Jackson Says He Will Seek ’88 Nomination

PITTSBURGH, Pa. â€”  The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced his intention Monday to seek the Democratic presidential nomination, declaring that he gives Americans a chance “to fulfill the best and the highest of an effective and honest democracyâ€� by electing a black to the White House.

As he became the seventh Democratic presidential candidate, Jackson said that his program of “jobs, peace and justice� will enable him to broaden his appeal beyond the 21% of the primary and caucus votes he received in his unsuccessful 1984 bid for the party’s nomination.

Jackson’s choice of this steel mill city hard hit by foreign competition symbolized his efforts to expand his base of support from the black community to the mostly white ranks of organized labor.

He marched arm-in-arm with white union members in a Labor Day parade through downtown Pittsburgh after proposing a “worker’s bill of rights� at a special Mass at a Catholic church.

Between the two events, the 45-year-old Baptist minister and civil rights leader told a rally and news conference on a hillside overlooking Pittsburgh’s skyline that he will formally announce his candidacy on Oct. 10 at a Raleigh, N. C., convention of the National Rainbow Coalition, a group he formed four years ago.

During the exploratory phase of his campaign this year, Jackson said, he raised about $1 million and “we have found a common ground: a new extended family united on a common agenda.�

From Pittsburgh, Jackson flew to Labor Day appearances at a black-sponsored picnic in Cleveland and a West Indian-Caribbean parade in Brooklyn, N. Y. Then he joined striking union members on a picket line outside NBC headquarters at Manhattan’s Rockefeller Plaza.

Poll Puts Him in Lead

Aides traveling with Jackson expressed cautious pleasure with a new Time magazine poll showing him leading the pack of Democratic candidates.

The nationwide poll gave Jackson 26%, compared to 11% for Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, 9% for Colorado Rep. Patricia Schroeder (not an official candidate), 8% for Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr., 6% for Illinois Sen. Paul Simon, 5% for Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt and 3% each for Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt. Of those polled, 28% said they had no preference.

“We have to keep our eye on the big prize and not worry about the polls; they go up and down,� Jackson aide Frank Watkins said.

Asked Key Question

When Jackson began his Labor Day before dawn with an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,� he quickly was confronted with the question that is certain to serve as a backdrop for his campaign: Can a black be elected President in 1988?

Jackson, responding in the affirmative, cited John F. Kennedy’s election. “It was said a Catholic couldn’t win in 1960,� he said.

“I am trying to fulfill the best dimensions of the Constitution,� he added. “ . . . I am giving America a chance to make a choice to fulfill the best and the highest of an effective and honest democracy.

“The people,� Jackson said, “are more ready� for a black President than “the publishers and the leaders. If I can be elected President, every woman can, every man and boy can, every woman and girl can.�

Later, when asked a similar question at the Pittsburgh news conference, Jackson said he would not be troubled if people did not vote for him because they disagreed with him on issues. He added: “If one does not vote for me because I am black, I’ll leave that in God’s hands. God made me that way, and I’m proud of it.�

And, after flying to Cleveland, he told a mostly black audience in a city park that “in running, we educate our children. In running, we lift the artificial scars from their head. If I can be President, your children can be doctors or lawyers or judges or governors or mayors or generals . . . . They can be what they are.�

Standing alongside such white politicians as Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), Jackson said, “We have expanded our base. We have built a coalition that is practical.�

Jackson has moderated his criticism of Democratic Party rules, which he railed against during his 1984 campaign--rules he said gave him far fewer delegates than he deserved based on his primary and caucus showings.

The Democratic Party, he told the Pittsburgh news conference, “has recognized the error of its ways.� He said any problems will be worked out internally and “the leadership of the Democratic Party is going to be fairer to me because I am part of the leadership of the Democratic Party.�

Verbal Jabs at Reagan

In his Labor Day appearances, Jackson made no direct reference to his Democratic opponents but repeatedly took verbal jabs at President Reagan and his Republican Administration.

“We need a new direction for our nation,� he said. “We need a government that cares . . . a President committed to the well-being of the American family who will protect us from the exportation of jobs and the importation of drugs.�

At every stop, Jackson attacked policies of the Reagan Administration and multinational corporations that he said were shifting jobs from America to such countries as Taiwan and South Korea.

American workers, he said, “cannot compete with slave labor abroad because multinational corporations export jobs and escape human rights.�

After criticizing Reagan’s economic policies, Jackson declared: “The foreign policy of this Administration is a failure.

“In the past seven years, our military budget has doubled but our position in the world is less secure,� he said. He termed some U.S. policies immoral, then referred to his quick trip last week to Concord, Calif., where a protester, Brian Willson, was seriously injured by a freight train when sitting on the railroad tracks at a naval weapons station in an attempt to halt the train.

Stopping ‘Death Trains’

“Brian Willson lost his legs because he tried to stop a death train carrying arms to Central America,� Jackson said. “If 40 or 50 years ago we had put our bodies on the line, we could have stopped the death trains in Germany. Millions could have been saved.

“Today, the death trains roll in South Africa. They roll in Nicaragua. They must be stopped. They will be stopped because the American people are ready to act together.�

JESSE LOUIS JACKSON

Born: Oct. 8, 1941, Greenville, S.C.

Parents: Mother, Helen Burns, beautician and part-time maid; stepfather (deceased) Charles Henry Jackson, postal employee.

Education: Student, University of Illinois, 1959-60. BA, sociology and economics, North Carolina A&T; State University, 1964. Postgraduate student, Chicago Theological Seminary, 1965.

Military Career: None.

Professional Career: Ordained to ministry, Baptist Church, 1968. Executive director, Operation Breadbasket, Chicago, 1966-71. National president, Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), Chicago, 1971-83. Democratic candidate for President, 1984. President, National Rainbow Coalition Inc., 1984 to present.

Family: Wife, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown; two daughters, three sons.

Religion: Baptist.

Accomplishments: Co-founder, Operation Breadbasket. Founder, Operation PUSH. Founder, National Rainbow Coalition.

Positions: Advocates a program of “economic justice� to remedy loss of jobs to foreign competition and trade imbalance, including an initiative to prod money managers to put $2 trillion into building up domestic industries; supports tax increases only as “last resort� if his programs fail to remedy deficits; supports “freedom of choice� on abortion; opposes “forced� school prayer; opposes military aid to the Nicaraguan contras ; supports continued research on “Star Wars� technology but opposes early deployment; supports immediate comprehensive test ban treaty and verifiable arms control agreements.

Strengths: Charismatic speaker, only current Democratic candidate with experience in previous presidential campaign. Appears more relaxed, confident than during 1984 campaign, has strength for Super Tuesday Southern primaries and could win plurality in large field; could survive lengthy campaign with minimum of fund raising.

Vulnerabilities: Skepticism remains on whether he can broaden his appeal; continuing problems with earlier insensitive remarks about Jews; questions remain about his reputation as a publicity hound and political agitator.