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Tom Harkin

Tom Harkin

Acting

Biography

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's 5th congressional district from 1975 to 1985. He is the longest-serving senator to spend the entire tenure as a state's junior senator. Born in Cumming, Iowa, Harkin graduated from Iowa State University and The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law. He served in the United States Navy as an active-duty jet pilot (1962–1967). After serving as a congressional aide for several years, he made two runs for the U.S. House of Representatives, losing in 1972 but winning in 1974. He went on to serve five terms in the House. Harkin won a race for U.S. Senate in 1984 by a wide margin. He was an early frontrunner for his party's presidential nomination in 1992, but he dropped out in support of eventual winner Bill Clinton. He served five Senate terms and at the end of his time in the Senate served as chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. He authored the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and was its chief sponsor in the Senate. Harkin delivered part of his introduction speech in sign language, saying it was so his deaf brother could understand. On January 26, 2013, Harkin announced that he would not seek reelection in 2014.

Known For

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10.0

Narrated by Meryl Streep and filmed in eight countries, Stolen Childhoods is the story of 246 million children for whom life is nothing but work. Children are found working in dumps, quarries and brick kilns. One boy has been pressed into forced labor on a fishing platform in the Sea of Sumatra, a fifteen-year-old runaway describes being forced into prostitution on the streets of Mexico City, while a nine-year-old girl picks coffee in Kenya to help her family survive. The film features stories of child laborers around the world, told in their own words, while placing their stories in the broader context of the worldwide struggle against child labor, how it contributes to global insecurity, while featuring best practice programs to improve their lives by giving them the chance of making a reasonable living when they grow up. Ultimately, the film challenges the viewer to help break the cycle of poverty for the 246 million children laboring at the bottom of the global economy.

Stolen Childhoods

2005Movie