The Senator From Michigan

Philip A. Hart

By Ray Hill

Senator Philip A. Hart was part of “the Greatest Generation,” those Americans born between 1900 and 1925, most of whom fought in the Second World War. Many of them were old enough to recall the First World War, and all of them lived through the Great Depression. My grandfather on my mother’s side exemplified that to me, having served in the Navy during World War II. John Swainson, a former governor of Michigan, summed up the life of the senator, saying, “That is the mystery of Phil Hart. His gentleness and his perseverance made him a great man.”

Hart was one of the thousands of Americans who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and was wounded by shrapnel on Utah Beach. Phil Hart was sent to Percy Jones Army hospital in Battle Cr

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