Hank Fort was an American singer and songwriter of the mid 20th century from Nashville, Tennessee.
16 Facts About Hank Fort
1.
2.
In 1960, Fort campaigned actively for John F Kennedy, traveling in the South entertaining with Mrs Johnson, Ethel Kennedy, Eunice Shriver, and Jean Kennedy Smith.
3.
Hank Fort's composition, "Look With Pride On Our Flag", was played at the second inauguration of Richard Nixon in 1973.
4.
Hank Fort was born Eleanor Hankins on June 19,1908, in Nashville, Tennessee.
5.
Hank Fort's father, Cornelius Hankins, was a portrait artist.
6.
Hank Fort studied with Robert Henri and with William Merritt Chase in New York.
7.
Hank Fort's mother, Maude McGehee Hankins, was an artist and a writer of children's verse.
8.
Hank Fort began writing songs for the presidential campaign of Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, which brought her to the attention of Lady Bird Johnson.
9.
Hank Fort's song, "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy" was recorded by Petula Clark in 1949, and by Anne Shelton in 1952.
10.
Hank Fort's composition, "I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded", was a minor hit for The Andrews Sisters.
11.
One of Hank Fort's songs, "Look With Pride On Our Flag", dedicated to President Richard Nixon, was played at his 1973 inauguration ceremony, eight days after Hank Fort's death.
12.
Hank Fort was active for many years in the Nashville Children's Theater, after participating in it herself when she was a child.
13.
Hank Fort was head of the project in Nashville to become one of the first junior theaters in the US to become self-sustaining.
14.
Hank Fort joined with a business partner, Mrs Martha Perkins Trousdale and later Carol Woolwine, to get the school going.
15.
Hank Fort said, "It came as a shock to them that the name came from the twice-a-month meetings".
16.
Hank Fort died on January 12,1973, in Washington, DC Liz Carpenter wrote her obituary.