George Smathers

George Smathers (1963)

George Armistead Smathers ( November 14, 1913 in Atlantic City , New Jersey – January 20, 2007 in Miami Beach , Florida ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party . Twice - in 1946 and 1948 - he was elected to the House of Representatives of Congress as a representative of the Democratic Party for Florida's 4th electoral district , Miami-Dade County . After defeating Claude Pepper in the 1950 Senate election- the election campaign is considered one of the dirtiest ever - he represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate until his retirement from politics in 1969 ( 82nd to 90th Congress ). In the Senate, he campaigned for the interests of the conservative population and campaigned against granting African Americans the civil rights to which they are entitled under the American Constitution.

early years

George Armistead Smathers was born the son of federal judge Frank Smathers and his wife Laura F. (née Jones) in 1913 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His mother was a daughter of SA "Colonel" Jones, founder of the Tampa Times and First Methodist Church in Bartow , Florida. His uncle William Smathers represented the state of New Jersey in the US Senate from 1937 to 1943. Smathers grew up with his brother Frank (July 17, 1909) and sisters Virginia (June 10, 1912) and Laura (March 7, 1920 - October 2, 1930). In January 1920, when Smathers was just six years old, his family moved to Miami , where his father opened a law practice with partners (Smathers, Clutson, Huck). Smathers initially went to Buena Vista Elementary School ; Robert E. Lee Junior and Miami Senior High Schools in Miami-Dade County followed.

training

After school he went to law school at the University of Florida in Gainesville . As a student he was involved in various student associations and was also captain of the university basketball team . Smathers graduated from law school in 1936, went on to obtain a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and was admitted to the bar in 1938. He returned to Miami and worked in his father's law firm before being promoted to assistant district attorney in 1940. He held this post for two years until 1942.

starting a family

In the summer of 1938 he met Rosemary Townley, a wealthy heiress to an old Florida family († 2002), and married her on March 10, 1939. The couple had two sons: John Townley (Smathers) (born October 6, 1941) and Bruce Armistead (Smathers) (b. 1943). The couple divorced in 1972.

career advancement

For Smathers, working at the District Attorney's Office was an opportunity to step into the public spotlight through spectacular lawsuits. The first case he used to gain notoriety was the case against Alice Reid Griffin, who was charged with "white slavery" in Key West for allegedly trafficking two young girls illegally from Georgia to Florida to keep her then in the Alice Reid House in Key West to have caused "immoral activities" ( "for immoral purposes" ). Alice Reid Griffin was defended by Bart Riley, a distinguished member of the Bar. Riley called for the accused to be acquitted. Smathers got Alice Reid Griffin sentenced to three years in prison. This was negative for Alice Reid Griffin but positive for George Smathers' publicity. Smathers then knew how to use a similar case for himself to present himself to the public as a "tough and thorough clean man". Al and Evelyn Youst were indicted in 1941 for allegedly bringing several underage girls illegally from Tennessee and Georgia to Al Youst's La Paloma nightclub in Miami "for immoral purposes ." As expected, the newspapers speculated avidly about the “conditions of debauchery” ( “extent of debauchery” ) and gave accuser Smathers the desired forum, the desired headlines. Although Evelyn Youst asserted that she was "just a country girl" and that her work at the La Paloma nightclub consisted merely of a kind of "muscle dance" which was to be understood as art ( "It's art" ), prosecutor Smathers managed to that Al and Evelyn Youst 1941 because of "transport minors across state lines into immoral conditions" ( "smuggling of minors via Federal national borders in immoral relations" were convicted).

With this case at the latest, Smathers had achieved that the district attorney's office in which he worked - and of course he himself - was regarded by the conservative population as an "embodiment of the cause of decency" ( "embodiment of decency" )( Miami Herald, July 25, 1941 ) was considered.

Use in World War II

Following US entry into World War II in December 1941, Smathers volunteered for service in the United States Marine Corps in May 1942 . After basic training in Parris Island ( South Carolina ) at the US Marine Corps Recruit Depot and officer training at Quantico , he initially got a desk job as a US Navy lawyer . In November 1943 he was deployed at the front in the South Pacific in the war against Japan and as a member of the bomber squadron Marine Bombing Squadron 413 he took part in the battles for Bougainville and the Admiralty Islands from the air. That means he did his duty on the ground as the "third command of the airfield" . Smathers himself described his work as follows: "...in charge of all the security on the ground for these various operations." (United States Senate / Oral History Project / Interviews with George Smathers).

