Joe Biden Tries To Make Amends Over Anita Hill, With Mixed Results

NEW YORK Anita Hill wasnt at the Russian Tea Room in New York City where Joe Biden spoke Tuesday night, but her presence still loomed large.

During a speech at the Biden Courage Awards, put on by the Biden Foundation and Its On Us to honor students who are working to stop sexual assault , the former vice president spoke at length about the white mans culture that needs to change to combat sexual assault and harassment in the United States and around the world.

He also spoke directly to what some see as his greatest liability in a potential 2020 presidential run: the role he played in the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexually harassing Hill.

A brave lawyer, a really notable woman, Anita Hill, a professor, showed the courage of a lifetime talking about her experience being harassed by Clarence Thomas, Biden said to the crowd of elegantly dressed men and women who filled the room. We knew a lot less about the extent of harassment back then, over 30 years ago. But she paid a terrible price, she was abused for the hearing. She was taken advantage of. Her reputation was attacked. I wish I could have done something.

Biden went on to express the regret he feels to this day that he couldnt come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved one in which she was respected, where the tone of the questioning was not hostile and insulting, where the fact that she stepped forward was recognized as an act of courage in and of itself. He stopped short of taking direct responsibility for the kind of hearing she did get or offering a direct apology to Hill, who is now a professor at Brandeis University.

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