1988 Democratic National Convention : Meeting of Candidates Blunt, Agreement Not Easy, Aides Say

The face-to-face negotiations Monday between Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and the Rev. Jesse Jackson included exchanges that even the tight-lipped Dukakis staff conceded were sometimes unusually blunt. They covered everything from the alleged deficiencies of Dukakis’ telephone habits to Jackson’s recent rhetorical penchant for casting the governor in the role of ‘ol Massa.’

In the end, however, the closed-door negotiations brought peace between the about-to-be Democratic presidential nominee and his toughest challenger not through dramatic breakthroughs, but through cautiously worked-out accommodations between two proud but savvy and mutually dependent antagonists.

For weeks, the two men had circled each other warily--friendly at one moment, hostile at another.

Dukakis Angered at Sensitivity Claim

Dukakis--a suburban doctor’s son from liberal Massachusetts, proud of his support for civil rights--was angered by suggestions that he “lacked sensitivity” toward black Americans.

And Jackson--son of an unmarried mother from South Carolina, deeply sensitive to any signs of lack of “respect”--has been suspicious throughout his career about the motivations and commitment of middle-class white liberals.

In the hothouse atmosphere generated by thousands of reporters and television cameras, rumors of what went on in the three-hour final session Monday morning have swept the hotels and restaurants where Democrats gathered to discuss their party’s convention and its prospects.

But the truth, aides to both candidates said, is less dramatic than the rumors.

Three hours did not suffice to turn Dukakis and Jackson into friends. But by giving Jackson his long-sought opportunity to advocate his positions and explain to Dukakis what he sees at stake in his historic presidential bid--more a crusade than a traditional candidacy--it did clear the air.

And by giving Dukakis a forum to pay tribute to the importance of Jackson’s constituency publicly, it laid the groundwork for the unity that Democrats say they now feel they can achieve in the general election. “There is peace in the valley,” said former Democratic National Committee Chairman John C. White. “Now we can relax,” a senior Dukakis aide said.

‘One of the Frankest’ Meetings

But the accommodation was not reached easily. The meeting between the two rivals was “one of the frankest, most candid I have seen,” said Paul P. Brountas, the Dukakis campaign chairman, who, along with Jackson aide Ron Brown, sat in on the meeting.

Once the meeting began, much of the first hour was taken up by discussing the “personal relationship” between the two men, Brountas said.

Several aides and friends who have spoken with Jackson said that Jackson mentioned a series of problems that had occurred during the campaign, ranging from tensions that arose during the Michigan primary campaign to occasions when Dukakis had failed to inform him of decisions before they were announced to the press.

The most serious example of that problem came last week, when Jackson heard from reporters that Dukakis had tapped Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen for the No. 2 slot on the ticket. Dukakis aides insist that the governor’s failure to reach Jackson by phone was the result of an unexplained breakdown in communications within the well-organized Dukakis campaign, not any sort of a deliberate snub.

Dukakis called Bentsen about the nomination about 6:30 a.m. July 12. He then left for his office in the Massachusetts Statehouse. But first he kept a long-standing appointment to meet with a Maronite Christian bishop from Lebanon, who was in Boston for a visit.

While Dukakis and the Lebanese cleric met, Jackson left the hotel in Cincinnati in which he had spent the night, en route to Washington. Although Jackson had made clear to Brountas at a meeting the previous afternoon exactly when he would be leaving and at what numbers he could be reached, somehow, Dukakis aides say, that message never reached Dukakis.

In addition to that incident, aides say that Jackson, for whom the telephone is a lifeline, has felt slighted by the fact that Dukakis did not begin to call him regularly until mid-April, and then called only from time to time.

Dukakis is well-known to his advisers for his discipline and unwillingness to spend much time simply chatting. By contrast, a senior Jackson adviser said, “Jesse is a telephone user. . . . He’s not used to dealing with people who aren’t.”

Jackson also has made clear to reporters that he was irked by the constant flow of stories, based in part on comments from Dukakis advisers, about how the Dukakis campaign would need to reach out to conservative white voters to win in the fall.

Dukakis, for his part, had been antagonized by the phrases Jackson had used last week comparing his task in motivating Democratic voters to “pickin’ cotton” to “deliver it to the big house,” allusions to plantation agriculture that appeared to cast Dukakis in the role of a slave master.

Language has been a persistent problem for the two men. One example is Jackson’s frequent use of the word “partnership,” which Dukakis has resisted. To Dukakis, a lawyer in a prominent Boston firm before winning public office, the word seemed to mean “partnership in a law firm,” with connotations of shared authority for decisions, said Jackson’s political director, Frank Watkins. “To Jackson it means, ‘Howdy, partner.’ ”

According to a story circulated by many Jackson associates, including Willie Brown and former Carter Administration Budget Director Bert Lance, Bentsen played a key role in reducing tensions between the two men.

‘Ought to Be Figuring Out How to Win’

According to this version of events, Bentsen arrived at the meeting at a time when tensions were still running high and broke the ice by saying: “The way I see it, we could run an election without Jackson and probably lose. We can run an election with Jackson and probably win. I think we ought to be figuring out how to win.”

As a Southern leader, the Jackson advisers said, Bentsen has had more experience working with black politicians than has Dukakis, whose home state is almost 95% white.

Jackson aides have been at pains recently to emphasize the aspects of Bentsen that would appeal to Jackson’s followers, a move that might reduce the possibility that some of Jackson’s supporters would accuse him of “selling out” by endorsing the conservative Texas senator’s place on the ticket.

Dukakis advisers, however, have cast some doubt on the more expansive versions of Bentsen’s role. Bentsen, they noted, spent most of the morning speaking to a meeting of New Jersey’s convention delegation and was present for only the last 15 minutes of the three-hour meeting. Jackson and Dukakis already were drafting the statements they would present to their joint press conference after their meeting while they waited for Bentsen to arrive, Brountas and Ron Brown said.

Bentsen, in his interview with The Times, left some ambiguity about the role he played. “I came in for the last 15 minutes of the meeting,” he said.

“What I said to them when I came in was: ‘It’s going to take all of us to win this thing. And if any of us isn’t part of a team effort, we’ll lose for sure and we’ll all share in the blame. No one will come out a winner.’ ”

Whatever the exact dynamics of the meeting, however, the demeanor of the two men during the press conference made clear that, although they have reached a necessary political accommodation, they had not been through any sort of emotional catharsis. While Dukakis spoke, for example, the usually animated Jackson stood as still as a Marine guard, his face frozen into an impassive mask.

And during the joint press conference, Dukakis, asked if they had achieved the sort of “partnership” Jackson had advocated, carefully avoided using the word.

Staff writers John Balzar, Keith Love and Robert Scheer contributed to this story.