Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, October 11th 1991, in televised hearings over the nomination of Clarence Thomas

to the Supreme Court, Anita Hill gave testimony that Thomas had sexually harassed her while he was her supervisor at the Department of Education and then at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Hill alleged that Thomas had repeatedly asked her out while they were working together and then when he'll turn down his request, Thomas used work situations to bring up sexual topics and make lewd remarks.

And this was a massive moment, a huge political event, a TV event in many ways and lots more.

It did not of course derail Thomas's confirmation.

The Senate would vote 52 to 48 to confirm him a few days later on October 15th. But there's a ton to discuss here

revisiting the details of Hill's allegation, but also what it teaches us about confirmation

hearings, which are obviously in the news, sexual harassment in the workplace, and Joe Biden's political

career as well.

So here to discuss it all, I'm joined by, as always, Nicole Hammer of Columbia.

Hello Nicki.

Hey, Jody.

And also with us is Farai Shadea, my former 538 compatriot and also creator and host of the new public

radio show Our Body Politik.

It is running on stations around the country.

It is also a

podcast you will be hearing from Farai a lot this fall Farai.

Hello thanks for doing this. Thanks Jody, thanks Nicky. So you know lots of

big questions to get to but I feel like people sometimes maybe forget how we even got to Hill's testimony, and that's where I want to start.

So we have these initial hearings around Thomas's confirmation, and by all accounts, they are looking like they're on track.

...