Hill-Thomas Hearings

ANITA HILL-CLARENCE THOMAS HEARINGS

The Hill-Thomas Hearings, conducted by the United States Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Prof. Anita Hill's allegations of prior sexual harassment by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, were televised nationally on American television from 11 October to 13 October 1991. Although the hearings themselves had no legal significance, to many observers they symbolized a public referendum on sexual harassment and other gender inequities in late twentieth-century America. As such, they have been widely credited with increasing public awareness about gender discrimination and motivating female voters during the 1992 congressional elections.

As President George Bush's nominee to replace Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court, Thomas had already been through confirmation hearings during September, 1991, although the Senate Judiciary Committee was unable to make a recommendation to the full Senate after these hearings. Thomas' appointment seemed further jeopardized by 6 October reports in Newsday and on National Public Radio of alleged acts of sexual harassment toward a co-worker from 1981 to 1983. These charges, made by Anita Hill during interviews with the FBI, were apparently leaked to the press just days before the Senate's final vote on Thomas' appointment. Responding to demands from feminist organizations and seven female Democratic members of the House of Representatives, the Senate delayed the vote in order to hear more about Hill's allegations.

During the three days of televised hearings, the Senators and the viewing public heard testimony from both Hill and Thomas, as well as their supporters. Hill referred to specific incidents of Thomas' behavior, including repeated requests for dates and references to pornographic material. Thomas vehemently denied Hill's allegations and responded with outrage, at one point by calling the hearings "a national disgrace...a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves." So adamant was each sides' accounts that many observers in the press labeled the hearings an example of "He Said, She Said," with both parties offering such vastly differing recollections of events that many wondered if the hearings could ever reveal the truth.

Two days after the hearings ended, with no clear resolution of the discrepancy between Hill's and Thomas' accounts, the Senate voted on Thomas' confirmation. Due to the media coverage of the hearings, public interest in the vote was unusually high, as evidenced by a barrage of phone calls and faxes sent to the capital on this issue. Although opinion polls reported evidence of debate and division among minority groups, including African-Americans and women, they also indicated that a majority of voters supported Thomas. Ultimately, the Senate voted 52-48 in favor of Thomas' confirmation.

The visual imagery and political symbolism of the hearings may have been their most important legacy. In this regard the hearings take their place alongside other memorable television events, including The Army-McCarthy Hearings and the Watergate Proceedings. These events exemplify television's ability to galvanize a national audience around matters of crucial social significance and often they stand as historical markers of significant social and cultural shifts.

Indeed, many feminist groups refer to Anita Hill as the mother of a new wave of awareness of gender discrimination, particularly given the attacks on her credibility that she withstood from the white male senators. Such observers feel that the sight and sounds of a composed, articulate law professor being questioned about her mental state, (some senators and Thomas supporters had theorized that Hill was "delusional") were unconscionable to female viewers who themselves had experienced sexual harassment. Harriett Woods, then president of the National Women's Political Caucus, commented that "Anita Hill focused attention on the fact that there were no women in that Senate panel making decisions about people's lives."

As is true for so many cultural memories in the United States, the televised Hill-Thomas hearings etched some clear and unforgettable images into the minds of the American public. To those observers who did not believe Hill's claims, the hearings represented the gravity of such allegations in a society where gender politics can be divisive. To Hill's sympathizers, the memory of a lone women reluctantly speaking out about past painful experiences to a room full of bewildered and unsympathetic men may have been one reason why an unprecedented 29 women were elected in the subsequent congressional elections.

- Vanessa Beasley

Anita Hill

FURTHER READING

Brock, David. The Real Anita Hill: The Untold Story. New York: Free Press, 1993.

Cohn, Bob. "Dirt Trail." New Republic (Washington, D.C.), January 6, 1992.

Corry, John. "Playmates of the Month." American Spectator (Bloomington, Indiana), January, 1995.

Chrisman, Robert, and Robert L. Allen, editors. Court of Appeal: The Black Community Speaks Out on the Racial and Sexual Politics of Clarence Thomas vs. Anita Hill. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.

Danforth, John. Resurrection: The Confirmation of Clarence Thomas. New York: Viking, 1994.

Garment, Suzanne. Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics: Afterword: On Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas. New York: Times Books, 1992.

"Hearing Raises TV Ratings." New York Times (New York), October 13, 1991.

Mayer, Jane. Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Morrison, Toni, editor. Race-ing Justice, En-Gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality. New York: Pantheon Books, 1992.

Phelps, Timothy M. Capitol Games: Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and the Story of a Supreme Court Nomination. New York: Hyperion, 1992.

"Rare Drama--And Rare Restraint." New York Times (New York), Oct 11, 1991.

Smith, Christopher E. Critical Judicial Nominations and Political Change: The Impact of Clarence Thomas. Westport: Praeger, 1993.

Smitherman-Donaldson, Geneva, editor. African American Women Speak Out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1995.

Steenland, Sally. "On Trial: Courtroom Television." Television Quarterly (New York), Winter, 1992.

"The Hearings on Television." New York Times (New York), September 13, 1991.

Thompson, David. "Our Process (Our Show)." Film Comment (New York), January-February, 1992.

United States Congress Committee on the Judiciary. The Complete Transcripts of the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill Hearings. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1994.