Harry Chapin - Legacy

Legacy

On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, particularly his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the United States. His work on hunger included being widely recognized as a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977 (he was the only member who attended every meeting). He was also the inspiration for the anti-hunger projects USA for Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Chapin's manager. Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."

A biography of Chapin entitled Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story, by Peter M. Coan, was released following his death. Although Chapin had cooperated with the writer, following his death the family withdrew their support. There is some concern about the accuracy of the details included in the book. In 2001, Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" was ranked number 186 of 365 on the RIAA list of Songs of the Century. Chapin was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed "Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre" during a memorial concert held one month after his death, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger. Other Long Island landmarks named in honor of Chapin include a graduate student apartment complex at Stony Brook University, a theater in Heckscher Park, and a playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights.

On September 27, 2011, former congressman Alan Grayson wrote an article on The Huffington Post about Chapin's song "What Made America Famous".