18 Facts About Harry McPherson

Harry McPherson served in Germany as an intelligence officer, studying Russian troop deployments and plotting targets.

Harry McPherson served as assistant general counsel, associate counsel and general counsel to the Democratic Policy Committee, the Democratic Party's key legislative policy organ on the Senate side.

Harry McPherson's duties included summarizing bills coming before the Senate for members of the Calendar Committee.

From 1963 to 1964, Harry McPherson served as deputy under secretary of the Army for international affairs and special assistant to the secretary for civil functions.

Harry McPherson's responsibilities included settling civilian disputes in the Panama Canal Zone and Okinawa, and overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers.

Harry McPherson was one of Johnson's most trusted advisers, influencing his support for equal employment and Medicare legislation.

An evocative writer with a keen feel for Johnson's style of speaking and desire for terse, spare prose that included "a little poetry" and some alliteration, Harry McPherson crafted all the President's major addresses beginning in the summer of 1966.

Harry McPherson came to believe the Vietnam War was unwinnable, and along with Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford helped persuade Johnson to scale back the bombing of North Vietnam.

Harry McPherson drafted Johnson's landmark televised address of March 31,1968, announcing the policy turnaround in Vietnam as well as the fact that he would not seek reelection.

Harry McPherson finished the old agenda, and by painful example taught us something about the new.

Harry McPherson was active in cultural, civic, and political organizations.

Harry McPherson was on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1974 to 1977, and was chairman of the Democratic Advisory Council of Elected Officials Task Force on Democratic Policy.

Harry McPherson helped the board of DLA Piper's international pro bono division institute a program that sends Northwestern University Law School professors to teach at Ethiopia's underfunded Addis Ababa University School of Law.

Harry McPherson married Clayton Reid in 1952; the couple had two children, Coco and Peter.

Harry McPherson was divorced in 1981 and married in 1981 to Mary Patricia DeGroot, with whom he had a son, Samuel.

Harry McPherson was the author of numerous articles on foreign policy and political issues published in The New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere.

Harry McPherson served on the Editorial Advisory Board of Foreign Affairs and the Publications Committee of The Public Interest.

In 1994, Harry McPherson was recipient of the Judge Learned Hand Human Relations Award.