George Smathers
From Freepedia
George Armistead Smathers (born November 14, 1913) is an American lawyer and politician who represented Florida in the United States Senate for eighteen years.
Smathers was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey (his uncle, William Howell Smathers, was a U.S. senator representing New Jersey). His family moved to Miami, Florida in 1919, and he attended the University of Florida for his undergraduate degree and law school education. At Florida, he was president of his fraternity (Sigma Alpha Epsilon), captain of the basketball team, and president of the student body. After completing his LL.B. in 1938, Smathers returned to Miami, where he served as assistant U.S. district attorney from 1940 to 1942. During World War II, he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.
After the war, Smathers was elected to serve two terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1947 to 1951. In 1950, he ran for the United States Senate against incumbent Claude Pepper, and was elected by a margin of over 60,000 votes. The race was marked by echoes of the Red Scare: Smathers repeatedly attacked Pepper for having communist sympathies, pointing out his pro-civil rights platform and campaign for universal health care. It is also widely claimed that Smathers won the election by using linguistic tricks to attack Pepper before uneducated audiences, such as stating that Pepper had a "thespian" sister and a "Homo sapiens" brother, although Smathers repeatedly denied these claims during his term in the Senate.
In 1956, Smathers signed "The Southern Manifesto", condemning the U.S. Supreme Court decision to desegregate the public school system.
Smathers served as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for six years. During the 1960 presidential campaign, Smathers was a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination. He later managed John F. Kennedy's campaign in the southeastern U.S.
In 1968, Smathers declined to run for re-election and announced his candidacy for president. He was defeated in the primary race by Hubert Humphrey.
In 1991, Smathers gave a $20 million gift to the University of Florida library system, now known as the George A. Smathers Libraries. He later also gave a substantial $10 million gift to the University of Miami.
One of the interesting facts about Smathers is that in his life, he personally knew eleven United States Presidents starting with FDR. Smathers was a close friend of both John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. People often asked him to contrast these two very different men. Smathers said that although he was very fond of both, Kennedy was a lot more "fun".
Smathers was the only non-Kennedy/Bouvier family member in the highly publicized 1953 wedding in Newport.
Smathers introduced close friend and Key Biscayne neighbor Charles Rebozo to Richard Nixon. Smathers had recommended Key Biscayne as a vacation destination to Nixon. While Nixon was vacationing in Key Biscayne, Smathers had Rebozo take Nixon deep sea fishing. Smathers later sold Nixon his Key Biscayne home which became famous as the Key Biscayne White House.
Smathers resides in Miami Beach and is father to two sons John ('41-) and Bruce Smathers ('43-) (Florida Secretary of State '75-'78).
Smathers Beach, a popular Key West, Florida destination, is named after the senator.
He is currently the oldest living former US senator.
External links
Categories: U.S. Representatives from Florida | U.S. Marine Corps officers | 1913 births | University of Florida | Southern Manifesto | United States Senators from Florida
