Jess Smith

Further information: Warren G. Harding  and Ohio Gang

Jess Smith
Assistant to U.S. Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty
Born	1871
Died	May 30, 1923 (aged 52) Washington D.C.
Other names	Jesse W. Smith; Judge
Known for	Ohio Gang

Jesse W. Smith (1871 – May 30, 1923)^[1] also known as Jess Smith, was a member of President Warren G. Harding's Ohio Gang. He was born and raised in Washington Court House, Ohio, where he became a friend of Harry M. Daugherty.^[2] There, Daugherty helped him to become the successful owner of a department store. Smith became Daugherty's gofer during the 1920 campaign.^[2]

Role

Smith came to Washington as an aide to Daugherty as U.S. Attorney General. He had a desk at the Department of Justice, but no official title.^[2][3] He nevertheless wielded considerable influence.^[2]

He was also Daugherty's roommate at Washington, D.C.'s Wardman Park Hotel.^[4] Daugherty's wife had remained behind in Columbus because of illness; Smith was divorced.^[2]

Smith's activities (it's said^[who?] he sold bonded liquor to bootleggers, and was associated with a notorious house at 1625 K Street) became an embarrassment to Harding and Daugherty as the Teapot Dome scandal focused increased scrutiny on Harding and his supporters.^[4] Before leaving for Alaska, Harding told Daugherty he wanted Smith out of Washington.^[2]

On May 30, 1923, Smith died of a gunshot wound, and was found with a pistol at his side.^[2][3] His death was pronounced a suicide,^[2] but Alabama Senator James Thomas Heflin alleged otherwise, first at an investigatory hearing and later from the floor of the United States Senate.^[3]

"Nobody else knew what he [Smith] knew and with him dead there was nobody to tell the story — so Jesse Smith was murdered," said Senator Heflin, initially.^[3]

He followed up two days later, in the Senate, quoting an Alabama bootlegger

You know Secretary Mellon loaned the Republican National Committee $5,000,000 in 1920. Only $3,000,000 has been repaid. There is a deficit of $2,000,000. Jess Smith was charged with getting that money. The plan was to have the liquor men and the breweries contribute to this fund....^[3]

"That is one of the reasons," shouted Senator Heflin, "why they wanted to get rid of Jess Smith."^[3]

Documented links with Harding administration

Smith's links with members of the Harding administration, including First Lady Florence Kling Harding, have been documented by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, in his: 'Florence Harding: the First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President', New York: W. Morrow & Co., 1998

In fiction

Smith is one of four characters (and the only one based on a real person) from whose point of view Gore Vidal's novel of the period, Hollywood, is told. He is portrayed as a business-savvy but weak-willed and sycophantic follower of Harding and Daugherty, and it's speculated that his death might have been a murder used to cover up the Ohio Gang's crimes.

See also

• Warren G. Harding#Administrative scandals
• Little Green House on K Street

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} John Wesley Dean, Warren G. Harding. Macmillan, 2004. p. 142-144.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Time, December 27, 1926
4. ^ ^{a b} Jess Smith entry at ohiohistorycentral.org

External links

• NYPress.com, Conman of the Century - Gaston B. Means

Persondata
Name	Smith, Jess
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	May 30, 1923
Place of death	Washington D.C.