Chuck grassley and tom harkin biography

American lawyer and politician (born 1939)

Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as a United States senator from Iowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representative for Iowa's 5th congressional district from 1975 to 1985. He is the longest-serving senator to spend the entire tenure as a state's junior senator.

Born in Cumming, Iowa, Harkin graduated from Iowa State University and The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law. He served in the United States Navy as an active-duty jet pilot (1962–1967). After serving as a congressional aide for several years, he made two runs for the U.S. House

The retirement of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin marks the end of an era in which he and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley claimed the third-longest joint representation of any state in the U.S. Senate.

Harkin, a Democrat, had held the state's junior seat since 1985, serving alongside fellow Iowan Grassley, a Republican, during each of his 10,957 days in office.

Grassley and Harkin served exactly 30 years together, which was surpassed historically by only two other pairs of U.S. Senate members, according to Smart Politics, a nonpartisan political news site written by Eric Ostermeier at the University of Minnesota'sHumphrey School of Public Affairs.

South Carolina's Strom Thurmond and Fritz Hollings — also from opposing parties — hold the record for joint service. They served 36 years, 1 month, and 26 days together from 1966 to 2003, when Thurmond retired from office at 100 years old. The second-longest were Mississippi Democrats James Eastland and John Stennis, who served alongside one another from 1947 to 1978, when Eastland resigned a week before the end of his sixth full term.

During Harkin's final days in office, the Iowa duo passed Maine's Eugene Hale and William Frye (29 years, 11 months, 13 days) and Arkansas' John McClellan and J. William Fulbright (29 years, 11 months, 28 days), Smart Politics reports.

With the end of the Grassley-Harkin era, the title of longest currently serving pair in the chamber falls to California Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who have logged 22 years and three days together through Jan. 6.

Grassley, who already owns Iowa's mark as the state's oldest U.S. senator, is slated to pass Republican William Allison (1873-1908) in early June 2016 for the longest service in the chamber in Hawkeye State history, Smart Politics reported. Grassley is currently second on that list with Harkin third.

Republican Chuck Grassley's voice grew ragged with emotion when Tom Harkin walked into the U.S. Senate chamber in the midst of his farewell tribute to his Democratic friend.

"As you start life's next chapter," Grassley said near the end of his eight-minute floor speech today, "and I see my colleague's here so I can look at him. As you start life's next chapter, may you enjoy the blessings of hearth and home, health and happiness."

Grassley's voice trembled as he seemed to struggle to hold back tears. "Although Tom is retiring from public office, I'm confident he is not retiring from serving the public interest."

Today is Harkin's 75th birthday, and in early January, he will retire. It will be the first time that Grassley and Harkin haven't served together in Congress since before they were sworn in to the U.S. House in 1975. They have been colleagues in the U.S. Senate since the 1980s. Grassley, 81, intends to seek re-election in 2016.

"For some reason, our respective re-elections every six years have actually confounded political observers. Many couldn't seem to square the notion that Iowans would continue to elect two U.S. senators from opposite sides of the political spectrum for the last three decades," Grassley said. "Although some of our silver-tongued critics over the years may have ascribed Tom's views as those of a bleeding heart liberal or mine mischaracterized as that of a cold-hearted conservative, we both, Tom and I, know that our hearts have always been in the right place."

Grassley said while he and Harkin may not see eye to eye on politics and ideology, Harkin's "legacy reflects the priorities he set out to achieve decades ago: to make a difference for those on the down side of advantage."

He ended his speech by saying: "From one constituent to another, I thank you for a lifetime of public service. And I wish you good luck and Godspeed. I yield the floor."

Harkin thanked Grassley and said "we have