Tom Harkin – Senator from Iowa

Though talk of President Obama being a one-term president is premature and, ultimately, hard to fathom, it must be disheartening for his supporters to hear of growing discontent within his own party.  On June 10, 2011 The Hill reported that senior Senate Democrats were growing frustrated by what they saw as President Obama’s passivity on the economy.  As a result, some Democrats are beginning to discuss a large infrastructure package funded by tax increases.  One of the Democrats who believes such a package would lower the unemployment rate by as much as two percentage points is our Member of the Week, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa.

The most senior junior senator in the Senate, Harkin was born in Cumming, Iowa on November 3, 1939.  One of six children, he still maintains the house he was born in.  After attending Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, the senator attended Iowa State University on a Navy ROTC scholarship.  He graduated with a degree in government and economics in 1962 and then served in the Navy as an active-duty jet pilot for five years.  While stationed at the Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Japan, he ferried aircraft to and from the airbase that had been damaged in the Vietnam War.  In addition to Japan, Harkin was also stationed at the Guantanamo Bay, where he flew missions in support of the U-2 planes reconnoitering Cuba.  He left active duty on 1967 but went on to serve three years in the Ready Reserves, followed by a transition into the Naval Reserves in 1970.  Harkin finally retired as a commander in 1989.

Senator Harkin moved to Washington D.C. in 1969 and began work as an aide to Democratic Congressman Neal Smith.  It was during this time that Harkin accompanied a congressional delegation trip to South Vietnam.  While in South Vietnam, Harkin took photos of political prisoners being held in “tiger cages” at Con Son Island Prison.  Shortly thereafter, he sold the photos to Life Magazine and hundreds of prisoners were released after the photos were published on July 17, 1970.

Harkin’s first incursion into politics was an unsuccessful one.  In the same year (1972) that he graduated from The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, Harkin returned to Iowa and ran against incumbent Republican Congressman, William J. Scherle.  A traditional Republican stronghold, the Iowa 5^th District had not elected a Democrat to Congress since the end of the Great Depression.  And while Hark won a higher percentage of votes than any of Scherle’s previous opponents, he nevertheless lost the race.  Undeterred by his 1972 defeat, Harkin went to work plotting his challenge in 1974 while working for the non-profit group Legal Aid.

In 1974, Harkin challenged Scherle again.  This time Harkin had the Watergate scandal on his side.  In what was generally a bad year for Republicans, Harkin defeated Scherle by 3,500 votes.  He would go on to serve ten years in the House before challenging incumbent Senator Roger Jepsen in 1984.  Unlike his first time with Scherle, Harkin defeated the one-term Republican by an 11-point margin.  He has been reelected in 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008.  His reelection in 1990 made him the only Democrat from Iowa to earn two consecutive Senate terms.  Moreover, his time of service in the Senate is longer than any Democrat in Iowa’s history, with only Neal Smith having served longer among Iowa Democrats.

His only excursion from Congress came into 1992 when he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.  He portrayed himself as the champion of average of working men and women, battling against the “fat cats” in Washington D.C..  Though organized labor lined up to support him, Harkin withdrew from the race on March 9, 1992, just before the Michigan primary.

Harkin’s political positions have been liberal and populist.  He is best known as an advocate for people with disabilities.  At the end of his first Senate term, Harkin introduced The Americans with Disabilities Act, considered his signature legislative achievement.  Additionally, Harkin has generally supported the Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade and has come out in favor of embryonic stem cell research.  He played a key role in President Obama’s attempt to pass health-reform legislation after he took over the chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee after the death of former Chairman Kennedy.

Senator Harkin has also been active in combating child labor.  Harkin, along with U.S. Representative Eliot Engel and with the support of Senator Kohl, sponsored a voluntary agreement by major players in the cocoa and chocolate industry, signed in 2001, that attempted to bring growing and processing practices in West Africa in line with previous international conventions banning child labor.

His allegiance and support of President Obama makes his discontent with the President’s economic policy that much more worrying.  Though the reports of dissatisfaction coming from Democrats toward President Obama should be taken at face value, the glimpses of disillusionment seen through Democrats like Senator Harkin could be the sign of something bigger down the line.

–Amendment202

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