Q 13

PLAYBOY: Do you have any heroes?

Dan Rather: Yes. Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Walter Cronkite and Hugh Cunningham, a teacher of mine. But without being preachy about it, let me tell you who I really like. I love the guy who goes to work every morning, comes home every night, brings his paycheck in every week, breaks his ass for his kids and ends up dead at 57. And out of my high school class of roughly 400, at least 200 of them are like that.

Q 14

PLAYBOY: What do you think of Roone Arledge?

Dan Rather: What I see, I like. Before he started the new ABC evening news, there was a lot of loose chatter that he was going to cheapen it. Well, one of the first things he did was put Frank Reynolds on. Now, Frank Reynolds is a class operator. I wish we had him. And thus far, I'd have to say that Arledge himself has been a class operator.

Q 15

PLAYBOY: What do you think of Fred Silverman?

Dan Rather: I know Silverman, because he was at CBS. And Silverman is an absolute, demonstrated class operator. The picture of Freddie Silverman as the Attila of the television business was never true and I think he's now in the process of proving that at NBC. After all, he's running the whole show. God knows, the television business is filled with its share of charlatans, cheap-shot artists and people interested only in selling--but it also has a lot of very smart, high-principled people, and Silverman is one of them. I just hope he doesn't beat our head in.

Q 16

PLAYBOY: Most people think the men on television news are sexier than the women. Why is that?

Dan Rather: Most of the sexy women--and there are exceptions--are attracted to the entertainment side of television, because it's easier for them to make it in those other areas. If you have a great deal of personal attraction, it's easier for you to be on Charlie's Angels. Broadcast journalism remains a man's domain. Men make the decisions. There's no joy in my saying that, but that's the reality. It takes such a long time for women to work up. Let's say a woman gets into journalism and says to herself, I've got to prove myself as a reporter. So she does the things that it takes to prove one's self as a reporter--such as standing in the rain outside the police station for ten or 15 years. After ten or 15 years of that, it's pretty hard to hold your complexion together, honey, and pretty hard to keep your figure. And by the time she's 40, they begin to say in the business, "Well, old Jill is one hell of a reporter, but she looks hard around the edges." When they say that about a man, it's a compliment.

Q 17

PLAYBOY: What makes a woman sexy to you?

Dan Rather: Intelligence. And experience. Which is maybe why I find myself attracted to somewhat older women. It's very difficult for me to find someone in her 20s sexy. In fact, I could almost make the same case for a woman in her 30s.

Q 18

PLAYBOY: Name some high-profile women you find sexy.

Dan Rather: Well, I think Rosalynn Carter is sexy. One, she's intelligent; and, two, I think she's physically attractive. And there's a gentleness to her that is very appealing. Also in the Carter Administration, I think that Juanita Kreps is a very attractive woman. Now, I've never been around her, you understand, but from a distance, she seems attractive. I'd also have to include Connie Chung and Lesley Stahl at CBS on the list.

Q 19

PLAYBOY: Are there any women outside politics or the media you find sexy?

Dan Rather: Doris Lessing. Why? Depth. A mile of depth. She's seen a lot. Again there's a certain silliness to this, because I do not, in fact, know Doris Lessing. I just feel I know her through her writings. And then there's also Suzy Chaffee, the skier. I don't know her, either, but she exudes a tremendous energy and vitality.

Q 20

PLAYBOY: You've recently been named one of the "most watchable" men in America. To what do you attribute that honor?

Dan Rather: Oh, my animal magnetism, of course.