Dan Rather
- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Dan Irvin Rather Jr. was born in Wharton, Texas, to Byrl Veda (Page) and Dan Irvin Rather Sr., a ditch digger. He graduated from Sam Houston State
University in Huntsville, where he wanted to play football. He worked
at local radio station KSAM in Huntsville during his college years.
Following graduation he worked for radio station KTRK in Houston and
went to work for KHOU-TV, the CBS affiliate in Houston. In 1961, he
covered Hurricane Carla for KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, and it caught
the eye of CBS News executives, who hired him in 1962. He was in Dallas
on November 22, 1963 and was CBS' lead anchor from Dallas during the
coverage of the Kennedy assassination. In 1975, he became co-anchor of
60 Minutes (1968) and in 1981 was
selected to replace Walter Cronkite as
anchor of
CBS Evening News (1963),
where he remained as anchor until 2005. The Communications Building on
the campus of Sam Houston State University is named for Rather.
