Howard Kingsbury Smith (May 12, 1914 – February 15, 2002) was an American
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
,
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
reporterA reporter is a type of journalist who researches and presents information in certain types of mass media.Reporters gather their information in a variety of ways, including tips, press releases, sources and witnessing events. They perform research through interviews, public records, and other...
,
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
anchorman, political commentator, and
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
star. He was one of the original
Edward R. Murrow boysMurrow’s Boys, or “The Murrow Boys,” were the CBS broadcast journalists most closely associated with Edward R. Murrow during his years at the network, most notably the years before and during World War II....
.
Early life
Smith was born in
FerridayFerriday is a town in Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census....
in Concordia Parish in eastern
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
near
NatchezNatchez is the county seat of, and the largest and only incorporated city within, Adams County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,464. One of Mississippi's oldest cities, it was founded by French colonists in 1716, antedating the current...
,
MississippiMississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
, to Howard K. Smith, a nightwatchman descended from a poor but "gentleman-farming" family in
LettsworthLettsworth is a small village located in the extreme northern tip of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, in the United States. It lies on the east bank of the Atchafalaya River near its intersection with the Mississippi River and the Red River at the Old River Control Structure. As of 2005, the...
in Pointe Coupee Parish north of
Baton RougeBaton Rouge is the capital city and the second largest city of Louisiana It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish which contains 428,000 residents. The Greater Baton Rouge population is approximately 774,327...
, and the former Minnie Gates, the daughter of a
CajunCajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
riverboatA riverboat is a ship designed for inland navigation. These vessels are usually less sturdy than ships built for the open seas, with limited navigational and rescue equipment, as they do not have to survive the high winds or large waves characteristic on large lakes, seas or oceans. They can...
pilot.
Smith worked his way through
Tulane UniversityTulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans, having studies German and journalism. After his graduation in 1936, with both
bachelor of artsBachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
and L.L.B. degrees, he signed on as a deckhand with a ship bound for Germany, where he briefly studied at Heidelberg University. In 1936, he spent a year as a reporter in New Orleans before securing a
Rhodes ScholarshipThe Rhodes Scholarship named after Cecil Rhodes is an international award for study at the University of Oxford and was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships...
to Oxford University's
Merton CollegeMerton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, from which he graduated in 1939. Smith became active in student politics, mostly protesting
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
Neville ChamberlainArthur Neville Chamberlain was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940...
's seemingly soft attitude toward
NazismNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
. While at Oxford, he was the first American ever to chair the university Labour Club.
World War II
Upon graduating, Smith worked for the
New Orleans Item, with United Press in London, and with the
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
. In January 1940, Smith was sent to Berlin, where he joined the Columbia Broadcasting System under
Edward R. MurrowEdward R. Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss and Alex Kendrick considered...
. He visited
HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
's mountain retreat at
BerchtesgadenBerchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...
and interviewed many leading
NazisNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
, including Hitler himself,
SchutzstaffelThe , abbreviated SS- or - was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the Führer's "Praetorian Guard," the Nazi Party's "Shield Squadron" and a force that, fielding almost a million men ,...
or "SS" leader
Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler , one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, served as Chief of the German Police and Minister of the Interior...
and Director of Information minister
Joseph GoebbelsPaul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reichsminister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945...
. When Smith refused to include Nazi
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
in his reports, the
GestapoThe was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning in April 1934, it was under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel under Heinrich Himmler in his position as leader of the SS and Chief of German Police...
seized his notebooks and threw him out of the country. He left for Switzerland on December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack on
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor is a harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Hawaii.
He was one of the last American reporters to leave Berlin before Germany and the United States went to war. His 1942 book,
Last Train from Berlin: An Eye-Witness Account of Germany at War describes the reporter's observations from Berlin in the year after the departure of
Berlin DiaryBerlin Diary is a first-hand account of the rise of the Third Reich and its road to war, as witnessed by the American journalist William L. Shirer...
author
William L. ShirerWilliam Lawrence Shirer was an American journalist and historian. He became known for his broadcasts on CBS from the German capital of Berlin through the first year of World War II....
.
Last Train from Berlin became an American best-seller and was reprinted in 2001, shortly before Smith's death.
Unable to leave Switzerland, where he and his young wife spent most of the war, Smith reported whatever the Swiss government would permit. After the liberation of France, he began reporting on Germany and central Europe from Berne. By the winter of 1944-1945, he began sending vivid
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
accounts of the German counter-attack in the
ArdennesThe Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and old mountains formed on the Givetian Ardennes mountains, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
known as the
Battle of the BulgeThe Ardennes Offensive was a major German offensive , launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium , France and Luxembourg on the Western Front...
