The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

Joseph McCarthy. Perhaps influenced by Murrow,
Rather resembled him in many ways. Both were ded-
icated to the primacy and integrity of news. Both
sometimes courted danger, as when Rather entered
Afghanistan in 1980, shortly after the Soviet inva-
sion. Neither unquestioningly accepted authority;
in 1988, Rather confronted Vice President George
H. W. Bush, then running for U.S. president, over
the Iran-Contra affair. Both attracted criticism; in
1985, Senator Jesse Helms urged conservatives to
buy CBS to control Rather.
Rather first drew national attention with his cover-
age of the 1961 Galveston, Texas, hurricane and the
1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. To
replace retiring anchor Walter Cronkite, CBS offered
Rather a two-million-dollar, ten-year contract and
the power of managing editor. Rather made his
first broadcast as anchor on March 9, 1981. While
rarely altogether relaxed on camera, he communi-
cated honesty and decency. Not content simply to
announce news, he focused on the effects of poli-
cies and events on people concerned. He sometimes
showed emotion, as when in 1983 he announced the
murder of 241 young Marines by terrorists in Leba-
non. After a weak first year, he ranked at the top
in Nielsen rankings for most of the first half of the de-
cade. Perhaps his most important story of the decade
was his reporting of the 1989 suppressed democratic
revolution in China’s Tiananmen Square, recorded
in his bookThe Camera Never Blinks Twice(1994).
Rather’s ratings fell late in the decade as news
was transformed with the advent of corporate own-
ership. The 1986 sale of CBS to Lawrence Tisch in-
troduced the largest corporate cutback of news em-
ployees in that network’s history. Rather was among
those who futilely protested; he published, with news
producer Richard Cohen, “From Murrow to Medi-
ocrity?” inThe New York Times(March 10, 1987). His
reaction to these changes probably was responsible
for his most famous lapse. Broadcasting from Miami
in 1987 to cover the visit of Pope John Paul II, Rather
found his broadcast cut short so that the ending of
a semifinal U.S. Open tennis match could be aired.
He walked away, leaving six minutes of dead air.
Despite criticism, Rather survived, finally resigning
from CBS in 2005.

Impact Rather inherited the traditions of the word-
oriented, on-the-spot, and, if necessary, confronta-
tional radio journalists who virtually invented mod-

ern broadcast journalism during World War II. He

was at his best when he could live out this inheri-

tance, but network news audiences diminished. He

was less successful as news and entertainment were

increasingly blended in reaction to competition from

cable television.

Further Reading

Alan, Jeff, with James M. Lane.Anchoring America:

The Changing Face of Network News. Chicago: Bonus

Books, 2003.

Fensch, Thomas, ed.Television News Anchors.Wood-

lands, Tex.: New Century Books, 2001.

Goldberg, Robert, and Gerald Jay Goldberg.An-

chors: Brokaw, Jennings, Rather, and the Evening

News.Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Publishing Group,

1990.

Betty Richardson

See also Brokaw, Tom; Cable television; China and

the United States; Elections in the United States,

1988; Iran-Contra affair; Jennings, Peter; Journal-

ism; Network anchors; Television.

Reagan, Nancy

Identification First Lady of the United States,

1981-1989

Born July 6, 1921; New York, New York

During the decade of the 1980’s, Nancy Reagan was a con-

stant presence and considerable force in the life of Ronald

Reagan, president of the United States from 1981 to 1989.

The closeness of their relationship has led many to speculate

that Nancy influenced many of the president’s crucial deci-

sions and helped to shape the actions by which his presi-

dency would ultimately be judged.

Before Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Nancy Reagan,

as the governor’s wife in California, was involved in

organizations that focused on helping physically

and emotionally handicapped children. This experi-

ence provided her with the background for her later

initiatives concerned with alcohol and drug abuse

among young people. In 1985, she hosted the sec-

ond international drug conference for First Ladies

from around the world at which the slogan Just Say

No was coined.

Nancy Reagan became honorary chair of the Just

Say No Foundation, a group aimed at fighting drug

The Eighties in America Reagan, Nancy
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