Vice President Harris hugs Robin Harris, daughter of shooting victim Ruth Whitfield, during Whitfield’s funeral at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York, on May 28, 2022.
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Vice President Harris delivered the eulogy for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in Houston on Thursday.
The remarks will pay tribute to the late congresswoman, who died of pancreatic cancer in July, but may also reveal how Harris will handle the president’s important role during a time of national trauma and personal grief: Chief Comforter.
Campaigns often test candidates’ ability to whip up crowds at rallies or debate opponents. But in an election year, every speech is an audition.
In a compressed campaign launched less than two weeks ago, Harris has focused on portraying herself as a fearless prosecutor. The eulogy will demonstrate her comfort with showing a more personal side and speaking in a way that has traditionally been delivered by male leaders.
Vice President Harris speaks after paying tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, on January 25, 2022.
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The role of the Chief Comforter
In America’s worst moments, it’s the president’s job to make sense of grief. Perhaps the most memorable modern example was what then-President Barack Obama said in 2015 following the mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME, a black church in Charleston, South Carolina. ’s eulogy, when he led mourners in “Amazing Grace.”
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Terry Szuplat, an Obama speechwriter, said the most effective eulogies end with hope and point the way forward, including his speech in response to the Boston Marathon bombings.
“Even now, all these years later, people still say to me, ‘I still remember how those words helped guide our country through difficult times,'” said Szuprat, author of a forthcoming book. “is called Speak Well: Find your voice, speak your mind and inspire all audiences.
Eulogies can be a mirror, Szuprat said—the choices the eulogist makes and the qualities they uphold to be remembered reflect their own values. So for a president or presidential candidate, eulogies can be enlightening.
“Is this the person I want to hear from? Is this the person I want to represent me, especially in times of tragedy? Can they step up? Can they behave with dignity, decency and empathy? That is It’s all part of being president,” Suprat said.
Joe Biden speaks at the memorial service for Senator John McCain on August 30, 2018 in Phoenix.
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Biden has been a frequent caroler
When Donald Trump became president, he did not openly accept this part of the job. But that’s the role presidents are expected to assume, especially in the broadcast age.
In 1986, after America watched in horror as the Challenger space shuttle exploded on live television, President Ronald Reagan canceled his scheduled State of the Union address and addressed the nation instead.
He spoke directly to the schoolchildren who were watching the shuttle takeoff live because their teachers were on board: “I know it’s hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of discovery and discovery.” It’s all part of taking risks and expanding human horizons, and the future does not belong to the timid, but to the brave.
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President Biden is known for his tendency to dwell on these sad moments – often drawing on his own pain from losing his first wife and young daughter in a car crash and from burying his beloved son Beau after his death from brain cancer .
“That black hole in your chest that you feel like you’re being sucked into. The survivor’s remorse, the anger. The question of faith in your soul,” he said in a speech early in his presidency as he commemorated the deaths of 500,000 Americans. From COVID-19.
President Obama hugs Vice President Joe Biden during the funeral for Biden’s son, Beau, in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 6, 2015.
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Since entering public office, he has delivered dozens of eulogies, from former Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to former Senate colleagues Harry Reid, Bob Dole and John McCain.
“I learned a long time ago: never write a good eulogy. Because if you write a good eulogy, you have to write a lot of eulogies,” he quipped in 2022.
Harris’ past eulogies
As vice president, Harris has not been called upon to play the role of comforter as often as Biden. When she does so, she emphasizes messages of strength and vulnerability.
In 2023, she spoke at the funeral of Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old black man who was injured by police in Memphis, Tennessee. She spoke of the pain his family had endured, then moved on to make a larger point.
“So when we talk about public safety, let’s understand it in its truest sense. Tyr Nichols should be safe,” she said.
In a 2022 ceremony following the mass shooting at a Tops grocery store in the black community of Buffalo, New York, Harris said the true measure of faith is not based on who you defeat, but who you lift up.
“We will not allow little people to sow fear in our communities… We will not be afraid to stand up for what is right and tell the truth, even when it may be hard to hear and say,” she said.
Vice President Harris speaks at the funeral for Ruth Whitfield at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Buffalo on May 28, 2022.
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But Harris’ remarks to Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee may have been more personal. They were friends and members of the same fraternity, and the two worked together in Washington, D.C., including on a bill recognizing Juneteenth.
In a way, Harris stands on the shoulders of Jackson Lee, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
“I think she’s in a unique position, as a black woman, as a woman of color, who has reached the highest level that we’ve ever seen an elected woman reach in this country to date, and she’s able to really understand What does it mean to look back on the career of Sheila Jackson Lee,” said Walsh.
Then – Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Sen. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Calif., during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 27, 2018. Congresswoman Dianne Feinstein spoke.
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Throughout American history, the role of chief comforter has been male. If Harris wins in November, this will be just one of many aspects of leadership she will redefine.
“The image of the president is very much a male, very masculine image, but the job of someone who in many ways steps in and comforts and comforts fits the gender stereotype of women,” said Walsh.
