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As a young New Orleans bureau chief for CBS in November 1963, Rather had a mundane assignment in Dallas. He had arranged locations along the presidential motorcade route for film of the visit to be picked up and transmitted to CBS' New York headquarters. He had no on-air assignment. He sprang into action when it became clear something had gone terribly wrong. Rather described in his 1977 book, "The Camera Never Blinks," that CBS radio went with his report that Kennedy was dead
-- based not on official confirmation but his phone conversations with men who identified themselves as a doctor and priest at the hospital where Kennedy was taken, and a colleague's conversation with the hospital's chief of staff. It was an extraordinary risk: if Rather was wrong, he conceded his career in journalism likely would have ended there. Days later, Rather was among the first people to see film of the assassination taken by Abraham Zapruder and he later described it live on CBS, reading from a spiral notebook what it captured of the president and first lady at the moment of impact. CBS failed, however, to acquire rights to the film. "I'm proud of what CBS News did at the time," Rather said. "When the country needed it, CBS News was the best in the business."
Rather gave an extensive interview about what happened that day to his old competitor, NBC's Tom Brokaw, for use on Brokaw's NBC special to air Nov. 22. ___ Online:
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Rather helped organize CBS' plans for President John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, and as a young reporter was a key component of assassination coverage. Now 82, with his own show on AXS-TV, he's one of the few reporters on the story that day who's still active in journalism.
