by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Former Oklahoma Democratic senator, Fred Harris, was on National Public Radio (NPR) yesterday speaking about his involvement with the Kerner Commission, a panel established by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 to look into the root causes of the social unrest that was sweeping across the nation. The formal name of the investigative body was the "National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders." Senator Harris was thirty-seven-years-old when he was appointed to the eleven-member group headed by former Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois - and today Harris is the sole surviving member of the commission.
The Kerner Commission submitted its formal report, and surprisingly President Johnson, a strong proponent of Civil Rights and the man who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, refused to receive the report or to meet with commission members. The Kerner report was stark in its assessment of the racial issues dividing America, saying that years of segregation and racism had America "moving toward two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal." That was apparently a message that LBJ was not prepared to hear.
The findings of the Kerner Commission went on to be published as a paperback for sale to the public - and was a best seller.
Today Fred Harris, along with Alan Curtis, the CEO of the Milton Eisenhower Foundation, have updated the original report in a document entitled: "Healing Our Divided Society: Investing in America Fifty Years after the Kerner Report." Harris and Curtis are co-editors of the update - and that stirred NPR's interest in the aging former senator, now a long-time resident of New Mexico. The radio report made it obvious that while Fred Harris has aged, he remains as sharp and passionate as he was a half-century ago.
Now for my personal Fred Harris stories:
Harris, a liberal Democrat, somehow managed to win a special election to the U.S. Senate in 1964 to succeed Robert S. Kerr (of the oil family). He narrowly defeated famed and popular University of Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson. Harris went on to win a full term in 1966 and fell out of grace with the folks back home when he began aligning himself with the goals and programs of LBJ's Great Society. Hubert Humphrey had teased the idea of making Harris his running mate in 1968, but after that didn't happen it became obvious that the left-leaning senator from Oklahoma probably wouldn't be able to win another six-year term in 1972.
So Fred Harris opted instead to run for President - and that is where our paths crossed.
Harris and his political activist wife, LaDonna, a Comanche, held a small political rally in Miami, Oklahoma, very early in the campaign. and my wife and I and another couple, James and Patti Carroll, drove over to Miami to attend. It was in January of 1972, and the crowd was not large. Some of the people there were relatives of LaDonna Harris. Fred gave a short and rousing speech, and that was followed by a meet-and-greet in which we got to speak with the candidate and his wife and pose for pictures. Of the two, LaDonna stands out the clearest in my memory, primarily for all of the beautiful turquoise Indian jewelry that she was wearing.
The following month Fred Harris lost the Iowa Democratic primary to Jimmy Carter and his presidential campaign effectively came to an end. Harris became the first rung on Carter's ladder to the presidency.
LaDonna Harris ran for Vice President in 1980 on the Citizen's Party ticket. The presidential candidate on that ticket was biologist and activist Barry Commoner.
And there's more:
In February of 2007 I went on a cruise with Ms. Magazine and the National Association of Social Workers. The cruise, which took us to ports in Key West, Mexico, and Central America, featured a range of nationally known speakers (people like Delores Huerta, Tyne Daly, Eleanor Smeal, Celinda Lake, and many others), and offered social work continuing education credits for attending the lectures - my primary reason for going. On the first or second day of the cruise I found myself standing in a line with two very interesting ladies. One was Dr. Martha Burk, the woman who was a leading force in getting the Augusta National Golf Club to open its membership to women - as well as being a perennial and painful thorn in the side of Walmart, and the other was her close friend, LaDonna Harris. I opened my part of the conversation by telling Mrs. Harris about meeting her thirty-five years before, and we had a very nice visit. We spoke several more times during the cruise.
Fred Harris would have made a great President - and so would have LaDonna! I continue to wish them the best that life has to offer.
Citizen Journalist
Former Oklahoma Democratic senator, Fred Harris, was on National Public Radio (NPR) yesterday speaking about his involvement with the Kerner Commission, a panel established by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 to look into the root causes of the social unrest that was sweeping across the nation. The formal name of the investigative body was the "National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders." Senator Harris was thirty-seven-years-old when he was appointed to the eleven-member group headed by former Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois - and today Harris is the sole surviving member of the commission.
The Kerner Commission submitted its formal report, and surprisingly President Johnson, a strong proponent of Civil Rights and the man who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, refused to receive the report or to meet with commission members. The Kerner report was stark in its assessment of the racial issues dividing America, saying that years of segregation and racism had America "moving toward two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal." That was apparently a message that LBJ was not prepared to hear.
The findings of the Kerner Commission went on to be published as a paperback for sale to the public - and was a best seller.
Today Fred Harris, along with Alan Curtis, the CEO of the Milton Eisenhower Foundation, have updated the original report in a document entitled: "Healing Our Divided Society: Investing in America Fifty Years after the Kerner Report." Harris and Curtis are co-editors of the update - and that stirred NPR's interest in the aging former senator, now a long-time resident of New Mexico. The radio report made it obvious that while Fred Harris has aged, he remains as sharp and passionate as he was a half-century ago.
Now for my personal Fred Harris stories:
Harris, a liberal Democrat, somehow managed to win a special election to the U.S. Senate in 1964 to succeed Robert S. Kerr (of the oil family). He narrowly defeated famed and popular University of Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson. Harris went on to win a full term in 1966 and fell out of grace with the folks back home when he began aligning himself with the goals and programs of LBJ's Great Society. Hubert Humphrey had teased the idea of making Harris his running mate in 1968, but after that didn't happen it became obvious that the left-leaning senator from Oklahoma probably wouldn't be able to win another six-year term in 1972.
So Fred Harris opted instead to run for President - and that is where our paths crossed.
Harris and his political activist wife, LaDonna, a Comanche, held a small political rally in Miami, Oklahoma, very early in the campaign. and my wife and I and another couple, James and Patti Carroll, drove over to Miami to attend. It was in January of 1972, and the crowd was not large. Some of the people there were relatives of LaDonna Harris. Fred gave a short and rousing speech, and that was followed by a meet-and-greet in which we got to speak with the candidate and his wife and pose for pictures. Of the two, LaDonna stands out the clearest in my memory, primarily for all of the beautiful turquoise Indian jewelry that she was wearing.
The following month Fred Harris lost the Iowa Democratic primary to Jimmy Carter and his presidential campaign effectively came to an end. Harris became the first rung on Carter's ladder to the presidency.
LaDonna Harris ran for Vice President in 1980 on the Citizen's Party ticket. The presidential candidate on that ticket was biologist and activist Barry Commoner.
And there's more:
In February of 2007 I went on a cruise with Ms. Magazine and the National Association of Social Workers. The cruise, which took us to ports in Key West, Mexico, and Central America, featured a range of nationally known speakers (people like Delores Huerta, Tyne Daly, Eleanor Smeal, Celinda Lake, and many others), and offered social work continuing education credits for attending the lectures - my primary reason for going. On the first or second day of the cruise I found myself standing in a line with two very interesting ladies. One was Dr. Martha Burk, the woman who was a leading force in getting the Augusta National Golf Club to open its membership to women - as well as being a perennial and painful thorn in the side of Walmart, and the other was her close friend, LaDonna Harris. I opened my part of the conversation by telling Mrs. Harris about meeting her thirty-five years before, and we had a very nice visit. We spoke several more times during the cruise.
Fred Harris would have made a great President - and so would have LaDonna! I continue to wish them the best that life has to offer.
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