of wars.—Saddam Hussein in an interview with Dan Rather on August 29, 1990
On February 24, 2003, Rather conducted another interview with Hussein before the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. In the interview, Hussein invited Rather to be the moderator of a live television debate between himself and George W. Bush. The debate never took place.
The Wall Within
On June 2, 1988, Rather hosted a CBS News special,
The Wall Within. In it, he interviewed six former servicemen, each of whom said he had witnessed horrible acts in Vietnam. Two of the men said that they had killed civilians, and two others said that they had seen friends die. Each talked about the effects the war had upon their lives ... including depression, unemployment, drug use and homelessness.
In their book
How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History, authors B. G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley said they had obtained the service records of all six men, documenting where each was stationed during the Vietnam War. According to the records, the authors said, only one of the men was actually in Vietnam; he claimed to have been a 16-year-old Navy SEAL but, said Burkett and Whitley, the records listed him as an equipment repairer.
Chandra Levy reporting
On July 12, 2001, Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center issued a press release stating that the failure of CBS News to run a single story regarding the disappearance of former Congressional intern Chandra Levy was evidence of "media bias". According to Bill Press, Rather chose to avoid covering the Levy story because he preferred what he called "decent, responsible journalism". CBS News eventually ran a single story about the Levy disappearance the following week.
Killian documents
On September 8, 2004, Rather reported on
60 Minutes Wednesday that a series of memos critical of President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard service record had been discovered in the personal files of Lt. Bush's former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian. The authenticity of these documents was quickly called into question by a small group of bloggers, initially based on their being proportionally printed and displaying other modern typographic conventions with limited availability on military typewriters of the time. This led to claims that the memos were forgeries. The accusations then spread over the following days into mainstream media outlets including
The Washington Post,
The New York Times, and the
Chicago Sun-Times.
Rather and CBS initially defended the story, insisting that the documents had been authenticated by experts. CBS was contradicted by some of the experts it originally cited. CBS later reported that their source for the documents, former Texas Army National Guard officer Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, had misled the network about how he had obtained them.
On September 20, CBS retracted the story. Rather stated, "If I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question." The controversy has been referred to by some as "Memogate" and "Rathergate."
Following an investigation commissioned by CBS, CBS ousts 4 over Bush Guard story - Politics - MSNBC.com Nieman Watchdog > Commentary > The Boccardi-Thornburgh report leaves some questions unanswered CBS fired story producer Mary Mapes and asked three other producers connected with the story to resign. Many believe Rather's retirement was hastened by this incident. On Thursday, September 20, 2007, Rather was interviewed on
Larry King Live commenting "Nobody has proved that they were fraudulent, much less a forgery. ... The truth of this story stands up to this day."
Lawsuit
On September 19, 2007, Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS, its former parent company Viacom, CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves, Sumner Redstone, chairman of both Viacom and CBS and Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News. Rather accused the network and its ownership and management of making him a "scapegoat" in the Killian story. A CBS spokesman claimed that the lawsuit was "old news" and "without merit". On September 21, 2009, Rather's lawyers claimed that Bush's military service would be proven to be a sham and Rather would be vindicated.On September 29, 2009, A New York state appeals court dismissed Rather's lawsuit against CBS.On January 12, 2010 New York's top court refused to reinstate Rather's $70 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS Corp.
Departure from the CBS Evening News
We've shared a lot in the 24 years we've been meeting here each evening, and before I say 'Good night' this night, I need to say thank you. Thank you to the thousands of wonderful professionals at CBS News, past and present, with whom it's been my honor to work over these years. And a deeply felt thanks to all of you, who have let us into your homes night after night; it has been a privilege, and one never taken lightly.
Not long after I first came to the anchor chair, I briefly signed off using the word, 'Courage.' I want to return to it now, in a different way: to a nation still nursing a broken heart for what happened here in 2001, and especially to those who found themselves closest to the events of September 11; to our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, in dangerous places; to those who have endured the tsunami, and to all who have suffered natural disasters, and must now find the will to rebuild; to the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle in financial hardship or in failing health; to my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all; and to each of you, Courage.
For the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather reporting. Good night.—Dan Rather's speech at the end of his farewell newscast
Rather retired as the anchorman and Managing Editor of the
CBS Evening News in 2005; his last broadcast was Wednesday, March 9, 2005. He worked as the anchorman for 24 full years, the longest tenure of anyone in American television history, and for a short time continued to work as a correspondent for
60 Minutes. Bob Schieffer, a fellow Texan and host of
Face the Nation, took over Rather's position on an interim basis, with Katie Couric replacing Schieffer in 2006.
Since retiring, he has spoken out strongly about what he perceives as a lack of courage by American journalists. On January 24, 2006, Rather spoke to a Seattle audience. Before the speaking engagement, he told a newspaper reporter, "In many ways on many days, [reporters] have sort of adopted the attitude of 'go along, get along.'"
"What many of us need is a spine transplant", Rather added. "Whether it's City Hall, the State House, or the White House, part of our job is to speak truth to power."
Departure from CBS News
In June 2006, reports surfaced that CBS News would most likely not renew Dan Rather's contract. According to a
Washington Post article, sources from CBS said that executives at the network decided "there is no future role for Rather".
On June 20, 2006, CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus announced that Rather would leave the network after 44 years. Rather issued a separate statement which accompanied the news of the departure:
I leave CBS News with tremendous memories. But I leave now most of all with the desire to once again do regular, meaningful reporting. My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing. So I will do the work I love elsewhere, and I look forward to sharing details about that soon.
Rather has since resumed his career with HDNet, a high-definition cable television station as a producer and hosts a weekly one-hour show called
Dan Rather Reports as of October 24, 2006. Rather also has contributed as a guest on
The Chris Matthews Show, and on
The Daily Show.
He has also formed an independent company called News and Guts Media and is reportedly working on a book.