Philip Aloysius Hart (December 10, 1912 December 26, 1976) was a
Democratic United States Senator from
Michigan from 1959 until 1976. He was nicknamed the
Conscience of the Senate.
Early years
He was born in
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and attended
Waldron Academy and
West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys, also known as West Catholic. He graduated from
Georgetown University in 1934 and from the
University of Michigan Law School in 1937. He was admitted to the Michigan
bar in 1938 and practiced law in
Detroit. During the
Second World War, he served in the
U.S. Army from 1941 until discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant colonel of Infantry. He was wounded during the
D-Day assault on
Utah Beach in
Normandy,
France.
After the war, he was the Michigan Corporation Securities Commissioner from 1949 until his resignation in 1951. He was the State director of the Office of Price Stabilization, 1951–1952, and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, 1952-1953. He was legal advisor to the Governor of Michigan, 1953–1954, and the 49th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, 1955-1959 under G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams.
U.S. Senate Career
He was elected as a
Democrat to the
United States Senate in 1958, defeating one-term incumbent Republican
Charles E. Potter by a 54% to 46% margin. He was reelected by overwhelming margins in 1964 and 1970. There had been a call from conservatives in Michigan to recall Hart due to his stand on gun control and busing, with bumper stickers reading "Recall cures Hart attacks." The recall effort never got off the ground, because the
United States Constitution does not authorize the
recall of
United States Senators, and Hart remained in office. After deciding not to run for reelection to a fourth term in 1976, the Senate voted to name the new Congressional Building after him. It would have been the first federal government building named after someone still living. The vote was 99 to 0, with Hart abstaining. He died of
cancer a few days later, just before his term would have expired and he would have retired.
Donald W. Riegle, Jr., who had just been elected to the seat for the next term, was named to fill Hart's seat for the remaining days of the congressional session.
Philip Hart was married to Jane "Janey" Hart, the daughter of Walter Briggs, one-time owner of the Detroit Tigers, and noted philanthropist, and an airplane and helicopter pilot, (of Mercury 13 fame) and they had eight children. In 1959 Janey Hart appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show "To Tell The Truth".
Honors
The third of the
United States Senate Office Buildings, the
Hart Senate Office Building, was officially dedicated and named for Senator Hart in 1987.
The Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in Battle Creek, Michigan also bears his name, as does Detroit's Hart Plaza park and the Hart-Kennedy House, headquarters of the Michigan Democratic Party in Lansing. He is interred in St. Anne’s Catholic Cemetery on Mackinac Island.
The Philip Hart Memorial Scholarship at Lake Superior State University in Slt. Ste. Marie, MI is a "full ride" scholarship established to carry on the ideals and goals of the Senator.
The moot court room at Georgetown University Law Center is named in his honor.
References
Retrieved on 2008-01-25
The Political Graveyard
Georgetown University Law Center - Campus Tour
Further reading
O’Brien, Michael. Philip Hart: The Conscience of the Senate. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0870134074
Category:1912 births
Category:1976 deaths
Category:American military personnel of World War II
Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Category:United States Senators from Michigan
Category:Georgetown University alumni
Category:Lieutenant Governors of Michigan
Category:Michigan Democrats
Category:United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Michigan
Category:Democratic Party United States Senators
.jpg)
