Dan Rather is the famous face of the momentous occasion 50 years ago, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

That fateful day, many American families were gathered around their television screens to hear the awful, heartbreaking report on what had taken place in Dallas in 1963.

This is what the nation collectively saw on CBS:

Unfortunately, Dan Rather won’t be a part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination on CBS, according to Yahoo. In 2006, he left CBS on terms that were not amicable. He waited to see if he would be asked to take part in the highly publicized commemoration on CBS, but when he wasn’t, he decided to provide his accounts, memories, and name for someone else.

“I held off doing anything for anybody else for a while, thinking I may be asked to do something,” Rather told the AP. “I can’t say I had any reason for that hope.”

He continued, “This is not a good idea to say ‘We want to change the historical record so we’re going to airbrush this guy out because we don’t like him’. They may want to control the way the public thinks about my record, but I’m pretty sure they have not been able to do that.”

He will join Tom Brokaw on a special edition of the Today show on NBC on the anniversary of the assassination, instead. CBS has not mentioned yet whether they will use Dan Rather’s historic footage in their special.

NBC is not the only network that will benefit from Rather’s fairly exclusive experience. He was also interviewed for a segment on CNN’s series The Sixties to air on the same day.

Rather has also been seen around Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where Kennedy was shot. He is reportedly filming an hour special for his AXS show, Dan Rather Reports, which will air on November 18. Looks like CBS could be the loser on this anniversary revival in the interest around the John F. Kennedy assassination.

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