George Smathers Totally Explained

Everything about George Smathers totally explained

George Armistead Smathers (November 14, 1913 – January 20, 2007) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Florida in the United States Senate for eighteen years, from 1951 until 1969, as a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life

Smathers was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey (his uncle, William H. 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, president of the student body, and a member of Florida Blue Key; he was later named to the University of Florida Hall of Fame. After completing his LL.B. in 1938, Smathers returned to Miami, where he served as Assistant United States Attorney from 1940 to 1942. During World War II, he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.
At Harvard Law School, Smathers was a classmate of Philip Graham, a fellow Floridian, and both were acolytes of Professor Felix Frankfurter. Graham (1915-1963) would later become Publisher of The Washington Post. Graham would support his friend's political ambitions; at Harvard Law, the two were thought of by classmates as being "future president and chief justice" of the United States.

Political career

After the war, Smathers was elected to serve two terms in the United States House of Representatives, representing Florida's Fourth Congressional District from 1947 to 1951. He established a reputation for being a moderate who was resolutely anti-communist. The handsome politician was known as "Gorgeous George" by his enemies(External Link

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Election to Senate

In 1950 President Harry Truman called Smathers into a meeting at the White House and reportedly said "I want you to do me a favor. I want you to beat that son-of-a-bitch Claude Pepper." Pepper had been part of an unsuccessful 1948 campaign to "dump Truman" as the Democratic presidential nominee. Smathers challenged the incumbent United States Senator Claude Pepper in the Democratic primary, and won 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 as well as his travels to the Soviet Union in 1945 where, after meeting Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, declared he was "a man Americans could trust." A reporter made up a hoax that Smathers gave a speech to a rural audience using fancy words to create the implication that Pepper was sinister. Smathers reportedly had said, "Are you aware that Claude Pepper is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert? Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, and he's a sister who was once a thespian in wicked New York. Worst of all, it's an established fact that Mr. Pepper before his marriage habitually practiced celibacy," While it's sometimes said that Time magazine reported these items, the magazine actually referred to the quote as a "yarn." The leading reporter who actually covered Smathers said he always gave the same hum-drum speech. No Florida newspapers covering the campaign ever reported such remarks contemporaneously. Smathers offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove he said it, and there were no takers before his death.

During his life, Smathers personally knew eleven United States Presidents, starting with FDR. He was a close friend of both John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. When asked 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 reported to be the only non-Kennedy/Bouvier family member to have been in the highly publicized 1953 wedding in Newport (RI) and was co-bestman with Robert Kennedy.

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 Florida White House.

Smathers Beach, a popular Key West destination, is named after the senator.

Smathers served as a guest panelist on episode #360 of the television game show What's My Line?, which originally aired on April 28, 1957, and in 1957, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and was frequently a guest on Larry King Live and other news programs.

Smathers was the last surviving senatorial signer of the Southern Manifesto and was the last living member of congress from the 1940s.

Smathers often attended "Church by the Sea", the United Church of Christ church in Bal Harbour, Florida where his funeral was held. (External Link

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Smathers remains are located in Arlington National Cemetery.

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