Dan Rather on How Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 'Changed Me as a Person and as a Professional' (Exclusive)
The veteran broadcaster opens up to PEOPLE about what he learned from the "quiet at the center" of the civil rights trailblazer, who "lived on this razor's edge of danger"
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Dan Rather has chronicled the trajectories of some of history’s greats, and he counts Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the formative subjects of his 73-year career.
The legendary broadcaster is the subject of the documentary Rather, which premiered this weekend at the Tribeca Festival. The film chronicles his rise from a childhood in Depression-era Texas to a decades-long run as a world-class newsman who covered conflicts in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Little did he know, Rather would have the chance to prove his chops when he was assigned right from the start to report on a historic world-changer.
"I consider it one of the really lucky, really blessed things that happened to me, that when I first came to CBS News in the early 1960s — I was hired in 1961, I came in 1962 — my first major day-to-day regular week-in, week-out assignment was to cover Dr. Martin Luther King in what was then the emerging civil rights movement in the Deep South," he tells PEOPLE.
Shares Rather, 91: "Keep in mind that I grew up in Texas. I was raised in Texas, which for all of my younger life had institutionalized racism. They had the schools were separated, eating places were separated. It wasn't as dark as Alabama or Mississippi at the time — but no question about it, it was legalized racism. I grew up in that environment. Now I'm cast with this heroic figure, which when I first came to him, I had no idea, frankly, who he was."
Dan Rather
Rather continues, "But I came to admire him tremendously because he walked minute by minute on the razor's edge of lethal danger. There never was any thought in my mind other than, He will not live a long life. Anybody who was around him and saw and saw what he was doing and what he was saying at the time, I think would've reached the same conclusion."
"But," says Rather, "Dr. King had what I've called 'quiet at the center.' I'm sure he had his fears. He even spoke about his fears some of the time. But he was quiet at the center. The more chaotic things became and the more dangerous things became, he seemed to draw on some inner spiritual — dare I say it, sacred — self, to become quieter and quieter and more determined and more determined."
Related: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. with 15 of His Most Powerful Quotes
"One of the great things about being a journalist, one of the joys of being a journalist," Rather tells PEOPLE, "is that you learn so much. And I learned a great deal covering Dr. King."
The civil rights crusader's indomitable spirit struck Rather as especially inspiring after the journalist witnessed harrowing displays of hatred with his own eyes.
"When I saw the level of hate, the first time I saw a Ku Klux Klan rally, for example," Rather says, "I remember the sheer terror that prevailed from Black people and me, and I found myself saying, 'What must that be like to have this hanging over you every day, every night?'"
He continues, "Here I am, a privileged white reporter operating on the edges of this Klan rally, but what a terrorizing thing for children. [I was deeply affected by] scenes like that, seeing Martin Luther King's courage, seeing what he was saying: 'I, Dr. King, and my movement, we're dedicated to non-violent protests.'"
Rather affirms, "I think any reasonable person with my background in a segregated society who covered Dr. King, day after day, week in, week out, would've come to the same conclusion. It changed me as a person and as a professional, and I'm very thankful for it."
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Rather premieres Saturday at the Tribeca Festival in New York City.
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