Philip Hoff: How Red Turned Blue in the Green Mountain State

by Samuel B. Hand, Anthony Marro, Stephen C. Terry

During Philip Hoff's six years as governor of the Green Mountain State (1963-1969), the politics, demographics, economics and government structure of Vermont changed in major and long-lasting ways, and a new liberal tradition took hold. He was an activist governor, pushing new ideas, concepts and programs and challenging the idea that Vermont governors should be caretakers in the way that his predecessors had been. Hoff very much believed that government was and should be the primary force in bringing about social change, saying that "Every significant decision of our time is going to be made in the governmental arena." He was quick to support efforts to modernize government operations that he considered obsolete and inefficient. But his influence on the state was profound and long lasting. At the time he left office in January 1969, the Rutland Herald predicted that, "it will be impossible to turn back the clock to the political era of caretaker governors." Hoff himself left office believing that his six years as an activist governor finally "got Vermont off the dime." Bill Kearns put it more bluntly, saying that Hoff "picked up the state by the back of the neck and gave it a damned good, much needed shaking."

Genres: Politics, History

197 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 2011

Reviews

[Jackmccullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

We may not know a giant among us. I certainly didn't know it when I moved to Vermont just twenty years after Phil Hoff took office as the first Democratic governor in over a century, and I still didn't realize it in the mid-1980's when I was lobbying and he was in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but now, at a remove of half a century, there can be no mistaking the fact that Hoff was a giant of Vermont politics, the most important figure in the second half of the twentieth century.

When Phil Hoff took office Vermont's governorship was a sleepy, caretaker institution, Vermont was the most reliable of Republican states, and the town of Averill, 2000 population 8, had the same one representative in the House of Representatives as Burlington, 2000 population 39,000. By the time he left we had had legislative reapportionment (in response to a mandate from the Supreme Court), Vermont had a modern executive and administration, and the state had irreversibly learned that government can facilitate and advance progressive change.

As the authors note, "No individual deserves more credit (or in the view of political rivals more blame) for the transformation of Vermont than Philip Hoff." Those of us who did not grow up in Vermont can scarcely imagine the changes since his time. I think back to life in northern New Jersey fifty years ago and, while things have changed dramatically, the people, places, and institutions of that time are all recognizable today.

The opposite is true of Vermont. In Philip Hoff, the authors, a history professor and two veteran journalists, vividly portray the Vermont of the 1950's and 60's, illustrating the political life a young, energetic, politically ambitious lawyer found when he arrived, his early life among the "Young Turks" (mostly Republicans) in the Legislature, and the campaign and interpersonal strategies that brought him to the governor's mansion in 1962. (Okay, the truth is we don't have a governor's mansion, but you get the idea.)

Once in office, learning that his tax department couldn't give him a ten-, five-, or even a one-year projection of tax revenues, Hoff took the bold step of asking the legislature to essentially do nothing for the first year of his administration to give him a chance to understand the structure and the problems facing him and come up with a plan to make things work. A less gifted politician could never have pulled it off, but that first year of temporizing and planning was what set him on course to his later successes, accomplished without ever having a Democratic legislative majority to work with.

Phil Hoff really was to Vermont what people think JFK was for the country. The authors of this short biography put his life in perspective and, with their journalistic approach, bring the events to life. Although they clearly admire him they never descend to hagiography, and provide a balanced treatment of his failings as well as his successes.

Philip Hoff is essential reading for anyone interested in how Vermont politics evolved from the conservatism of the 1950's to the dynamism of the present.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography of Vermont's first Democratic Governor in over 100 years doesn't exactly transform history into riveting drama (I noticed facts tended to be repeated within chapters, and sometimes, within paragraphs), but it does document the important story of the state's quick but surprisingly smooth transformation from completely Republican to perhaps the most liberal state in the land.

Hoff was more central to that change than anyone, but despite being elected to three two-year terms as Governor (also the first on over a 100 years), his political career burned brightly but quickly, as his liberal views on Civil Rights and the war in Vietnam alienated him from voters and even many within his own party. With such a short heyday in such a turbulent time, he is little lionized in his own state today, which this book will hopefully help rectify.

Over a half a century since his election, there is still time to honor a man who was ahead of his time.

[Tyler Wolanin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was like an expanded version of the relevant chapters from Samuel B. Hand's excellent The Star That Set: The Vermont Republican Party, 1854-1974. One chapter each for Hoff's pre-gubernatorial years, first, second, and third term, racial issues, national issues, and post-gubernatorial career. A good mix of biography (including effective and interesting summaries of relevant players), political and policy specifics, and the greater context of the victory of Vermont's first Democratic governor in 108 years. A balanced view of Hoff himself, who comes across as an impressive and paradigm-shifting statesman despite honest recollections of missteps and personal failings.

[Chris Mays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of politics in Vermont. Learned a lot.