Vernon Jordan
{{Short description|American lawyer and civil rights activist (1935–2021)}}
{{Use American English|date = January 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Vernon Jordan
|image = Vernon Jordan, Pres., National Urban League, civil rights activist and lawyer.jpg
|caption = Jordan in 1973
|birth_name = Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr.
|birth_date = {{birth date|1935|8|15}}
|birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|2021|3|1|1935|8|15}}
|death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
|occupation = {{hlist|Attorney|business executive|civil rights activist}}
|years_active = 1960–2021
|spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Shirley Yarbrough||1985|end=d}}|{{marriage|Ann Dibble Cook|1986}}}}
|children = 5 (1 with Yarbrough, 4 by marriage with Ann Cook)
|relatives = The Mighty Hannibal (cousin)
|education = {{ubl|DePauw University (BA)|Howard University (JD)}}
}}
Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. (August 15, 1935 – March 1, 2021) was an American business executive and civil rights attorney who worked for various civil rights movement organizations before becoming a close advisor to President Bill Clinton.
Jordan grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated in 1957 from DePauw University. In the early 1960s, he started his civil rights career, most notably being a part of a team of lawyers that desegregated the University of Georgia. He then continued to work for multiple civil rights organizations until the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, he became a close ally and friend of Bill Clinton and he served as part of Clinton's transition team. After Clinton's departure, Jordan began working with multiple corporations and investment banking firms up until his death. During the 2004 election, he worked for John Kerry's campaign.
Early life and education
Jordan was born on August 15, 1935, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Mary Belle (Griggs) and Vernon E. Jordan Sr.{{Cite web| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QwlaAAAAYAAJ&q=Mary+Belle+Vernon+E.+Jordan|title=Current Biography Yearbook|date=March 2, 1972|publisher=H.W. Wilson Company| via=Google Books}} He had a brother, Windsor. He was a cousin of James Shaw, a musician who was professionally billed as The Mighty Hannibal.{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p190055/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=The Mighty Hannibal |author=Duffy, John|publisher= Allmusic |access-date=April 30, 2010}}
Jordan grew up with his family in the racially segregated Southern United States.{{Cite web|title=Vernon Jordan, civil rights icon and former Clinton adviser, dies at 85| date= March 2, 2021| url= https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vernon-jordan-civil-rights-icon-former-clinton-adviser-dies-85-n1259265| access-date=March 3, 2021| publisher=NBC News|language=en}} 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 by working as a chauffeur to former city mayor Robert Maddox, then a banker. Jordan graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1957.{{cite web| url= http://www.harbus.org/2001/Vernon-Jordan-More-than-895/ | title= Vernon Jordan: More than a 'First Friend' |work= Harbus.org| date= March 12, 2001| access-date=}} In an oral history interview archived at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, an interview conducted in 1964 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.{{cite web|title=Oral History Interview with Vernon E. Jordan, Jr, March 17, 1964, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.|url=https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7fbg2h7k5n|access-date=March 4, 2021|website=Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries}} He earned a Juris Doctor at Howard University School of Law in 1960. He was a member of the Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.{{cite web|url=https://oppf.org/about-omega/notable-omegas/|title=Notable brothers of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Inc.|publisher=Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Inc.}}{{cite web| url= https://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/13541/| title= 'We Cannot Take A Recess,' Vernon Jordan '57 Tells Sigma Pi Phi Centennial Celebration|date=June 30, 2004|publisher= DePauw University|website=depauw.edu}}
Legal career and activism
Jordan returned to Atlanta to join the law office of Donald L. Hollowell, a civil rights activist.{{cite web|url=https://www.gabar.org/hollowell.cfm|title=Donald Lee Hollowell - A heroic presence in the Civil Rights Movement|publisher=State Bar of Georgia|website=gabar.org}}{{cite web|url=https://flagpole.com/news/in-the-loop/2021/03/02/vernon-jordan-lawyer-who-helped-integrate-uga-has-died/#:~:text=Vernon%20Jordan%20was%20perhaps%20best,desegregated%20the%20University%20of%20Georgia.|title=Vernon Jordan, Lawyer Who Helped Integrate UGA, Has Died|date=March 2, 2021|publisher=Flagpole|website=flagpole.com}} 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.
