Philip H. Hoff

Philip Henderson Hoff (June 29, 1924 – April 26, 2018) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Vermont. He was most notable for his service as the 73rd governor of Vermont from 1963 to 1969, the state's first Democratic governor since 1853.

Life and career Hoff was born in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, the son of Agnes (Henderson) and Olaf Hoff, Jr. His father worked in the insurance industry and served two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Hoff was a star high school football player, scoring the winning touchdown in Turners Falls High School's 1942 annual game against rival Greenfield High School.

Hoff attended Williams College, where he studied English, but postponed graduation for two years in order to serve in World War II. He attained the rank of Seaman First Class with the rating of quartermaster (the Navy's term for a navigator), and was discharged in 1946. He met his wife, Joan Brower, during his naval service and they married in 1948. After graduating from Williams College in 1948, he attended Cornell Law School, where he joined the Phi Delta Phi fraternity and graduated in 1951.

The Hoffs moved to Burlington, Vermont, in 1951, In addition to serving as a justice of the peace, he was also chairman of the city zoning board. Hoff was also an officer of the Chittenden County Bar Association and a member of the Burlington-Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

Political career Poster from Hoff's 1962 campaign. Note misspelling of first name. Hoff was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1960, and served one term, 1961 to 1963. As a legislator, Hoff was a member of the "Young Turks," a bipartisan alliance of progressive and reform minded representatives and senators that included Republicans Franklin S. Billings Jr. and Ernest W. Gibson III.

In 1962, Hoff was elected Vermont's first Democratic governor since the Vermont General Assembly selected John S. Robinson after no candidate obtained a popular vote majority in 1853. Hoff waged an energetic campaign against incumbent Republican F. Ray Keyser Jr., and capitalized on local factors including a split between Vermont's conservative and progressive Republicans (the Proctor Wing and the Aiken-Gibson Wing). Rather than support the conservative Keyser, many of Vermont's liberal Republicans opted to support Hoff on a third party line, which contributed to his narrow margin of victory. Hoff was also aided by national factors, including the popularity of incumbent Democratic President John F. Kennedy, to whom Hoff was often compared.

Hoff won reelection in 1964 and 1966. During his governorship, he pioneered unprecedented environmental, development, and social welfare programs, including the creation of the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women. Concerned about racial justice, he joined with New York Mayor John Lindsay to co-found the Vermont-New York Youth Project, which brought minority students from the city together with Vermont students to work on joint summer projects at several Vermont colleges. The poll tax was eliminated during his tenure as governor, and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, Legal Aid and Vermont Public Television were established.

Hoff was the first Democratic Governor in the nation to split with President Lyndon Johnson over the Vietnam War and later campaigned across the country to promote Robert F. Kennedy's effort to obtain the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.

Hoff's endorsement of Kennedy and later McCarthy upset conservative Democrats and Hoff was also criticized for increases in state spending which some claimed led to hefty deficits. In 1970, Hoff challenged incumbent U.S. Senator Winston L. Prouty, but Prouty easily won reelection. Had he won, Hoff would have been the first Democratic senator in Vermont history.

Legacy Hoff was the subject of a biography, 2011's Philip Hoff: How Red Turned Blue in the Green Mountain State by Samuel B. Hand, Anthony Marro, and Stephen C. Terry.

In 2012, Castleton State College named its newest residence hall after Hoff, the first building to be named in his honor.