Civil-Rights Activist Harris Wofford, Who Helped Kennedy Win Presidency, Dies Aged 92
TRAILBLAZER
Civil-rights crusader Harris Wofford, who helped John F. Kennedy win the presidency in 1960, has died at age 92. His son, Daniel, said the death resulted from complications after a fall. Among Wofford’s achievements were being elected U.S. senator for Pennsylvania, serving as JFK’s special assistant for civil rights, and, in 2008, introducing then-Sen. Barack Obama ahead of his landmark “A More Perfect Union” speech during the presidential race. In 2013, Obama awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal for his advocacy of public service. Wofford was also the fifth president of Bryn Mawr College in the 1970s, and an early supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Robert F. Kennedy once called him a “slight madman” in his passion for advancing civil rights. He’s survived by his husband, Matthew Charlton, three children, and six grandchildren.