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Dan Rather Looks Back at Turbulent 1968 Democratic Convention, Says Biden-Harris Switch Was ‘Almost Anticlimactic’ in Comparison


In a column for Variety, former CBS News anchor Dan Rather recalls the turmoil of the 1968 Democratic Convention, where he was roughed up on the floor.

He also famously was roughed up during the 1968 Democratic National Convention — which inspired Variety to ask Rather, still going strong at 92 (you can read his current “Steady” columns at steady.substack.com), to reflect on that tumultuous moment in U.S. politics and how it compares to what has happened in 2024. And unlike the fractured and divided Democrats of that year, this convention now looks like it will be a celebration of Biden’s decades of public service and an anointing of a new generation of leadership in Kamala Harris. The feature utilizes the story of Rather’s life on television to also explore the evolution of broadcast journalism, the troubles a free press now faces, along with the slide of American society from hard-fought advances in social justice and democratic freedoms.

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