Researching Harry Reid

Reid began his public career as the city attorney for Henderson, Nevada, before being elected to the Nevada Assembly in 1968. Reid's former boxing coach, Mike O'Callaghan, chose Reid as his running mate in the 1970 Nevada gubernatorial election, and Reid served as Lieutenant Governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1975. After being defeated in races for the United States Senate and mayor of Las Vegas, Reid served as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission from 1977 to 1981. From 1983 to 1987, Reid represented Nevada's 1st district in the United States House of Representatives.

Reid was elected to the United States Senate in 1986 and served in the Senate from 1987 to 2017. He served as the Senate Democratic Whip from 1999 to 2005 before succeeding Tom Daschle as Senate Minority Leader. The Democrats won control of the Senate after the 2006 United States Senate elections, and Reid became the Senate Majority Leader in 2007. He held that position for the final two years of George W. Bush's presidency and for the first six years of Barack Obama's presidency. As Majority Leader, Reid helped pass major legislation of the Obama administration, such as the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Act, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In 2013, under Reid's leadership, the Senate Democratic majority controversially invoked the "nuclear option" to eliminate the 60-vote requirement to end a filibuster for presidential nominations, other than nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court. Republicans took control of the Senate following the 2014 United States Senate elections, and Reid served as Senate Minority Leader from 2015 until his retirement in 2017.

Reid was succeeded as the Senate Democratic leader by Chuck Schumer, whose leadership bid had been endorsed by Reid. Along with Alben W. Barkley and Mike Mansfield, Reid was one of only three senators to have served at least eight years as majority leader.

He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, Fettes College and Worcester College, Oxford, where he read modern history.On leaving Oxford in 1969 he went to Newcastle upon Tyne, where he trained as a journalist. He then worked on The Scotsman in Edinburgh from 1970 till 1981. In 1973 he was the paper's first full-time education correspondent and in 1977 he became The Scotsman features and literary editor. In 1981 he moved to Glasgow to be sports and leisure editor on the short-lived Sunday Standard. In 1982 he switched to The Herald as an executive editor. He was appointed deputy editor in 1984. In 1997 he was appointed editor, a position he held through 2000. From 1999 to 2001 he chaired the Scottish Editors' Committee. In 2001 he received the Lord Provost of Glasgow's Medal "for giving Glasgow a Voice".

In 2001 he was commissioned to write a major "outsider's critique" of Scotland's national church, the Church of Scotland. To help with the research he was given a visiting fellowship by the Faculty of Divinity, New College, Edinburgh. The resultant book, Outside Verdict: An Old Church in the New Scotland was published by Saint Andrew Press

Other books include: Dear Country: A Quest for England (Mainstream Publishing, 1991); The Final Whistle: Scottish Football - The Best and Worst of Times (Birlinn Limited, 2005); Deadline: The Story of the Scottish Press (Saint Andrew Press in association with the BBC, 2006) and Reformation: The Dangerous Birth of the Modern World (Saint Andrew Press, 2009)