Struggles for Jesse Jackson, Father and Son Judy Dehaas/Rocky Mountain News, via Associated Press Jesse L. Jackson Jr. at the Democratic National Convention in 2008 IF there's a crisis unfolding somewhere, it's a good bet that the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is on his way. Over the years, Mr. Jackson, 71, who has a fondness for staring into the lens of a television camera, has jetted to tense locales around the world to negotiate the release of hostages. When President Clinton's White House was engulfed in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Mr. Jackson showed up to offer spiritual guidance, including some advice he described to a reporter at the time: "Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. And don't panic. Recently, Mr. Jackson marched in the rain, and was arrested, with workers losing their jobs in Freeport, Ill. He popped up in Baltimore to oppose plans for a youth detention facility. And he appeared in Cincinnati just before Election Day, denouncing long lines as proof of repress-the-vote tactics. For all his mastery at inserting himself into and shaping a story line, though, he appears less sure how to cope with a crisis much closer to home: Mr. Jackson's oldest and namesake son, Jesse L. Jackson Jr., has vanished from public view, grappling for months with bipolar disorder. He is also the subject of a federal criminal investigation, and he announced on Wednesday that he would be resigning his seat in Congress less than three weeks after he won re-election. On the topic of his son, the elder Mr. Jackson seems for once to be without a clever phrase to crystallize a situation, and at one point this summer slipped away from reporters through the back kitchen of a hotel. When he has spoken of his son, his words lack their usual staccato sharpness. "He will get well in time, but it's not the kind of illness where you can put a timetable on it," a subdued Mr. Jackson told reporters outside his home here following the resignation. If you're bleeding, you get a Band-Aid. If you break a leg, you get a splint. With this kind of internal, unresolved challenge, you have to take the time, and the environment. Frank Watkins, an aide to the younger Mr. Jackson since he was first elected to Congress almost two decades ago and a colleague of his father long before that, said, "I see confusion." He described the father as "not knowing what to do relative to mental health, especially as it pertains to his own son - and kind of at a loss." Former Representative Jackson, 47, whose whereabouts was not disclosed last week, could not be reached for comment. Requests for an interview with the elder Mr. Jackson went unanswered. And many people interviewed for this article declined to be quoted by name, citing concern about their relationship with the family. But nearly everyone shared the same impression, that the sure-footed leader of his political family was unable to sway this story line, try as he might. Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer, son of the late Mayor Eugene Sawyer of Chicago, who said he has known the Jacksons for decades, described the situation as gut-wrenching for the father. "For such a powerful man, for such an influential man, to not be able to control the outcome of what's going on, I'm sure, is frustrating," Alderman Sawyer said. By all accounts, the relationship between father and his oldest son has been complex, layered with love, pressure, resentment and even competition. The younger Mr. Jackson, still known as Junior to many in Chicago and as Fella to adults who knew him as a child, grew up in a house on the South Side with a famous father who took him to protests and sermons around the world. Associates said that Jesse Jr., one of five siblings, grew up respecting his father, who was often gone, but was perhaps closer to his mother, Jacqueline. He had the benefits of his father's name, but also the inevitable pressures to carry on the family's legacy. "I grew up in a house with great expectations," he told The Chicago Tribune in 1995, months before he first ran for Congress. Everything I do has a mark of excellence on it. "If I want to be a lawyer, that's not enough," added Mr. Jackson, who has a law degree and a master's in theology. I need to be a Supreme Court justice one day. If I wanted to be an elected official, that's not enough. "One day, son, you may be president." " Steven Yaccino contributed reporting.