IV.

Operation Push

In 1971 Jackson left SCLC and began building his own Chicago-based organization known as PUSH—People United to Save (later Serve) Humanity. He founded the organization in an ambitious attempt to help minorities improve their economic situations. One of Jackson’s main goals was to help blacks and Hispanics upgrade work skills or start small businesses. Through negotiations and threats of boycott, PUSH forced several major corporations with big markets in the black community to adopt affirmative action programs, to hire more black executives and supervisors, and to buy from black suppliers, wholesalers, and distributors.

Jackson also launched a companion project, PUSH-EXCEL, which promoted mastery of basic academic skills. His success in raising academic standards was partly due to his constant emphasis on the importance of self-respect and family values within the black community. His repeated refrain, 'I Am Somebody,' resonated among African Americans, especially those in inner-city schools. The PUSH-EXCEL program used Jackson’s personal appeal and charisma to persuade inner-city students to sign a pledge that they would study at least two hours every night. The administration of President Jimmy Carter was impressed by the program’s success in raising student test scores and gave it a large funding grant.

Beginning in 1981, the administration of President Ronald Reagan implemented policies that had a devastating effect on many black Americans. Reagan's emphasis on supply-side economics, which included significant reductions in government spending, caused new unemployment. In addition, Reagan's tax programs encouraged economic investment outside of the inner cities, while they discouraged the rebuilding of urban industry. In the cities of the North and Midwest, many steel, rubber, and automobile factories shut their doors, and the layoffs hit the black population particularly hard.

In an effort to defeat Reagan’s reelection bid, PUSH launched a drive to register black voters, and Jackson began conducting voter-registration meetings that had the feeling of religious revivals. Jackson’s passionate and memorable rhetoric aroused so much enthusiasm that in November 1983 Jackson declared his candidacy for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. He quickly proved himself a first-rate political campaigner. He also showed his diplomatic skills in 1984 when he traveled to Syria and negotiated the release of a U.S. military pilot who had been held captive after his plane was shot down. Jackson's success raised his stature among whites and blacks, who saw him as an effective politician capable of implementing foreign policy as well as domestic policy.

During the 1984 campaign, Jackson also began appealing to a 'Rainbow Coalition” of the disadvantaged and rejected from all races and creeds. In debates among Democratic candidates, Jackson stood out as President Reagan's sharpest critic. Unlike his rivals, Jackson called for more government spending on programs to end poverty and less on national defense. Initially, liberal whites as well as blacks supported Jackson’s candidacy. He received almost one-fourth of the votes cast in the Democratic primaries and caucuses and one-eighth of the delegates to the Democratic national convention.

However, Jackson lost a large portion of this support after he made an offensive comment about Jews. Jackson later apologized, but the incident severely damaged his campaign. Jackson's close ties to Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who had also made negative remarks about Judaism, further undermined Jackson's credibility as a serious presidential candidate. At the Democratic national convention, Jackson gave a dramatic speech in which he pledged to support the Democratic nominee, Walter Mondale. However, after the convention Jackson provided only limited help to Mondale’s campaign. Jackson’s voter registration program faltered, and Reagan won a convincing victory over Mondale in the election.