As President George Bush's nominee to replace Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court, Thomas had been the subject of confirmation hearings in September 1991; however, the Senate Judiciary Committee was unable to make a recommendation to the full Senate after these hearings. Thomas's appointment seemed further jeopardized by reports in Newsday and on National Public Radio on 6 October that he allegedly sexually harassed 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 ofThomas's behavior, including repeated requests for dates and references to pornographic material. Thomas vehemently denied Hill's allegations and responded with outrage, at one point 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 discrepancies  between  Hill's  and Thomas's accounts, the Senate voted on Thomas's 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 to 48 in favor of Thomas's confirmation.

     The visual imagery and political symbolism of the hearings may be their most important legacy. In this regard the hearings take their place alongside other memorable television events, including the Anny­ 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. To witness a composed, articulate law professor being questioned about her mental state (some senators and Thomas supporters had theorized that Hill was "delu­sional") offended many female viewers who them­ selves 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 woman 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.