Ruth Harkin (née Raduenz; born 1944) is an American attorney who served as county attorney of Story County, Iowa, one of the first female prosecutors elected in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Early life and education

Harkin was born in

Vesta, Minnesota Vesta is a city in Redwood County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 319 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. The Redwood River flows through the so ...

on August 27, 1944. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the Columbus School of Law.

Career

Harkin was elected county attorney of Story County, Iowa in 1973 and served until 1979. From 1979 to 1981, she served as a deputy counsel for the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

prior to joining the Washington lobbying firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP in 1983. In 1993, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

named her Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Harkin left the government and became Senior Vice President for international affairs and government relations of United Technologies in April 1997. In 2002, she became a Director of

ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in ...

. Harkin was a member of the

Iowa Board of Regents The Board of Regents, State of Iowa (commonly referred to as the Iowa Board of Regents) is the 9-member governing body overseeing the three public universities in the state of Iowa: the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University ...

from 2005 to 2015. Harkin endorsed

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in the

2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party chose their nominee for President of the United States, president in the 2008 United States presidential election. United States Senate, Senato ...

Personal life

Harkin has been married to the former United States Senator

Tom Harkin Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as a United States senator from Iowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representative for Iowa' ...

since 1968. The couple has two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harkin, Ruth 1944 births People from Story County, Iowa American lobbyists University of Minnesota alumni Living people Overseas Private Investment Corporation officials ConocoPhillips people United Technologies people District attorneys in Iowa American women lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers People from Redwood County, Minnesota Columbus School of Law alumni United States Department of Agriculture officials Iowa Women's Hall of Fame Inductees