nomination the name of Gerald D. Morgan
as Second Vice President.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Gerald
Morgan has been nominated for office of
Second Vice President of this Convention.
Is there a second? Delegate Scanlan.
DELEGATE SCANLAN: I am happy
to second the nomination of my neighbor
and friend, while a member of rival po-
litical faith, a distinguished son of our
county.
DELEGATE E. CLARKE: Mr. Chair-
man, it gives me a great deal of pleasure
to second the nomination of Gerald D.
Morgan. My experience in the legislature,
my personal experience in contact with Mr.
Morgan made me feel he is eminently quali-
fied. Since he is not as well known as some
of the others, I wonder if it would be in
order to ask Mr. Morgan to stand.
THE PRESIDENT: I think so. Mr.
Morgan. Thank you. The next person to
make a nomination is Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Presi-
dent, I would like to withdraw my request.
THE PRESIDENT: Next person to
make a nomination is Delegate White.
DELEGATE WHITE: Honorable Presi-
dent of this great Convention, my fellow
delegates, 100 years ago I could not have
stood in your Convention as I am now. 100
years ago you decided in a convention in
Annapolis that I could testify in court but
I had no more rights.
I say this to indicate that this is a
history making occasion. We came here to
rewrite the Constitution. We are making
history. I challenge you that if we are go-
ing to make history, let us be bold about it
and imaginative about it. Let us go all the
way. A hundred years ago there was some
doubt about women's rights to participate
in certain phases of American life except
for childbearing.
So with this background, I wish to place
in nomination for the Second Vice Presi-
dency a female and a member of a group
who, too, could not have stood here a hun-
dred years ago because of the color of her
skin. I offer you a friend, a person whom
I have known over the years in struggles
in the community, a person who comes
highly qualified. I might paraphrase the
words of our great President Lyndon John-
son when he nominated Thurgood Marshall
to the Supreme Court of the United States.
He said in effect that this was the right |
thing to do and that Thurgood had earned
the right to be nominated.
I say to you that the nominee which 1
shall present to you has earned the right.
She is qualified. It is the right time. Briefly
I submit to you some of her formal quali-
fications. She is a graduate of the public
schools of Baltimore City. A graduate of
the University of Pennsylvania with honors
with a Bachelor of Science Degree, also
Master of Arts. A graduate of the Univer-
sity of Maryland Law School with a Bach-
elor of Law, having served on the editorial
staff of the Law Review for three years.
General law practice 17 years with em-
phasis on constitutional law. Practiced be-
fore the Supreme Court, the United States
Court of Appeals for the Fourth District,
Federal District Court of Maryland, and
the Court of Appeals of Maryland. She was
a member of the White House Conference
for Children in 1940, appointed by Presi-
dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was
a member of the White House Conference
for Women and Civil Rights in 1963, ap-
pointed by the great President John F.
Kennedy. She was a member of a White
House Conference to fulfill these rights by
Lyndon B. Johnson.
Members of this Convention, I submit to
you the name of a fighter, a friend, a
mother, Juanita Jackson Mitchell. I ask her
to stand so you may know her.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Juanita
Jackson Mitchell has been nominated to
office of Second Vice President of the Con-
vention. Is there a second?
DELEGATE HARDWICKE: Mr. Presi-
dent, members of the Convention, if there is
any person present in this Convention who
has lived constitutional law, it is Delegate
Mitchell. She has been closely associated on
the firing line of constitutional theory and
constitutional development. I believe that in
the creation of a well balanced staff to or-
ganize and supervise this Convention, Dele-
gate Mitchell will be a real asset. She
stands on her own merits, not as a member
of a double minority, that is, both Negro
minority and the female minority, but she
stands on her own merits as a fine, able,
and capable person. I recommend to you
Delegate Mitchell as Second Vice President.
THE PRESIDENT: Is there a further
second?
DELEGATE BOROM: Mr. President, I
would like to second the nomination of
Juanita Mitchell. I think the nominator has
extoled her virtues and her credentials ade-
quately. I stand as a seconder. |
