Elmo Smith | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 27th Governor of Oregon | |
| In office January 31, 1956 – January 14, 1957 | |
| Preceded by | Paul L. Patterson |
| Succeeded by | Robert D. Holmes |
| President of theOregon State Senate | |
| In office 1955–1956 | |
| Preceded by | Eugene E. Marsh |
| Succeeded by | Boyd R. Overhulse |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Elmo Everett Smith (1909-11-19)November 19, 1909 Grand Junction, Colorado, U.S. |
| Died | July 15, 1968(1968-07-15) (aged 58) Albany, Oregon, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Dennis Alan Smith Janice Elaine Smith |
| Profession | Newspaper publisher, politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | Pacific Theater of Operations |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Elmo Everett Smith (November 19, 1909 – July 15, 1968) was an American politician and newspaper publisher who served as the27th Governor ofOregon from 1956 to 1957. A member of theRepublican Party, Smith served two terms as mayor ofOntario from 1940 to 1943 before resigning to enlist in theU.S. Navy duringWorld War II. After returning to civilian life he severed as Ontario mayor for three more terms and was elected to theOregon State Senate in 1948. He becamePresident of the Senate in 1955. Smith was elevated to the governorship following the unexpected death of GovernorPaul L. Patterson on January 31, 1956. A special election for November was called to fill the position for the final two years of Patterson's term. Smith won the Republication primary but lost in gubernatorial election to Democratic nomineeRobert D. Holmes.[1][2]
Smith was seen as having "aHoratio Alger success story"[3] due to his humble beginnings. He was born in a log cabin and grew up to serve as governor.[3] He was relatively unknown to the general public across Oregon when he was sworn-in, outside of statehouse political enthusiasts, local newspaper publishers and the small rural communities ofEastern Oregon.[4] When it came to his politics,The Oregonian in an editorial wrote Smith "earned a reputation as a plain-speaking man who applied the rule of common sense to problems of government. He is conservative in his views on taxation and middle-of-the-road on most subjects."
Smith came from a long line ofDutch ancestors.[5] He was born on November 19, 1909, in a log cabin nearGrand Junction, Colorado.[6] He was the fourth of seven surviving children.[7] At age 9, he got his first newspaper job working as apaperboy for theGrand Junction Daily Sentinel.[5] At age 10, his mother died, and at age 13, his father died, leaving him anorphan. He was then sent to live with his aunt and uncle on a cattle ranch nearWilder, Idaho. He supported himself financially as he pursued an education at theCollege of Idaho inCaldwell. Smith received his B.A. in History in 1932.[6] While in school Smith met Dorothy Leininger who he married on October 8, 1933.[8] After graduation, the couple moved to nearbyOntario, Oregon, just across theSnake River from Idaho.[6]
In 1933, Smith and his wife Dorothy borrowed $25 from a former classmate to establish amimeographedpennysaver in Ontario.[9] Smith went on to work as an advertising manager at theOntario Argus[6] before buying his own press to start a rival newspaper in 1936 called theEastern Oregon Observer.[10] His sonDennis Alan Smith was born in 1938.[11] The couple also had a daughter named Janice Elaine Smith.[12]
At age 26, Smith was elected president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.[3] At age 30, the newspaper publisher was elected Mayor of Ontario in 1940 by a margin of 44 votes.[13] At the time, the town had a population around 3,500.[14] Smith was considered young for his age and had beaten an incumbent running for his seventh term.[15] Soon after taking office,Coronet, a national magazine, rated Smith as one of five outstanding mayors of small U.S. cities.[3] Smith played a big part in securing government aid from theWorks Progress Administration andCivil aviation authority to develop theOntario Municipal Airport, making it one of the first airfields and civilian training programs at a small town in the U.S. This proved useful to the military when the nation entered WWII.[14]
On Feb. 19, 1942, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt signedExecutive Order 9066, which led to theinternment of Japanese Americans. However, Smith called for the federal government to allowJapanese Americans to settle in Ontario.[16] Smith told theAssociated Press "If the Japs, both alien and nationals, are a menace to the Pacific Coast safety unless they are moved inland, it appears downright cowardly to take any other stand than to put out the call, 'Send them along; we'll cooperate to the fullest possible extent in taking care of them.'"[17] Following, the adoption of Civilian Restrictive Order 2, Japanese Americans living in Oregon were able to leave the makeshift living quarters at thePortland Assembly Center and move to Ontario.[16] A population of about 134 in the city and surrounding county before the war ballooned to 1,000 asMalheur County recruited farm workers during the war.[17]
At this time much of the West Coast supported their exclusion.[17] "No Japs Allowed" signs were posted across the river in nearby Payette, Idaho.[18] "Smith hired Japanese Americans to care for his children.[18] He also wrote positiveeditorials about Japanese immigrants to combatxenophobia. By 1950, Ontario boasted the highest Japanese-American population per capita in all of Oregon.[16] "Elmo Smith encouraged the community to be compassionate to us, to understand that they needed us," Japanese American George Iseri said. "He said, 'These people are Americans. They're legal residents. They did nothing wrong.' He just had a lot of common sense."[18]
Smith was re-elected mayor but resigned halfway through his second term to enlist in theU.S. Navy during theSecond World War. Smith, dubbed the "Flying Mayor," was named commander of eastern Oregon units of theCivil Air Patrol on April 3, 1942. His first assignment was searching for a missingMartin B-26 Marauder. Smith's squadron later helped deliver mail from Pendleton to Boise.[14] Smith earned the rank ofLieutenant,[14] serving in thePacific Theater of Operations for 18 months. He flew transport planes, and later commanded an air transport base in the South Pacific.[19] He won special commendation for leadership in a crisis.[5] That was for the rescue of five survivors from a transport crash.[3] Smith returned to civilian life at the war's conclusion, but would continue to fly planes at campaign events.[19]