By the end of 1944 it was already foreseeable that the defeat of Japan would only be a matter of time. At the same time, however, it also became clear that the closer the American armed forces got to the Japanese heartland, the more bitter the conflicts would become and the more casualties they would suffer – as the battles for Iwo Jima (February/March 1945) and Okinawa (April 1945) then proved. Strangely enough, although Smathers - by his own admission in various interviews - had done everything possible to be deployed on the front lines and was indignant ( "I began to get very impatient." ), he started exactly at the point when he was the Fulfilling his urgent wish was very close to writing to influential acquaintances in Florida and asking them to work for his discharge from the army. Among others, he wrote to the two incumbent Florida Senators, Claude Pepper and Spessard Holland . But only a letter to Attorney General Tom C. Clark had the desired result. According to Smathers, it was Clark who used his influence to get Smathers home in Florida in early 1945 after a brief stopover in Washington, DC . Japan's unconditional surrender took place on September 9, 1945. For George Smathers, however, the war was over by early 1945. "So that was my story." (Smathers) He retired from active duty in the US Armed Forces with the rank of Captain. Only later, when he was already a congressman and then later a senator, was he promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Political career

congressman

George Smathers

After his discharge from the Army, he returned to Miami and in August 1945 got a job with Attorney General Tom C. Clark. But a little later he decided to switch to politics. He flirted with a seat in the Senate , but realistically recognized that the two then incumbent Florida Senators, Claude Pepper and Spessard Holland, were “virtually unbeatable ” for him as a newcomer . Therefore, as a first step, he decided to conquer a seat in the House of Representatives for the fourth district of Florida (Miami-Dade County) in the upcoming November 5, 1946 election. First he had to win against the renowned Pat Cannon in the Democratic Party primary . Cannon had previously been elected to Congress for Miami-Dade County a total of four times (76th through 79th Congresses/January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1947).

Smathers trusted in the reputation of his own family, his wife's family, his numerous acquaintances, friendships - especially from his student days ( "I know them and they know me." ) - as well as his extensive professional contacts. He also enlisted the support of John S. Knight , the influential editor of the Miami Herald and Chicago Daily News , who was also president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors , as well as Philip Graham , who studied with him and is now an editor the Washington Post was. He entrusted the management of his election campaign to the organizationally adept Richard Danner of the FBI , with whom he had worked closely during his time at the district attorney's office. His campaign team consisted of a handpicked group of friends he had known since childhood, when he was a student, or from his time in the US Army. The team was soon by his opponent Cannon, titled "Smathers 'Goon Squad" ( "Smathers' bat troupe" occupied). Central figure of this "Goon squad" was a childhood friend of Smathers, Charles Gregory "Bebe" Rebozo . Rebozo, son of Cuban immigrants, was a Florida businessman who made money from various businesses, including a chain laundry and other businesses. As a first "entrance" to the campaign, Smathers had the Attorney General assign him to represent a court case against John Henry Colt. It was about corruption and it was almost certain that the "young, handsome, irreproachable ex-Marine Corps officer" Smathers would be in the public spotlight.

Smathers had Cannon's voting behavior in the previous legislature examined in the records of Congress in order to be able to emphasize again and again in his campaign speeches that in the records of 1945, out of 75 votes in Congress, 37 times "Cannon absent" ( "Cannon absent" ) had been noted, thus his opponent criminally neglected his duties as a member of parliament, did not adequately represent the interests of Florida:

"It looks as though he thinks he can build houses by being away from the job half the time when he should be working..."

( Eng.: "It seems as if he thinks he can build houses, even if he's not around half the time he's supposed to be working..." )

He assured the audience that he would devote all his manpower to the new post and urged them:

"...give Pat Cannon a chance to devote his full time to the thing which he seems best at - being absent."

( Eng. "...give Pat Cannon the chance to devote himself entirely to what he seems to do best - being absent." )

He commended himself to industrial circles by castigating the economic and social reforms carried out as part of the New Deal as a gagging of the economy and promised to work for a comprehensive relaxation of this alleged "over-regulation" if he was elected.

