I thought Dan first made national news because of JFK's assassination .. Dan was was working at a local Texas news affiliate reporting ?
No, it was the hurricane coverage. At the time he was the news director for a Houston TV station and he decided that he would give live reports to viewers as the storm hit. In many ways, Rather's idea began news operations obsession with local weather as it proved very successful at attracting viewers.
Dan's move attracted the attention of CBS News and they hired him to work for them.
Now that you say that, I guess I've heard that part of Dan's past, as well. As long as Blather makes a living out of making up history on other's, I thought he was fair game!