Ruth Harkin, wife of former Iowa senator Tom Harkin and one of the namesakes of the Harkin Institute at Drake, has been compiling her life stories for years, from being an early female county attorney in Iowa to agreeing to move to Korea before she knew where it was. Now, she’s published her works in the anthology “When My Husband Ran for President and Other Short Stories.” She launched the book on Thursday at a reading in the building named after her and her husband — the Tom and Ruth Harkin Center at Drake University. 

Ruth Harkin said that she began compiling her writings for her daughters and grandchildren, though the published novel is only around 10% of her total writings.

“I wanted to inspire them to take the path less traveled or take a path that might be more difficult for you to do. And above all, if you don’t like what you’re doing, stop doing it and do something else, because life really is an adventure,” Ruth Harkin said at the launch. 

Ruth Harkin said that any money she would have earned from the book will be going towards the Harkin Institute, which researches labor and employment, people with disabilities, retirement security and wellness and nutrition, all of which were Tom Harkin’s main campaign initiatives. 

“I was never thinking of making personal money writing a book, and at the same time, we definitely need a lot of funds for the endowment of the Harkin Institute to keep it going over the decades,” Ruth Harkin said. 

At the launch, former director of the Harkin Institute Marsha Ternus introduced Ruth Harkin, who, after a short speech, read passages from the novel. Ruth Harkin then answered questions from the audience. 

The anthology begins with the “Korea Chronicles.” When Ruth Harkin was studying at the University of Minnesota, her only goal was getting out of Minnesota. While she’d originally planned to travel to Germany with her friend to manage service clubs for the army, the job interviewer kept mentioning Korea as a possibility. 

“On the way out the door, on pure impulse, I turned around and said, ‘Sign me up for Korea.’ Then I hopped on the bus home and ran into the house looking for a map. Where the hell was Korea?” Ruth Harkin read from her book at the launch. 

Ruth Harkin spent those years managing the service club at Camp Hovey, an outpost with 2,500 men to entertain with programming. Service clubs kept up morale and welfare at bases. While it was difficult to find topics unrelated to women, alcohol or cars, she managed. She met Tom Harkin while visiting a shrine in Japan. 

Ruth Harkin would marry Tom Harkin in a ceremony of 12 guests in a hastily-bought dress before moving back to the Midwest, this time to Iowa. As she was studying for the bar exam, a representative of the Democratic Party asked her to run in the race for Story County’s county attorney. 

Ruth Harkin recalled the representative telling her that she “‘couldn’t possibly win this race. There are no women county attorneys in any of the 99 counties, and in Story County there are no women attorneys or Democratic attorneys.’” And yet, she won. 

“I said that I would be a full-time county attorney, and he [her opponent] said ‘I could never be full-time because it’s not enough money for me to live on,’” Ruth Harkin read from her book. “Well, that’s the amount everybody else in Story County was living on.” 

Ruth Harkin served as county attorney from 1973-1979, during which she focused on hiring more female interns and attorneys, encouraging them to become prosecutors. In her eyes, it was a matter of “who else will?” 

The story of when her husband ran for president, which the book is named for, focuses on the campaign’s beginning and end, and the speeches made. At the launch, Ruth Harkin expressed satisfaction that they ended the campaign with dignity. 

Ternus said in her introduction of Ruth Harkin that “the surprising richness of Ruth Harkin’s life that renders D.C. a mere footnote, the extraordinary perceptiveness of her observations of people and events and the grace and wit she displays in the retelling of these memorable moments in her life” made this book a delight for her to read. 

Among many other roles, Ruth Harkin also served as deputy general counsel at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation under President Bill Clinton. She was also on the Iowa Board of Regents, the board that oversees Iowa’s public universities.  

“Through snapshots in time, she invites us into her life, sharing the extraordinary moments, but more often, the ordinary moments,” Ternus said in her introduction. 

Lila Johnson, graphic designer and digital accessibility specialist at the Harkin Institute, said the event was easy to plan. Johnson said it was sold out and had large media interest in part because of the lasting legacy of the Harkins. 

“She just has such a lasting impact on the people of Iowa. It’s so exciting for her to tell her story in her own words and give it out to people,” Johnson said in an interview with The Times-Delphic. 

“When my Husband Ran for President and Other Short Stories” is available here.