Reverend Jesse L. Jackson once claimed that he held the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s head as he was dying, and that the blood from King's wounded body made a dark smear on his clothing.

For Jackson, who was deeply aware of the importance of spirituality in black leadership at the time, this was a sort of gruesome baptism, anointing him to take King's place as the preeminent leader of black America.

But some Americans see this incident in a much different light--as emblematic of how Jackson, a two-time presidential candidate and a leading civil rights figure, is willing to co-opt even the most solemn issues for his own political advancement.

Jackson, this year's Kennedy School of Government Class Day speaker, has inspired in some observers--among them many intellectuals and career politicians--a vicious and unwavering disdain for what they see as his relentless, sometimes even violent, pursuit of the spotlight.

Elizabeth Colton, Jackson's former press secretary and one of his biographers, accused Jackson of manipulating King's death to his own advantage.

"Jesse took advantage of [King's death] to propel himself into the limelight. There is an egomania that remains about him," she said in an interview with C-SPAN in 1989.

Others, though, maintain that Jackson, the most successful black presidential candidate ever, is more substance than style, and that his charisma has been a powerful tool in drawing attention to issues of race and to the plight of the disadvantaged.

"Jesse's not just a formidable campaigner...he has a way of connecting with an audience and captures the essence of an issue in ways that the rest of us can't," says former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who ran against Jackson in the 1988 Democratic primary. "It's more than just eloquence."

Regardless, Jackson's importance on the American political landscape is undeniable. As entire swaths of the American populace, long marginalized and ignored, began to flex their political muscles in the second half of this century, Jackson was in the thick of their struggles.

Running From His House

One of the reasons Jackson has been such a dynamic leader is his ability to identify with the disadvantages of many of his constituents.

Jackson was born in Greenville, S.C. on October 8, 1941, and spent much of his early years in poverty.

At the age of five, he discovered that the man he thought was his father was not, in fact, his biological father. It was not until Jackson began to demonstrate success as an athlete that his real father acknowledged him.

His mother, who could barely afford to support her two children, worked full time as a maid. Jackson once described how she used to go to work with runs in her stockings in order to buy Jackson and his brother matching socks, so that they would not have to suffer the snickers of their school classmates.

In his speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention, Jackson was quite candid about the harsh realities of his youth.