Obama, Trump and Biden lead tributes to Jesse Jackson: ‘one of America’s greatest patriots’

Three Democratic former presidents led a wealth of tributes to Jesse Jackson, a “titan” of the civil rights movement and “one of America’s greatest patriots” who has died at the age of 84.

Joe Biden said history would remember Jackson as “a man of God and of the people”, calling him in a social media post : “Determined and tenacious. Unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our Nation.”

Biden added: “I’ve seen how Reverend Jackson has helped lead our Nation forward through tumult and triumph. He’s done it with optimism, and a relentless insistence on what is right and just.

“Reverend Jackson influenced generations of Americans, and countless elected leaders, including Presidents. Reverend Jackson believed in his bones the promise of America: that we are all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.

“While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, he dedicated his life to ensuring we never fully walked away from it either.”

Barack Obama called Jackson “a true giant” in a statement posted on Instagram.

“For more than 60 years, Reverend Jackson helped lead some of the most significant movements for change in human history. From organizing boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect,” he said.

Obama noted that Jackson’s two runs at the presidency in the 1980s “laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land”.

“Michelle and I will always be grateful for Jesse’s lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share. We stood on his shoulders. We send our deepest condolences to the Jackson family and everyone in Chicago and beyond who knew and loved him,” he said.

Bill Clinton said he and former first lady Hillary Clinton were friends with Jackson for more than five decades, and were “deeply saddened” by his passing.

“Reverend Jackson championed human dignity and helped create opportunities for countless people to live better lives,” he said in a statement on Instagram.

“[He] never stopped working for a better America with brighter tomorrows, including his historic campaigns for the presidency in 1984 and 1988 in which he championed the concerns of Black, Latino, Asian, and lower income white Americans.

“Hillary and I loved him very much.”

Al Sharpton, the veteran civil rights campaigner with whom Jackson worked closely after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, called his friend and mentor “a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world”.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Sharpton wrote: “He shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits.”

Senior Democrats, the party for which Jackson campaigned twice as a presidential candidate, were also quick to pay tribute.

“He let us know our voices mattered. He instilled in us that we were somebody. And he widened the path for generations to follow in his footsteps and lead,” Kamala Harris, the first Black US vice-president, wrote on Instagram , also calling Jackson “one of America’s greatest patriots”.

Recalling her days as a young law student in Oakland, California, Harris recalled having a “Jesse Jackson for President” sticker on her car.

“As I would drive across the Bay Bridge, you would not believe how people from every walk of life would give me a thumbs up or honk of support,” she said.

“They were small interactions, but they exemplified Reverend Jackson’s life work – lifting up the dignity of working people, building community and coalitions, and strengthening our democracy and nation.”

Jackson, she said, was “a selfless leader, mentor, and friend to me and so many others”.

Other Democrats celebrated Jackson’s stature in the civil rights movement.

“America has lost a titan in the struggle for civil rights and racial justice. From his days at the side of Dr King, to his moral leadership in this century, Rev Jesse Jackson Sr spent his life pushing our nation closer to its own ideal,” Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary during the Biden administration, said.

The Democratic Georgia senator Raphael Warnock said America had lost “one of its great moral voices”.

In a social media post he wrote: “With an eloquence and rhythmic rhetoric all his own, Jesse Jackson reminded America that equal justice is not inevitable; it requires vigilance and commitment, and for freedom fighters, sacrifice.

“His ministry was poetry and spiritual power in the public square. He advanced King’s dream and bent the arc of history closer to justice.”

Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, gave thanks for a life she said “pushed hope into weary places”.

In a post on Facebook, King wrote: “Rev Jesse Jackson Sr devoted his life to lifting people in poverty, the marginalized, and those pushed to society’s edges. He pushed barriers and opened doors so Black people and other excluded communities could step into opportunity and dignity.

“With the Rainbow Coalition, he cast a bold vision of an inclusive society – uniting people across race, class, and faith to build power together and expand the table of economic opportunity. He was a gifted negotiator and a courageous bridge‑builder, serving humanity by bringing calm into tense rooms and creating pathways where none existed.”

King said her family shared “a long and meaningful history with him, rooted in a shared commitment to justice and love”.

The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders said that Jackson was “one of the great and transformative political leaders in modern American history. He has broken down more barriers than most people could dream of doing.”

“Jackson was a courageous civil rights leader who put his life on the line in the fight against segregation and racism – in the north as well as the south,” Sanders also said in a statement, adding, “his politics of togetherness and solidarity should guide us going forward.”

Donald Trump, in a post on his Truth Social social media platform, called Jackson “a good man” and a “friend”, also noting he had provided office space in New York for Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition.

Trump’s post, as is often the case, quickly turned political, and about himself. The president attacked the “scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left” who, he said, “falsely and consistently” called him a racist, and sought recognition for “funding Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which Jesse loved”.

Trump also took a swing at a familiar political foe, Barack Obama, whom, he claimed falsely, Jackson “could not stand”.