clarence thomas before he had all the information about clarence thomas, before the thomas confirmation process got upended and the nomination hearings had to get reopened, all because of serious sexual harassment allegations against thomas, allegations that had been known internally at the judiciary committee and kept quiet and confidential there, but then the allegations leaked to the press and npr s nina totenberg obtained the affidavit from anita hill in which hill laid out her allegations against thomas. that became public via nina totenberg s reporting. a big firestorm ensued. and those hear wrgs reopened and the confirmation of thomas was delayed and the country honestly went nuts with the drama of all of it. here is a brief news clip from the time, from right when the thomas nomination was being stopped and reopened to consider these new allegations. just listen to the howl of anguish here from senator alan dixon, from al the pal, this
any guy on earth, that could just be clip art because you have never seen steve daines before, and there is no way you would know he was a senator without google. that was alan dixon. he was not a household name, not a recognizable figure. and part that of is because he wasn t controversial at all. he was go along to get along. he was a centrist. he was a moderate. he was sort of low profile. the other senator from illinois was paul simon, a liberal, wore a bow tie, he was instantly recognizable. paul simon was the one from illinois who ran for president. al the pal, the other senator from illinois, he was never going to run for president. but he was everybody s friend. he was considered also to be a senator who really delivered for his constituents back home in illinois. when it came time for al the pal to run for re-election as a u.s. senator, there was no question, he got reelected in a landslide. he won by more than 30 points. and that wasn t because he was some democratic party ic
a bow tie, he was instantly recognizable. paul simon was the one from illinois who ran for president. al the pal, the other senator from illinois, he was never going to run for president. but he was everybody s friend. he was considered also to be a senator who really delivered for his constituents back home in illinois. when it came time for al the pal to run for re-election as a u.s. senator, there was no question, he got reelected in a landslide. he won by more than 30 points. and that wasn t because he was some democratic party icon, he wasn t. he was a democrat, but he was a moderate, go along to get along. al the pal. he very happily made friends across the aisle. he was friendly with president reagan, who of course is a republican. he was known to go golfing with dan quayle. meanwhile, his fellow democrats, they all loved him. they chose to elevate him into leadership. by the end of just his second term in the senate, he was the number three democrat in the whole senate. everybo
but the first dump dixon protest was two days after dixon s yes vote for the clarence thomas nomination. two days after that protest, it s clear that senator al dixon, al the pal, was starting to have a little bit of an uh-oh moment about what that vote might cost him. this is from the daily dispatch, a newspaper from moline, illinois, from october 19th, 1991. so this is four days after dixon s yes vote on thomas. it s only two davis after he got picketed by women protesters holding the dump dixon signs at a democratic fundraiser. this is two days after that. and you see stevenson referenced in the headline there. that s former illinois senator adlai stevenson. the reason stevenson is in the headline next to the picture of alan dixon is because alan dixon at this point was scrambling to shore up his position in the party, to shore up his position for re-election, which is
just listen to the howl of anguish here from senator alan dixon, from al the pal, this back bench, low profile, go along to get along, everybody likes him senator. listen to his anguish when the time came for the senate to figure out what they were going to do with these allegations against that nominee. good evening. clarence thomas swears he s not guilty. his accuser is standing by her charge, and tonight the united states senate decided to delay a vote on his supreme court appointment to try to resolve what has become a super heated washington controversy. the specific issue is sexual harassment, but it goes well beyond that. nbc s andrea mitchell is on capitol hill now. andrea? tom, one of the most emotional days in recent senate history has resulted in a delay of thomas confirmation vote. with his confirmation slipping away, thomas authorized his chief sponsor to agree to a delay so that he could try to clear his name. i act as his spokesman again