This oral history interview with Dick K. Harmon was conducted by Jim Strassmaier on December 29, 1995, as part of the Legacy of Hope: Catholics and Social Justice Project, which collected interviews with Catholic clergy and social justice activists in Oregon about their work on social action in the Roman Catholic tradition.

In this interview, Harmon discusses his family background and early life in Colorado, and talks about his interest in learning about the roots of violence in American culture. He describes his college experience at the University of Chicago, and describes how he became involved with the Industrial Areas Foundation. He speaks at length about his work as a social justice organizer for the IAF and later for the Brooklyn Ecumenical Cooperatives. He talks about the communities he worked in, about the people he worked with, and about the relationship between his work and his Christian faith. He shares his opinion on the organization and rules of the Catholic Church. He then speaks at length about his work with the Portland Organizing Project in Oregon, an alliance of churches founded in 1985 to further social justice. He closes the interview by sharing how his social justice work helped him to process his abusive childhood, and by discussing the concept of sin.