Harris, Louis

Public opinion pollster Louis Harris was born in 1921 in New Haven, Conn. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1942, he served in the United States Navy Reserves, 1942-1946, then worked for pollster Elmo Roper. In 1956, Harris founded Louis Harris and Associates in New York, N.Y., where he developed what came to be known as the Harris Poll. Harris wrote several books, including Anguish of Change (1973) and Inside America (1987).

Harris was John F. Kennedy's pollster during his 1960 campaign for president of the United States. In 1975, LHA was acquired by the Gannett Corporation and was acquired from Gannett by the Gordon S. Black Corporation in 1996. The Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill maintains the Louis Harris Data Center, the national depository for LHA's survey data.

From the guide to the Louis Harris Papers, 1940s-1990s, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)