Journalist Dan Rather became a national name after life-saving reporting of Hurricane Carla in 1961, but for the last 18 years, he had been synonymous with obscurity on CBS. However, for the first time in almost two decades, he returned to CBS Sunday Morning for an interview ahead of a new project about his life.
Rather worked with the network for 44 years, 24 of which were spent with CBS Evening News. In 2005, his career was tarnished in the fallout of the Killian documents controversy. Rather is reported to have presented unauthenticated documents about President George W. Bush’s Vietnam War–era service in the National Guard; in 2006, Rather was fired. His life is the subject of a new Netflix documentary.
Dan Rather returns to CBS Sunday Morning for the first time since his explosive departure
An interview aired on Sunday for CBS Sunday Morning featured Rather in his big return to the network for the first time in nearly two decades. In it, he reflected on his career and the turbulent end of his time with CBS, along with the report that sparked all that controversy.
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“Without apology or explanation, I miss CBS,” Rather told correspondent Lee Cowan. “I’ve missed it since the day I left.”
Rather than retire, Rather continued working, this time for the digital cable and satellite TV network HDNet. The advent of social media also saw him actively engage in commentary online. “You either get engaged and you get engaged in the new terms … or you’re out of the game,” he mused. “And I wanted to stay in the game.”
Rather’s story is returning to the spotlight
The new Netflix documentary Rather debuts on Wednesday and follows the journalist’s career from his reporting on the President John F. Kennedy assassination to the Vietnam War and Watergate, and beyond. His legacy is a sprawling one but in the CBS interview and Netflix documentary alike, Rather had a smaller view of it.
“In the end, whatever remains of one’s life — family, friends — those are going to be the things for which you’re remembered,” he asserted.
To this day, Rather stands by the reporting he did over 18 years ago. “We reported a true story,” he simply told The Hollywood Reporter when he was 84. “We didn’t do it perfectly. We made some mistakes of getting to the truth. But that didn’t change the truth of what we reported.”
“I’m very proud of the career I had,” he reflected. “I’m a great believer that you are what your record is, and my record there is what it is.”