Luckie 1

Lovie Luckie
Professor Vyvial
English 1302
April 7, 2017
Beyond Rhetoric

On July 17, 1984, civil rights activist and presidential candidate Jesse Louis Jackson

effectively presented his speech at the Democratic National Convention. His message plainly

stated that we were not the perfect party, but a diverse nation with a perfect mission

(Jackson). Known for his eloquent speeches, Jackson was the first African American to deliver

his speech at a national convention and as a result, was able to win approximately 400 delegates.

Speaking for 50 minutes to the people voting for the Democratic party candidate, Jackson

convinced several Americans that he was beyond rhetoric and was the perfect candidate to lead.

In his 1984 Democratic National Convention Address, Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson

successfully delivered his message of hope through strong emotion, offering recovery solutions

from Americas devastation, all while establishing himself as a respected man of faith.

Reverend Jesse Jackson uses a variety of rhetorical devices, but what stood out the most

was his use of pathos to evoke emotion. Overall, his speech was filled with highs and lows that

played heavily on words that causes one to think of ways they could help a broken America.

Within five minutes of starting his speech, he says we have a mission to feed the hungry; to

clothe the naked; to house the homeless; to teach the illiterate; to provide jobs for the homeless;

and to choose the human race over the nuclear race (Jackson). Not even two sentences later, he

says that his constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and

the despised. Jackson uses pathos to motivate his audience to a new level of patriotism and
 Luckie 2

purpose. It appears that he is trying to suggest that his constituents are suffering on similar levels

of the desolate people he identified, and that we must join the cause and not let anyone down.

On the other hand, he offered positive emotionally charged words stating that his constituency

had also invested the faith, hope, and trust After this roller coaster of words and emotions, it

is no surprise that he gained popularity and accomplished a major goal of receiving the votes he

needed to become the next Democratic candidate for the presidency. Pushing his audience to

levels of sadness and sympathy, Jackson sparked both negative and positive emotions throughout

his speech and properly used pathos as a rhetorical device in my opinion. Further, alliteration

was used as a rhetorical device when describing his constituents adding a strong, negative tone

that causes audience members to feel bad if they did not share Jacksons same views.

Although Jackson substantiated his use of logos, it appears that the audience could get

lost in the overwhelming amount of injustices Jackson claims were caused by the Reagan

administration. It appeared that he offered too much evidence in his speech, but felt he had to

persuade his audience of the poor leadership described as Reaganomics and Reaganism. He

speaks of 34 million people in poverty, 15 percent of our nation, along with the financial crisis

of borrowing money abroad 40 billion dollars in 1983; 70-80 billion dollars in 1984 -- 40

percent of our total; over 100 billion dollars -- 50 percent of our total -- in 1985. The data

provides evidence, but a lot of what Jackson is saying sounds like an opinion and is easy to

dispute.

Ethos was used to establish character throughout Jacksons speech. He refers to several

biblical passages to persuade his audience that he is a man of faith and does so immediately

through his first sentence of the speech where he mentions we come together bound by faith

in a mighty God. Also, he comments about a visit to Hubert Humphrey, a well-known

 Luckie 3

politician who served as a former Senator and the 38th Vice President under Lyndon B. Johnson.

He is trying to persuade the audience that he is trustworthy and credible.

Another rhetorical device of image was heavily used as Jackson described unity

throughout his speech. He said that America is not like a blanket -- one piece of unbroken

cloth, the same, color, the same texture, the same size. Also, he describes Our flag is red,

white, and blue, but our nation is a rainbow red, yellow, brown, black, and white and were

all precious in Gods sight. (Jackson). With both comments, Jackson is suggesting that we are

a diverse America which even offered me some feeling of inclusion to the point that this was the

highlight of reading Jacksons speech.

Several rhetorical devices were used throughout Jacksons speech. Many individuals felt

the emotions and envisioned the Jackson ideals which caused them to make that vote. As the

night came to a close, a huge amount of Democratics had made the decision to follow Jackson

because, in my opinion, he went beyond rhetoric.

 Luckie 4

Works Cited

Eidenmuller, Michael E. "1984 Democratic National Convention Address." American Rhetoric:

Jesse Jackson -- 1984 Democratic National Convention Speech ("The Rainbow

Coalition"). N.p., 18 July 1984. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.