Dan Rather
an Rather replaced the venerable Walter Cronkite as the anchor for The CBS Evening News in 1981. Rather also served as reporter and host for prime-time news programs such as 48 Hours and 60 Minutes I (with Mike Wallace), making him one of American television’s most prominent journalists for five decades. He started as a reporter for the Associated Press and for United Press International in the 1950s. After a brief stint at a Texas television station, Rather began working as a reporter for CBS News in 1962. He covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq. Rather has been in the news himself more than once, including during a strange 1986 incident in which a man attacked him in Manhattan while shouting “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” He has written several books, including The Camera Never Blinks (1977) and The American Dream: Stories From the Heart of Our Nation (2001). Known for his determination, emotion, and folksy metaphors, Rather also became a lightning rod for criticism by conservatives, who charged that he was politically biased in his reporting. Rather stepped down as anchor of the CBS Evening News on 9 March 2005, 24 years to the day after he took over for Cronkite.