With the growing confrontation between the US and its former ally, the Soviet Union , heading towards the so-called “ Cold War ”, he advocated vigorous US crackdown on the expansion of the Soviet sphere of influence. During the election campaign, Winston Churchill had visited Florida and, on March 5, 1946, in his famous iron-curtain speech in Fulton , Missouri, warned of the spread of Soviet influence. Smathers told Churchill's views not only, but - as his biographer Brian L. Crispell noticed - "He embraced" ( "He hugged" ) them. It was a position he was deeply committed to and maintained throughout his political career.

In the end, Smathers beat Pat Cannon by a vote of 41,963 to 19,628. The election campaign against his Republican opponent Norman Curtis on November 5, 1946 was then just a formality and Smathers was able to move in as a newly elected representative in the 80th Congress (1947-1948). Also in the then following election for the 81st Congress (1949-1950) on November 2, 1948 he was successful and defeated his Republican opponent JL Wambaugh impressively by being able to unite 81 percent of the votes cast. In Congress, Smathers encountered Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy , both of whom were also members of the House of Representatives at the time. A close friendship soon developed between Smathers and Kennedy, because apart from their adjacent offices, they also had a lot in common: war experiences, a passion for golf – and women. Both Smathers and Kennedy served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and made several trips to Europe and Cuba together during this period . But a relationship also developed with Nixon. When he asked Smathers for advice on where to recuperate in 1950, he recommended Key Biscayne, Florida. It was there that Nixon met Rebozo, who became one of his closest friends. Rebozo was later implicated in the Watergate scandal when it withheld $100,000 in donations that became central to the Watergate affair. Nixon then moved his vacation home near Rebozo's house and spent a lot of time with him.

senator

Rise to senator candidate

Smathers was a staunch supporter of Harry S. Truman ( "I always was a Truman man." ) and when Harry S. Truman asked him to run against Claude Pepper, the incumbent Florida Senator, Smathers complied and challenged Pepper in the primary ( area code) of the Democratic Party in 1950.

Pepper, a close associate of Franklin D. Roosevelt and a supporter of his New Deal policy, had been a member of the US Senate since 1936. Pepper was a spokesman for the liberal forces in the Senate and worked closely with the unions. In terms of foreign policy, he advocated friendly relations with the Soviet Union. When Claude Pepper ran for a seat in the US Senate in 1950, George Smathers ran against him. Smathers posed as a rabid anti-communist and launched an unprecedented smear campaign on Pepper. It was the beginning of what is known as the McCarthy era . For Smathers, Claude Pepper was already a "Red" ("Red"), "Red Pepper" because he recognized the commitment and the great losses of the Soviet Union during the Second World War , traveled to the USSR, had spoken with Stalin and the like called the Truman Doctrine . Newspapers supporting Smathers ran front-page headlines slandering Claude Pepper as "Pinko" ("Pinko Senator Pepper"), and Smathers published what he called "The Red Book of Senator Claude Pepper." circulation. Pepper's commitment to universal, adequate health insurance and coverage for all US citizens was discriminated against by Smathers in order to nationalize all areas of the US.

“When they socialize the doctors, then they will socialize the lawyers. Then next they will socialize insurance men, and when they socialize the insurance men, the farmer will be next. They plan to socialize everybody.”

“First they nationalize the doctors, then the lawyers. Next they're going to nationalize the insurance agents, and when they nationalize the insurance agents, next it's the farmers. They plan to nationalize everything and everyone.”

- George Smathers

His conservative white electorate "served" Smathers in a very special way by calling Claude Pepper a "nigger lover", simply because these black Americans shook hands and for the abolition of racial segregation occurred. Already for Smather submitted a photo in which Pepper along with that of McCarthy's " House Un-American Activities Committee branded" as a Communist black artist Paul Robeson , was shown to call him a "nigger-Communist".

"The dirtiest in the history of American politics."

"The dirtiest campaign in the history of American politics."

