Philip Hayes ( general ) Philip Hayes ( b . June 16 , 1887 – d . November 25 , 1949 ) was a Major - General in the U . S . Army . He was the commander of the Third Service Command from 1943 to 1946 . Hayes was in charge of the U . S . military ' s takeover , under the authority of the Smith - Connally Act , of the Philadelphia Transit Company in August 1944 that brought to an end the Philadelphia transit strike of 1944 . Earlier in his career , Hayes served as the chief of staff to Gen . Walter Short , who was the commander of the Hawaiian Department at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack , although Hayes was rotated from Hawaii back to the mainland in November 1941 , shortly before the attack . Early life , education and early military career . Philip Hayes was born on June 16 , 1887 in Portage , Wisconsin . He graduated from West Point in 1909 , was commissioned into the Army there and remained at West Point as an instructor after graduation . He was later transferred to the field artillery and served in the Philippines during World War I . Given a field promotion to a temporary rank of Lt . Colonel during the war , Hayes reverted to his permanent rank of Captain after World War I ended . In 1919 he returned to West Point , first as an exchange officer and then as executive officer for athletics . Philip Hayes was promoted to the rank of Major in July 1920 . He then served as executive officer of the 76th Field Artillery Division at Camp Lewis , Washington . In 1920s he held a number of executive posts and attended officer ' s school . After a one year course of study , Hayes graduated from the Army War College at Washington Barracks in 1930 . Main military career . Hayes attained the rank of Lt . Colonel in March 1934 . In 1936 he was transferred to Hawaii and became an assistant chief of staff at the Army ' s Hawaiian Department . In July 1938 Hayes was promoted to the rank of Colonel and he became the chief of staff of the Hawaiian Department in 1940 . While serving as the chief of staff of the Hawaiian Department , Hayes warned of the possibility of a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan . In standing orders to the Department , Hayes wote : " It is possible that a declaration of war upon the United States may be preceded by a surprise raid or attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base by hostile aircraft , submarines , or surface ships " . Hayes was transferred back to the mainland in late November 1941 , due to a scheduled rotation , and stationed at Fort Bragg . From December 1941 to March 1942 Hayes briefly served as the professor of Military Science and Tactics at Harvard University . After leaving Harvard , Hayes served as the chief of staff of Army ' s First Service Command . On June 22 , 1943 Hayes was promoted to Brigadier General . He served as deputy chief of staff of all Army Service Commands and , effective December 1 , 1943 , was appointed the head of the Third Service Command , covering Maryland , Pennsylvania and Virginia . In January 1944 Philip Hayes was promoted to the two - star rank of Major General , with the U . S . Senate confirming his promotion on January 27 , 1944 . As head of the Third Service Command , Hayes oversaw much of the logistics related to the war production in the Maryland - Pennsylvania - Virginia area ; this included having to deal with a thorny issue of employment of prisoner of war , where the U . S . laws and the restrictions of the Geneva Convention were difficult to reconcile . On August 3 , 1944 , under the provisions of the Smith - Connally Act , President Franklin Roosevelt signed an order authorizing the U . S . military ' s takeover of the Philadelphia Transit Company . The order was prompted by a massive sickout strike by the white transit workers protesting the decision to allow black transit employees to hold non - menial jobs , such as streetcar motormen and conductors . The strike paralized the public transportation system in Philadelphia and significantly disrupted the war production in the city . General Hayes was put in charge of the military seizure of the Philadelphia Transit Company . He acted decisively and brought the strike to an end within a few days . After brief negotiations , Hayes issued an ultimatum on August 5 that those strikers who would not return to work by August 7 , would be fired and refused the War Manpower Commission job availability certificates for the duration of the war , and that those between ages of 18 and 37 would also lose their military draft deferments . The strike was over by August 7 and the situation quickly returned to normal ; the city of Philadelphia avoided a major outbreak of racial violence that had been feared by many at the start of the strike . For his role in quickly bringing the Philadelphia strike to an end , Gen . Hayes was later awarded a Legion of Merit . Hayes was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal in November 1945 for " his sustained efforts to maintain the flow of labor to factories and war industries and to expedite the supply of essential materials during a most critical period " of World War II . Retirement and later years . Gen . Hayes retired from the military in January 1946 . After retirement he held a number of public service , business and charitable posts . In 1946 Hayes was appointed chairman of Maryland ' s State Aviation Commission . Hayes was also active in a number of cancer charities . Hayes suffered a stroke on November 9 , 1949 and died on November 25 , 1949 at the Walter Reed hospital in Washington .