Dramatic hearings that captured America’s attention on broadcast TV
In a rare move, broadcast networks will carry live coverage of fired FBI Director James Comey’s congressional testimony on June 8. Here’s a look back at the dramatic hearings that captured America’s attention and became events for the history books
Attorney General Jeff Sessions will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, following former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before the same committee last week.
Here, Fox News takes a look at other proceedings that have garnered wide media attention through the years.
Army-McCarthy hearings, 1954
Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) faced off against the U.S. Army in hearings broadcast on television in 1954. McCarthy had earlier become the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chairman and had held anticommunist hearings, according to the United States Senate website.
"In the spring of 1954, McCarthy picked a fight with the U.S. Army, charging lax security at a top-secret army facility," according to the website. "The army responded that the senator had sought preferential treatment for a recently drafted subcommittee aide."
McCarthy would claim that an attorney at the same law firm as Joseph Welch had been in a Communist Party-connected group, the website said. (Welch was the special counsel for the U.S. Army.)
Welch told McCarthy, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearings, 1991
Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President George H.W. Bush. Thomas went through a very contentious confirmation in 1991, when he faced allegations that he sexually harassed Anita Hill when they were colleagues in the federal government.
At the time, Thomas, who would become the second African-American to serve on the court, called televised Senate hearings about Hill's claim a "high-tech lynching."
Thomas would be confirmed, with the Senate voting 52-48 in favor.
O.J. Simpson trial, 1995
Former professional football player Orenthal James Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in June 1994.
Simpson's defense, nicknamed the "Dream Team," consisted of multiple lawyers, including Johnnie Cochran, Alan Dershowitz, and Robert Kardashian.
The case has been referred to as the "Trial of the Century." Simpson was found not guilty in October 1995.
It also prompted wide media coverage, including books and the recent FX series "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story." A documentary which covered decades of Simpson's life as well as the murder case, "O.J.: Made in America," won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2016.
Simpson is currently in jail for a 2007 robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. He was convicted of first-degree kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit a violent crime. Simpson said he was trying to retrieve memorabilia and some personal items at the hotel.
Michael Jackson child molestation case, 2005
The King of Pop was accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor. Jackson faced four child molestation charges as part of a total of 10 charges, Fox News reported at the time. The musician was acquitted of all charges.
Following Jackson's 2009 death, his personal physician Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Murray's 2011 trial was televised, and 2.1 million people watched the reading of verdict, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Murray was convicted in 2011 of giving Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol in June 2009 while the superstar was preparing for a series of comeback concerts titled "This Is It." Murray served two years in prison.
Casey Anthony murder trial, 2011
Florida mother Casey Anthony was accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony. The girl was supposedly last seen on June 16, 2008; she was first reported missing, by Casey Anthony's mother, on July 15. A day later, Casey Anthony was arrested on charges of child neglect. She told police that Caylee had disappeared with a babysitter.
A utility worker working in a wooded area near the Anthony home on Dec. 11 found skeletal remains that were later determined to be Caylee's. Experts would testify that air samples indicated that decaying human remains had been present in Casey Anthony's trunk.
After a month-and-a-half-long trial, the jury took less than 11 hours to find Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse. She was convicted of four counts of lying to police (though two counts were later dropped), and served about three years in prison while awaiting trial.
George Zimmerman murder trial, 2013
In February 2012, neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in February 2012.
Zimmerman has claimed it was self-defense when he killed Martin, 17, in a gated community near Orlando. Martin, who lived in Miami with his mother, was visiting his father at the time.
Zimmerman, who identifies as Hispanic, was acquitted in Martin's shooting death. The case sparked protests and a national debate about race relations. The Justice Department later decided not to prosecute Zimmerman on civil rights charges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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