Josephine L. Hart

Josephine Linker Hart (born November 20, 1943, in Perryville, Arkansas) is an American lawyer and jurist who was an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court from 2012 to 2020. Early life Hart was born in her grandmother's home in Perryville. At a few days old her family relocated to her father's farm in Russellville. Hart decided at a young age to follow a career in law. A personal family matter is what spurred her to this decision. Hart's family lived off of the farm until her family's fertile farmland was proposed to be taken by eminent domain to build Lake Dardanelle. In 1965 Hart received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Arkansas Tech University. Career Military service After graduating from college, Hart joined the United States Army and was deployed to Army Headquarters in Japan in 1966. She then was sent to Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War. Hart was made an administrative chief of a unit comprising 500 people. Hart sorted all correspondence that went through the area, including the leaflets that were dropped over Vietnam. In Vietnam she was promoted to the position of Captain, and for a majority of Hart's time in Vietnam she was the only officer that was female. Hart is quoted as saying about her time in Vietnam, “I was a junior captain in a senior major’s spot, and it had never been filled by a woman before,” but I never had any problems with it. It was a seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day operation, and you just did your job.” In 1969, Hart transitioned from her position in Vietnam to the Army Reserve, by this time she was Colonel and had served for 20 years.