Philip Hart: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|American lawyer and politician (1912–1976)}}

|image name=Philip Hart (D-MI)1959.jpgpng

|preceded2 = [[Clarence A. Reid]]

|death_date = {{nowrap| {{death date and age|1976|12|26|1912|12|10}} }}

|spouse= {{marriage|[[Jane Briggs Hart|Jane Briggs]]|June (1943–197619, his death)1943}}

'''Philip Aloysius Hart''' (December 10, 1912{{spaced ndash}}December 26, 1976) was an American lawyer and politician. A [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], he served as a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from [[Michigan]] from 1959 until his death from cancer in [[Washington, D.C.]] in 1976. He was known as the "Conscience of the Senate".<ref name=obituary>{{cite news|title=Senator Philip A. Hart Dies at 64; Was Called 'Conscience of Senate'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/27/archives/senator-philip-a-hart-dies-at-64-was-called-conscience-of-senate.html|work=The New York Times|date=December 27, 1976}}</ref> The [[Hart Senate Office Building]] is named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: Hart Senate Office Building |url=https://www.senate.gov/visiting/common/generic/HartBuilding.htm |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=www.senate.gov}}</ref>

The grandson of [[Ireland|Irish]] immigrants, Philip Hart was born in [[Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania]], to Philip Aloysius and Ann (née Clyde) Hart.<ref name=yearbook>{{cite book|title=[[Current Biography|Current Biography Yearbook]]|volume=6|year=1971|publisher=[[H.W. Wilson Company]]|location=New York}}</ref> His father was a [[bank]]erbanker who served as president of the Bryn Mawr Trust Company.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|date=1976-12-27|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Fighter for Civil Rights|last=Madden|first=Richard L.}}</ref> He received his early education at [[Waldron Mercy Academy|Waldron Academy]], and then attended [[West Philadelphia Catholic High School]].<ref name=westcatholic>{{cite news|work=West Catholic Alumni Association|title=Philip A. Hart|url=http://www.westcatholicalumni.org/Veterans/PhilipAHart.aspx}}</ref>

Hart studied at [[Georgetown University]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], where he was the student body president and an award-winning debater.<ref name=virtue>{{cite book|last1=O'Brien|first1=Michael|last2=Putman|first2=Daniel|title=Virtue and Politics: The Example of Philip Hart|volume=12|year=1998|publisher=[[Public Affairs Quarterly]]}}</ref> He received a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree ''[[Latin honors|cum laude]]'' from Georgetown in 1934.<ref name=yearbook/> In 1937, he received a [[Juris Doctor]] degree from the [[University of Michigan Law School]] at [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]].<ref name=congress>{{cite news|work=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]|title=HART, Philip Aloysius, (1912 - 1976)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=h000291}}</ref>

Hart was admitted to the [[State Bar of Michigan]] in 1938 and became an associate in the [[Detroit]] firm of Beaumont, Smith & Harris.<ref name=yearbook/> During [[World War II]], he served in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] as a [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] with the [[4th Infantry Division (United States)|4th Infantry Division]] (1941–1946).<ref name=congress/> He was wounded during the [[Normandy landings|D-Day]] [[invasion of Normandy]] on [[Utah Beach]] when shrapnel from an exploding artillery shell damaged the inside of his right arm.<ref name=virtue/> Following the war, he returned to Michigan and recovered at the [[Hart–Dole–Inouye Federal Center|Percy Jones Army Hospital]] in [[Battle Creek, Michigan|Battle Creek]]. There he became acquainted with fellow veterans [[Bob Dole]] and [[Daniel Inouye]], both also future USU.S. senators.<ref name=virtue/> He was decorated with the [[Bronze Star Medal]] with clusters, [[Arrowhead device]], [[Purple Heart]], and [[Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)|Croix de guerre]].<ref name=yearbook/>

In 1954, Hart ran for electoral office, elected as the 51st [[Lieutenant Governor of Michigan|lieutenant governor of Michigan]], on a ticket with incumbent Governor Williams. He served two terms, until 1959.<ref name=congress/> His re-election in 1956 made him the first Democrat in Michigan to serve two terms as lieutenant governor.<ref name=yearbook/>

[[File:President John F. Kennedy with Governor John B. Swainson and Senator Philip Hart of Michigan.jpg|thumb|Hart (second from right) with [[Governor of Michigan]] [[John Swainson]] and President [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|John F. Kennedy]] in the [[Oval Office]], 1961]]

Hart [[1958 United States Senate election in Michigan|was elected]] as a Democrat to the United States Senate in the Democratic wave election of 1958, defeating one-term incumbent Republican [[Charles E. Potter]] by a 54% to 46% margin. He was reelected by overwhelming margins [[1964 United States Senate election in Michigan|in 1964]] and [[1970 United States Senate election in Michigan|1970]]. (His 1970 opponent was former [[List of First Ladies and Gentlemen of Michigan|Michigan First Lady]] [[Lenore Romney]].) Some conservatives in Michigan attempted to [[Recall election|recall]] Hart from office due tofor his stands on [[gun control]] and busing for racial integration, with bumper stickers reading "Recall cures Hart attacks.," Butbut the [[US Constitution]] does not authorize the recall of elected federal officials, and Hart was strongly re-elected by supporters.

Hart was the chief Senate sponsor of the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]], also known as the Hart-Celler billAct, which ended the discriminatory quotas that restricted immigration from most of the world since 1924.

Hart died in office. He had announced his intention not to run for reelectionre-election in June 1976 and was diagnosed with cancer a month later.<ref name=LSSU /> ThatThe same year, the Senate voted to name its new [[Congressional office buildings|Senate office building]] after him, the [[Hart Senate Office Building]].<ref>{{USBill|94|SR|525}}, Designation of the Philip A. Hart Office Building</ref> It would have been the first federal government building named after someone still living. The vote was 99 to -0, with Hart abstaining. HartHe died of [[melanoma]] 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.

Hart is interred in St. Anne's Catholic Cemetery on [[Mackinac Island]], in a family plot near his namesake son, who died as a toddler.

*Other buildings named after Hart include the [[Hart-Dole-InouyeHart–Dole–Inouye Federal Center]] in [[Battle Creek, Michigan]]; the [[Detroit International Riverfront#Hart Plaza and the Dock of Detroit|Philip A. Hart Plaza]] along the [[Detroit International Riverfront]]; the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Empire, Michigan; [[Rochester Community Schools (Michigan)#Middle schools|Hart Middle School]] in [[Rochester Hills, Michigan]]; and the Hart-Kennedy House in [[Lansing, Michigan|Lansing]], the headquarters of the [[Michigan Democratic Party]].

*{{C-SPAN|PhilipHart9254601}}

[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Michigan]]

[[Category:OperationLieutenant Overlordgovernors peopleof Michigan]]

[[Category:Deaths from melanoma in the United States]]

[[Category:Democratic20th-century PartyMichigan United States senatorspoliticians]]