Wednesday Open Thread: African-American Speakers at the DNC

HAPPY HUMP DAY, PRAGOBOTS!

We continue our look at African American speakers at the Democratic National Convention with….

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON

“The Rainbow Coalition Speech”
San Francisco, CA – July 18, 1984

In 1984, Jackson became the second African American (after Shirley Chisholm) to mount a nationwide campaign for President of the United States, running as a Democrat.

In the primaries, Jackson, who had been written off by pundits as a fringe candidate with little chance at winning the nomination, surprised many when he took third place behind Senator Gary Hart and former Vice President Walter Mondale, who eventually won the nomination. Jackson garnered 3,282,431 primary votes, or 18.2 percent of the total, in 1984,^[27] and won five primaries and caucuses, including Louisiana, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Virginia, and one of two separate contests in Mississippi.^[28]

As he had gained 21% of the popular vote but only 8% of delegates, he afterwards complained that he had been handicapped by party rules. While Mondale (in the words of his aides) was determined to establish a precedent with his vice presidential candidate by picking a woman or visible minority, Jackson criticized the screening process as a “p.r. parade of personalities”. He also mocked Mondale, saying that Hubert Humphrey was the “last significant politician out of the St. Paul–Minneapolis” area.^[29]

From PBS’ Frontline: The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson:

In this July 18, 1984 speech in San Francisco, Jesse Jackson sought to heal the division created by his Presidential candidacy and pledged to support the candidacy of Walter Mondale. (Jackson had won almost 400 delegates, finishing behind Mondale and Gary Hart).

Starting at 11 p.m., and for the next fifty minutes (with more television viewers watching than at any time in the convention), Jackson seemed to turn the convention hall into a great revival tent. Successive roars of applause kept swelling over the audience as Jackson’s gospel-cadenced, impassioned oration galvanized his audience in the name of party unity.

Throughout it, the television audience kept increasing–reaching 33 million viewers by the end. Many compared the speech to one of the greatest ever delivered at a nominating convention. “If you are a human being and weren’t affected by what you just heard, you may be beyond redemption,” declared Florida Governor Bob Graham.

PART I:

PART II:

PART III:

PART IV:

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE.

“The Common Ground and Common Sense Speech”
July 19, 1988 – Atlanta, GA

From PBS’ Frontline: The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson:

When he delivered this speech in Atlanta on July 19, 1988 just before 11 p.m., Jackson was at his highest. He had arrived at the convention with over 1200 delegates–second to Michael Dukakis. Only a few months earlier, his upset win in Michigan’s primary had opened the possibility he could eventually achieve the Democratic nomination.

This speech, too, was hailed as one of the greatest ever made at a convention–comparable to William Jennings Bryan’s 1896 “Cross of Gold” speech, said some observers. There were eighteen standing ovations. In the fifty-minute address, Jackson touched upon his origins in poverty, and affirmed to supporters that his presidential quest had not been futile. One supporter remarked, “Jackson in 1984 was an improbability. In 1988, it’s totally possible…..”