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 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/02/vernon-jordan-civil-rights-leader-bill-clinton-dies-aged-85|title=Vernon Jordan, civil rights leader and adviser to Bill Clinton, dies aged 85|first=Martin |last=Pengelly |author2=Victoria Bekiempis |date=March 2, 2021|newspaper=The Guardian}} 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.[http://www.uncf.org/doc/UNCF_Impact_History.pdf An Historical Look At the Impact of the United Negro College Fund and its Member Institutions on American History], UNCF. 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:
{{Blockquote|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.The New York Times, 23 July 1981, p. 17.}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972810306/vernon-jordan-civil-rights-activist-and-power-broker-dies-at-85|title=Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Activist And Power Broker, Dies At 85|date=March 2, 2021|publisher=National Public Radio|website=npr.org}}
Assassination attempt
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.{{cite web|last=Moore Hall|first=Sarah|title=Martha Coleman, the Shadowy Figure in the Vernon Jordan Case, Has Led a Troubled Life|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20076730,00.html|work=People Magazine|date=June 16, 1980|access-date=April 27, 2011}}
Then-president Jimmy Carter visited Jordan while he was recovering, an event that became the first story covered by the new network CNN.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhgKuKvvPE&t=8m11s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/rWhgKuKvvPE |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live|title=CNN First Hour: June 1, 1980|date=June 11, 2012|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
Terrorist and neo-Nazi Joseph Paul Franklin was charged with attempted murder but acquitted in 1982. However, in 1996, after being convicted of murder in another case, Franklin admitted to having committed the shooting.{{cite web|last=Associated Press |title=Racist Admits Sniper Attack On Rights Chief Vernon Jordan Franklin Was Acquitted In Trial 14 Years Ago But Now Admits It|url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1996/apr/09/racist-admits-sniper-attack-on-rights-chief/|work=The Spokesman-Review|date=April 9, 1996 |access-date=November 20, 2013}}
Clinton administration
File:Alfred Eisenstaedt and Vernon Jordan on Martha's Vineyard.jpg. At the time, Jordan was visiting President Clinton on the island of Martha's Vineyard.]]
Jordan, a friend and political adviser to Bill Clinton, served as part of Clinton's transition team in 1992–1993, shortly after Clinton was elected president. In the words of The New York Times:
{{Blockquote|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).Apple, Jr., R. W. (January 25, 1998), [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/25/us/president-under-fire-power-broker-jordan-trades-stories-with-clinton-offers.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "THE PRESIDENT UNDER FIRE: THE POWER BROKER; Jordan Trades Stories With Clinton, and Offers Counsel"]. The New York Times.}}
In 1998 Jordan helped Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, find a job after she left the White House, and recommended an attorney.{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/politics/vernon-jordan-dies/index.html|title=Vernon Jordan, civil rights leader and close ally of Bill Clinton, dies|date=March 2, 2021|work=CNN|access-date=March 2, 2021}} His role was considered controversial given the scandal that the Clinton administration had suffered because of the president's involvement with the intern, and Jordan testified several times before the grand jury convened by independent counsel Kenneth Starr. 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. Jordan asked the government to pay him $302,719, but he was paid only $1,215.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04E2D81F3DF932A35753C1A9659C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fJ%2fJordan%2c%20Vernon%20E%2e%20Jr%2e "Washington: Request For Legal Fees Rejected"]. The New York Times (October 1, 2003).
In 1998, Jordan was interviewed by CBS news television program 60 Minutes.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jordan022098.htm|title=Extent of Jordan's Help to Ex-Intern Was Unusual|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 20, 1998}}
In the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, Jordan was one of three individuals (with Lewinsky and Sidney Blumenthal) of whom House impeachment managers recorded a deposition.{{cite web |last1=Wire |first1=Sarah D. |title=A look back at how Clinton's impeachment trial unfolded |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-01-16/a-look-back-at-how-clintons-impeachment-trial-unfolded |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=February 27, 2021 |date=January 16, 2020}}
Later activities and death
From January 2000 on, Jordan was a senior managing director with Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, an investment banking firm.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vernon-jordan-civil-rights-icon-former-clinton-adviser-dies-85-n1259265|title=Vernon Jordan, civil rights icon and former Clinton adviser, dies at 85|date=March 2, 2021|publisher=NBC News|website=nbcnews.com}} He was also a member of the board of directors of multiple corporations, including American Express, J.C. Penney Corporation, Asbury Automotive Group, and the Dow Jones & Company.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/director020698.htm|title=Jordan's 10 Board Positions Worth $1.1 Million|last=Fromson|first=Brett D.|date=February 6, 1998|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=December 18, 2018}}
He was a member of the board of directors of Revlon, Sara Lee, Corning, Xerox, and RJR Nabisco during the 1989 leveraged buyout fight between RJR Nabisco CEO F. Ross Johnson and Henry R. Kravis and his company KKR. A close friend of Jordan's was the Xerox tycoon Charles Peter McColough, who persuaded Jordan to join the board of trustees at Xerox. McColough served as a mentor and friend of Jordan's until McColough's death.