– Journalist David Brinkley looking back on the election campaign between Claude Pepper and George Smathers

Smathers' final victory over Pepper and his senatorship

But Smathers was elected, defeating Claude Pepper by a razor-thin majority of 60,000 votes. In 1951, Smathers himself became a Florida State Senator , which he remained until 1969, the year he retired. In an interview in 1974, Claude Pepper explained his deselection (and the failure of a number of other senators from the Democratic Party) with the following words:

“And by 1950, there were six, I'm speaking of the whole country now, there were six senior senators defeated. I was one of them. And the basic issue was National Health Insurance, civil rights, liberal attitudes favoring labor, minimum wage and all that sort of thing. Adequate hospital and medical care for the people, those things were basically the issues. And of course, the McCarthy stuff was simply the coloring of it. It was an excuse, it was simply a manifestation of that extreme right-wing conservative attitude that was beginning to grow stronger and stronger. And since that time, we have seen more Republicans elected…”

"In 1950, six, I'm talking about the entire United States now, six incumbent senators were voted out. I was one of them. The main issues were health insurance for all citizens, civil rights, a more open attitude towards and support for the workforce, minimum wages, all that. Adequate medical care for the people. That's basically what it was about. And then, of course, the McCarthy stuff, which took it one step further. It was trumped up, it was simply an expression of this extreme right-wing conservative attitude that (then) was starting to get stronger and stronger. Because since that time, more and more Republicans have been elected..."

Signatories to the Southern Manifesto

In 1956, Smathers signed the so-called " Southern Manifesto " ( " Manifesto of the Southern States " ) of March 12, 1956. With this " Manifesto ", a total of 96 politicians (19 senators and 77 members of the House of Representatives from Alabama , Arkansas , Florida, Georgia , Louisiana , Mississippi , North Carolina , South Carolina , Tennessee, Texas , and Virginia ) a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling ( Brown v. Board of Education ) that imposed racial barriers on public schools were abolished. After a class action lawsuit by affected parents in the state of Kansas against the then still mandatory racial segregation in state elementary schools, the Supreme Court, with its landmark judgment of May 17, 1954, repealed this racial segregation throughout the United States, as it violated the principle of equality as it existed in the 14th century. amendments to the American Constitution.

This landmark decision marked the end of legally sanctioned segregation in public schools in the United States. A year later, on May 31, 1955, the Supreme Court decided that the integration of the public schools should be carried out "with all deliberate speed" ( "in reasonable haste" ). Another year later, on May 5, 1956, the Supreme Court extended the ban on segregation to schools and universities that were publicly subsidized. Smathers and the other signatories to the Southern Manifesto were unable to accept this development.

Opponents of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Like many other members of the Southern Democratic Party, Smathers tailored his policies to the white, conservative constituency that supported him and was opposed to change. He voted against the Civil Rights Act of July 2, 1964, a law that made discriminatory election testing for African Americans illegal, as well as racial segregation in public facilities such as restaurants, movie theaters, hotels, sports stadiums, buses, and restrooms. It also empowered the Justice Department to enforce this law, which had rarely happened under the previous civil rights acts of 1957 and 1960.

See also: Civil Rights Act of 1964

Opponents of the Voting Rights Act 1965

Although the Civil Rights Act of July 2, 1964 significantly improved the situation of black Americans, it by no means eliminated their discrimination in the electoral process. According to the applicable electoral law, only those citizens who had successfully completed a reading test were allowed to be included in the electoral register. This illiteracy test was used - particularly in the southern states - to systematically exclude poorer, poorly educated black Americans from the elections. However, suffrage equality was one of the main demands of the civil rights movement . Lyndon B. Johnson responded to their pressure. The Voting Rights Act , which he passed into Congress on March 17, 1965 and finally passed on August 6, 1965, was intended to ensure equal participation by minorities in US elections. It abolished the illiteracy test for voters and empowered federal officials to intervene when blacks were denied the right to register or vote. In certain areas of the United States, voter registration has now been delegated to the federal authorities to ensure fairness. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his efforts to bring about this law . In 1989, Smathers explained why he and other Southern senators had so vehemently opposed civil rights laws:

“There wasn't any doubt that before 1964 if Spessard Holland – Florida's other senator – or I had voted for civil rights […] you couldn't do it and survive. It's inevitable that blacks are going to have every right that the whites have, and they should."

"There is absolutely no doubt that if Spessard Holland - the second Florida Senator - or I had agreed to civil rights before 1964 [...] we would not have survived it politically. It is inevitable that black people will get, and should get, all the rights that white people have.”

