CBS Evening News a one-evening test broadcast on August 19, 1965, before permanently switching to the format on January 31, 1966. Cronkite's prime time special report, "Who, What, When, Where, Why", broadcast on February 27, 1968, ended with his declaration that the United States could only hope for a stalemate in Vietnam. It is often credited with influencing Lyndon Johnson's decision to drop out of the race for President. "If I've lost Walter Cronkite ... [I]'ve lost Middle America", he stated. Under Cronkite, the newscast began what would eventually become an 18-year period of dominating the ratings among the network evening news programs.
CBS Evening News officials complained to CBS founder William S. Paley. The second half of the report was aired the following Monday, but only for eight minutes. Cronkite was replaced as anchor of the program the Monday after his retirement, March 9, 1981, by then 49-year-old Dan Rather, who had been with CBS News as a correspondent since the early 1960s and later became a correspondent for the network's newsmagazine "60 Minutes". Concerns about excessive liberalism in the media were frequently leveled at Rather, the "CBS Evening News", CBS News and CBS in general. Some of these concerns dated from Rather's position as