, and he accompanied Allied forces across the Rhine River and into Berlin.
Smith became a significant member of the "Murrow Boys" that made CBS the dominant broadcast news organization of the era. In May 1945 he returned to Berlin to recount the German surrender.
Post-war
In 1946, Smith went to London for CBS with the title of "Chief European Correspondent." In 1947 he made a long broadcasting tour of most of the nations of Europe, including behind the
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991...
. In 1949 Knopf published his
The State of Europe, a 408-page country-by-country survey of Europe that drew on these experiences and that argued "both the American and the Russian policies are mistaken"; he advocated more "social reform" for Western Europe and more "political liberty" for Eastern Europe.
In 1959, Smith hosted a 21-week public affairs series entitled "Behind the News with Howard K. Smith". Broadcasts included a two-part program on
Nikita KhrushchevNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
, the St. Lawrence Seaway,
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008...
in
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
, and
unemploymentUnemployment occurs when a person is available to work and seeking work but currently without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed...
problems in distressed areas.
In 1960, having established residence earlier in
BethesdaBethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
,
MarylandMaryland is a state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia to the south and west, Pennsylvania to the north, and Delaware to the east. It is comparable in size to the European country of Belgium. According to the U.S...
, Smith chaired the first ever televised presidential debates, held between U.S. Senator
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
of
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
and
Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term...
Richard M. NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
.
Late in 1961, Smith left his job at CBS when a dispute erupted over a
documentaryDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
called "Who Speaks for Birmingham?". This in-depth investigation concerned the battle between
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
forces and the police of
BirminghamBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
,
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its...
. Smith, an advocate of
desegregationDesegregation is the process of ending racial segregation, most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v...
, concluded his commentary at the end of the program by recalling
Edmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who, after relocating to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a member of the Whig party. He is mainly remembered for his opposition to the French Revolution...
's admonition, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Smith was told to remove the Burke quote from the end of the broadcast. Network president and founder
William S. PaleyWilliam Samuel Paley , the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States....
declined to support Smith over the matter, and Smith promptly left the network after twenty years of service. Smith declared that his hatred of discrimination stemmed from living in the racially segregated American South and from watching the Nazis in Europe during the world war.
ABC, 1962-1979
Smith moved to
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
at a time when that network's news division was a distant third among the "Big Three" networks. After the 1962 mid-term elections, Smith presented a documentary entitled, "The Political Obituary of Richard Nixon" as part of his
Howard K. Smith: News and CommentHoward K. Smith: News and Comment was a half-hour ABC news and documentary program hosted by commentator Howard K. Smith , which aired from February 14, 1962, to June 16, 1963...
(1962-1963) television series. Smith referred to Nixon's "
last press conferenceThe so-called "last press conference" of Richard Nixon took place on November 7, 1962 following his loss to Democratic incumbent Pat Brown in the 1962 California gubernatorial election...
" after his disastrous losing campaign against
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr.Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967.-Background:...
, for
governor of CaliforniaThe Governor of California is the highest executive authority in the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual "State of the State" addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced.The position was...
. In that exchange, the former vice president famously told reporters that they would not "have Nixon to kick around any more." Smith included in the broadcast an interview with Nixon's longstanding nemesis
Alger HissAlger Hiss was an American lawyer, civil servant, businessman, author and lecturer. He was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department and UN official...
, a convicted
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
perjurerPerjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the matter lied about would affect the outcome of the case...
.
Howard K. Smith: News and Comment aired in the 10:30 Eastern slot on Sundays, opposite
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
's long-running quiz program
What's My Line?What's My Line? is a weekly panel game show, which ran from 1950 to 1967, whose objective was to guess the unusual occupations of contestants. It is the longest-running game show in the history of prime time network television...
hosted by
John Charles DalyJohn Charles Patrick Croghan Daly,John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly,John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly,(generally known by John Charles Daly or simply John Daly (Irish: Seán Searlás Ó Dálaigh: February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was a journalist, game show host, and radio personality,...
, who had been the first ever ABC news anchorman. ABC stood by Smith on the Nixon "obituary", but sponsors dried up for the program thereafter. It was revised in the 1963-1964 season as simply
ABC News Reports.
