Dan Rather a Texas native maintains a home in the Austin area. Dan received a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from San Houston State Teachers College, where he was editor of the school's newspaper.

Rather began his career as an Associated Press reporter, later he was a reporter for United Press International, several Texas radio stations and the Houston Chronicle.  Prior to joining CBS News, Rather was news director for KHOU-TV, the CBS affiliate in Houston, Texas. Rather was the first television journalist to report that President John F. Kennedy had died of wounds received from an assassin. Rather's reporting during the national mourning period following the Kennedy assassination and subsequent events brought him to the attention of CBS News management.  After President Nixon's resignation, Rather took the assignment of chief correspondent for CBS News Special Reports. Laer Dan became a correspondent of 60 Minutes.  After Walter Cronkite's retirement as main anchor and Managing Editor of the CBS News, Rather assumed the position in March, 1981.  When Rather took the helm at the CBS News anchor desk, the United States had only three commercial television networks:  CBS, NBC and ABC.  For a short time from 1993-1995, Rather co-anchored the evening news with Connie Chung.  At the end of Rather's career, the CBS Evening News had fallen to a distant last place in network viewership.  Rather's departure from the anchor chair wa troubling for CBS, as his journalistic credentials were questioned during the 2004 Presidential campaign between George W. Bush and John Kerry.  Rather retired, under pressure, as the anchor of the CBS Evening News on March 9, 2005, a position he had held for 24 years.  The longest tenure of anone in American television history. Dan Rather will continue working as a correspondent for 60 Minutes.  Bob Schieffer will fill in Rather's position on an interim basis, and Katie Couric is scheduled to replace Schieffer in September, 2006. In June, 2006 reports surfaced that CBS NEws will most likely not renew Dan Rather's contract.  According to sources from CBS say that executives at the netweork had decided there was no future role for Dan Rather. Many viewers see this as an effort to usher in a new era at the news division, with the anticpated arrival of Katie Couric at the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes as well as the arival of Anderson Cooper at the news magazine.  On June 20, 2006, CBS News President Sean McManus announced that Rather would be leaving the network after 44 years of service.  There are reports that Rather after leaving CBS News will resume his career with HDNet, a high-definition cable television station as a producer and the host of a one-hour show.

Dan Rather is one iof the most awarded figures within the journalism community. He has received numerous Emmy Awards, several Peabody Awards and various honorary degrees from college and universities.             

Rather has long disputed suggestions that he is a Democratic Party smypathizer.  But he consistently draws the most flak of the major anchors from viewers who see him as less than objective, even spawning a Web site called RatherBiased.com.

Dan is perceived as the most buffoonishly biased of any of the news anchors, as far as conservatives are concerned. 

Robin Rather,  the anchor's daughter is a Texas environmentalist and marketing executive.