The Tragedy Of Dan Rather Gets Sadder And Sadder

Dan Rather was one and the same with CBS for 44 years — and even longer. Even though he left in 2006, his name continues to be associated with the network that made him a household name. "Dan Rather, CBS News, became sorta all part of my name, a part of my identity," he said during a 2024 "CBS This Morning" interview. Now in his 90s, Rather has written his name among America's journalism greats. He experienced similar success in his personal life, having been lucky enough to cultivate a nearly 70-year marriage.

But not everything was perfect — far from it. Rather has faced a fair amount of adversity, starting at a young age. The seed for his journalistic passion was planted during childhood when he faced a health tragedy. While he went on to report on some of the 20th century's biggest stories, including the JFK assassination, the Watergate scandal, and the controversial Vietnam War, his work forced him to confront his own mortality and even his duties as a journalist.

However, Rather's stellar career as a CBS reporter and news anchor came crashing down during one of the 21st century's biggest journalism scandals. While Rather left CBS amid controversy and conflict, he always held a special place in his heart for his former employer. "I miss CBS. I've missed it since the day I left there," he said in the CBS interview. Rather accomplished more than most in his life, but the journey was no walk in the park. 

Dan Rather grew up in a different world. He lived in a frame house on an unpaved street in Houston, Texas, but he counted himself one of the lucky ones. "My father had a job in the Depression, which was a precious thing," he said in a 2005 CBS News special about himself. Healthcare was also more precarious back then. When he was around 10, Rather — pictured above at age 9 — got sick with rheumatic fever, an inflammatory disease that can result from improperly treated scarlet fever or strep throat. "While not as bad as polio, [it] is very bad," he told the Austin American-Statesman in 2020.

The disease cost Rather a good part of his childhood, as he struggled with its side effects for quite some time. "I was bedridden for the better part of two years," he said. At a very young age, Rather grappled with his mortality. William Ernest Henley's poem "Invictus" helped him focus on his strengths rather than his weaknesses. "It was very useful in steadying myself," he said.

Rheumatic fever had long-lasting consequences in Rather's life, but not all were negative. Because he spent so much time confined to his room, Rather had to find ways to keep his mind busy. "The radio was my escape," he said in his CBS News special. The attack on Pearl Harbor had just happened, prompting the U.S. to enter World War II. Rather's love of journalism was born then. 

Dan Rather had a modest upbringing. His parents didn't even finish high school, but Byrl and Dan Rather Sr. knew the value of education and wanted their son to have better opportunities than they had. "[She was] absolutely determined [that I go to college] against all odds," he said in the CBS special. Because he played football in high school, Rather believed the sport might be his chance to further his education. But he didn't get a scholarship. 

But he joined Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas, anyway, thanks to the help of journalism professor Hugh Cunningham, who was impressed by his hard work. Besides helping Rather land part-time jobs to pay for tuition, Cunningham also offered practical support. "At one point [he] even let me sleep on his living-room floor," Rather told the Television Academy in 2017. "There's no way I could have or would have made it without his help," he said.

When he wasn't crashing at his teacher's house, he was covering the 70 miles between Houston and Huntsville by hitchhiking to and from school. After falling in love with the work of radio journalists in his childhood, Rather decided what he wanted to pursue. "I started to enroll, and they say, 'What do you want to major in?' I said, 'Well, you know, I want to be a reporter,'" he said in the special. He earned a degree in journalism in 1953, realizing his mother's dream.

Dan Rather witnessed the reality of war firsthand, but his responsibilities as a reporter often blurred with his duties as a civilian. Rather covered the Vietnam War for CBS in 1965 and 1966, shortly after covering the India-Pakistan War of 1965. That marked his introduction to war journalism and seeing combat with his own eyes. "Frankly, I can be candid about it because it's true that I was ill-prepared to cover in that part of the world and to cover combat on that scale," he told Asia Society in 2012.

