U.S. Senator Harry Reid gives all young people the same advice:
"I am an example," he tells them. "If I can make it, anyone can."
Raised in a home without indoor plumbing in the rural mining community of Searchlight, Nev., the Church member now serves as the second-ranking Democrat in the United States Senate.
Following a dramatic shift of power in the 107th Congress this summer, Sen. Reid was elected by his Senate colleagues as majority whip — the highest ranking position a Church member has ever held in Congress.
Sen. Reid's success in Congress stands in stark contrast to that which Church members experienced more than 100 years ago, when in 1900 B.H. Roberts was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives but was refused a seat.
Speaking to the Church News while in Utah to participate in the recent groundbreaking of the new Huntsman Cancer Institute research hospital, Sen. Reid said it is still somewhat of a novelty to have a Church member serving in the national legislature. His uniqueness, he adds, comes from the fact that he is not only an active member of the Church, but also a Democrat.
While Church leaders have stated that they do not favor one political party over another, Sen. Reid said many Church members question his membership in the Democratic Party. "I have gone in for numerous interviews for temple recommends and other such things and I have never, ever had anyone ask what political party I belong to," he said. Over the years, he added, he has never had a General Authority talk to him about a political issue.
In contrast, he said, Church leaders have told him that because of his political position he is an ambassador for the Church.
"That is how I look at my role in the Church," he said. "I try to be as good to people as I would expect them to be to me."
That was a lesson he learned years ago while growing up in Searchlight.
"My father never graduated from the eighth grade; my mother never graduated high school. My home had an outside toilet and no hot water. We had no telephone. We had nothing. The whole town had nothing."
Still, he said, he didn't consider himself any worse or any better than anyone else.
Sen. Reid said he found success amid those humble beginnings because of family — including a mother who told him he could do it — and the Church which he joined with his wife, Landra, nearly 42 years ago.
"The Church has been really important in my life," said Sen. Reid, a former high councilor who now serves as a gospel doctrine teacher in the Washington D.C. Branch. "It has been a real buttress to my life."
Sen. Reid and his wife, who was raised Jewish, say they owe a great deal to the Church teachings they have received — especially when it came to raising their five children.
On his Congressional web site, Sen. Reid notes that his wife and children, and now 11 (soon to be 12) grandchildren, have always been his top priority.
His four sons and son-in-law all followed Sen. Reid into the legal profession, and now set the example for their father. "One of my boys called the other night . . . and said, 'Have you read your scriptures today?' I was so tired and said, 'No.' And he said, 'Well, you should do that everyday. You should read at least a chapter.' So I got the scriptures. We have met the mark ever since."
Sen. Reid said his Church leaders have also provided needed counsel and advice.
Before accepting an appointment as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, the state's top gaming official, Sen. Reid spoke to his bishop. "I said, 'I didn't want to accept it until I talked to you,' " the senator recalled. "He said, 'If you don't accept it, call [the governor] and tell him I will take it.' "
Sen. Reid said his bishop knew then what he knows today: that the world needs people who have a good frame of reference, who have been taught the difference between right and wrong, in positions of authority.
That is one of the reasons, he said, Church members should get involved in politics — at local, state or national levels. The other reason is that Church leaders have asked members to get involved.
While traveling the world, Sen. Reid has seen first-hand the international growth of the Church and the number of Church members who are making a difference everywhere.
And despite that international perspective, he still embraces his humble beginnings. In an effort to learn more about his roots, Sen. Reid recently researched and published a history of Searchlight.
He still spends some time in the town today — reflecting on his life that he says is an example of the American dream; a journey which the Las Vegas Sun once reported has taken him from "underdog to Senate's top dog."
E-mail: sarah@desnews.com
