Fred Harris, a self-proclaimed populist Democrat from Oklahoma who served in the U.S. Senate for eight years before losing his bid for president in 1976, has died. He was 94 years old.
Harris' wife, Margaret Elliston, confirmed his death in a text message to The Associated Press on Saturday, writing, “Fred Harris passed away peacefully early this morning of natural causes. He was 94 years old. Wonderful. He was a much loved man.He is a blessing. ”
Harris, who lived in New Mexico, died at a hospital in Albuquerque, Elliston told The New York Times.
Harris served in the Oklahoma State Senate for eight years after being elected in 1956. He then began his career in national politics in 1964, winning election to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy left by Robert S. Carr, who died in January. 1963.
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Sen. Fred R. Harris (D-Okla.) holds a copy of the report of the Advisory Committee on Civil War and speaks with two other members of the committee on the television and radio show “Questions and Answers.” Discussing research. March 3, 1968 in Washington. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)
“I've always called myself a populist or a progressive,” Harris said in a 1998 interview. “I'm against concentration of power. I don't like the power of money in politics. I think we should have programs for the middle class and the working class.”
As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the National Advisory Committee on Civil War, known as the Kerner Commission, appointed by then-President Lyndon Johnson to investigate urban riots in the late 1960s.
Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma served in the U.S. Senate for eight years. (AP photo, file)
The commission issued a report in 1968 declaring, “Our country is moving toward a two-society, one black and one white, a separate and unequal society.”
Thirty years later, Harris co-authored a report concluding that the commission's “prophecies have come true,” stating that “the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and minorities are being disproportionately affected.” “I am suffering from this,” he said.
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In 1976, Harris unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination and withdrew from the race due to poor performance in her early campaigns. Jimmy Carter, a more moderate, was elected president.
Harris moved to New Mexico that year and became a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. He has written and edited more than a dozen books, primarily on politics and Congress. In 1999, he expanded his writing with a mystery set in Depression-era Oklahoma.
Former Oklahoma State Senator Fred Harris stands in front of his home in Corrales, New Mexico, on Friday, July 23, 2004. Harris died Saturday at an Albuquerque hospital, his wife said. He was 94 years old. (AP Photo/Jake Schorkopf, File)
Harris was born on November 13, 1930, in a two-room farmhouse near Walters in southwestern Oklahoma. The house had no electricity, indoor toilet, or running water. He worked on a farm from the age of five, earning 10 cents a day circling horses to power hay haulers.
She then worked part-time as a janitor and printer's assistant to pay for her education at the University of Oklahoma, earning her law degree in 1954. Before beginning his political career, he practiced law in Lawton.
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Harris married his high school sweetheart LaDonna Vita Crawford in 1949 and they had three children, Kathryn, Byron, and Laura. After the couple divorced, Harris married Margaret Elliston in 1983.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
