Does people do it?
Subtitle: a memoir
By: Fred Harris.
Series: Stories & storytellers -- v. 5
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Norman
Language: eng
Number of pages: 226
ISBN-13: 9780806139135
Subjects: Harris, Fred R., -- 1930-; United States. -- Congress. -- Senate -- Biography; Oklahoma. -- Legislature. -- Senate -- Biography; Legislators -- United States -- Biography; Legislators -- Oklahoma -- Biography; United States -- Politics and government -- 20th century; Oklahoma -- Politics and government -- 1907-; Oklahoma -- Biography
Genres: Biography.
Description: Fred Harris faced life's challenges with the same resolve as a favorite uncle, who said, "Does people do it? If people does it, I can do it." In this engaging memoir, he describes how he met those challenges head-on." "A child of the Great Depression, Harris grew up in the small town of Walters, Oklahoma, where he was born in a two-room house. He describes that upbringing and his initiation into state politics, and tells how he was elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of thirty-three. As he recounts his experiences in national politics, he yields an insightful look at the turbulent 1960s and 1970s." "Earning a reputation as a "new populist," Harris chaired the national Democratic Party and was a serious presidential candidate. Along the way, he encountered such giants as Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, and Robert F. Kennedy. Enlivening his account with firsthand conversations, Harris contributes to our understanding of the motivations and personalities of these figures - including the infamous tensions between Johnson and Kennedy. Despite rubbing elbows with such power brokers, Harris maintained his own reputation as a down-to-earth man of the people whose advocacy included American Indian causes." "Harris accomplished much in his distinguished career, championing human rights at home and around the world. His memoir attests to a philosophical consistency and humane liberalism that today are all too rare.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue: does people do it?; title: Before the world changed; title: Growing up Okie; title: Education of a Democrat; title: Campaigning statewide; title: The making of a United States Senator; title: Most of the way with LBJ; title: Hubert Humphrey, the happy warrior; title: Robert Kennedy, moxie and heart; title: Going national; title: A new life; title: Epilogue: this at least was good.