Jesse Jackson 1984 presidential campaign | |
---|---|
Campaign | U.S. presidential election, 1984 |
Candidate | Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. |
Affiliation | Democratic Party |
Status | Withdrawn |
In 1984, Jesse 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 overall, 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. [1]
He won five primaries and caucuses: Louisiana, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Virginia, and one of two separate contests in Mississippi. [2] He thus became the first African-American candidate to win any major-party state primary or caucus.
As he had gained 21 percent of the popular vote but only eight percent of delegates, Jackson 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. [3]
In May 1983, Jackson became the first African-American man since Reconstruction to address a joint session of the Alabama Legislature, where he said it was "about time we forgot about black and white and started talking about employed and unemployed." Art Harris saw Jackson as "testing the waters for a black presidential candidacy down South". [4] In June, Jackson delivered a speech to 4,000 black Baptist ministers in Memphis bemoaning the fact that only 1 percent of American public officials were African-American despite blacks making up 12 percent of the population; the crowd responded with chants for him to "Run". [5] Jackson's address to the National Congress of American Indians and touring of southern Texas to test his appeal among Hispanics fueled speculation he would run for president. [6]
In both races, Jackson ran on what many considered to be a very liberal platform. Declaring that he wanted to create a "Rainbow Coalition" of various minority groups, including African Americans, Hispanics, Arab-Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, family farmers, the poor and working class, and homosexuals, as well as white progressives who fit into none of those categories, Jackson ran on a platform that included:
With the exception of a resolution to implement sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies, none of these positions made it into the party's platform in either 1984 or 1988.
In 1984, a young Conrad Tillard worked as a coordinator of the presidential campaign, first in Philadelphia and then at Jackson's national headquarters in Washington, D.C. [7] [8] [9] Years later Tillard said: "I became discouraged and almost bitter against the political process, because I felt that he was disrespected, but that was in my immaturity." [8]
Jackson campaigned again in 1988 when he more than doubled his results.
The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. It was the first presidential election since 1948, and the most recent to date, in which a party won more than two consecutive presidential terms. It remains the most recent election in which a candidate won over 400 electoral votes, and consequently the last landslide election of a U.S. president. Additionally, it was the last time that the Republicans won the popular vote three times in a row. Conversely, it began an ongoing streak of presidential elections that were decided by a single-digit popular vote margin. It was also the first, and only election to date, in which one of the two major presidential candidates was not of Northern European ancestry.
The 1984 United States presidential election was the 50th quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 6, 1984. Incumbent Republican president Ronald Reagan defeated Democratic former vice president Walter Mondale in a landslide victory.
Gary Warren Hart is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until he dropped out amid revelations of extramarital affairs. He represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 1975 to 1987.
Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating conventions can be won on Super Tuesday, more than on any other day. The results on Super Tuesday are therefore a strong indicator of the likely eventual nominee of each political party.
The 1984 Democratic National Convention was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from July 16 to July 19, 1984, to select candidates for the 1984 United States presidential election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale was nominated for president and Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York was nominated for vice president. Ferraro became the first woman to be nominated by either major party for the presidency or vice presidency. In another first, the 1984 Democratic Convention was chaired by the female governor of Kentucky, Martha Layne Collins. The Democratic National Committee Chairman at the time, Charles T. Manatt, led the convention.
From February 20 to June 12, 1984, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1984 United States presidential election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1984 Democratic National Convention held from July 16 to July 19, 1984, in San Francisco, California.
From February 8 to June 14, 1988, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1988 United States presidential election.
The 1988 Jesse Jackson presidential campaign was Jesse Jackson's second campaign for President of the United States. This time, his successes in the past made him a more credible candidate and he was both better financed and better organized. Although most people did not seem to believe he had a serious chance at winning, Jackson once again exceeded expectations as he more than doubled his previous results, prompting R. W. Apple, Jr. of The New York Times to call 1988 "the Year of Jackson".
Jesse Louis Jackson is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He is the father of former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. and current Representative Jonathan Jackson.
African-American candidates for president of the United States from major parties include U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), elected president of the United States in 2008. He was the first African American to win a presidential election and the first African American to serve as president of the United States. He was re-elected as president in 2012. There had been several candidates in the years before.
The 1984 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States. President Ronald Reagan of California won the state of Indiana against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota by a substantial 23.99% margin. Reagan ran for a second time with incumbent Vice President and former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency.
The 1984 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States. Louisiana was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency.
The 1984 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 6, 1984. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Mississippi voters chose seven electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.
The 1984 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Virginia voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.
Since 1983, the Democratic Party of the United States holds a few debates between candidates for the Democratic nomination in presidential elections during the primary election season. Unlike debates between party-nominated candidates, which have been organized by the bi-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates since 1988, debates between candidates for party nomination are organized by mass media outlets.
This article lists those who were potential candidates for the Democratic nomination for Vice President of the United States in the 1984 election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale won the 1984 Democratic nomination for President of the United States, and chose New York Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. Ferraro was the first woman to be a part of a national ticket for a major party. Mondale chose Ferraro in hopes of energizing the base and winning the votes of women, but also because he viewed her as a solid legislator who had won the approval of Speaker Tip O'Neill. John R. Reilly, an attorney and a senior adviser to Mondale, managed the search for a running mate. Mondale seriously considered his major rival for the 1984 presidential nomination, Senator Gary Hart, but Mondale refused to consider a second rival, Jesse Jackson, on the grounds that the differences between their policies were too great. The Mondale–Ferraro ticket ultimately lost to the Reagan–Bush ticket. This is the last time the Democratic vice presidential nominee was not the incumbent vice president or a Senator, and, not counting the times when the incumbent President was running for re-election, the last time the Democratic vice presidential nominee was not a Senator.
Conrad Bennette Tillard is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author.
The Walter Mondale 1984 presidential campaign began on February 21, 1983, when Walter Mondale, a former Minnesota senator and vice president of the United States, announced that he was running for president in a speech at the Minnesota State Capitol. Mondale won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination after convincing Frank Lautenberg, a previously unpledged party delegate, to support him. Lautenberg's vote gave Mondale the 1,967 delegate votes needed to become the Democratic Party's nominee. Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro, a U.S. representative from New York, as his running mate. Mondale lost the general election, held on November 6, 1984, to incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan in a landslide. Had Mondale been elected, he would have been the first U.S. president from Minnesota and the first non-incumbent vice president since Richard Nixon to take office as president. Ferraro would also have been the country's first female vice president, and the first person from New York since Nelson Rockefeller to become vice president, whereas her husband, John Zaccaro, would also have been the country's first second gentleman.
President Ronald Reagan authorized the formation of his 1984 reelection campaign committee, Reagan-Bush '84, on October 17, 1983. He made the formal announcement of his candidacy for re-election on January 29, 1984. On August 23, 1984, he secured the nomination of the Republican Party at its convention in Dallas, Texas. The convention nominated Vice President George H. W. Bush as his running mate.