Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committe on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court
Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committe on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court
Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committe on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court - this is edited October 14, 1991. Commitee hearing after the Anita Hill charges of sexual harassment. Panel in support of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Clarence Thomas from the fourth panel of witnesses on the third day of his reopened Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Panel includes Patricia Johnson, Director of Labor Relations at the EEOC; Pamela Talkin, former Chief of Staff for Clarence Thomas at the EEOC; Janet Brown, former Press Secretary for Senator John Danforth; Linda Jackson, Research Associate, Department of Education; Nancy Altman, formerly of the Department of Education; Anna Jenkins, a former Secretary at the EEOC; Lori Saxon, former Assistant for Congressional Relations of the Department of Education; and Connie Newman, Director, Office of Personnel Management.
Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committe on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court
Senator Ted Kennedy (D Massachusetts). Ms. Jenkins? Anna Jenkins. Chairman Biden, Senator Thurmond and other members of the committee, my name is Anna Jenkins, and I reside in Silver Spring, Maryland. I am a staff assistant in the Office of Policy Development at the White House. I was not asked by the White House to give a statement. I went to them and asked if it was okay for me to give a statement. I have been a Federal employee since December 1965 and worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from May 1970 to September 1989, with intermittent details to the White House under the Carter and Reagan administrations. I was employed as a secretary in the EEOC's Office of the Chairman in the Executive Secretariat as a staff specialist. During my tenure with the Office of the Chairman, I served under five chairpersons, William Brown, John Powell, Lowell Perry, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Clarence Thomas. In September 1989, I left the EEOC to join the Bush administration, Office of Policy Development. When President Reagan appointed Clarence Thomas as Chairman of the EEOC, I was the only employee left in the Chairman's Office from the previous administration. Upon Judge Thomas' arrival at the agency, I worked directly for him as his secretary until his confidential assistant Diane Holt and legal assistant Anita Hill came on-board. He brought them from the Department of Education. Prior to Anita Hill joining the staff, she appeared quite anxious to work for the EEOC. In fact, she called Judge Thomas several times to inquire about the status of her appointment. I recall the first day Ms. Hill reported to work at EEOC. She was very pleased and excited about being able to select an office with a big picture window overlooking the Watergate Hotel and the Potomac River. I had daily contact with Anita Hill and Judge Thomas. We shared a suite of offices consisting of a reception area, conference room, kitchen, and five offices. Judge Thomas' conduct around me, Anita Hill, and other staffers was always proper and professional. I have never witnessed Judge Thomas say anything or do anything that could be construed as sexual harassment. I never witnessed him making sexual advances toward any female, nor have I witnessed him engaging in sexually oriented conversations with women. I have witnessed Judge Thomas and Anita Hill interact in the office. At no time did the relationship appear strained nor Anita appear uncomfortable with the relationship. I understand that at Anita's press conference she denied knowing Phyllis Berry. I was confused by her denial, since Phyllis Berry often visited the office while Anita worked there. I have seen them exchange greetings. In closing, I wish to emphasize that I have the highest regard and respect for Judge Thomas. In light of my experience with him and the way I have seen him conduct himself around other females, I find this harassment allegation unbelievable.
Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committe on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court
Connie Newman. Constance Newman. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you. I am both saddened and optimistic as a result of these proceedings. I am saddened because of the way in which the raw nerves of America have been touched, the raw nerves of racism and sexism, leading to too much mistrust between too many of us. Many of these feelings are just below the surface of this great Nation, and we are all victims of it. We are all hurt in some way by the side of America that allows bigotry and unfairness to exist. We must come to terms with what is unfair in this basically fair Nation. I am saddened for my friend, Judge Clarence Thomas, and his family. All who are in public life must sympathize with their plight. I am saddened for Professor Anita Hill. Her life will never be the same. I don't know her, but I must believe that she must be a talented and conscientious woman, or she would not have completed the tough educational requirements of Yale Law School or be a tenured professor at a major law school. She must be a concerned black woman, or she would not have chosen to work in civil rights. What was her motivation? Frankly, I do not know. I do not even want to try to speculate. The waters are muddy around sexual harassment now, but I am optimistic. I am optimistic because I believe that as a result of these proceedings, you will know what I know about Judge Thomas. He is competent, he has integrity, he has "true grit," and I do believe that these proceedings will make him even stronger and even more sensitive. I have known him for 10 years. That does not mean that we have not disagreed. We have. We have argued. Through the years he has changed his mind some; I have changed mine a little. But I have not changed my view about the basic decency and integrity of this man. I know him and have worked with him. I have worked in the halls of EEOC. Not once did I hear a hint of improper conduct. I would have heard. I heard of disagreements, but not improper conduct. Finally, I am optimistic that positive change will take place as a result of these proceedings. America has seen and understood some of the delicate issues that we must face and will appreciate the governmental process, painful though it may be. Senator Joseph Biden (D Delaware). [Presiding.] You are a great optimist, Ms. Newman, but I am so delighted to hear somebody say that.
Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committe on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court
Senator Joseph Biden (D Delaware). Ms. Talkin? Pamela Talkin. As chief of staff of the EEOC for three years, I reported directly to then- Chairman Thomas. We worked very closely. We traveled together frequently, and we spent innumerable hours alone together and as many hours in the company of other women. Judge Thomas was adamant that the women in the agency be treated with dignity and respect, and his own behavior towards women was scrupulous. There was never a hint of impropriety, and I mean a hint; never a gesture, never a look, never a word, never body language, none of the things that we women have a sixth sense about and that very few men have any sense about. [Laughter.] Needless to say, there was nothing explicit or coarse in his language. Judge Thomas viewed such conduct, and I quote, as "repugnant," "reprehensible," "deplorable," and "despicable." He would not tolerate it. I have been in the work force for over 30 years. During that time I have endured varying degrees of sexual harassment, sometimes serious, sometimes subtle. I view myself as very alert to this; some of my men friends say, overly sensitive. It is in that context that I tell you that I have never met a man as sensitive. He has a feminist's understanding of sexual politics. He is a man who loathes locker room talk. This is a man who, when I had momentary lapses of language, looked discomfited and never responded in kind. This is a man who looked at his shoes when other men were craning their necks to look at a woman. This is a man who spent countless hours talking to me about his efforts to raise his adolescent son to be a decent, dignified, reverent man of women, and urging his son to treat his teenage female companions with dignity and respect despite his raging hormones. This is a man who understood the inherent imbalance of power in the work place between men and women, and frowned upon even consensual romantic relationships because he did not want one woman in the agency to even mistakenly believe that her dignity had been compromised. I have spent over 18 years enforcing laws against employment discrimination, and I can tell you that I have never worked in a work environment where any individual, man or woman, was more committed to establishing a work place free from discrimination and harassment. It is the saddest of ironies to me that the behavior that Judge Thomas found most abhorrent is the behavior that he is now being accused of. Senator Joseph Biden (D Delaware). A very powerful statement, Ms. Talkin.