Father Sees Daughter Sworn In, Dies Next Day
When she was elected to Congress in 1972, Barbara received great support from Lyndon B. Johnson, especially when she landed on the House Judiciary Committee. Jordan was impressive in her televised speech in 1974 in which she supported the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. He resigned from office, but Jordan wasn’t happy when the new leader of the country, Gerald Ford, pardoned Nixon. Speaker of the House, Carl Albert put her on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in 1975.
As large as the celebration of June 10, 1972 was, four years later brought a bigger one: the bicentennial of America’s independence. By her speeches, concern for the less fortunate and dedication to Civil Rights and the Constitution, Jordan was a great woman, but this involved two aspects. One wasn’t very flattering to her, but she decided to handle it. As a child she always felt that each meal should have meat. There probably weren’t many foods that she didn’t like; barbeque may have been one of her weaknesses. She realized she didn’t have to stop indulging, as she could just avoid the cocktail parties and the hors d’oeuvres before dinner as well as midnight snacks. Growing up in Houston, she was very fond of her bicycles. Her friend Nancy Earl told Jordan she would buy her a bicycle if she would lose 60 pounds by the Democratic Convention on July 12, 1976.
Barbara took on the challenge and gave a great speech at the convention. People who saw her remarked that part of her was missing that day – she had shed a few pounds. She looked as good as she sounded. No other African American woman had ever delivered the keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. The Philadelphia Enquirer reported: The Democrats were losing to boredom, 1-0, last night when they had the good sense to bring Barbara Jordan off the bench. Miss Jordan, as the ballplayers say, took it downtown. She tore it up. Grand slam.
The Houston Post honored their own, saying: a poor kid from Houston’s Fifth Ward sealed her destiny as a national superstar. They jumped and cheered and clapped and stomped and yelled – and loved her. Those weren’t the only newspapers offering praise with the New York Times proclaiming of Jordan: A state senator and then a member of Congress, who sought out and gradually won the confidence of the powerful and who was not beneath compromising and making deals to win some of that power. It was, in short, the road to success that white men had traveled since the country was founded.
That summer, her inspirational address was rated fifth on the list of the top 100 American speeches in the twentieth century. Some historians offered it was one of the top keynote speeches in modern history. Barbara’s name came up as Carter’s vice president, but she may not have accepted it even had it been offered. At the convention, she gathered a single delegate vote for President.
Despite the convention, the bicentennial was one great obstacle to Jordan getting the bike. Plans were in the works for a huge party at Barbara’s house in Onion Creek, ten miles from the heart of Austin. It started on July 3 and continued for another day. Jordan always like a good party and there would be singing, drinking, dancing and eating – not necessarily in that order. There wasn’t much time for sleeping. The days would feature plenty of barbeque, steaks, chickens, ribs, sausage, cakes, pies and homemade ice cream. They didn’t forget about breakfast, either. At the convention a week afterwards, Barbara came just short of her goal by three pounds. She missed out on the bicycle.
Barbara was in favor of the Community Reinvestment Act, the 1977 legislation that demanded that banks provided services to minorities. She also came out in favor of the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed Texas Hispanics representation at the ballot box. Both the Governor of Texas and Secretary of State opposed it. Jordan also opposed and acted to stop price fixing by the corporations.
Jordan’s fervor never died when she left the political stage in 1979. Always fond of Lyndon Johnson, she taught at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. She chaired the Commission on Immigration Reform for a short time, favoring penalties on employers who hired illegal aliens. She was in favor of a national identity card for all citizens in the nation and stricter immigration standards. Her views may have seemed to be against the corporations, but it was all about rights, responsibilities and the interest of the nation.
Even before the Democratic Convention of 1976, Jordan was suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). She utilized a cane and eventually had to use a wheelchair, although Jordan hid that from the media. Her cover up was so good – in this case, an acceptable one – President Bill Clinton wished to nominate her to the Supreme Court. It never happened because of Jordan’s health. Added to MS came a diagnosis of leukemia. She died in Austin on January 17, 1996 at the age of 59.
Barbara was the first African American woman that was buried in the Texas State Cemetery. People across the land mourned her death. She was a woman who changed politics in the nation, with great dedication to the Constitution, her state and her country. There were very few who surpassed her skills in oratory, as witnessed by another stellar keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1992. There was simply something about her that made you proud to be a part of the country that produced her, were words in remembrance that came from former Texas Governor Ann Richards – she had served more than a day. President Clinton added, Barbara always stirred our national conscience.
The NAACP honored Jordan in 1992 with the Spingarm Medal, and a year later Hobart and William Smith Colleges gave her the Elizabeth Blackwell Award. One of her other numerous accomplishments was being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. She was elected to both the Texas and National Women’s Hall of Fame and Barbara received the Sylvanus Thayer Award from United States Military Academy. Named after her are a terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, a high school in Houston, a middle school in Cibolo, Texas, and an elementary school in Odessa, Texas. The Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars, operated by the Kaiser Foundation, was designed for congressional summer interns who are African American graduates, seniors and juniors.
Barbara Jordan: American Hero, the 1998 work by Mary Beth Rogers, and Barbara Jordan: A Self-Portrait, the Congresswoman’s joint 1979 book with Shelby Hearon, both have more on this great Congresswoman.