03-02-2021, 11:07 AM
Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. (August 15, 1935 – March 1, 2021) was an American business executive and civil rights activist in the United States. After working for several Civil Rights Movement organizations, he was chosen by President Bill Clinton as a close adviser. Jordan was an influential figure in American politics.
Vernon Jordan was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Mary Jordan and Vernon E. Jordan Sr.; he has a brother, Windsor. He was a cousin of James Shaw, a musician who is professionally billed as The Mighty Hannibal.[1]
Jordan grew up with his family in the segregated societal cosmos of Atlanta during the 1950s. He was an honors graduate of David T. Howard High School. Rejected for a summer internship with an insurance company after his sophomore year in college because of his race, he earned money for college for a few summers for college by working as a chauffeur to former city mayor Robert Maddox, then a banker. Jordan graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1957.[2] In an interview with Robert Penn Warren for the book Who Speaks for the Negro?, Jordan described his difficulties at DePauw as the only black student in a class of 400.[3] He earned a J.D. degree at Howard University School of Law in 1960. He is a member of the Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.
Jordan returned to Atlanta to join the law office of Donald L. Hollowell, a civil rights activist. The firm, including Constance Motley, sued the University of Georgia for racial discrimination in its admission policies. The suit ended in 1961 with a Federal Court order demanding the admission of two African Americans, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton E. Holmes. Jordan personally escorted Hunter past a group of angry white protesters to the university admissions office.
![[Image: 220px-Vernon_E._Jordan_working_on_a_vote...roject.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Vernon_E._Jordan_working_on_a_voter_education_project.jpg/220px-Vernon_E._Jordan_working_on_a_voter_education_project.jpg)
After leaving private law practice in the early 1960s, Jordan became directly involved in activism in the field, serving as the Georgia field director for the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Colored_People]National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From the NAACP, he moved to the Southern Regional Council and then to the Voter Education Project.
In 1970, Jordan became executive director of the United Negro College Fund.[4] He was president of the National Urban League from 1971 to 1981.
While still with the National Urban League, Jordan in 1981 said of the Ronald Reagan administration:
That year he resigned from the National Urban League to take a position as legal counsel with the Washington, D.C., office of the Dallas law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
On May 29, 1980, Jordan was shot and seriously wounded outside the Marriott Inn in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was accompanied by Martha Coleman at the time. Police thought initially that it might have been a domestic incident related to Coleman's life.[6] Then-president Jimmy Carter visited Jordan while he was recovering, an event that became the first story covered by the new network CNN.[7] Joseph Paul Franklin was acquitted in 1982 of charges of attempted murder. However, in 1996, after having been convicted of murder in another case, Franklin admitted to having committed the shooting.[8]
Jordan, a friend and political adviser to Bill Clinton, served as part of Clinton's transition team in 1992–93, shortly after Clinton was elected president. In the words of The New York Times:
In 1998 Jordan helped Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, after she left the White House. His role was considered controversial given the scandal that the Clinton administration had suffered because of the president's involvement with the intern.[10] On October 1, 2003, a United States court of appeals rejected Jordan's claim for reimbursement for legal services related to assisting Clinton in scandals regarding Lewinsky and Paula Jones.
More at Wikipedia.
Vernon Jordan was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Mary Jordan and Vernon E. Jordan Sr.; he has a brother, Windsor. He was a cousin of James Shaw, a musician who is professionally billed as The Mighty Hannibal.[1]
Jordan grew up with his family in the segregated societal cosmos of Atlanta during the 1950s. He was an honors graduate of David T. Howard High School. Rejected for a summer internship with an insurance company after his sophomore year in college because of his race, he earned money for college for a few summers for college by working as a chauffeur to former city mayor Robert Maddox, then a banker. Jordan graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1957.[2] In an interview with Robert Penn Warren for the book Who Speaks for the Negro?, Jordan described his difficulties at DePauw as the only black student in a class of 400.[3] He earned a J.D. degree at Howard University School of Law in 1960. He is a member of the Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.
Jordan returned to Atlanta to join the law office of Donald L. Hollowell, a civil rights activist. The firm, including Constance Motley, sued the University of Georgia for racial discrimination in its admission policies. The suit ended in 1961 with a Federal Court order demanding the admission of two African Americans, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton E. Holmes. Jordan personally escorted Hunter past a group of angry white protesters to the university admissions office.
![[Image: 220px-Vernon_E._Jordan_working_on_a_vote...roject.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vernon_E._Jordan_working_on_a_voter_education_project.jpg)
After leaving private law practice in the early 1960s, Jordan became directly involved in activism in the field, serving as the Georgia field director for the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Colored_People]National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From the NAACP, he moved to the Southern Regional Council and then to the Voter Education Project.
In 1970, Jordan became executive director of the United Negro College Fund.[4] He was president of the National Urban League from 1971 to 1981.
While still with the National Urban League, Jordan in 1981 said of the Ronald Reagan administration:
Quote:I do not challenge the conservatism of this administration. I do challenge its failure to exhibit a compassionate conservatism that adapts itself to the realities of a society ridden by class and race distinction.[5]
That year he resigned from the National Urban League to take a position as legal counsel with the Washington, D.C., office of the Dallas law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
On May 29, 1980, Jordan was shot and seriously wounded outside the Marriott Inn in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was accompanied by Martha Coleman at the time. Police thought initially that it might have been a domestic incident related to Coleman's life.[6] Then-president Jimmy Carter visited Jordan while he was recovering, an event that became the first story covered by the new network CNN.[7] Joseph Paul Franklin was acquitted in 1982 of charges of attempted murder. However, in 1996, after having been convicted of murder in another case, Franklin admitted to having committed the shooting.[8]
Jordan, a friend and political adviser to Bill Clinton, served as part of Clinton's transition team in 1992–93, shortly after Clinton was elected president. In the words of The New York Times:
Quote:For Mr. Clinton, Mr. Jordan's roles have been manifold: Golfing companion. Smoother of ruffled feathers (he put the president back in touch with Zoë Baird after the withdrawal of her nomination to be attorney general). Consoler in chief (after Mr. Clinton was defeated for re-election as governor in 1980, after the suicide of Vincent W. Foster Jr. in 1993). Conduit to the high and mighty (he took Mr. Clinton in 1991 to the Bilderberg conference in Germany, an exclusive annual retreat for politicians and businessmen). Go-between (he told Mike Espy he had to go as secretary of agriculture, helped win Warren Christopher a larger role as secretary of state and sounded out Gen. Colin L. Powell for a Cabinet job).[9]
In 1998 Jordan helped Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, after she left the White House. His role was considered controversial given the scandal that the Clinton administration had suffered because of the president's involvement with the intern.[10] On October 1, 2003, a United States court of appeals rejected Jordan's claim for reimbursement for legal services related to assisting Clinton in scandals regarding Lewinsky and Paula Jones.
More at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.