Video: 'PBS Documentary "Television" - Episode 4 of 8' (Aug. 27, 1968, at 34:09)

(Tuesday, August 27, 1968, 8:25 p.m. CDT; during the 1968 Democratic National Convention) — CBS correspondent Dan Rather was punched in the stomach and knocked to the ground tonight during the network’s live coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago as he attempted to interview a delegate from Georgia who appeared as though he was being forcibly removed by men without identification badges.

The assault inspired prompted a rare moment of emotion expressed by CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, who angrily blurted out: “We got a bunch of thugs around here, Dan.” Cronkite charged that convention officials were “trying to prevent the free flow of information.”