Most people don’t remember him.

He served as a United States Senator. He was from Oklahoma — a native son. He was born poor, but smart. He attended the University of Oklahoma and, eventually, earned a Law Degree.

His name is Fred Harris.

And he came damn close to being President of the United States.

With the 2008 presidential election finished, former Senator Fred Harris’ memoir, Does People Do It? offers political junkies (who didn’t get enough of the recent presidential campaign) a chance to visit the past and discover a vivid, personal, and at times touching portrait one of Oklahoma’s most successful politicians.

A child of the Great Depression, Harris grew up in Walters, Oklahoma. He hit the political scene early, running for and getting elected to the Oklahoma Legislature.

From there, at 33, he went on the United States Senate, filling the seat formerly held by “the uncrowned king” Robert S. Kerr, who had died.

Elected during the time of the Kennedys, Nixon and Watergate, Harris would serve with some of the titans of government: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern.

Later, he would serve as chair of the national Democratic Party and, after that, a candidate for president.

A short, brief memoir, Harris’ book isn’t the usual collection of rambling memories from an aged politician. Instead, it’s a concise, personal lesson on national politics.

In Does People Do It? We learn of the tension between Harris, Lyndon B. Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy. And while Harris wasn’t the principle character in each drama, he did play a major role in the supporting cast.

Describing Robert Kennedy, Harris wrote that he was impressed by the former attorney general’s wit. “It was that dry, wry wit that got me,” he said.

Later, Harris writes of watching Kennedy at the 1964 Democratic Convention in Atlantic City:

“I was terribly moved on that occasion. There were tears in all our eyes…caused by his narration of a film about his dead brother, President John Kennedy. In that vast hall that night, we all saw Robert Kennedy, bereft and alone.”

Now comfortable in his role as U.S. Senator — and, himself, a major player on the political stage — Harris would run for, and be elected as, the chairman of the national Democratic Party in 1972.