– George Smathers in an interview

The word "inevitable" in the above quote makes it clear that he only granted basic rights because he could not prevent the emancipation of black Americans. His opponents therefore did not accept this excuse either and continued to call him a racist .

presidential campaign

During the 1960 presidential campaign , Smathers was on the Democratic shortlist, but was defeated by fellow party member John F. Kennedy, whose campaign in the Southeast he later ran.

cold warrior

As a young congressman, Smathers served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and traveled extensively to Europe and Latin America with John F. Kennedy, who also served on the committee. It was the period when Stalin began to consolidate the sphere of influence created by the Red Army , which consolidated the USSR's hegemony over the Eastern European region, as he - based on the experiences of the interwar period, then World War II - as a sine qua non for the Soviet security appeared. The USA, at that time the undisputed leading power of the so-called western world, reacted to the increasing spread and acceptance of the communist idea with the “ policy of containment ” (containment policy) (Truman/ Kennan ). On March 12, 1947, Truman had announced before Congress that every nation would now have to choose between “two ways of life”, between a “free world” and a “totalitarian world” and heralded the so-called “ Cold War ”. Even under Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles , this foreign policy concept – which still accepted the status quo to a limited extent – ​​was replaced by the “ policy of roll back ” (the aggressive suppression of Soviet influence).

Commitment to Latin America

During this period of East-West confrontation, Smathers advocated greater attention to America's so-called "backyard," namely the countries of Central and South America, and greater orientation of US trade toward those countries. His efforts for the development of this region earned him the nickname "Senator from Latin America". Smathers advocated the support and construction, that is, the closer ties of the Latin American states to the United States, by no means selflessly, but rather as a protection against the spread of communist ideas. After Fidel Castro ousted the dictator Fulgencio Batista in early 1959 after two years of partisan warfare in Cuba and the USA had completely lost its influence as a result, Smathers was one of the first to see a communist threat in this change and campaigned for the overthrow of Fidel Castro:

"We have a moral as well as a legal responsibility to pursue a policy that will lead to Castro's downfall."

"We have a moral but also a legal obligation to pursue policies leading to Castro's overthrow."

– George Smathers to the New York Times

Last but not least, Smathers involvement here went back to the influence of Charles Gregory "Bebe" Rebozos , who had made investments in Batista's time in Cuba and with whom Smathers connected not only strong friendly feelings but also numerous business interests. In his book Testing the Limits: George Armistead Smathers and Cold War America , Brian Crispell describes Smathers as the epitome of the " Cold Warrior " who was completely imbued with containment politics and the domino theory and who combined these notions with his Latin America policy, later in sought to realize his unreserved support for the Vietnam War .

withdrawal from politics

In the 1968 election , Smathers refrained from running again, resigned from the Senate on January 3, 1969 and withdrew completely from politics. Despite his popularity and many voices trying to dissuade him from his decision, he stuck to his decision. From now on he tried his hand at business, bought an orange plantation and later dealt in cars. Shortly thereafter, his marriage to Rosemary Townley ended in divorce. In 1972, a year after their divorce, Smathers married Carolyn Hyder, who had been on his work team for five years. In 1991 he bequeathed $20 million to the University of Florida Library , which was subsequently renamed the George A Smathers Library . He later donated another ten million to the University of Miami. In 2002, Democratic Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek blocked a plan to name the newly constructed Miami Federal Courthouse after Smathers. “I can still remember that time well. I still experienced racial segregation and I also know the price that so many had to pay for it," said the then 76-year-old, explaining why she refused to give her consent. The Smathers Beach in Key West is named after him.

George Smathers was the oldest surviving former Senator at the time of his death. This position was then taken by Senator from West Virginia Robert Byrd .

literature

• Brian L. Crispell: Testing the Limits. George Armistead Smathers and Cold War America . University of Georgia Press, Athens, Ga. 1999, ISBN 0-8203-2103-6 .
• Kerwin C. Swint: Homo Sapiens, Thespians, and Extroverts. In: Ders.: Mudslingers. The top 25 negative political campaigns of all time . Praeger, Westport, Conn. 2006, ISBN 0-275-98510-5 , pp. 47–54.
• Patricia R. Wickman: The Uncommon Man. George Smathers of Florida . Self-published, 1994.

web links

Commons : George Smathers  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• George Smathers in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• United States Senate / Oral History Project / interviews with George Armistead Smathers (English)
• University of Florida George Smathers Library

references

1. ↑ senate.gov
2. ↑ Crispell, p. 10.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} spartacus-educational.com
4. ^ ^{a b} washingtonpost.com
5. ↑ Fund, John, Political Journal "George Smathers, RIP", January 24, 2007.
6. ↑ abcnews.go.com