Barbara Jordan - Wikipedia
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A black lesbian woman from Texas. Delivered the opening remarks calling out Nixon.

The following year, Jordan took on a national leadership role as a member of the Judiciary Committee. In the summer of 1974, as the committee considered articles of impeachment against President Nixon for crimes associated with the Watergate scandal, Jordan delivered opening remarks that shook the committee room and captivated the large television audience that had tuned in to the proceedings. “My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total,” Jordan said. “I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.” After explaining why she supported each of the five articles of impeachment against President Nixon, Jordan concluded by saying that if the Judiciary Committee did not find the evidence compelling enough, “then perhaps the eighteenth-century Constitution should be abandoned to a twentieth-century paper shredder.” Reaction to Jordan’s statement was overwhelming. Jordan recalled that people swarmed around her car after the hearings to congratulate her, and many people sent the Texas Representative letters of praise. Back home in Houston, a new billboard read: “Thank you, Barbara Jordan, for explaining the Constitution to us.”

  • quetzaldilla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    12 days ago

    I think I listened to a “This American Life” episode about her.

    She was an excellent orator, very similar to how Lincoln or FDR delivered speeches, powerfully composed and with great delivery-- slow, clear, and with laden pauses.