He played a key role in "challenging cartographic perspectives and attempting to change spatial thinking on the everyday level during America’s rise to superpower status".
Harrison came to cartography "by chance" in 1932 when a friend asked him to momentarily replace a mapmaker working for Fortune.
Harrison always considered himself more of an artist than a cartographer, but he had a highly successful career making maps for Fortune and Time.
He worked from the 1940s to the 1950s as a map consultant at the State Department, and was also employed by the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the CIA and the Museum of Modern Art.
[11] Harrison produced several maps to illustrate Nicholas Spykman's America's Strategy in World Politics, a foundational work of 20th century geopolitics.