BY EMMA THOMSON
Fifty years after he broke the
news that President John F. Kennedy had been killed, Dan Rather joined The Kalb
Report at the National Press Club to talk about his experiences as a journalist
covering the president’s assassination from Dallas. The former anchor of the
CBS Evening News sat down with Marvin Kalb to give his firsthand account of the
events surrounding Kennedy’s death.
His
Story
On Nov. 22, 1963, CBS assigned
the Texas native to coordinate media coverage for a “routine political visit”.
Rather was stationed at the underpass where the president’s motorcade was
scheduled to culminate when he saw what he believed to be Kennedy’s limousine
speed by him.
It was not until Rather rushed to
the local CBS station to complete a film drop that he heard Kennedy had been
shot. The wires at the station began to run as the news
broke.
“Every reporter’s emotions just
kicked in,” he said.
Knowing the phone lines would
soon be busy, Rather placed three calls to the hospital where Kennedy had been
taken. Although a nurse hung up on him the first time he called, Rather
eventually was able to speak to a doctor and a priest, who both confirmed the
president indeed had been shot and was dead.
The word of doctors and a priest
was enough evidence for Rather.
“When you’ve got a dead man,
you’ve got a dead man,” Rather said.
Although television broadcasts
would wait until the official White House announcement to break the news to the
American people, CBS immediately played the Star Spangled Banner and announced
that Kennedy had been assassinated.
During the four-day ordeal,
Rather relied on his journalism fundamentals to report the facts to the
American people. This allowed him to calmly break the tragic news during one of
the most emotional experiences of his life.
“When a sledgehammer hits your
heart, your instincts kick in,” he said.
“You’re a reporter…and you’ve got a dead man.”
Rather attributes his news
instincts to helping him avoid a potential disaster as he covered Kennedy’s
death. When Kalb mentioned that he would have been terrified to break such
immense news without official confirmation, Rather reminded him that when
things are in chaos, simply reporting was more important than anything
else.
“If you had been there, you or
any reporter, your instincts would have kicked in,” he said.
Kalb and Rather discussed the
role of journalism in the Kennedy coverage. Both pointed out that the
assassination was the beginning of the, “TV age as we knew it.” Comparing earlier work to modern
journalism, Rather said past journalism had been less bias and more honest.
“[The coverage of Kennedy’s
death] was the spine of American journalism,” he said. “Most journalists were
honest brokers of information.”
Rather related the Kennedy
assassination news reporting to the coverage of 9/11. He called the two
national tragedies, “bookends of the television news era.” According to him, TV
news came of age during the four day programming following the Kennedy
assassination and lost headway in the digital era following 9/11.
Conspiracy
Theories
Rather is for the most part quick
to dismiss potential conspiracies surrounding Kennedy’s death. He believes that
Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and Jack Ruby was the person who killed Oswald.
“An assassin assassinated in the
police station, you can’t make this stuff up!” Rather said.
He emphasized the necessity to
analyze the Kennedy assassination with facts and not emotion.
“We’re entitled to our own
opinions,” he said. “But we’re not entitled to our own facts.”
GW
connection
Many members of the GW community
attended Friday’s School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) sponsored event.
Steve Mukherjee, who earned an
engineering management degree from the School of Engineering and Applied
Science (SEAS) in 1979, said he was thrilled to see Rather that evening.
Although Mukherjee was in a small Indian town when he heard that Kennedy had
been shot, he still values the veteran journalist’s work surrounding the
assassination.
Rather is, “The best there is,
the best there was, and the best there ever will be,” he said.
Other attendees included Provost
Steven Lerman and SMPA Director Frank Sesno. Lerman, who was in his seventh
grade gym class when he heard that Kennedy was dead, said that the opportunity
to attend the Kalb Report was an educational and exciting opportunity for GW
students. As a broadcast journalism veteran, Sesno emphasized the importance of
television reporting during the coverage surrounding the assassination.
Several GW students had the
opportunity to ask Kalb and Rather questions following the program. Junior
Omeed Firouzi asked Rather how President Lyndon Johnson was affected by the
Kennedy assassination. After the event, Firouzi said he was excited to hear
Rather’s “unique vantage” of the events surrounding Kennedy’s death.
“Rather lived through the
events,” Firouzi said. “He is a primary source.”
However, the man of the hour did
not try to venture into the unknown. On Kennedy’s legacy and the what-ifs
surrounding his administration cut short, Rather does not speculate on the
“would have beens.”
“We’ll never know,” he said. “It
ended too soon to judge.”
The accomplished journalist still
considers the story the biggest of his career. When he was asked which network
had the best coverage of the assassination and following events, Rather replied
with a sheepish grin.
“CBS,” he said. As if he had any
other option.
