Ralph Harding frittered away the first 60 years of his life in the state legislature and U.S. Congress, as special assistant to the Air Force secretary, lobbyist for the Air Force, the potato industry and for the Philippine sugar industry and fund raiser of more than $1 million for leukemia research.
Now he has finally decided to make a difference in this world by going back to college and becoming a teacher."My dad was a teacher for 44 years and he touched a lot of people," Harding says. "I had a professor at BYU, Dr. Stuart Grow. He was exceptional. He could make it live."
The former congressman wants to make subjects related to government, political science and global affairs live for his future students. Since he has spent time with Truman, Kennedy, Nixon and other statesmen, Harding believes he can add perspective to his classes.
He is currently taking 12 credit hours at Idaho State University in a program where nine hours is supposed to be the maximum. But, he's in a hurry. He may not yet have a touch of gray in his sandy hair, but this senior scholar will be 63 when he completes a political science masters degree and finishes commuting to the University of Utah for a doctorate.
"Claude Pepper was 63 when he was elected, and over the next 25 years he was one of the best nation's best statesmen," Harding says. "If I can have 20 years - or 15 - to inspire people to get active, I will be satisfied. If I am a good teacher, I can inspire the people who can make it a better state and country and world. I can't think of anything I could do that would be better at this stage of my life."
As many students do, Harding is working his way through school. He is special adviser to Richard Bowen, university president. His major duty is to entice more students from the Pacific Rim to attend Idaho State.
The lifelong Democrat is currently involved in creating a program that would bring Taiwanese local and provincial government officials and graduate students to ISU for intensive one and two-year public administration courses.
He was in Washington last week where he met with Idaho's elected officials, the People's Republic of China ambassador and other representatives from that country.
His own decision to re-enter the academic world came after he and his wife, Willa, decided they wanted to leave Washington and return to Idaho to be near their families. The Hardings have five children, ranging in age from 34 to 18.
Mrs. Harding was from Iona and he was from Malad. Although they have had homes in Washington, Boise, California and Blackfoot, they decided Pocatello would be their home from now on.
Harding considered this resolution recently when he was approached about becoming a candidate for the U.S. Senate. After two weeks of soul-searching, he decided to say no and dedicate himself to his education and family.
He also dedicates a fair amount of time to the Danny Thompson Memorial Golf Tournament at Sun Valley each year. The tournament began in 1977 when baseball star Harmon Killebrew told Harding about his teammate, who had died of leukemia. Killebrew wanted to do something in Thompson's memory and Harding suggested a golf tournament.similar to the Vince Lombardi Memorial Tournament held in Washington.
More than $21,000 was raised the first year. Since that time, more than $1 million has been earned.