imported>Yedaman54 at 06:24, 17 November 2025

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{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (1912–1976)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Philip Hart
|birth_name=Philip Aloysius Hart
|image name=Philip Hart (D-MI) (cropped).jpg
|imagesize=
|jr/sr=United States Senator
|state=[[Michigan]]
|term_start=January 3, 1959
|term_end= December 26, 1976
|preceded=[[Charles E. Potter]]
|succeeded=[[Donald Riegle]]
|office2 = Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
|order2 = 51st
|term_start2 = January 1, 1955
|term_end2 = January 1, 1959
|governor2 = [[G. Mennen Williams]]
|preceded2 = [[Clarence A. Reid]]
|succeeded2 = [[John Swainson]]
|birth_date={{birth date|1912|12|10}}
|birth_place=[[Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1976|12|26|1912|12|10}}
|death_place=[[Washington D.C.]], U.S.
|spouse= {{marriage|[[Jane Briggs Hart|Jane Briggs]]|June 19, 1943}}
|children=9
|alma_mater=[[Georgetown University]]<br/>[[University of Michigan Law School]]
|profession=Attorney
|religion=
|party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|signature=
|allegiance={{flag|United States|1912}}
|branch={{army|United States}}
|serviceyears=1941–1946
|unit= [[4th Infantry Division (United States)|4th Infantry Division]]
|rank=[[File:US-O5 insignia.svg|23px]] [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant colonel]]
|battles=[[World War II]]
*[[Invasion of Normandy]]
|mawards= [[Purple Heart]]
}}

'''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>

==Early life and family==
The grandson of 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 banker 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>

In June 1943, Hart married [[Jane Briggs Hart|Jane "Janey" Briggs]], the daughter of [[Walter Briggs, Sr.|Walter and Jane Cameron Briggs]]. Her father was by then a philanthropist and had owned the [[Detroit Tigers]]. Jane was an aviator who was the first female helicopter pilot in Michigan. She later qualified in the 1960s as one of the [[Mercury 13]] group. The couple met through her brother, who was Hart's roommate at Georgetown. They have four surviving sons and four daughters.<ref>{{cite web|title=Finding aid for Jane Briggs Hart papers, ca. 1925–1996|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-2010191?rgn=main;view=text|publisher=[[University of Michigan]]}}</ref> Hart's namesake, Philip Jr., died as a toddler. He was buried in a family plot, followed decades later by his father nearby.

==Early career==
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]]. There he became acquainted with fellow veterans [[Bob Dole]] and [[Daniel Inouye]], both also future U.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 1946, Hart returned to Detroit and entered the general law practice of Monaghan, Hart & Crawmer.<ref name=yearbook/> He became politically active in the Democratic Party and, from 1949 to 1951, he served as Michigan's Corporation Securities Commissioner, a political appointee position.<ref name=congress/> His duties included the approving of stock issues of corporations in the state, licensing real estate brokers and builders, and collecting real estate taxes.<ref name=yearbook/> In 1951 Hart was appointed as state director of the Office of Price Stabilization, serving for a year.<ref name=westcatholic/> For his work in that office, he was named Outstanding Federal Administrator of the Year in 1952 by the Federal Business Association.<ref name=yearbook/>

In 1952, he was appointed as [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan|U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan]], serving for one year.<ref name=congress/> He next served from 1953 to 1954 as legal adviser to [[Governor of Michigan|Governor]] [[G. Mennen Williams]], a former law school classmate.<ref name=westcatholic/>

In 1954, Hart ran for electoral office, elected as the 51st [[Lieutenant Governor of Michigan|lieutenant governor of Michigan]], on a ticket with 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/>

==U.S. Senate==
[[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 for his stands on [[gun control]] and busing for racial integration, with bumper stickers reading "Recall cures Hart attacks," but 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 Act, which ended the quotas that restricted immigration from most of the world since 1924.

Hart died in office. He had announced his intention not to run for re-election in June 1976 and was diagnosed with cancer a month later.<ref name=LSSU /> The 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 99–0, with Hart abstaining. He 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.

==Honors==
*In 1982, the [[Hart Senate Office Building]], the third to be constructed, was officially dedicated and named for him.
*Other buildings named after Hart include the [[Hart–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]].
*The Philip Hart Memorial Scholarship was established at [[Lake Superior State University]] in [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan]] as a full scholarship, to be awarded to a student who exemplifies the ideals and goals of the Senator.<ref name=LSSU>[http://www.lssu.edu/foundation/scholarships/hart/ LSSU Foundation – Senator Philip A. Hart Memorial Scholarship]</ref>
*The [[moot court]] room at [[Georgetown University Law Center]] is named in his honor.
*The visitor center at [[Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore]] is named after Hart, who first introduced the bill in Congress to establish the park in 1961.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.visitglenarbor.com/member/philip-a-hart-visitor-center-for-the-sleeping-bear-dunes/ | title=Philip A. Hart Visitor Center for the Sleeping Bear Dunes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://glenarborsun.com/reflections-on-50-years-of-sleeping-bear/ | title=Reflections on 50 years of Sleeping Bear | date=June 26, 2013 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1950–1999)]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* O'Brien, Michael. ''Philip Hart: The Conscience of the Senate''. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-87013-407-4}}.
*{{C-SPAN|9254601}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=Noel P. Fox}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Michigan Secretary of State]]|years=1950}}
{{s-aft|after=Robert S. McAllister}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John W. Connolly]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Lieutenant Governor of Michigan]]|years=[[1954 Michigan gubernatorial election|1954]], [[1956 Michigan gubernatorial election|1956]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Swainson]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Blair Moody]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[Michigan]]<br />([[Classes of United States senators|Class 1]])|years=[[1958 United States Senate election in Michigan|1958]], [[1964 United States Senate election in Michigan|1964]], [[1970 United States Senate election in Michigan|1970]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Donald Riegle]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box |
before= [[Clarence A. Reid]] |
title= [[Lieutenant Governor of Michigan]] |
years= 1955–1959 |
after= [[John B. Swainson]]}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box|
state=Michigan
|class=1
|before = [[Charles E. Potter]]|
after=[[Donald W. Riegle, Jr.]]|
years=1959–1976
|alongside=[[Patrick V. McNamara]], [[Robert P. Griffin]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{USSenMI}}
{{Lieutenant Governors of Michigan}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Philip A.}}
[[Category:Philip Hart| ]]
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholics from Michigan]]
[[Category:People from Mackinac Island, Michigan]]
[[Category:Politicians from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Detroit]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Detroit]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Michigan]]
[[Category:Georgetown University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of Michigan]]
[[Category:Michigan Democrats]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Deaths from melanoma in the United States]]
[[Category:United States attorneys for the Eastern District of Michigan]]
[[Category:20th-century Michigan politicians]]
[[Category:Philodemic Society members]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:United States Army colonels]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]

Philip Hart - Revision history

imported>Yedaman54 at 06:24, 17 November 2025