Merwin K. Hart
| Merwin K. Hart | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 25, 1881 Utica, New York, United States |
| Died | November 30, 1962 (aged 81) Manhattan, New York, United States |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica |
| Education | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Lawyer, Businessman, Politician |
| Known for | Hart-Agnew Law |
| Political party | Republican |
| Board member of | Utica Mutual Insurance Co. |
| Spouse(s) | 1) Katherine Margaret Crouse 2) Constance (Gray) Dall |
| Parent(s) | Henry Gilbert Hart & Lucy Lord Kimball |
Merwin Kimball Hart (June 25, 1881 – November 30, 1962) was an American politician from New York.
Born in Utica, New York, Hart attended Harvard in 1900, graduating in 1904 in the same class as Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was a Republican member of the New York State Assembly (Oneida Co., 1st D.) in 1907 and 1908. He sponsored the Hart-Agnew Law, an anti-gambling bill passed by the New York Legislature on June 11, 1908 that led to a complete shutdown of horse racing in the State during 1911 and 1912.
Merwin Hart later practiced law, being admitted to the bar in 1911.
During the First World War, Hart served in France, as Captain, although the Army first wanted Hart to serve in Ordnance; interference by Roosevelt helped Hart get his demanded commission. After the War, Hart returned to practicing law.
At the beginning of the 1930s, Hart and others founded the New York State Economic Council, a legislative lobbying organization that sought to curtail government interference into the economy in aftermath of the economic collapse in 1929. Roosevelt's New Deal would provide for new challenges to the organization, especially to Hart personally, who saw in the New Deal something far removed from the American way of life. Another factor, Hart believed, too, was interfering with society: Communism.
In 1937 he toured Europe, and Hart was happy to see that at least one country could stop the Communist menace, Franco's Spain. In the 1940s, Hart became briefly a target of Secretary of State Harold L. Ickes. Ickes spoke about "fifth column" interference in the United States at an address at Columbia University, and classified Hart as being part of the "native fascist minded group." Hart demanded a retraction by Ickes, saying that his "statements are absolutely false." In reply, Ickes offered Hart a "trade." "I will retract my statement gladly when I hear that you have come out to fight against the asserted gangs of native Fascists and fifth columnists that are trying to pave the way for the dictators here as they prepared it in other lands; when I hear that you have come out in defense of civil liberties and American democracy. Until then, my dear sir, you remain in my eyes, and in the eyes of the American people, what I said you were." An unsatisfied Hart replied, "I am and always have been absolutely opposed to fascism, nazism and communism in the United States... [they] are building up in Washington a government well-nigh as fascistic, as despotic, as anything in the dictator countries of Europe." Ickes would later denounce Hart as a bigot, one of the five American "Quislings." Hart accused Ickes of slander again.
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