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Description for Fred Harris
Hardback. In Fred Harris: His Journey from Liberalism to Populism, historian Richard Lowitt traces the political career of Fred Harris and provides new insight into one senator's search for answers to the diverse, complex, and challenging issues confronting America during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Num Pages: 320 pages, bibliography, index. BIC Classification: 1KBB; 3JJPK; 3JJPL; BGH; HBJK; HBLW3; JPF; JPQ. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 231 x 158 x 22. Weight in Grams: 547.
Riding on the coat tails of Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide victory over Barry Goldwater, Fred Harris defeated former University of Oklahoma football coach Charles (Bud) Wilkinson to become, at age 33, the youngest senator elect in the history of the Sooner state. He quickly proved himself a most active senator—he was named chairman of a subcommittee during his first year, sought to bring accountability in federal research and development programs, and concerned himself with the plight of Native Americans and poverty stricken people throughout rural America. Later, as a result of his involvement with the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disobedience, his role as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and his work in the burgeoning peace movement, Fred Harris began to articulate his plans for New Populism—a program designed for millions of Americans who believed that government should serve the people and not its special interests. In 1972 and 1976, Harris launched New Populist campaigns for the presidency, but, in both instances, inadequate funding forced him to abandon his efforts. In Fred Harris: His Journey from Liberalism to Populism, historian Richard Lowitt traces the political career of Fred Harris and provides new insight into one senator's search for answers to the diverse, complex, and challenging issues confronting America during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2002
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield United States
Number of pages
320
Condition
New
Number of Pages
320
Place of Publication
Lanham, MD, United States
ISBN
9780742521629
SKU
V9780742521629
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Richard Lowitt
Richard Lowitt is well known for his books on twentieth-century American history, including studies on the New Deal and the West, and biographies of Sens. George W. Norris and Bronson Cutting. He is editor of the volumes Politics in the Post-War American West and One-Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickhok Reports on the Great Depression. He is retired from the University of Oklahoma and has taught at Iowa State University and the University of Kentucky. He has been a visiting professor at Yale, Brown, Duke, and Emory Universities. Currently he serves as Regents Professor at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
Reviews for Fred Harris
Once again, in this quintessentially American story, Richard Lowitt shows us his sensitive historian's feel for the impact of man upon events and events upon man. His subject: the meteoric national career of Oklahoma's U.S. Senator Fred Harris, who enthralled official Washington with his brilliance and independence of mind before risking it all in two spirited but under-financed races for the presidency. The populist ideals to which Fred Harris gave such eloquent expression are rooted as deeply in our culture as Andrew Jackson and have special relevance as America seeks to fulfill its destiny in the 21st century.
James C. Wright, Jr., former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Richard Lowitt—through exhaustive research in primary sources—has tendered a compelling story about a politician, liberal in outlook and policies, who was willing to brave constituency wrath on behalf of his dreams for all Americans. This book will be of utmost importance to historians and scholars investigating U.S. history during the 1960s and 1970s.
Ben Procter, Texas Christian University Richard Lowitt's Fred Harris provides an interesting portrait of a man whose importance in American politics in the 1960s and 1970s has heretofore been greatly underappreciated.
Robert S. McElvaine, Millsaps College Richard Lowitt has written a very readable political biography. Drawing on Harris's papers housed in the Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma, other archival sources, and the public record, Lowitt provides a very objective account of Harris's career. He eschewed interviewing Harris, wanting to "come to my own conclusions." That he has, and here they are.
Booknotes
...This is a very worthy book about one of Oklahoma's favorite sons and one of the more interesting politicians of recent American politics. Leaders and citizens alike would greatly benefit from reading this book and following the fine example of Fred Harris.
Journal of Southern History
Richard Lowitt's highly readable biography of Fred Harris offers a new perspective on the politics of the 1960s and makes clear that the causes Senator Harris championed—on behalf of the rural poor, of Native Americans, and of others who are disadvantaged—are as salient today as they were then.
William E. Leuchtenburg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, author of The Supreme Court Reborn As Richard Lowitt makes clear, Fred Harris is important because, despite his failure to persuade the American people to adopt his populist views, the issues he raised remain pertinent thirty years later. [Lowitt's] work consistently reflects thorough research, an eye for the telling anecdote, and graceful prose, and this work is no exception. Overall, the book is highly readable and a good reminder that the United States was not always as conservative as it appears to be now.
New Mexico Historical Review
James C. Wright, Jr., former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Richard Lowitt—through exhaustive research in primary sources—has tendered a compelling story about a politician, liberal in outlook and policies, who was willing to brave constituency wrath on behalf of his dreams for all Americans. This book will be of utmost importance to historians and scholars investigating U.S. history during the 1960s and 1970s.
Ben Procter, Texas Christian University Richard Lowitt's Fred Harris provides an interesting portrait of a man whose importance in American politics in the 1960s and 1970s has heretofore been greatly underappreciated.
Robert S. McElvaine, Millsaps College Richard Lowitt has written a very readable political biography. Drawing on Harris's papers housed in the Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma, other archival sources, and the public record, Lowitt provides a very objective account of Harris's career. He eschewed interviewing Harris, wanting to "come to my own conclusions." That he has, and here they are.
Booknotes
...This is a very worthy book about one of Oklahoma's favorite sons and one of the more interesting politicians of recent American politics. Leaders and citizens alike would greatly benefit from reading this book and following the fine example of Fred Harris.
Journal of Southern History
Richard Lowitt's highly readable biography of Fred Harris offers a new perspective on the politics of the 1960s and makes clear that the causes Senator Harris championed—on behalf of the rural poor, of Native Americans, and of others who are disadvantaged—are as salient today as they were then.
William E. Leuchtenburg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, author of The Supreme Court Reborn As Richard Lowitt makes clear, Fred Harris is important because, despite his failure to persuade the American people to adopt his populist views, the issues he raised remain pertinent thirty years later. [Lowitt's] work consistently reflects thorough research, an eye for the telling anecdote, and graceful prose, and this work is no exception. Overall, the book is highly readable and a good reminder that the United States was not always as conservative as it appears to be now.
New Mexico Historical Review