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. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel with the 4th Infantry Division (1941–1946). He was wounded during the D-Day invasion of Normandy on Utah Beach when shrapnel from an exploding artillery shell damaged the inside of his right arm. Following the war, he returned to Michigan and recovered at the Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, where he became acquainted with fellow future U.S. Senators Bob Dole and Daniel Inouye. He was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal with clusters, Invasion Arrowhead, Purple Heart, and Croix de guerre.
In 1946, Hart returned to Detroit and entered the general law practice of Monaghan, Hart & Crawmer. From 1949 to 1951, he served as Michigan's Corporation Securities Commissioner. In that position, his duties included the approving of stock issues of corporations in the state, licensing real estate brokers and builders, and collecting real estate taxes. He was appointed state director of the Office of Price Stabilization in 1951, serving for only a year. For his work in that office, he was named Outstanding Federal Administrator of the Year in 1952 by the Federal Business Association. From 1952 to 1953, he served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. He was later the legal adviser to Governor G. Mennen Williams, his former law school classmate, from 1953 to 1954.
In 1954, Hart was the 49th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, serving under Governor Williams until 1959. His re-election in 1956 made him the first Democrat in Michigan to serve two terms as lieutenant governor.
Philip Hart was married to Jane "Janey" Hart, the daughter of Walter Briggs, one-time owner of the Detroit Tigers, and noted philanthropist. Jane was an airplane and helicopter pilot, (of Mercury 13 fame) and together they had eight children. In 1959 Janey Hart appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show To Tell The Truth.
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