Editing Dan Rather (section)

{{short description|American broadcast journalist (born 1931)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Dan Rather
| image              = Dan Rather 2017.jpg
| caption            = Rather in 2017
| birth_name         = Daniel Irvin Rather Jr.
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1931|10|31}}
| birth_place        = [[Wharton, Texas]], U.S.
| education          = [[Sam Houston State University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation         = {{hlist|Journalist| news presenter| reporter and correspondent}}
| party              = [[Democratic Party (United States)]]
| years_active       = 1950–present
| spouse             = {{marriage|Jean Goebel|1957|2024|end=died}}
| children           = 2
}}
'''Daniel Irvin Rather Jr.''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|æ|ð|ər}}; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. He began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during [[Hurricane Carla]] in September 1961. In his first national broadcast, he helped initiate the successful evacuation of 350,000 people. He reported on some of the most significant events of the modern age, such as the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], the [[Gulf War]], [[September 11 attacks|9/11]], the [[Iraq War]], and the [[war on terror]].

Rather also famously reported from Dallas in November 1963 at the time that President [[John F. Kennedy]] had been [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassinated]]. Based on such reporting, he was promoted at [[CBS News]], where he served as White House correspondent beginning in 1964. He served as foreign correspondent in London and Vietnam over the next two years before returning to the White House correspondent position. He covered the [[presidency of Richard Nixon]], including [[1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China|Nixon's trip to China]], the [[Watergate scandal]], and the president's resignation.

In 1981, Rather was promoted to [[news presenter|news anchor]] for the ''[[CBS Evening News]]'', a role he occupied for 24 years. Along with [[Peter Jennings]] at [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] and [[Tom Brokaw]] at [[NBC News]], he was one of the "[[Big Three (American television)|Big Three]]" nightly [[news anchor]]s in the U.S. from the 1980s through the early 2000s. He frequently contributed to CBS's weekly news magazine, ''[[60 Minutes]]''.

Rather left the anchor desk in 2005 following the [[Killian documents controversy]], in which he presented unauthenticated documents in a news report on President [[George W. Bush]]'s [[Vietnam War]]–era service in the [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]]. He continued to work with CBS until 2006, when he was dismissed.<ref name="Verizon Media">{{cite web |title=Dan Rather: Corporate Media 'Is In Bed With' Washington (VIDEO) |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dan-rather-cbs-news-corporate-media_n_1531121 |website=huffpost.com |publisher=Verizon Media |access-date=August 21, 2019|date=May 20, 2012}}</ref>

In September 2007, Rather filed a $70&nbsp;million lawsuit against CBS and its former parent company [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]]. Rather accused the network and its ownership and management of making him a "[[scapegoat]]" in the Killian story.<ref name="Fox News">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080919163608/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297370,00.html "Dan Rather files $70M suit against CBS"], September 19, 2007.</ref><ref name="Martinez">{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/09/29/2009-09-29_appeals_court_tosses_dan_rathers_70m_suit_against_cbs.html |location=New York |work=Daily News |title=Appeals court tosses Dan Rather's $70M suit against CBS |first=Jose |last=Martinez |date=September 29, 2009}}</ref> An intermediate New York state appeals court dismissed the lawsuit in September 2009, and the [[New York Court of Appeals]] refused to reinstate it in January 2010.<ref name="web.archive.org">[https://web.archive.org/web/20091002082508/http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090929/tv_nm/us_rather_cbs_1 Appeals court dismisses Dan Rather's suit vs. CBS]</ref><ref name="Honan">{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-rather-cbs/dan-rather-loses-70-million-lawsuit-against-cbs-idUSTRE58S5GK20090929|title=Dan Rather loses $70 million lawsuit against CBS|last=Honan|first=Edith|work=U.S.|access-date=June 29, 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref>

On the cable channel [[AXS TV]] (then called HDNet), Rather hosted ''[[Dan Rather Reports]]'', a ''60 Minutes''–style investigative news program, from 2006 to 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Guthrie|first=Marisa|date=October 7, 2015|title=Dan Rather Reflects on His Dramatic CBS Exit That Inspired 'Truth': "I Have a Lot of Wounds"|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/dan-rather-reflects-his-dramatic-829780/|access-date=2021-05-11|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US}}</ref> He also hosts several other projects for AXS TV, including ''Dan Rather Presents'', which provides in-depth reporting on broad topics such as mental health care or adoption, and ''The Big Interview with Dan Rather'', in which he conducts long-form interviews with musicians and other entertainers. In January 2018, he began hosting an online newscast called ''The News with Dan Rather'' on the ''[[The Young Turks|Young Turks]]'' YouTube channel. Since 2021, he has been writing the newsletter "Steady" on the Substack platform, with 170 posts in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rather |first=Dan |date=2025-02-11 |title=Archive - Steady |url=https://steady.substack.com/archive |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=steady.substack.com |language=en}}</ref>