Archives West Finding Aid

Charles Allan Hart, Jr. was born in Minnesota in 1909. His family moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1911 and he spent the bulk of his childhood in the Irvington and Portland Heights neighborhoods. He attended Stanford University and Yale Law School. He returned to Portland in 1935 and joined his father's law firm, Hart, Spencer & McCulloch. He was assistant U.S. attorney from 1936 to 1938. He then worked as counsel for the Bonneville Power Administration from 1938 to 1941. He was drafted in 1942 and served as an officer in the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General Corps during World War II. He married Ruth Patterson in 1942 before being shipped out to serve in the Philippines and Japan. The couple later had three children. After his discharge in 1946, Hart practiced law at Pendergrass, Spactlan and Bullivant. In 1956, he left to form the Hart, Davidson, and Veazie law firm. In 1957, Governor Bob Holmes appointed Hart to the State Board of Higher Education. He served in that position until 1964. He was also active in the Oregon Democratic Party, the Portland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Sylvan School District Board from 1952 to 1956, and the Catlin Gabel School Board from 1962 to 1971. In 1968, he switched law firms, moving to Lindsay, Nahstoll, Hart, and Krause. He was also campaign chair for Maurine Neuberger during her successful run for a U.S. Senate seat in 1960. Hart retired from practicing law in 1985. He died in 2002.