50 Years Since JFK Assassination Retrospective: Dan Rather And JFK Assassination Coverage

In his 1977 book, The Camera Never Blinks, former CBS Evening News Anchor Dan Rather claimed that--around three weeks before JFK was ambushed--he was told by then-CBS News Editor Ralph Paskman to set up extensive coverage of JFK's November 22, 1963 motorcade through Dallas.

Yet in his 1978 book, Air Time: The Inside Story Of CBS News, former CBS News writer Gary Gates indicated that--rather than being told by Paskman to set up extensive coverage of JFK's Dallas motorcade--former U.S. Marine Rather "persuaded his editorial superiors in New York to lay on extra coverage for the President's visit to Dallas" because "Rather was among those who felt, most acutely, that `something unusual' might happen while Kennedy was in Dallas." Gates also noted that "When it was all over, CBS News executives in New York would remember" Rather's "foresight" and "only a few weeks after the assassination, he was appointed CBS News White House correspondent over the heads of several more experienced reporters in Washington."

(Downtown 8/4/93)