Reno!
Janet Reno became the first woman to serve as Attorney General on March 11, 1993. e celebrate two more states in her honor, one with commonality with her last name.
Women's history month continues here at Okay History.
Today we celebrate Janet Reno, the first woman confirmed as Attorney General, on March 11, 1993.
Reno was born in Miami in 1938, and her mother…
Wait. 1938? Is that right?
Yeah, it looks that way, 1938.
Okay!
Reno was born in Miami in 1938 and had an interesting upbringing. Her mother wrote a column on home improvement for the Miami Herald under a male pseudonym. Her father was also a reporter for the same paper. A funny story about her childhood, Reno churned butter to help the family make ends meet.
Yeah, she was born in 1938.
Reno would attend Cornell University for undergrad and Harvard Law School. After passing the bar, she landed gigs at a couple of Miami law firms before moving into the State's Attorney's office, becoming the first woman in Florida's history.
Two important cases defined her tenure, one involved prosecuting five white police officers who beat a black insurance salesman to death. It comes to no surprise that they were all acquitted.
The other involved persecuting multi-child abuse offenders who operated in the daycare industry. Reno developed a controversial method of allowing victims to testify by closed-circuit television to avoid the pressure of facing their alleged attackers.
Fast forward to 1993. President Clinton was doing a bang-up job finding his first Attorney General. He tried to nominate a woman, but she had to drop out because she failed to pay taxes on her nanny.
Clinton then tried to run back the same plan, only to find out you can't nominate another woman with the same issue and gain confirmation.
Enter Reno, who had never married, had no children, and therefore could not have an issue of not paying taxes on nannies. Score one for Bill on this transformational nomination.
Reno had an incredibly eventful tenure as AG. After leaving office, she tried to run governor, I think, but lost.
She passed away from Parkinson's disease in 2016.
Okay, let's jump into our next round of state rankings, beginning with a state with its own Reno!
46: Nevada
Founded: October 31, 1864
36th State
Do we know the state capital off the top of our head? Yes. Reno. Duh.
Have we been there? Yes.
Do we want to go back? I mean, perhaps?
The Good:
Las Vegas can be a fun time. Becoming one of the first places to legalize gambling, Vegas is a major tourist city. Once, we went there for a bachelor party that was more like Swingers and less like The Hangover. Also, we never have any money when we enter casinos, which makes gambling a bit tougher.
The Bad:
For the longest time, professional sports refused to place a team in Vegas, fearing gambling would seep into the locker room, infecting everyone and causing them to throw games and destroying the integrity of everything.
Then in 2018, the Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey club came online and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Now everyone wants to move to Vegas, the Oakland Raiders of the NFL being the first to do so in 2020. This isn't good. Not so much for gambling, but more of the fact Vegas is in the middle of the desert.
The Ugly:
After finding out that Fredo made a secret deal with a Hyman Roth, which resulted in an attempt on his life, Michael Corleone killed his brother at Lake Tahoe. We should point out that Fredo is the middle brother, while Michael is the youngest. Take this information as you will.
Why did we rank it here?
Okay, so we realize Reno is not the capital of Nevada. But we need to stay true to our "top of our head" exercise, and we immediately thought of Reno.
Carson City is literally next door, so we don't understand why Nevada causes this confusion. Anyway, it gives us confidence that they are a lower their state.
Finally, Nevada named the city of Reno after Civil War General Jesse Reno, who, while at West Point, was best friends with Stonewall Jackson. Just like his friend, Reno was killed in battle by the Confederates.
The highest point in Washington, DC, is Fort Reno Park, also named after Jesse. How about that.
45: Wyoming
Founded: July 10, 1890
44th State
Do we know the state capital off the top of our head? No. Wyoming City?
Have we been there? No.
Do we want to go? Sure, I'd see Yellowstone.
The Good:
According to the American Lung Association, two Wyoming cities sit atop the cleanest cities in the country. This also reminded us that Cheyanne is the capital of Wyoming because it's number 1.
The Bad:
Wyoming is one of the worst states to drive in. It's also a giant tax haven for rich people. Maybe they could invest in better roads or something.
Also, Jackson Hole is a lousy name for a destination.
The Ugly:
University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was tortured and left to die near Laramie in 1998. His murderers were convicted of the horrible crime, motivated by Shepard's sexual orientation. This death had stuck with us because Matthew was our age, and awareness of sexual orientation went into overdrive because of this offense.
Why did we rank it here?
We are big fans of Yellowstone, even though we haven't been there. We are not huge fans of the Cheney clan, who are the political family of the state for the time being. Depending on the upcoming election, Wyoming could get worse.
Like most of the west, Wyoming possesses beautiful scenery. But one wild tidbit of Wyoming sticks with us.
Wyoming was the first territory to give women the right to vote in 1869. Then after a few years, reversed it. Women's voting rights didn't get confirmed until 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
Wyoming still calls itself the Equality State, and the state motto is Equal Rights, but none of that seems on brand.
We remember Janet Reno appointing a guy special counsel to investigate Clinton's Whitewater affairs, and obviously that Hilary Clinton's emails murdered Vincent Foster in the basement of pizza joint.
When that guy was finished and found nothing, Congress, newly taken over by the Republican party, reconvened the investigation. Only this time, they didn't want Reno to nominate the following special counsel.
Instead, a three-judge panel, led by a guy who had been a Republican National Delegate for Ronald Reagan in 1984 (and later appointed by Reagan to the DC bench,) nominated Ken Starr, a Republican political operative. Starr ended up finding out Clinton had an affair and lied about it. Consequently, the House impeached Clinton.
Years later, Brett Kavanaugh, who worked under Starr in Whitewater, would become an Associate Justice of the United States. Starr himself had to resign as president of Baylor University for mishandling multi-sexual assaults.
Just to end the joke that was his life, Starr starred as a defense lawyer for President Trump's first impeachment. Love this guy.