Willis Smith

Infobox Senator | name=Willis Smith
nationality=American


jr/sr and state=Senator, North Carolina
party=Democrat
term=November 7th 1950-June 26th 1953
preceded=Frank Porter Graham (D)
succeeded=Alton Asa Lennon (D)
date of birth=birth date|1887|12|19|mf=y
place of birth=Norfolk, Virginia
dead=dead
date of death=June 26, 1953
place of death=Bethesda, Maryland
spouse=
religion=Methodist

Willis Smith (19 December 1887 - 26 June 1953) was a Democratic U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1950 and 1953.

Early life and education

Born in Virginia, he moved to North Carolina before age 2. After graduating from Trinity College (now the undergraduate liberal arts college of Duke University) in 1910 and Duke University Law School in 1912, he became a practicing attorney -- but interrupted his work to serve in the United States Army during World War I. In 1912, he founded the law firm that as of 2008 is known as Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan. [ [http://www.smithlaw.com/sap.cfm?pn=olf&spn=fhfsheet Smith Anderson: A History of Excellence] ]

Each year, Duke University Law School awards the "Willis Smith Award" to the graduating law student with the highest academic average in the class. [ [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.law.duke.edu%2Falumni%2Fnews%2Fclassnotes&date=2008-03-12 Duke Law Class Notes] ]

Political career

Smith served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1928 to 1932, and was briefly the speaker of that body in 1931. [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000639 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress] ] He also served as a U.S. observer at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946, as chairman of the American delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Bern, Switzerland in 1952, as chairman of the Duke University board of trustees, and as president of the American Bar Association. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820563-1,00.html Time Magazine, May 15, 1950] ]

In the Democratic primary of 1950, Smith defeated incumbent Sen. Frank Porter Graham for the nomination. Graham had been appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of J. Melville Broughton and had served only a little over a year at the time of his defeat. In the campaign, Graham, who was well known for his antiracist sympathies, was supported by President Harry Truman and the state's liberal Democratic faction, while Smith was aided by a young strategist named Jesse Helms.

Smith's service in the Senate was brief and unremarkable. He died suddenly in 1953 and was interred at the Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.

References