Former US senator and UNM political science professor Fred Harris dies at 94

CORRALES -- Fred Harris, a former U.S. senator for Oklahoma whose storied career in politics evolved into academia as a professor at the University of New Mexico, died on Saturday. He was 94.

The Corrales resident died of natural causes, his family said.

Corrales Mayor James Fahey was saddened by the news.

“I’m so sorry. He was an honorable man, and there are not enough of them,” he said.

Politicians around New Mexico and former students and colleagues from UNM mourned the loss of Harris, an accomplished Democratic lawmaker, author and inspiration to many who came through his classroom.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called Harris a longtime friend and “towering presence in politics and in academia.”

“In addition to being a highly accomplished politician and professor, he was a decent, honorable man who treated everyone with warmth, generosity, and good humor,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Sen. Harris was a lesson in leadership that public officials would be wise to emulate now and forever.”

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., called Harris “a tireless and unyielding hero” who inspired thousands to “take up public service.” U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., said, although Harris’ titles included senator, chairman and professor, “we know him in New Mexico as our friend and mentor.”

After a long career in politics, which included championing civil rights and runs for president of the United States and governor of Oklahoma, Harris landed in New Mexico, where he taught political science at UNM and started an internship to give students, particularly the underprivileged, real-life experience in the nation’s capital.

Harris was born in Walters, Oklahoma, and raised on a farm there.

In a recent interview with David Steinberg for the Journal, Harris said his first job was working within the family business as a hay-baler. He said he later took jobs as a printer to pay for college at the University of Oklahoma, where he majored in history and political science.

Harris got his law degree and founded a law firm while being elected to the Oklahoma State Senate in 1956, according to Harris’ biography by the Oklahoma Historical Society. He stopped practicing law in 1964, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate following an unsuccessful run for governor.

The biography states that during his two terms in the Senate, Harris authored or co-authored numerous bills, and in 1968 he was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, after several race riots. This appointment led Harris to become involved in civil rights for the marginalized and he turned into a sharp critic of the Vietnam War.

According to the Oklahoma Historical society, throughout his senatorial career Harris promoted rural development and was a firm friend of agricultural programs as a way of slowing rural migration to urban areas.

“As a member of the Public Works Committee he furthered his predecessor’s goal in guiding through Congress legislation carrying forward the Arkansas River navigation program, and tributary development, including the construction of dams in Oklahoma. Like all members of the Oklahoma delegation he worked to further Indian health and community development. Early in his career he also exhibited an interest in foreign policy, seeking to curtail assistance to countries that violate human rights or manifest hostility to the United States,” the website reads.

As U.S. senator, Harris was a large force in getting the sacred Blue Lake lands returned to the people of Taos Pueblo through bipartisan legislation that was signed into law by President Richard Nixon.

Laura Harris, Harris’ youngest daughter, told the Journal it was one of her father’s proudest accomplishments — many of which were geared toward serving the underserved.

“He really strived to create systemic change and was very successful in doing that. So I think that’s what he dedicated his life to,” Laura Harris said.

In 1969, Harris was chosen by Vice President Hubert Humphrey to serve as chairman for the Democratic National Committee, a position he used to try to broaden party participation for women and minorities before resigning in early 1970, according to the biography. Harris ran for president twice, in 1972 and 1976, on the platform of what he called “New Populism,” which espoused “a fairer distribution of wealth.”

Harris switched gears after his second aborted presidential bid, beginning a long teaching career at UNM as a political science professor. His wife, Margaret Elliston, told the Journal that Harris had been visiting the state for years and was drawn to its picturesque landscapes and Native American culture, feeling the land was “welcoming” to him.

Mike Weber, a former student of Harris’, said the two would spend hours talking in his office, when Harris would share stories of his time in politics and his “truly extraordinary knowledge.”

“He was one of my two favorite professors ever, and a source of inspiration as I pursued decades of work behind the scenes in politics and public policy,” Weber told the Journal.

In 2006, Harris took his educational contribution to another level, starting UNM’s Fred Harris Congressional Internship program. The program gives undergraduates a chance to travel to Washington, D.C., and work in the offices of New Mexico delegation members.

“Legions of UNM students over the decades were educated in the finer points of U.S. government by Fred, whose deep intelligence, practical experience, and inexhaustible wit captivated and inspired his students,” Jami Nelson-Nuñez, chair and associate professor of the UNM Political Science Department, said in a statement. “... He believed that it was critical to have our students understand and engage the institutions that govern their lives.”

Harris’ family said he hoped to inspire students, particularly those economically disadvantaged, to get involved in politics. His children told the Journal it was a regular occurrence to have a student approach them to tell Harris how much they loved his teaching.

Laura Harris said her father made sure his children were “included in everything that he learned and everything that he did.”

“Our dinner table conversation… I can remember from 6 years old on, we were talking about politics, and all of us kids certainly knew who was in the White House at a very young age,” she said.

The family remembered Harris as a curious person and a history buff.

“And he shared all of that with us and made us curious people who love history and are deeply involved in politics,” Laura Harris said.

That meant road trips to every Civil War battle site in Virginia, where they were raised, and trips to places such as the ancient ruins of Tikal in Guatemala before it was even open to tourists.

Harris’ family said, especially in the current political and societal climate of America, they will miss his humor and positivity, as he referred to himself as a “radical optimist.”

“He had a lot of hope, even after this election, for our future and knew that we could get through these difficult times that we’ve been through before,” Laura Harris said. “He really believed in people. One of his presidential campaigns sayings was ‘people are smart enough to govern themselves, and if they’re given real information, they can make decisions that are good for them. And that’s what we ought to encourage.’”

In an interview published in 2012, Harris looked back on what he felt was one of his greatest achievements: the return of Blue Lake.

Harris said he never understood why the Taos Pueblo leaders approached a senator from Oklahoma but said it had been “a great blessing to have been involved in that fight.”

“They said, ‘We don’t want money, we want the land.’ They were so convincing to me, these old men, leaders of Taos Pueblo, they’d been on this fight nearly 60 years,” Harris said in the video. “I said to a staff member of mine who was in this meeting, after they left, I said, ‘If we don’t do another thing while we’re here, let’s see if we can get Taos Pueblo back their land.’”

— Michaela Helean contributed to this story.