He hadn't been in Vietnam long at all when he witnessed a Marine get wounded in crossfire in Tam Ky. Right then and there, he had to decide whether to act on his human instincts or sit back and refrain from interfering as journalists are instructed to do. "This young Marine was hit — hit very badly. They needed help getting him out, and naturally, I helped," he said in the CBS special. A young man's life was on the line, and he couldn't just watch.

"When you're there, if you let your emotions for a second out of you, then you're not going to be able to do what you need to do," he said. The Vietnam experience changed Rather and taught him important lessons. "I had never seen this kind of death and destruction, this kind of constant savagery — on both sides, on all sides," he told Asia Society.

Jean Rather's health had been in decline for a while, but Dan Rather was still unprepared to lose his wife when she died from cancer on November 26, 2024. She was 89. "Today is the saddest of days for Dan and the extended Rather family," his friends wrote in an announcement post shared on Dan's Facebook page. Jean had been receiving hospice care, which meant she was terminally ill. She died at home in Austin, Texas. "Jean lived a full life as an incredible wife, mother, friend, and artist — and a true Texan," the post read.

Married for 67 years, the Rathers shared a son and a daughter, Danjack and Robin. They met while working at a radio station in Houston in the '50s. "She was also the kind of wife who could meet presidents, kings and queens, draft dodgers, criminals, and corporate suits every day with equal ease and a stunning smile," the obituary attached to the post read. And she did it all while advancing her career as an artist. Jean had a crucial role in the making of Dan's career.

His stint in Vietnam, which took his career to the next level, might not have happened without her. Back then, CBS didn't send journalists with families on foreign assignments. But Dan wanted to go, and Jean encouraged him — even though they had young children. "Jean said, 'You know, go because you've got to go,'" Dan recalled in the CBS special.

Dan Rather's decades-long career at CBS came to a shocking end in 2006, but his undoing began several months before when Rather participated in the 2004 investigation into the military career of then-President George W. Bush, who was seeking reelection amid his administration's controversial invasion of Iraq. Dubbed "For the Record," the "60 Minutes" exposé relied on military documents that claimed Bush received preferential treatment during his stint in the Texas Air National Guard.

In the segment, Rather vouched for the authenticity of the documents, saying, "We consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic." But their authenticity could ultimately not be verified. The story became hard to defend when their source, retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett, admitted he wasn't forthcoming about where he got the documents. Rather apologized on behalf of the network. "We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry," he said, according to NBC News.

CBS fired several employees over the so-called Killian documents controversy. While Rather stepped down as anchor of "CBS Evening News" in November 2004, CBS retained him as an employee until his contract ran out a little over a year later. Despite the sourcing blunder, Rather still believes the report was accurate. "We reported a true story," he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. "There wasn't any doubt then, and there is no doubt in any reasonable person's mind now, the story was true." 

A year after leaving the network, Rather accused CBS of singling him out for the mistakes of many in a 2007 lawsuit to remain in good standing with the White House. "CBS intentionally caused the public and the media to attribute CBS' alleged bungling of the episode to Mr. Rather," he contended, arguing the strategy became evident when some of the media dubbed the scandal "Rathergate," Fox News reported.

Rather denied responsibility for any possible mistakes while maintaining he believed their reporting was solid. "As defendants well knew, even if any aspect of the broadcast had not been accurate, which has never been established, Mr. Rather was not responsible for any such errors," the suit argued. He was seeking $70 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The suit was dismissed in 2009 –but Rather doesn't regret taking CBS to court. "Some things are worth fighting for, even if you lose," he said in The Hollywood Reporter interview.

Rather isn't alone in his belief that the network used him as a scapegoat. "I think Dan's greatest crime in all of this was that he was intensely loyal to his people," former CBS News Evening producer Tom Bettag said on PBS' "Frontline." While Rather believes he shouldn't have taken all the blame for the scandal, he knows he wasn't perfect. "I've made a lot of mistakes. I have a lot of wounds, some of them self-inflicted, some of them still partially open," he admitted.