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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 Democrats 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. In his speech, undesirable feelings swarmed as Jackson

played heavily on words that described 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). He strongly used pathos to convince the Democratic National

Conventions audience to unify and become involved in resolving Americas problems. Not even

two sentences later, he says that his constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited,
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the disrespected, and the despised (Jackson). Jackson uses pathos to motivate his audience to a

new level of patriotism and purpose. Relating the two phrases closely together, Jackson suggests

that his constituents are suffering on similar levels of the desolate people he identified. 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 substantiates his use of logos, it appears that the audience could get

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

administration. Jackson jumps from economic, social security, energy assistance, and food

programs for children to military spending. It appears 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 (Jackson). The data and statistics throughout his speech provides evidence of

growing poverty and income inequality, all presented in numbers, but a lot of what Jackson is

saying sounds like an opinion and is easy to dispute.

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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 (Jackson). He is trying to persuade the audience that he is trustworthy and

credible.

Another rhetorical device of image was 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, similar to his purpose of persuading his

Democratic audience. So much that this was the highlight of reading Jacksons speech.

At time, some rhetorical devices overlapped in their appeal to the audience. For example,

his comments regarding a visit to Hubert Humphrey, a well-known politician who served as a

former Senator and the 38th Vice President under Lyndon B. Johnson. His inclusion of this visit

establishes an additional example of logos as he proves through statements made by Humphrey

that we must forgive one another. However, the use of the word forgive crosses over into

evidence of pathos as a sense of emotion and ethos as we look towards Jacksons character as a

merciful, man of faith.

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
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night came to a close, approximately 400 delegates from the Democratic party had made the

decision to follow Jackson because, in my opinion, he went beyond rhetoric.

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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.