Philip H. Hoff
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Philip Henderson Hoff (born June 29, 1924) was one of the most important governors of the U.S. state of Vermont, incarnating a new, progressive era in the state's history.
Hoff was born in Turners Falls, Massachusetts and graduated from Williams College in 1948 and Cornell University in 1951. He moved to Burlington, Vermont in 1961. After being elected to the State Senate in 1960, in 1962 Hoff was elected Vermont's first Democratic Governor since before the Civil War by virtue of his diligent campaigning and by the popularity of President John F. Kennedy from neighboring Massachusetts. In his three two-year terms, Hoff pioneered unprecedented environmental, development, and social welfare programs. It was under Hoff's governorship that Vermont began to shed its old Yankee Republican image and be perceived as a progressive and socially adventurous commonwealth. Hoff was, though, criticized for increases in state spending which led to hefty deficits. After his final term ended in 1969, Hoff served in various advisory and honorary positions and as President of Vermont Law School as well as continuing his work as a lawyer in private practice.