Gary Hart
In an era of career politicians, Gary Hart has chosen a road
less travelled, devoting himself first and foremost to
public service and the good of his country. A prolific
author, lecturer, teacher, scholar, and attorney, America's
newest "elder" statesman is a man on a mission who shows no
signs of slowing down. Prior to his election as a United States senator from
Colorado in 1974, he had never before sought public office.
In 1984, he was the runner-up candidate for the Democratic
Party's nomination for president. During 1970-1972, Hart
managed Senator George McGovern's insurgent campaign for the
presidency. He has also served as an appellate attorney in
the U.S. Department of Justice, a special assistant at the
U.S. Department of the Interior, and senior counsel to one
of America's oldest international law firms, Coudert
Brothers, where he helped pioneer the development of joint
business ventures in Russia and in Central Europe. Most recently, Hart co-chaired both the U.S. Commission on
National Security/ 21st Century, which issued three public
reports forecasting the age of terrorism and outlined a new,
post-Cold War national security policy, as well as the
Council on Foreign Relations task force on homeland
security, which recently released its report "America—Still
Unprepared, Still in Danger". As a senator, Hart established a reputation as a political
reformer. He founded the Military Reform Caucus in the
Congress, a bipartisan effort that contributed substantially
to contemporary defense policy. While serving on the Senate
Select Committee to Investigate the Intelligence Agencies of
the U.S. Government (the Church Committee), he successfully
advocated sweeping measures to make our intelligence
agencies more accountable. He also introduced a collection
of environmental measures to make America energy independent. As a presidential candidate, Hart proposed a "strategic
investment initiative" that included new measures to create
a more expansive—and more just—national economy. On the
foreign policy front, he called for "enlightened engagement"
and introduced a series of proposals designed to reform and
modernize America's defenses. Many of these defense plans
are today being adopted by the Bush administration. Never shy about committing his thoughts and ideas to paper,
Hart is the author of more than a dozen books, including
three novels (one co-authored with former Secretary of
Defense William Cohen). In 2001, he earned a doctor of
philosophy degree from Oxford University. His thesis,
"Thomas Jefferson's Ideal of the Republic in 21st Century
America", culminated a decade-long exploration of the idea
of restoring the republican ideals of civic virtue and
citizen duty. When published in book form in 2002,
Restoration of the Republic completed a trilogy of works
that began with The Patriot in 1996 and continued with The
Minuteman in 1998. Throughout the trilogy, Hart stresses the
theme of republican restoration concurrent with a new
definition of security that includes not only traditional
national and homeland security, but also security of
livelihood, security of community, and security of the
natural environment. Many of the issues Hart presciently raised and discussed in
the 1970s and 1980s—including military reform, intelligence
reform, energy independence, and a number of others—have now
begun to re-enter the arena of national debate. In the late
1990s, Hart's mastery of security issues and grasp of
foreign policy led him to make multiple and tragically
unheeded predictions—one as late as September 5, 2001—that
America would be attacked by terrorists using weapons of
mass destruction. No longer a "prophet without honor" in the wake of 9-11,
Gary Hart believes the United States is still woefully
unprepared to intercept and respond to attacks on American
territory. Like a latter-day Paul Revere, he is continuing
to provide direction to both his party and his country in an
age marred by terrorism. In early 2003, he will deliver a series of policy speeches
in which he will argue forcefully that Democrats can only
emerge from their status as an opposition party if they
offer more attractive ideals and visions than laissez-faire
economics and preemptive attacks on other nations. These
speeches will be made available on his website. A native of Kansas, Hart has spent his adult life in
Colorado with his wife of forty-four years, Lee. They have
two children; Andrea Hart, a policy analyst, and John Hart,
a lawyer and financial analyst; and one granddaughter,
Tatum. Hart holds law and divinity degrees from Yale
University and completed his undergraduate studies, with
emphasis in theology and philosophy, at Southern Nazarene
University.
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Series
Books:The Courage of Our Convictions: A Manifesto for Democrats, September 2006
Hardcover
The Shield and The Cloak, February 2006
Hardcover
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