Bill Clinton, having befriended him and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, decades earlier. Jordan's first wife, Shirley Yarbrough, died in December 1985. }) Until Jordan was 13, the family lived in public housing. [24] That year he was elected president of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.[25], In 2006, Jordan served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, which was formed to make recommendations on U.S. policy in Iraq. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ [29][30], Jordan married Shirley (ne Yarbrough), who died in 1985. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotOnload', function(event) { As Bill Clinton recounted, Vernon said to her, Im older than you are. 2023 Cond Nast. Vernon Jordan, civil rights leader and close ally of Bill Clinton, dies hitType: 'event', Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. His father's name is Vernon E. Jordan Sr and his mother's name is Mary . Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. Lyndon B. Johnsons civil rights conference. }); Under his leadership, the organization added 17 chapters and its budget grew to more than $100 million. That Americas first Black presidentthe moniker bestowed on Clinton by writer Toni Morrison in 1998would choose as his First Friend a Black man from the South (Jordan grew up in a deeply segregated prewar Atlanta) is not surprising and no coincidence. Jordan previously worked as an associate professor at the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago from 1970 to 1987. Vernon was so much more authoritative and seasoned than anybody else there. Even when he got me to do something I absolutely didnt want to do, he could make me feel like he had my back. With Bradley and Rockefeller nixed, Clinton directed Jordan to make one last call: to his friend Colin Powell, Bushs chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a hero of the Gulf War. Clinton and Jordan in Wyoming, August 25, 1995. Into my eyesight, she remembered, came a pair of highly polished shoes and a voice that said, Well Peter, arent you going to introduce me to this earnest young woman? I looked all the way from his shoes up to the head of this very attractive man. Civil rights activist Vernon Jordan dies at 85 | PBS NewsHour Vernon knew everybody, he remarked, and was constantly picking up intelligence. Vernon Jordan, in full Vernon Eulion Jordan, Jr., (born August 15, 1935, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.died March 1, 2021, Washington, D.C.), American attorney, civil rights leader, business consultant, and influential power broker. I think keeping [the] last name is bothering a lot of older Black people and we need them all. And Hillary thought: if Vernon believed she could do it and maintain her integrity and be who she was, it made her think she could do it. Hillary agreed: It was important to have his voice in that decision.