[2] After graduating in 1935, Harris initially worked in the advertising department of Southern Indiana Gas and Electric.
After the war he served as an economist for Mandel Bros. During this time he received a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
[5] In 1953, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange hired Harris for the position of President and doubled the $10,000 salary he was paid by the Board of Trade.
[2] At the time he was first hired, the most traded products on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were futures and options on onions, followed by potatoes and eggs.
[8] Soon the Commodity Exchange Authority investigated and the Senate Committee on Agriculture held hearings on a proposed ban on onion futures trading.
[11] After the loss of the lucrative onion trading market, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was brought to the brink of bankruptcy.
Pork bellies proved to be a popular product and brought fresh growth as meat packing companies joined the exchange.
[2] Harris and Melamed were initially worried about possible regulatory attention and their ability to draw customers to currency trading.
[15] Harris and Melamed later met with then-United States Secretary of the Treasury George P. Shultz, who also approved of their plan.