Vernon Jordan, civil rights leader and presidential confidant, dies at 85 American civil rights activist, presidential confidant and corporate pioneer Vernon Jordan has died at the age of 85. A ...

He was 61. Take a look into PBS NewsHour's history. In this video, Jim Lehrer, Robert MacNeil and Charlayne Hunter Gault reflect on their work for The MacNeil/Lehrer Report during the 1980s.