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He reported the death of John F. Kennedy, made Richard Nixon squirm over Watergate and helped show the world a myriad of abuses perpetrated by U.S. soldiers at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison. But as Dan Rather prepares to leave the top anchor chair at CBS News in March, he is more likely to be remembered for a series of controversial memos whose validity he was never able to prove.
Rather didn't mention his controversial 60 Minutes story in the announcement that he would leave the CBS Evening News on March 9, 2005 - his 24th anniversary as the network's top anchor. But the news comes just before an independent panel is expected to report on its investigation into how Rather and the show's producers aired a report on President Bush's National Guard service based on memos now widely believed to be fake.
Before the "Memogate" scandal in September, industry watchers expected Rather to leave the anchor desk on his 25th anniversary in 2006 - far enough from NBC anchor Tom Brokaw's Dec. 1 retirement to ensure maximum attention and perhaps lure some Brokaw fans to his third-place newscast. News that Rather will leave a year earlier - giving CBS much less than the two years NBC used to groom Brian Williams as Brokaw's replacement - fuels rumors that the coming report will not be kind to the 73-year-old anchor.
Rather and CBS executives say the decision to focus on work as a 60 Minutes correspondent was prompted by soul-searching over the summer, not the 60 Minutes story. But few believe that explanation, which is similar to the hollow denials CBS News floated in September defending the documents used in Rather's controversial story, just before admitting that they could not prove the memos were genuine.
Despite the twin departures of Rather and Brokaw, claims that network TV evening newscasts are obsolete are premature. The shows still earn ratings higher than the cable news channels, while the anchors embody network news divisions in a way no other figure does. Still, the broadcasts will change significantly, helmed by younger faces at a time when fewer viewers than ever seem willing to believe news that does not reinforce their existing biases.
Those put off by Rather's quirky behavior (an election night press release from CBS quoted Rather calling the presidential race "hotter than the Devil's anvil") or convinced he has a liberal bias may cheer the anchor's impending retirement. Those Web sites and conservative critics who fed the memo story controversy will also claim their measure of credit for clipping his career.
By leaving this way, Rather ends the longest run of any network news anchor under a cloud, mostly of his own making, that threatens to tarnish the entire industry. It is an unfortunate legacy for a newsman who has devoted more than half a century to chasing news before the camera's unblinking eye.