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Rather was born in Wharton, Texas. In 1953, he received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Sam Houston State Teachers College[?]. Rather began his career in journalism in 1950 as an Associated Press reporter in Huntsville, Texas. Later, he was a reporter for United Press International (1950-1952), several Texas radio stations, and the Houston Chronicle (1954-1955). In 1959, he entered television as a reporter for KTRK-TV in Houston. Prior to joining CBS News, Rather was news director for KHOU-TV, the CBS affiliate in Houston.
Rather joined CBS News as a correspondent in 1962. Rather—quite by accident, as described in his autobiography—was the first journalist to report that President John F. Kennedy had died of wounds received from an assassin.
His reporting throughout the Kennedy assassination and subsequent events brought him to the attention of CBS News management, which rewarded him with the White House beat in 1964. After serving as a foreign correspondent for CBS News, he drew the assignment as primary anchor for the CBS Weekend News, while serving as White House correspondent during the Richard Nixon presidency.
An assignment as correspondent to the legendary news broadcast 60 Minutes brought him in line to succeed Walter Cronkite as main anchor of the CBS Evening News. He assumed the position upon Cronkite's retirement, his first broadcast taking place on March 9, 1981.
Always a controversial figure, Rather's personality tended to divide audiences; they either love him or hate him. During the Nixon years, conservative political figures accused him of bias in his reporting on the Presidency. The liberal bias accusations have stuck with Rather since the early 1970s.
Rather's position at CBS was not helped when viewership for the news broadcast he anchored declined precipitously. Rather won the audience back for a time during the early 1980s, but as CBS went through an institutional crisis and ultimate purchase by Larry Tisch[?], the viewership levels fell.
As of early 2003, the CBS Evening News is in third place in terms of viewership, behind NBC Nightly News and ABC World News Tonight. Rather has not released any details of his retirement plans.
Rather has been involved in a number of strange circumstances over the years, all seemingly random occurrences without connection, except for the anchorman himself.
In 1997, the mystery of the "Kenneth" incident appeared to be solved. When the New York Daily News published a photo of William Tager[?], Rather identified him as his assailant. "There's no doubt in my mind that this is the person," Rather said. Tager is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for killing an NBC stagehand outside the Today show studio. Tager apparently was convinced that the news media was beaming signals into his head. He demanded that Rather tell him the frequency of the signals. As to why he referred to Rather as "Kenneth" remains a mystery.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump