Representative Edward Joseph Hart

Edward Joseph Hart (March 25, 1893 – April 20, 1961) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey’s 14th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1935 to 1955. Over the course of ten consecutive terms, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his New Jersey constituents.

Hart was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on March 25, 1893. He was educated in local Catholic institutions, attending St. Peter’s Preparatory School and then St. Peter’s College, from which he graduated in 1913. Seeking further professional training, he enrolled in the law department of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and completed his legal studies there in 1924, laying the foundation for a career that combined law, public administration, and electoral politics.

Even before completing his formal legal education, Hart began his public service in the federal government. From 1913 to 1917 he served as secretary to the Excise Commission in Washington, D.C., an office concerned with the regulation and taxation of alcoholic beverages and related matters in the nation’s capital. He then became chief field deputy of the Internal Revenue Bureau, serving in that capacity from 1916 to 1921, where he gained experience in federal tax administration and enforcement. After his graduation from Georgetown, he was admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1924 and to the New Jersey bar in 1925. Returning to his native state, he established a law practice in Jersey City beginning in 1927 and entered municipal service as assistant corporation counsel of Jersey City, a post he held from 1930 to 1934.

Hart’s growing prominence in local legal and political circles led to his election to Congress. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fourth Congress and to the nine succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1955. His twenty years in the House of Representatives spanned the New Deal, World War II, the early Cold War, and the beginning of the postwar economic expansion. During this period, he took part in shaping national policy on war-related claims, internal security, and maritime and fisheries issues, among other matters, and consistently represented New Jersey’s 14th congressional district in the House.

Within Congress, Hart held several important committee chairmanships that reflected both the changing priorities of the federal government and his own seniority and influence. In the Seventy-eighth Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on War Claims, overseeing legislation related to compensation for losses and injuries arising from wartime activities. In the Seventy-ninth Congress he was chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, a central body in the House for investigating alleged subversive activities during the early Cold War era. He later chaired the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries in the Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses, where he was involved in oversight and legislation affecting maritime commerce, shipping, and the fishing industry—areas of particular importance to a coastal state such as New Jersey. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1954, bringing his congressional career to a close at the start of 1955.

Parallel to his congressional responsibilities, Hart played a significant role in state party politics. He served as chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee from 1944 until 1953, a period that encompassed World War II’s final years and the immediate postwar era. In that capacity he was instrumental in organizing the party’s activities, supporting Democratic candidates, and helping to shape the party’s strategy and platform within New Jersey, further solidifying his status as a leading Democratic figure in the state.

After leaving Congress, Hart continued his public service at the state level. From 1955 to 1960 he was a member of the New Jersey State Board of Public Utility Commissioners, where he participated in the regulation of public utilities and the oversight of essential services such as electricity, gas, and transportation. This position allowed him to apply his long experience in law and government to issues of public infrastructure and consumer protection in New Jersey during a period of rapid suburban growth and expanding demand for public services.

In his personal life, Hart married Loretta O’Connell in 1936; the couple had no children. He spent his later years in New Jersey and died in the West Allenhurst section of Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, on April 20, 1961. Edward Joseph Hart was interred in St. Catharine’s Cemetery in Sea Girt, New Jersey, closing a career that had spanned local, state, and national public service over nearly five decades.