Decades later, Anita Hill’s hearing seen with new eyes
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Biden, then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, lost control of the biggest moment yet in his political career — the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings — moments after Anita Hill finished describing what the Supreme Court nominee said about his penis.
With Americans glued to their TVs, chaos broke out in the Caucus Room of the Russell Office Building as Hill’s family, which had somehow not made it into the packed room for her opening statement, began trickling in — one after another after another.
“It’s a very large family,” Hill said.
Biden, a 48-year-old Democrat from Delaware who had already made one unsuccessful run for the presidency, watched, growing increasingly helpless.
“We should get this underway,” he said. “My lord.”
An open mic picked up Biden saying, “Is staff trying to get some chairs, for Christ’s sake?”
Noise in the room grew louder.
“Let’s not wait,” said a now clearly perturbed Biden. “Let’s have every ablebodied person just grab a chair and bring it out, OK?”
Biden banged his gavel. For the future vice president, it went downhill from there. Oct. 11, 1991, was one of the most surreal moments in U.S. political history, with testimony about breast sizes, sex with animals and someone named Long Dong Silver.
But viewed again three decades later — with Clarence Thomas still on the Supreme Court, another accused harasser, Donald Trump, in the White House, and a parade of powerful men caught up in sexual harassment and assault scandals — the moment is a reminder of what stepping forward cost Hill then.
And how tough it remains for women to step forward more than 25 years later.
Hill, facing 14 white men on the Senate panel, endured withering, skeptical questioning — including from Biden, whom Hill and her defenders still blame for setting an accusing, skeptical tone and losing control not just of the seating arrangements.
“If you can, to the best of your ability,” Biden asked at one point, “I would like you to recount for us where each of the incidents that you have mentioned in your opening statement occurred, physically where they occurred.”
There was, Hill and others said later, some extreme tone deafness.
In asking Hill to describe the sexually charged moments with Thomas, Biden asked, “Can you tell us how you felt at the time? Were you uncomfortable, were you embarrassed, did it not concern you? How did you feel about it?”
The most brutal questioning came from Biden’s Republican colleague on the committee, the late Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
“You testified this morning,” Specter said, “that the most embarrassing question involved — this is not too bad — women’s large breasts. That is a word we use all the time. That was the most embarrassing aspect of what Judge Thomas had said to you.”
Hill quickly chided Specter for not characterizing her remarks correctly. Left uncritiqued: Specter’s suggestion that talk of breasts at work was, you know, no big deal.
Specter could not understand, he said, how a seasoned lawyer like herself had not taken notes on the incidents. That was suspicious to him.
He openly wondered about her political motivations and whether the committee should trust her recollections of the incidents between her and Thomas, who adamantly denied every allegation.
“There’s nothing in the statement, nothing in my background,” Hill replied, “no motivation that would show that I would make up something like this. I guess one does have to really understand something about the nature of sexual harassment. It is very difficult for people to come forward with these things, these kinds of things.”