In the 2004 presidential campaign, Jordan led debate preparation and negotiation efforts on behalf of John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president.[http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13537 Vernon Jordan '57 Named John Kerry's Lead Debate Negotiator & Elected President of Economic Club of Washington], DePauw University News, June 28, 2004 That year he was elected president of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/a-quarter-century-of-big-names-in-business/2012/06/01/gJQAdmq7BV_story.html|title=A quarter-century of big names in business|first= Abha |last=Bhattarai|date=June 3, 2012|newspaper=The Washington Post}}
In 2006, Jordan served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, which was formed to make recommendations on U.S. policy in Iraq.[http://www.usip.org/isg/members.html#jordan Iraq Study Group Members] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070128213748/http://www.usip.org/isg/members.html#jordan |date=January 28, 2007 }}, United States Institute of Peace
In May 2017, Jordan served as the commencement speaker at the 163rd commencement of Syracuse University.{{Cite web|url=https://news.syr.edu/blog/2017/03/22/vernon-e-jordan-jr-to-deliver-syracuse-universitys-2017-commencement-address/|title=Vernon E. Jordan Jr. to Deliver Syracuse University's 2017 Commencement Address|website=SU News|date=March 22, 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=May 14, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://dailyorange.com/2017/05/vernon-jordan-jr-draws-parallels-between-current-political-climate-and-civil-rights-era-in-2017-commencement-speech/|title=Vernon Jordan draws parallels between current political climate and civil rights era in 2017 commencement speech|first=Jordan|last=Muller|date=May 14, 2017|website=The Daily Orange - The Independent Student Newspaper of Syracuse, New York|language=en-US|access-date=May 14, 2019}}
Jordan died at his home in Washington, D.C., on March 1, 2021, at the age of 85, and was buried in Washington, D.C.'s Oak Hill Cemetery.{{Cite news|last1 = Gangel|first1 = Jamie|last2 = Merica|first2 = Dan|last3 = Malveaux|first3 = Suzanne|last4 = Stracqualursi|first4 = Veronica|title=Vernon Jordan, civil rights leader and close ally of Bill Clinton, dies|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/politics/vernon-jordan-dies/index.html|access-date=March 2, 2021|work = CNN|date = March 2, 2021}}{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/us/vernon-jordan-dead.html|title = Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Leader and D.C. Power Broker, Dies at 85|work = The New York Times|date = March 2, 2021|access-date = March 2, 2021|last = Lewis|first = Neil A.}}
Marriage and family
Jordan married Shirley (née Yarbrough), who died in 1985. They have a daughter,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/01/style/vickee-s-jordan-and-b-m-adams-to-marry-in-june.html|title=Vickee S. Jordan And B. M. Adams To Marry in June|date=May 1, 1988|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 20, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Vickee Jordan Adams, who has worked in public and media relations for Wells Fargo and FGS Global.{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Thomas |title=Finsbury hires Wells Fargo's Vickee Jordan Adams as partner |url=https://www.prweek.com/article/1702431/finsbury-hires-wells-fargos-vickee-jordan-adams-partner |access-date=February 15, 2023 |work=PRWeek |date=December 10, 2020}}
In 1986 he remarried, to Ann Dibble Jordan and adopted her four children - Antoinette "Toni", Mercer, Janice and Jacqueline. He has nine grandchildren, seven from his second wife's children, Janice, Mercer, and Toni.{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97191226 |title=Vernon Jordan on Politics, Obama and Civil Rights|publisher=NPR|date=November 19, 2008}}
Publications
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?166960-1/vernon-read-memoir Booknotes interview with Jordan on Vernon Can Read! A Memoir, December 23, 2001], C-SPAN| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?280278-1/make-plain-life-speaking Presentation by Jordan on Make It Plain, June 28, 2008], C-SPAN| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?282405-7/make-plain Presentation by Jordan on Make It Plain, November 16, 2008], C-SPAN}}
- His memoir, Vernon Can Read! (2001), covered his life through the 1980s, and was written with historian and legal scholar Annette Gordon-Reed.{{cite book|url=https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/vernon-jordan/vernon-can-read/9780786749492/|title=Vernon Can Read!|date=June 17, 2009|publisher=PublicAffairs|via=publicaffairsbooks.com|isbn=9780786749492 }}
- A collection of his public speeches, with commentary, called Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out (2008)[http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586482985 Make It Plain] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221170154/http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586482985 |date=December 21, 2008 }}. PublicAffairs Books.
