Harlow, Bryce Nathaniel, 1916-

Bryce Nathaniel Harlow (1916-1987) was raised in Oklahoma City. Interested in public service, he attended the University of Oklahoma to study political science, graduating with a B.A. degree and a Phi Beta Kappa key in 1936. Harlow continued his studies at the University of Texas, where he served as a graduate assistant in 1937. In 1938 Harlow left the southwest for Washington, D.C., and secured a job as an assistant librarian in the House of Representatives. In 1940, with war approaching, he left his job on Capitol Hill to join the army, in which he served as part of the congressional liaison staff of the army chief of staff, General George C. Marshall. In the five years Harlow remained on Marshall''s staff he rose from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel. Also in 1940, Harlow married his sweetheart from Oklahoma, Elizabeth ("Betty") Larimore, on 25 September. Two years his junior, Betty had attended the University of Oklahoma, earning a B.A. degree in journalism. She shared Harlow''s commitment to public service and served as a Republican precinct captain in both Oklahoma and Virginia. The couple had three children, including a son who also pursued a career in public service. Harlow returned to civilian life in 1947 as director of the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee. He held this position until he joined the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 as an administrative assistant. Eisenhower was the first president to dispatch an official White House lobbyist, General Wilton Persons, to Capitol Hill. Persons had two main assistants, one being Harlow, who concentrated his efforts on the House of Representatives. By the end of Eisenhower''s eight years, Harlow was considered the most knowledgeable man in Washington on the legislative process. His courtly manner and low-key style earned him bipartisan respect. Although himself a Republican, Harlow was successful in soliciting the aid of the two most influential Texan Democrats on Capitol Hill in the 1950s, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson. Harlow quickly became a vital staff member in the Eisenhower White House. He authored many State of the Union addresses for the president and established himself as Eisenhower''s favorite speech writer. So closely had Harlow worked with Eisenhower during his administration that he served as the general''s counselor and confidant during his retirement. With the election of Democrat John F. Kennedy to the White House in 1960, Harlow joined Procter and Gamble in 1961 as director of government relations. Utilizing the skills he acquired as White House liaison to Congress, Harlow was an effective lobbyist for the manufacturer. However, when Eisenhower''s former vice president, Richard Nixon, made a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Harlow took a leave of absence from Procter and Gamble in 1968 to travel with Nixon during his campaign. Having been Eisenhower''s favorite speech writer and having helped author Republican platforms at the past four national conventions, Harlow became President Nixon''s first appointee, announced only a week after the election. Nixon soon made Harlow a counselor to the president in all fields of national affairs. Although Harlow ceased to be a political adviser after Gerald Ford''s presidency, he remained an astute observer of the Washington scene and occasionally offered advice to President Ronald Reagan. In 1982 President Reagan awarded Harlow the Medal of Freedom, the nation''s highest civilian honor, and in June of that year a dinner was given in honor of Harlow by his friends who wished to salute his integrity, humor, and leadership. A scholarship fund was set up that evening for students of business-government relations at Georgetown University. Every year the Bryce Harlow Foundation sponsors an award to recognize an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of business-government relations.

Government official.

A native Oklahoman, Bryce N. Harlow was born in 1916. Following graduation from the University of Oklahoma in 1938, he went to Washington, D.C., where he served on Capitol Hill as assistant librarian of the U.S. House of Representatives and as a congressional staff member. From 1941 1946, he was an Army officer on the staff of General George C. Marshall. Following World War II, he returned to Capitol Hill and was a member of the professional staff of the House Committee on Armed Services from 1947 1951. In 1952, he went back to Oklahoma and became the vice president of the Harlow Publishing Company. His stay in Oklahoma was short lived as he returned to Washington in 1953 and joined the White House staff. From 1953 1960, he served President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a variety of positions, including administrative assistant to the president, special assistant to the president, and deputy assistant to the president for congressional affairs.

In 1961, Harlow established Procter & Gamble's first office in Washington, D.C. For the next seventeen years, he represented the company in the nation's capital. When he retired in 1978, he was called the "unofficial dean of Washington corporate representatives." During this time, he also took leaves of absence to work with President Richard M. Nixon from 1968 1971 and again from 1973 1974. A senior advisor to Nixon, Harlow ultimately had the title of counselor to the president with cabinet rank. The recipient of numerous accolades, Harlow was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1977. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Medal of Freedom-the nation's highest civilian award. Harlow died in 1987.