THOMAS C. HART - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 08/01/1945 - HFSID 293469

THOMAS C. HART
Brief letter, signed on US Senate stationery
Typed Letter signed: "Thos. C. Hart", as US Senator, 8x10½ page, affixed at an 8½x11 page. Washington, D.C., 1945 August 1. On letterhead of the Senate Committee on Civil Service to Ralph Errington Ward, Washington, D.C. In full: "This is to acknowledge and thank you for your note of July twenty-ninth. I am glad to comply with your request for an autograph. Sincerely yours". Accompanied by transmittal envelope bearing his stamped frank. THOMAS CHARLES HART (1877-1971) served in the US Navy from the Spanish-American War through World War II. As Commander of the US Asiatic Fleet (1939-1942), he made laudable efforts to bolster US naval forces there for a war he expected soon. After the Japanese attack, he temporarily commanded the ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) naval forces attempting to halt Japan's advance in the Southwest Pacific. He was replaced for political reasons by a Dutch admiral in February 1942. In 1944, the Navy tasked him to investigate the causes of the US failure at Pearl Harbor, a one-man survey called "the Hart Inquiry." He was appointed US Senator from Connecticut in 1945, serving as a Republican, but declined to seek re-election. From the collection Ralph Errington Ward (1926-2009) a fighter pilot and squadron commander in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II. Ward became President and CEO of Cheseborough-Ponds, Inc., transforming the cosmetics firm into a major home product conglomerate. Multiple mailing folds. Lightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.