Philip Sharp (politician)

Philip Riley Sharp ( born July 15, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American politician. Between 1975 and 1995 he represented the State of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Philip Sharp attended Washington Elementary School in Elwood (Indiana). In 1960 he graduated from the local Wendell Wilkie High School. Until 1961 he studied at DePauw University in Greencastle, and then until 1964 at Georgetown University in Washington, where he later until 1974 also studied philosophy.

Politically, Sharp joined the Democratic Party. Between 1964 and 1969 he served on the staff of U.S. Senator Vance Hartke. From 1969 to 1974 he taught at Ball State University in Muncie. In the congressional elections of 1974, Sharp has been selected in the tenth electoral district of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, where he became the successor of David W. Dennis on January 3, 1975. After nine elections he could pass in Congress until 3 January 1995, ten legislative periods. Since 1983 he represented there as a successor to Floyd Fithian the second district of his state. In the meantime, he was Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power.

In 1994, Sharp gave up another candidacy. Later, he became director of the political department of Harvard University, which is also known under the name of John F. Kennedy School of Government. Today he is president of the Board of Directors of Duke Energy Corporation and vice chairman of the Energy Foundation. He also leads the nonpartisan think tank Resources for the Future.