Upon returning to Ontario in March 1946, Smith resumed his role as publisher theEastern Oregon Observer, which he hadleased during his overseas deployment to Orval Thompson.[20] Later that year in November Smith was elected Ontario mayor for a third term.[21] He would go on to be elected mayor five times total.[19] In December 1946, Smith sold theObserver to Jessica Longston and Robert Pollock[22] and used the proceeds to purchase theBlue Mountain Eagle in 1948.[23] He then moved toJohn Day to manage the paper.[5] That same day Smith and his friend Bill Robinson purchasedThe Madras Pioneer[24] and the family business was incorporated asBlue Mountain Eagle Newspapers, Inc.[23] Oscar W. Lange Jr. bought into thePioneer a few months later as a third owner.[25] Also of note, in July 1947, the City of Ontario under Smith issued and approved its first ever specialtax levy.[26]
In 1948, Smith was elected to representGrant,Malheur, andHarney counties in thestate senate.[27] He would go on to be a leader in promoting legislation for good roads and clean water.[5] But before taking office he was immediately met with a large amount attention as he was one of four senators who hadn't yet expressed their support for one of two candidates for senate president, with one reporter writing, "Smith has been the victim of ear-bending telephone conversations which have kept the long lines humming out of John Day and Ontario."[28] The votes were tied until Smith switched his support from Carl Engdahl toWilliam E. Walsh, who got the job.[29]
Smith served on the roads and highways committee in the 1949 session and was chairman in 1951. In that role, he pushed the legislation giving theOregon State Highway Department the right to issue bonds to fix the state's aging roads.[5] The program brought in $72 million and "transformed Oregon's highway's into economic assets."[30]
Smith grew to statewide prominence in a fight against the trucking industry. The legislature passed a bill to add a weight-mile tax on trucks. Implementing the Motor Carrier Highway Transportation Tax Act was put to voters as aballot measure. In response, long haul truckers pushed for a competing ballot measure which would amend theOregon Constitution to prohibit the weight-mile tax.[31] Smith was under a lot of pressure from the truckers. Advertisers pulled their accounts out of theBlue Mountain Eagle and he was bombarded with telegrams.[32] Smith wrote editorials in support of the tax[33] and campaigned all over the state. His efforts proved successful.[30] Voters passed the tax increase and overwhelmingly voted down the trucker's initiative in the 1952 election.[34] For his efforts, one person said Smith was "probably the best-versed layman in highway problems and legislation in the state." Smith was re-elected to the senate in 1952.[5]
Smith was the original sponsor of The Water Appropriation Act, which established the Water Resources Board, an agency created to manage and regulate Oregon's water resources.[5] It was reorganized decades later into theOregon Water Resources Department.[35]
Senator Smith was electedPresident of the Senate in 1955.[34] He was expected to inherit the role of Oregon governor if incumbentPaul L. Patterson decided to run for theUnited States Senate in the 1956 election.[36]
Patterson announced his candidacy for the U.S. senate and two days later suffered a heart attack while meeting with political advisors in Portland.[37] He died at 10 p.m. January 31, 1956. The next morning a state police car drove Smith six hours from John Day toSalem. He was sworn in as the 27th Governor ofOregon at 9:36 a.m. on Feb. 1. He was 46.[38] Smith was the first licensed airplane pilot to serve as Oregon governor.[5] He owned a private plane but agreed not to fly it while in office, a concession to party leaders who recalled the1947 Oregon Beechcraft Bonanza crash that killed three state officials.[3]
Upon taking the oath of office, Smith immediately began campaigning for the1956 Oregon gubernatorial special election. He won the Republican primary against "token opposition"[3] but was defeated in his attempt to win the governorship in his own right and complete the last two years of Patterson's term.Robert D. Holmes, his Democratic challenger, managed to win a narrow victory.[39]
In 1957, Smith became a co-owner of Democrat-Herald Publishing Co., which published theAlbany Democrat-Herald. He then moved toAlbany to work as the paper's publisher.[40] A few years later Smith returned to politics in a bid for theUnited States Senate seat opened by the death ofRichard Neuberger in 1960.[41] Smith lost the race toMaurine Neuberger, the Senator's widow.[42] In 1961, Smith purchased theHood River News[43] and theCottage Grove Sentinel.[44] A year later he was elected president of theOregon Newspaper Publishers Association.[45]
In 1964, Smith ran for a seat on theRepublican National Committee.[46] He withdrew his candidacy to accept the chairmanship of theOregon Republican Party.[47] That same year Smith acquired thePolk County Itemizer-Observer.[48] In 1966, Smith and his wife took an around the world trip which he wrote about in his newspapers. A few years later the couple toured East Asia and Australia, which he also wrote about in the papers.[7] In 1968, Smith sold theBlue Mountain Eagle right before his death.[49] Smith died of cancer on July 15, 1968, in Albany, aged 58.[19] He was buried in the Willamette Memorial Park Mausoleum.[7]
TheOregon Newspaper Publishers Association created the "Elmo Smith Award of General Excellence" in Smith's honor.[50] The organization also inducted Smith into the Oregon Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1979.[51]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of Oregon 1956–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Oregon 1956 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromOregon (Class 2) 1960 | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