Jordan also served as the narrator for American composer Joseph Schwantner's New Morning for the World: "Daybreak of Freedom," a collection of quotations from various speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.[http://schwantner.net/works.htm "New Morning for the World", Joseph Schwantner Works List]. Schwantner.net.[http://schwantner.net/cd.htm Joseph Schwantner Discography]. Schwantner.net.
Legacy and honors
- Jordan was a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Bilderberg Group.[http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/former-steering-committee-members.html "Former Steering Committee Members | Bilderberg Meetings"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095633/http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/former-steering-committee-members.html |date=February 2, 2014 }}, Bilderberg Meetings
- 1983, Barnard College awarded Jordan its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction.{{cite news |last1=Daley |first1=Suzanne |title=BARNARD AWARD FOR MRS. KIRKPATRICK FOUGHT |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/01/nyregion/barnard-award-for-mrs-kirkpatrick-fought.html |access-date=March 5, 2021 |work=New York Times |date=May 1, 1983}}
- 2001, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP for lifetime achievement.[http://www.lfpl.org/reference/rflksgarn.htm "Spingarn Medals Awarded"], Louisville Free Public Library
- 2001 – his memoir won the Best Nonfiction Book for 2001 from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Biba |title=Vernon Jordan, civil rights leader and ex-Clinton advisor, dead at 85 |url=https://news.yahoo.com/vernon-jordan-civil-rights-leader-152731084.html |access-date=March 5, 2021 |work=Yahoo News |date=March 2, 2021}} In 2002 it won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a Trailblazer Award from the Metropolitan Black Bar Association.{{cite web|url=http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2010/04/30_annette.html |title=Annette Gordon-Reed '84 to join the Harvard faculty |publisher=Law.harvard.edu |date=April 30, 2010 |access-date=September 11, 2010}}
- Jordan was honored as The New Jewish Home's Eight over Eighty Gala 2017 honoree.{{cite web|url=https://www.socialsciencesinstitute.org/news/2017/4/2/barbara-tober-to-be-honored-at-8-over-80-gala|title=Barbara Tober to be Honored at 8 Over 80 Gala|website=The National Institute Of Social Sciences|date=April 2, 2017|quote=Other honorees include designer Iris Apfel, actress, dancer and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade, civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, television producer Norman Lear...}}
- Howard University School of Law's library was named in his honor after his death in March 2021.{{cite news |last1=Alonda |first1=Thomas |title=Howard University Names Law Library in Honor of Civil Rights Activist Vernon Jordan |url=https://newsroom.howard.edu/newsroom/article/14016/howard-university-names-law-library-honor-civil-rights-activist-vernon-jordan|access-date=March 9, 2021 |work=Howard University |date=March 8, 2021}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{commons category|Vernon Jordan}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w7q9uoAJYk Ubben Lecture/Presidential Inauguration Address at DePauw University; October 29, 2016]
- {{C-SPAN|2505}}
- [https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7fbg2h7k5n Oral History Interview with Vernon E. Jordan, March 17, 1964. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries]
{{Civil rights movement}}
{{Spingarn Medal}}
{{ISG}}
{{American Express}}
{{Lazard}}
{{NUL presidents}}
{{Impeachment and impeachment trial of Bill Clinton}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Vernon Jr.}}
Category:American Express people
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:American shooting survivors
Category:Clinton administration personnel
Category:Clinton–Lewinsky scandal
Category:Members of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group
Category:John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign
Category:DePauw University alumni
Category:Howard University School of Law alumni
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:21st-century American lawyers