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Last conversations with former Sen. Fred Harris
Russell Contreras
Former Sen. Fred Harris (D-Okla.) stayed out of the national spotlight after leaving Congress, but over the years, he still had plenty to say about the nation's future to young leaders, students — and me.
The big picture: Harris, the last surviving member of the Kerner Commission, a panel appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 to examine the causes of the 1960s riots, died Saturday at 94.
Over seven years, I held several sit-down interviews and private conversations with him about the Democratic Party, President Lyndon Johnson and feeling guilty about mistakes he made in fighting poverty.
The intrigue: He's talked to me about his disappointment with the modern Democratic Party, the time President Johnson threatened to castrate him and how he convinced President Richard Nixon to give land back to Native Americans.
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/24/fred-harris-senator-kerner-commission
History holds many answers to governing.