It would be seemingly impossible for Dan Rather to fairly report a story involving Republican Senator Jesse Helms, not after he experienced something no other journalist has ever had to face, a drive to take over his employer (CBS) in order to fire him. In 1985, the North Carolina senator started a drive to "become Dan Rather's boss." He called upon his fellow conservatives to purchase stock in CBS, which was then an independent company, financially troubled, and often the subject of buyout rumors.

Senator Jesse Helms sent a letter to conservatives across the country; he asked 1 million conservatives to buy stock in CBS:
"[If each conservative] shifts enough of his or her savings or investments to buy just 20 shares of CBS stock, we would have enough votes to end CBS's bias forever....[CBS is] the most anti-Reagan network....It's vital for us to put an end to media bias....FIM [Fairness in Media] is counting on you to become Dan Rather's boss--by switching a portion of your investments to CBS stock. I am not giving economic or investment advice. The sole reason for this effort is to end bias at CBS Inc. You can buy stock in CBS by finding a stockbroker. They are listed in the Yellow Pages."
--Excerpts from the letter by Jesse Helms, January 21, 1985.

"Television is full of back-stabbing and ambushing -- Jesse Helms...isn't the only one who's tried to get my job."
--Dan Rather, quoted in the Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1996.

"CBS survived hostile takeover attempts by Ted Turner and by the religious right, egged on by Senator Jesse Helms,"
--Dan Rather in The Camera Never Blinks Twice, 1994.

With Helms's takeover drive in full swing, then-CBS News president Ed Joyce gave a speech at the Virginia Association of Broadcasters in which he denounced the buyout attempt. After the speech, Rather came to Joyce and told him he was troubled that CBS's corporate management had not stepped up to defend Rather. Joyce reported the episodes in a book he later wrote after being ousted from CBS News:

"At the Richmond Hyatt, with minutes to go before my speech, I called New York and was given the CBS statement in response to the Helms-FIM [Fairness in Media, an umbrella organization established by Helms] offensive. It was mild but firm in tone and I was glad to see that much at least.

"'To seek control of a corporation for the sole purpose of subjecting its news operations to political influence is to contradict the traditions of a free and uninhibited press. CBS intends to take all appropriate steps to maintain the independence and integrity of its news organization.'

"I incorporated that into my speech along with what I'd written on the plane. It was the first of many talks I would give defending CBS news from Helms and others interested in becoming 'Dan Rather's boss,' and in this role I was strangely alone. The senior executives of the corporation were muted in their initial public response.

"Rather came to see me after the Richmond speech, expressing his concern over the lack of public statements from [Tom] Wyman [CBS President], [Gene] Jankowski [CBS Broadcast Group President], and [Van] Sauter [CBS Executive Vice President] defending CBS News against the charge of liberal bias and over the increasing number of speeches by Helms, who'd begun to refer to me as 'the august Mr. Joyce.'

"'Ed, I want you to tell Tom and Gene,' he said, 'that if it's felt I've become a liability to CBS, I want them and you to know they only have to tell me that and I'll step aside.'

"I've encountered more sincerity in a call congratulating me for being eligible to buy $50,000 worth of group term life insurance if I would just supply a few simple details. The anchorman made his short speech and then stopped, his face assuming the same half smile he uses at the end of his broadcast right after he's laid four extra vowels into 'good niiiiight.' [sic]

"For the briefest second I was tempted to say, 'Tom and Gene have been discussing this possibility with me, but, Dan, it hasn't come to this yet.' However, the image of myself pouring cold Perrier on the unconscious face of the world's most expensive anchorman helped me control that impulse. Instead, I described the mood at Black Rock [the building housing CBS's corporate offices].

"'No one over there thinks Helms and his crew have a prayer of controlling CBS. What they're worried about is who else might be out there deciding that CBS is an attractive target. Have you been watching our stock shoot up? This company is in play and that's what shakes them up.'

"None of that seemed to register on Rather.

"'But I'm the one being targeted,' he said.

"'Dan, you're just a symbol in this fight because you are the nightly face of CBS News. No one in Black Rock holds you responsible for this.'

"Momentarily mollified, he left."
--Former CBS News president Ed Joyce in his 1988 book, Prime Times, Bad Times.

Senator Jesse Helms celebrated hard-fought reelection victories in 1990 and 1996:
"I'm sorry I'm so late, but I've been at home watching the grieving face of Dan Rather."
--Jesse Helms in his victory speech, Election Night 1990.

"I could hear it now, the gnashing of teeth in the editorial department of the Charlotte Observer, [Cheers, applause.] the Greensboro Daily News, the Winston-Salem Journal, and I saw Dan Rather trying to avoid announcing who was the winner in North Carolina." [Cheers, applause.]
--Jesse Helms in his victory speech, Election Night 1996.

Republican Lauch Faircloth lost his Senate seat in the '98 elections:
"How sweet it must be for President Clinton. Lauch Faircloth, the man who actually was responsible, along with Jesse Helms, for making Ken Starr the special prosecutor who has dogged President Clinton for so long. Lauch is locked out in North Carolina."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, November 3, 1998.

Rather said he was too busy to answer Jesse Helms's accusations of bias:
"I try to concern myself with the job of honest reporting."
--Dan Rather, quoted in the Washington Post, March 12, 1985.

Rather explained why a federal appeals court ruled favorably for Oliver North:
"Sentelle [one of the judges] is a longtime supporter of Jesse Helms, and it reportedly was Helms who got Reagan to appoint Sentelle to the appeals court."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, July 20, 1990.

Jesse Helms called Dan Rather a symbol of the effete eastern media. Rather responded:
"My job is to be accurate and fair, an honest broker of information. Period. It is a job that automatically puts me down in places Senator Helms dislikes. In the early 1960s I was the point man of CBS News on many of the most controversial civil rights stories. During the Watergate scandals, it was my job as White House correspondent to ask President Nixon questions that he didn't want to be asked. These are 'crimes' that many big- money political contributors don't forgive or forget, and Senator Helms likes to remind them of me because he gets money from them."
--Dan Rather in his 1991 book, I Remember.

Senator Helms used ads denouncing racial quotas and preferences during his reelection campaign:
"Jesse Helms wins again in North Carolina. There will be a lot of analysis about this race, about what won it for Helms. The Democrats will want to say he won it, among other ways, by doing what Guy Hunt did to hold on to the governorship down in Alabama, and that was to turn it into a contest on race."
--Dan Rather during live Election Night coverage, November 6, 1990.

"One of the closest and most closely-watched US Senate races of the 1990 campaign is ending on a new note of controversy. It's the North Carolina contest pitting veteran Republican Jesse Helms against Democrat Harvey Gantt. Correspondent Gary Reaves reports on playing with fire and the politics of race."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, November 2, 1990.

On the day of Al Gore's speech at the 2000 Democratic National Convention, a story was leaked to the Associated Press saying that a grand jury was being formed to investigate President Clinton after he left office. No one knew who had leaked the embarrassing news. Dan Rather, though, was sure he knew. A few days later, a Democrat-appointed federal judge admitted to accidentally leaking:
"You don't have to be a cynic to note that this has all the earmarks of a carefully orchestrated, politically motivated leak. The Republican-backed Robert Ray is sponsored by a three-judge panel that must periodically decide whether Ray's investigation should continue. This panel features two federal judges backed by the Jesse Helms wing of the Republican Party."
--Dan Rather in Rather's Notebook at the CBS News Web site, August 17, 2000. print_file('footer'); ?>