| Harry Mason Reid was born on December 2, 1939 in the small mining town of Searchlight, Nevada. His father was a miner and mother earned additionally by working as a laundress. Due to the non-existence of a high school in Searchlight, Reid was sent to study in Henderson. At school he met his future wife Landra Gould. At present, he is the father of five children and has 16 grandchildren.
One of Henderson's businessmen granted aid for him to receive a higher education. In 1961, Reid graduated from Utah State University, and then in 1964, the law faculty of George Washington University. During his university years (from 1961 to 1964), Reid earned his livelihood by working in Police Administration for the US Congress.
After his studies, Reid, who has already become a member of the Nevada Bar Association returned back to Henderson, where he was given the post of city attorney, which Reid occupied till 1966. In 1968, Reid won the Nevada Legislative Assembly. He supported the first bill in the history of the state in regards to air pollution and also worked over the legislation on protecting consumer rights.
In 1970, Reid was running mate of Mike О'Callaghan for Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and became the youngest Lieutenant Governor in the history of Nevada and held this post till 1974. From 1977 till 1981, Reid was chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
In 1982, Reid was elected to the House of Representatives in US Congress and in 1986 – to the Senate. Reid earned the reputation of being a constructive politician and his services were recognized not only by democrats but also visibly by republican senators. In 1999, Reid was elected as Deputy Leader of Democrats and the Senate Democratic Whip. Legislative acts in the sphere of education, public health services, taxation and also environment protection were upheld by Reid.
In 2005, after beginning his fourth term as Senator, Reid was unanimously elected as Majority Leader of the Democrats in the Senate. Known earlier as a supporter of compromises, he took a hard stand regarding the administration of George Bush Jr. with respect to the “Plame affair” and the war in Iraq. In September 2006, Reid demanded the resignation of the Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld.
On November 7, 2006, intermediate elections were conducted in the USA and according to the election results, the Democratic Party obtained control over both the Houses of Congress. On November 8, Bush officially declared the resignation of Rumsfeld. Reid explained that the defeat of the republicans indicates that the Americans “have got tired of the failures for the last six years”. Most likely, the Democrats shall take a hard stand on the Iraq War by the Bush Administration in the new convocation Senate, headed by Reid. On November 14, 2006, Reid was elected to the post of Majority Leader in the Senate.
Reid and his wife have five children and 16 grand children.
US President Barack Obama, on Monday, criticized the republicans and urged the resignation of Harry Reid from the Majority Leader post in the Senate due to his racial comments on President Obama.
In an interview on cable television channel “TVOne”, the main audience of which are Afro-Americans, Obama stated that this distracts everyone from more important issues such as the reform of the public health services system and the struggle against the high rate of unemployment.
“I guarantee that an average person, white or black, is now more concerned about how to advance the country, than on what Harry Reid said some years ago”, - stated President Obama.
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Lots of buzz in the news this week about Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's racist remarks he did on Obama back in 2008.
Reid, a noted champion of civil rights, has publicly apologized for referring to President Barack Obama as "light-skinned" with no "Negro dialect" during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Democrats want this scandal over as soon as possible and seemed to forgive Harry, but Republicans say the racist-speaking senator should resign as soon as possible.
