Did Dan Rather Invent a Source When He Broke the Death of JFK?

Did Dan Ratber send out a fangirl tweet about the Nuggets?

 

It was Dr. (Roger) Mudd

 

LOL. That's really good inside humor. Seriously, I read a Mudd book not too long ago. I think it's entitled The Place To Be. The book is almost entirely about his time at CBS. IIRC, he and Rather patched things up a bit in later years.

 

It is something I have long wondered. And I just watched the movie Parkland, which purports to be a true story of what happened at the hospital after the shooting. They had a scene where someone marches into the switchboard and demands an open line. It got me to thinking about how chaotic that telephone room must have been and yet Rather calls in and the switchboard operator transfers him to a good source.

 

“COURAGE.”

 

This is not a theory. It's only a hypothesis with no evidence backing it up.

What proof do you offer?

 

Fair enough. It is a hypothesis, not a theory. But Rather says himself that he was at the KRLD news room. And Eddie Barker of KRLD, who was broadcasting from the Trade Mart, where Kennedy was supposed to speak, had gone on the air and reported Kennedy was dead. Barker's source was a Parkland doctor who was attending the event and had called the emergency room.

I have no evidence that Rather did not make the call. only speculation.

 

No, he was too busy asking Cronkite what he should wear.

 

End of thread.

 

I read that too. Recalled Mudd ripped Dan for always using a ghostwriter for his books (often Mickey Herskowitz).

 

No doubt Gary Paul Gates wrote most, if not all, of The Palace Guard, but Gates did get a co-author credit. He and Rather were tight. The latter was a major source for Airtime. Both books are very good, IMHO.