{{Short description|10th Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Use American English|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Luke Edward Hart | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=VAT|GCSG|size=100%}} | image = KennedyHart.jpg | caption = President John F. Kennedy and Luke E. Hart in 1961 | order = 10th | office = Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus | term_start = {{start date|1953|09|01}} | term_end = {{end date|1964|02|19}} | predecessor = John E. Swift | successor = John W. McDevitt | birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|07|31|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Maloy, Iowa, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1964|02|19|1880|07|31|mf=yes}} | death_place = New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. | party = | spouse = Catherine J. Hart ({{nee}} O'Connor) | mother = | father = | children = 6 | education = | alma_mater = {{plainlist| * Drake University (AB) * University of Missouri (LLB) }} | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | awards = | signature = | website = }} '''Luke Edward Hart''' {{post-nominals|country=VAT|GCSG}} (July 31, 1880 – February 19, 1964) was the tenth Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, serving from September 1, 1953, until his death on February 19, 1964.

== Personal life == Hart was born in 1880 in Maloy, Iowa. He set up his office in St. Louis where he practiced law and later was an alderman.<ref name=obit/> He received an undergraduate degree from Drake University and a law degree from the University of Missouri.<ref name=obit/> In 1905, he married Catherine J. O'Connor, who predeceased him; they had six children, two of whom predeceased him.<ref name=obit/> From 1934-38, he was the president and general counsel of the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company.<ref name=faith>{{Cite book|first=Christopher J.|last=Kauffman|title=Patriotism and Fraternalism in the Knights of Columbus|publisher=The Crossroad Publishing Company|year=2001|isbn=0-8245-1885-3}}</ref>

== Career == === National leader === Hart was a delegate to Republican National Convention from Missouri in 1940. During World War I, he was a member of the executive committee of the United War Work campaign. He helped to found the United Service Organizations and the Boys Club of St. Louis.<ref name=obit/> Hart was also a member of the board of the St. Louis Catholic Orphan Board.<ref name=obit/>

=== Knights of Columbus === Hart was elected Supreme Advocate of the Knights of Columbus in 1922 and was Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus from 1954-63. He was awarded the Star of Morocco in 1920 after leading a delegation of Knights who presented a statue of Lafayette to the French people.<ref name=obit/> He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1927, and a knight commander in 1939.<ref name=obit/> He was awarded entry into the Order of St. Raymond of Peñafort in Spain and made a Secret Chamberlain of Cape and Sword in 1951.<ref name=obit/>

He attended the coronation of Pope John XXIII.<ref name=obit/> In 1951, Hart was elected president of the National Fraternal Congress. By the end of the 1950s Supreme Knight Hart was actively encouraging councils to accept black candidates.<ref name=faith/> It was during Hart's tenure in 1954 that the Knights petitioned to get "under God" inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance.<ref name=obit/>

== Death == Hart died on February 19, 1964, at St. Raphael's Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.<ref name=obit/>

== References == {{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=obit>{{cite news|url=https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston-sub/doc/365905083.html?FMT=AI&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+20%2C+1964&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+%281960-1986%29&edition=&startpage=36&desc=Luke+E.+Hart+Dies%2C+83%2C+K.+of+C.+Supreme+Knight | title = Luke E. Hart Dies, 83, K. of C. Supreme Knight|date=February 20, 1964|newspaper=The Boston Globe|page=36}}</ref>}}

== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060906212632/http://www.archbishopwilliamsassembly.com/ The Pledge of Allegiance] * {{Find a Grave|20488804}}

{{s-start}} {{s-rel}} {{succession box | before=John E. Swift | title=Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus | years=1953 &ndash; 1964 | after=John W. McDevitt }} {{succession box | before=Joseph C. Pelletier | title=Supreme Advocate of the Knights of Columbus | years=1922 &ndash; 1953 | after=Harold J. Lamboley }} {{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Luke E.}} Category:1880 births Category:1964 deaths Category:People from St. Louis Category:People from Ringgold County, Iowa Category:Burials at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Category:Supreme Knights of the Knights of Columbus Category:Catholics from Missouri Category:Catholics from Iowa Category:20th-century American people