Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Reid was Obama’s support
American Democratic veteran dies
He sat in the US Senate for decades. For a long time Harry Reid was the majority leader and loyal helper in Obama’s presidency. With pride he repeatedly referred to his poor background. In his honor, Las Vegas named its airport after him.
The longtime Democratic US Senator Harry Reid is dead. He died on Tuesday at the age of 82 of pancreatic cancer, according to a statement from his wife, quoted from the US media. As the Democratic group leader, Reid was the most powerful man in the US Senate and a key strategist for years until his party lost its majority in the November 2014 congressional elections. Until 2017 Reid was still a minority leader of the Democrats in the Senate – then he said goodbye to the political scene in Washington.
As a senator, Reid gained almost three decades of experience in politics. In 1986 he entered the Senate for the first time. He was a democratic veteran, was often uncompromising and had a sharp tongue. After the 2004 elections, he took over the leadership of the House of Lords Democrats. Reid was considered a loyal supporter of the then US President Barack Obama and had to punch numerous political projects through the Senate.
The Democrat grew up in poor conditions in Searchlight, Nevada, which he kept referring to: his father was a miner, his mother a washerwoman. As a teenager, he had to hitchhike 40 miles to high school. In his youth he was also a prize boxer. He financed his law studies by working night shifts with the US parliamentary police. Reid was more conservative than most of the other Senate Democrats. As a practicing Mormon, he strictly opposed abortion. In 2018, doctors diagnosed Reid with pancreatic cancer.
It was only this year that the international airport of the glittering metropolis Las Vegas was named after him. “Without your encouragement and support, I would not have become president, and I would not have achieved most of what I have achieved without your ability and determination,” wrote Obama on the death of his former companion.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the flags on the Capitol would be raised to half mast. “Harry Reid was one of the most amazing people I have ever met,” he said.