GEOFF BENNETT: And we turn now to someone# who stood alongside Jesse Jackson during## some of the most consequential chapters# of the modern civil rights movement.## Ambassador Andrew Young is a former# U.S.

ambassador to the United Nations,## former mayor of Atlanta and longtime lieutenant# to the Reverend Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I spoke with him earlier today and asked him about## Reverend Jackson's role in# pushing for civil rights.

ANDREW YOUNG, Former U.S.

Ambassador# to the United Nations: Well, Reverend## Jackson was the second or third .. in a way, he follows best under the generation of# students coming out of the '60s and the sit-ins.

And he was a member of the group in North# Carolina A&T, Agriculture and Technical College,## that started the sit-ins.

This was five# years after Martin Luther King started the## Montgomery bus boycott.

It was this background## and the fact that he grew up in the Negro# church that prepared him for leadership.

His preaching and speaking was very much like that# of Martin Luther King, so much so that he often,## in the early days, tried to imitate Martin Luther# King.

As he matured in the movement, he developed## his own style of speaking, which was a combination# of the Black church and the movement of students.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let me ask you# more about that, because his 1984 and## 1988 campaigns reshaped politics, reshaped the# Democratic Party, reshaped coalition politics.

What did his voice as a preacher allow him to do,## allow him to say that a# traditional politician could not?

ANDREW YOUNG: Well, it was not so much that# it allowed him to say anything different.## He was basically saying the same thing that# Martin Luther King and his father were saying## years before, and even Martin's grandfather.

But Jesse mixed it with the modern jazz# of the '60s and the kind of a hip-hop## of sort of give-and-take speech, as though# you're preaching to yourself.

You ask a## question and then you give the answer.# But he was a very effective speaker,## partially because he had a great voice, and# he was he was really a good-looking kid.

He spoke the language of the young# people, which was more rhythmic## and give-and-take.

And he was funny.

He# could turn a phrase.

And "I am somebody"## became an effort of asserting his identity in# a society that did not really recognize him.

GEOFF BENNETT: When history# writes about Jesse Jackson,## what do you hope it understands about his place# in the long arc of the civil rights movement?

ANDREW YOUNG: Well, I think that he# certainly deserves an important place,## if not for his runs for presidency, for his# ability to mobilize large numbers of people.

He was a great speaker before a crowd.

And he# was always able to gather a crowd.

In fact,## every Saturday morning, he rallied the churches# of Chicago, first in Operation Breadbaskets## and then Operation PUSH, which were efforts# on his part to get the economy of Black## America integrated into the economy of, in this# case, the supermarkets and department stores.

And he was something of an economic prophet# before he started his run for the presidency.

GEOFF BENNETT: Ambassador Andrew# Young, thank you for your time,## sir, and my condolences on# the loss of your friend.

ANDREW YOUNG: Thank you.