Full text of President Bill Clinton's eulogy at Rev. Jesse Jackson's funeral in Chicago

Former President Bill Clinton spoke lovingly and with humor of his long friendship with Rev. Jesse Jackson at his funeral services at House of Hope in Chicago Friday.

Clinton recalled a decadeslong political and personal relationship with Jackson, starting from his time as attorney general of Arkansas and stretching through to the end of Jackson's life. 

Full text of President Bill Clinton's remarks at Jesse Jackson's funeral

I'm actually going to be pretty close on time.

I think we should not forget. and Jim Zogby didn't, he did a fine job, but this is a celebration and a memorial service, and you have to ask yourself, what did Jesse Jackson do that I admire most, that moved me most? And what can I do right now that would maybe be as good as what he did?

Then that's what we're all facing here. You— I love Jackie and her family. Santita sang at my second inauguration. The boys have got to go to Congress and Yusuf. The first time I met Yusuf, I thought I could do whatever I wanted if he worked for me, he just take care of things, and you're good at it.

It's been an honor to know all of you, but I want to say something, you know, highly personal tonight, I came to truly love Jesse Jackson, and we had more in common than he thought.

We were both two guys who were born to single mothers living in the South.

And so I got to watch this guy. And frankly, the first time we met was at the 20th anniversary of the celebration of the integration of Little Rock Central High School.

And some young people may not even know why that's important, but in the 1920s that school was the most beautiful high school in America.

Then, the whole time I was governor of Arkansas, that one school accounted for 25% of our merit scholars.

You could go there and study Latin and Greek, which was a pretty big deal out in the country, in addition to all the science and math.

So they were celebrating the 20th anniversary, and Jesse showed up to help them, but he was always asking himself, so what can we use the observation of a past victory for to get something done today?

So by the late 70s, all these medium sized little towns in the middle of the country were being flooded with drugs. All these folks were facing more vigorous law enforcement on the coast, but they were coming in. And I kept thinking, I know Jesse Jackson is going to know this, and he's going to say something, and I just want to be there.

And I was a 29-year-old attorney general, and Hillary, a Chicago girl, was a J.D., she was practicing law and supporting us because the salary was almost nonexistent.

So Jesse gets up in front of this crowd of kids, and their eyes were big as silver dollars. And he said, "You owe a lot to the Little Rock Nine who integrated the school. You owe a lot to Daisy Bates and the other people who supported them. You owe a lot to the people who were there long before them. You cannot take this achievement and throw it away on drugs."

And then he said, I'll never forget it. Jesse Jackson looked at these kids, and he said, "You have to open your brains, not your veins."

And I thought to myself, no matter how long I live and stay in politics, I may never have a single line, that's that good.

I mean, think about it. It's totally brilliant. It captures personal responsibility and caring and self survival.

All these pastors here have done such a great job on this.

You know, I know you spend endless hours when you're putting your sermons together and you're running your programs in your churches and thinking, what can we do that will work?

And whenever I get discouraged, I think about Jesse and I just laugh. Well, you gotta open your brains and not your veins.

So 10 years later, I was living in the governor's mansion, and Jesse shows up for the 30th anniversary of the integration of Little Rock Central High School. By then, I become governor, and we bring all them back to the governor's mansion, because that's where Governor Faubus plotted to disenfranchise him and keep Black people out of school.

So we had a big dinner that night, and after the dinner was over, Hillary asked Jesse to hang around so we could talk. We went to the kitchen, put some more food on the counter, and talked 'till midnight.

And Hillary said, you know, we all got to work tomorrow. I'm going to bed. Two hours later, Jesse and I are still going about it, and she walks into the kitchen and throws us out.

I'll never forget it.

We did not always agree, but I'll tell you one thing, he made me a better president when I got in office, because he was always pushing on things, and he knew that change came from the outside in, and sometimes from the inside out, So he knew how to keep pushing and nagging and wearing you out.

Right? Look at Governor Pritzker laughing here. I mean, it was really, it was like having a dog to the bone. You know, he was, I said, one time when he was working on something in Africa, because I made him a special envoy for African diplomacy. I said, you know, we might ought to put Jesse on the list.

And one of my staff said, only members of Congress are on that list. I know but, I said, I think we need to put him on anyway.

So I had another guy so I said, what's the list? He said, "It's a list of people that will dog you to death until you do what they want you to do. So we just call it the 'Just Say Yes list.'"

Put it on the Just Say Yes list, it'll save you so much time, and you can go on and do something else with the rest of your day.

And I remember how impressed I was in 1988 before I became president, when Jesse negotiated with Governor Dukakis and the other people at the Democratic Convention to end the exclusive primaries, which he talked about, and the caucuses, and to open up the democratic process and add people. Including Willie Barrow and Representative Maxine Waters, who became one of our senior leaders.

I'm saying this to make another point: Everybody knows how eloquent he was, and everybody knows that he could talk an owl out of a tree, but he actually was interested in policy and specifics.

So that's the second thing I'd like to say. So what if you weren't big, tall, broad shouldered and eloquent like Jesse Jackson, if you want to make change, there's still plenty you could do. If you've got an agenda, you've got to have it. He always had an agenda.

So that's the most important thing I could say to you.

Now, one other thing I am going to say: Wordsworth. You don't think about Wordsworth when you think about Jesse, but Wordsworth said the last best hope of a good man's life for the little unremembered acts of kindness and love.

I used to think all the time about how hard Jesse's childhood must have been, you know, with his mother, and then having to go past his father's house and all that, all the mixed stuff. And I knew a little about not merely a severe situation because of my situation, and I admired his mother.

I was afraid of Jackie. I'd do whatever she said, but I love you so much. But I really liked his mother, and he called me one day, and he said, "This is purely personal, but my mother liked you, you know, and I'd really appreciate it if you would speak at her service."

And he said, "Andy Young's coming, and, you know, there aren't that many of us left anymore who are over 75 and have been through all this".

And I said I would be honored. I know this sounds funny, but it really meant something to me that he wanted me to talk at his mother's memorial service.

And then— I don't think I've ever told anybody this. When the Congress was trying to run me out and I was in that big impeachment fight, Jesse called me one night in the White House.

I thought he was calling me. He said, "I don't want to talk to you. I want you to go get Chelsea."

Keep in mind, he's got all this other stuff going on. We got he called me to talk to my daughter to make sure she had her head in the game, and he prayed with her on the phone.

And, you know, a lot of people, it would never even have occurred to them to do that. And ever since, Hillary and I went to visit Jesse in the hospital and Jackie and a lot of the family were there, I've been thinking about him calling my daughter. He didn't know if I was going to be president in six months. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he liked Chelsea.

But my point is, those are the things you remember.

So, I think we should honor him by saying, okay, maybe I'll never come up with a line like open your brain and not your veins. Maybe I'll never give a speech that will move hundreds of thousand of others, but I can do something. I can still be somebody.

And what should I do? And how can I, with whatever speaking ability I have or don't have, do what he did when he calls Bill Clinton's daughter in a crisis, when he asked a friend. I know you may be busy and my mother's not famous, but would you please come say a few words, and Andy Young and I went, but we both went and we were there.

So that's what I want all of you to think about when you leave here.

This guy lived a big life.

He lived with his head and with his heart. And God. He was faithful to the Scripture, which said, 'We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.' But unlike a lot of people in politics, he didn't go around looking down his nose at other people. He hated to sin and not to sinner. He was always trying to lift people up.

So I'm here more as a friend than a former president. He was my friend when I needed him, and I ask you to ask yourself, how you can do more by being a better friend and a more effective one. God. Bless you. Thank you.