Murder Attempt
On May 29, 1980, Jordan was shot and seriously wounded outside the Marriott Inn in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was accompanied by Martha Coleman at the time. Police thought initially that it might have been a domestic incident related to Coleman's life. Joseph Paul Franklin was acquitted in 1982 of charges of attempted murder. Then-president Jimmy Carter visited Jordan while he was recovering, an event that became the first story covered by the new network CNN. In 1996 Franklin admitted to having committed the shooting.
While still with the National Urban League, Jordan in 1981 said of the Ronald Reagan administration:
| “ | I do not challenge the conservatism of this Administration. I do challenge its failure to exhibit a compassionate conservatism that adapts itself to the realities of a society ridden by class and race distinction. | ” |
That year he resigned from the National Urban League to take a position as legal counsel with the Washington, D.C. office of the Dallas law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
Read more about this topic: Vernon Jordan
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