John Lee Smith

John Lee Smith (born May 16, 1894 in Chico , Wise County , Texas , †  September 26, 1963 in Lubbock , Texas) was an American politician . Between 1943 and 1947 he was lieutenant governor of the state of Texas.

Career

At the age of six, John Smith and his parents came to Throckmorton County , where their father was a cotton planter. In 1913 he graduated from high school. He then attended Stamford College and West Texas State Teachers College . He initially taught as a teacher in various cities in Texas. In 1917 and 1918 he served during the First World War in the United States Army . In France he then studied Roman history. After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer, he began to work in Throckmorton in this profession. Between 1920 and 1926 he served as a district judge in Throckmorton County. He then worked as a lawyer at the Texas Ministry of Education until 1931. He then practiced again as a private lawyer.

Politically, Smith was a member of the Democratic Party . He served in the Texas Senate in 1941 and 1942 . In 1942 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas at the side of Coke R. Stevenson . He held this office after a re-election between 1943 and 1947. He was Deputy Governor and Chairman of the State Senate. In 1946 he ran unsuccessfully in the gubernatorial election of his party. Smith was against the principle of the so-called closed shops , according to which all employees in such a company had to be members of a union.

In 1952, John Smith and his party fell out over the so-called Tideland controversy . In the presidential elections of 1952 he did not support the Democrat Adlai Stevenson , but the Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower . That same year, Smith ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the United States House of Representatives . 1956 failed a candidacy for his previous office as vice governor. Otherwise he practiced as a lawyer again. He was a member of numerous organizations and associations and died on September 26, 1963 in Lubbock.

Web links

• John Lee Smith in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• The Political Graveyard
• John Lee Smith in the Handbook of Texas