Utah Phillips in keeping with the hobo tradition of adopting a moniker that included an initial and the state of origin, and in emulation of country vocalist T. He also ran for president of the United States in 1976 for the Do-Nothing Party. He received 2,019 votes (0.5%) in an election won by Republican Wallace F.
Senate as a candidate of Utah's Peace and Freedom Party in 1968. Phillips worked at the Joe Hill House for the next eight years, then ran for the U.S. Phillips assisted him in establishing a mission house of hospitality named after the activist Joe Hill.
He gave credit to Hennacy for saving him from a life of drifting to one dedicated to using his gifts and talents toward activism and public service. While riding the rails and tramping around the west, Phillips returned to Salt Lake City, where he met Ammon Hennacy from the Catholic Worker Movement.
