Hamilton Jordan
| Hamilton Jordan | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 8th White House Chief of Staff | |
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In office August 6, 1979 – June 12, 1980 |
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| President | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Dick Cheney (1977) |
| Succeeded by | Jack Watson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan August 21, 1944 Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | May 20, 2008 (aged 63) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | University of Georgia (BA) |
William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan (September 21, 1944 – May 20, 2008) was Chief of Staff to President of the United States Jimmy Carter.
Jordan (who pronounced his last name to rhyme with "burden" rather than "cordon") was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, the son of Adelaide (McWhorter) and Richard Lawton Jordan. He grew up in Albany, Georgia. He attended the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Jordan graduated with an A.B. in Political Science in 1967. After being disqualified from military service due to leg problems, he worked as a civilian volunteer in Vietnam during the war there, assisting refugees.
In 1970, at the age of 26, Jordan ran Jimmy Carter's successful gubernatorial campaign, which included a Democratic primary election fight against former Governor Carl Sanders and a less eventful general election against the Republican Hal Suit. While serving as Governor Carter's executive assistant, Jordan wrote a lengthy memorandum detailing a strategy for winning the 1976 Democratic Primary. Years later, Jordan's memo served as the "game plan" for Carter's 1976 presidential bid.
Jordan was a key advisor and strategist for Carter during the 1976 presidential campaign and during Carter's administration, serving as White House Chief of Staff in 1979–1980 (Carter, who took office in 1977, had previously not seen the need formally to appoint an aide to such a post). Jordan played a powerful role in the formulation of election strategies and government policies.
In 1976 Jordan's youth and casual style gave him a media reputation as a fun-loving, partying, unsophisticated "good ole boy." This turned into a problem during the last year of the Carter administration, when Jordan became a lightning rod for critics of the president across the political spectrum. The media repeated rumors of coarse and even criminal behavior by Jordan, including supposed cocaine usage and anonymous sex at the infamous Studio 54 disco in New York City. Though extensive legal investigations failed to substantiate any of the rumors. Jordan later recalled this as a particularly painful time in his life.
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