On June 5, 1968, Smith was anchoring coverage of the
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
presidential primary that had stretched to 3 a.m. New York time. As the closing credits for the special were airing, word came in that U.S. Senator
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician. He was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S...
of New York had just been shot. ABC simply showed a wide shot of the chaotic
newsroomA newsroom is the place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, along with other staffers—work to gather news to be published in a newspaper or magazine or broadcast on television, cable or radio...
for several minutes until Smith was able to confirm the initial story and go back on the air with a special report. He continued at the anchor desk for several more hours for reports of Kennedy's condition.
In 1969, the veteran reporter became the co-anchor of the
ABC Evening News, first with
Frank ReynoldsFrank Reynolds was an American television journalist for ABC.He is best remembered as anchor of the ABC Evening News from 1968 to 1970 and later as Washington D.C.-based co-anchor of World News Tonight from 1978 to 1983...
, then the following year with another CBS alumnus,
Harry ReasonerHarry Reasoner was an American journalist known for his inventive use of language as a television commentator, and as a founder of the 60 Minutes program.-Journalism: CBS News:...
. He began making increasingly conservative commentaries, in particular adopting a hard-line stance in support of the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
. He contrasted President
Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969 after his service as the Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963...
's decisive stance in Vietnam with the international failure to take preemptive action against Hitler. During this period, his son, future ABC newsman, Jack Smith (April 25, 1945—April 7, 2004), was serving with the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry Regiment in
South VietnamSouth Vietnam refers to a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the State of Vietnam and later as the “Republic of Vietnam” . Its capital was Saigon...
and fought at the
Battle of Ia DrangThe Battle of Ia Drang was one of the first major battles between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam during the Vietnam War....
. These commentaries endeared him to President Nixon, who rewarded him with a rare, hour-long, one-on-one interview in 1971, at the height of the administration's animus against major newspapers, CBS, and NBC.
During the
1972 presidential campaignThe United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
, a letter was published that Smith had written to the Democratic U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie of
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
, indicating Smith's full support for Muskie. The endorsement was written on stationery with ABC's
letterheadA letterhead is the heading at the top of a sheet of letter paper. It usually consists of a name and an address, and a logo or corporate design, and sometimes a background...
. Nothing ever came of this controversy, however, and Smith kept his job. Notwithstanding his past temporary friendly relations with Nixon, who defeated U.S. Senator George S. McGovern of
South DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota was carved out of the southern half of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889...
for reelection, Smith became the first national television commentator to call for Nixon's resignation over Watergate.
Smith remained as co-anchor at ABC until 1976, when
Barbara WaltersBarbara Jill Walters is an American journalist, writer, and media personality who has hosted morning television shows , the evening news magazine , and co-anchor of ABC Evening News and correspondent on World News .Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news anchor for over 10 years on...
joined the anchor desk, and stayed on for about two more years as an analyst, but left in 1979, as the
Roone ArledgeRoone Arledge was an American sports broadcasting pioneer who was chairman of ABC News from 1977 until several years before his death, and a key part of the company's rise to competition with the two other main television networks, NBC and CBS, in the '60s, '70s, and '80s.-Roots:Arledge was born...
era began at ABC News, and full retirement age approached. Sources say that Smith was embittered over the reduction in time allowed for his commentaries and hence resigned after he criticized the revamped
World News Tonight format as a "Punch and Judy show."
Awards and film roles
Among honors which Smith received over the years were DuPont Awards in 1955 and 1963, a
Sigma Delta Chi AwardThe Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists for excellence in journalism.- History :The Awards, according the SPJ, began in 1932 when the society chose six individuals for their contributions to journalism. In 1939 the awards program began as it is...
for radio journalism in 1957, and an award from the
American Jewish CongressThe American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....
in 1960.
Smith also appeared in a number of
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
s, often as himself;
The CandidateThe Candidate is an American film released in 1972, starring Robert Redford. Themes of the film include that of how the political machine corrupts, and the pointlessness of politics. There are also parallels between John F. Kennedy and Redford's character Bill McKay...
(1972),
Nashville (1975),
Close Encounters of the Third KindClose Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban and Cary Guffey. It tells the story of Roy Neary, an Indiana electrical lineman, whose life changes...
(1977),
The Best Little Whorehouse in TexasThe Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall...
(1982), the television series
The Bionic WomanThe Bionic Woman is an American television series which spun off from The Six Million Dollar Man. It starred Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers, a tennis professional who was nearly killed in a skydiving accident, and was rebuilt by Oscar Goldman and Dr. Rudy Wells , who had also rebuilt The Six...
- the "Kill Oscar" episode (1977) playing himself anchoring an ABC newscast, and both
VV is a two-part science fiction television miniseries, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson. First shown in 1983, it initiated the science fiction franchise concerning aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to gain control of Earth.-Plot summary:...
(1983) and the subsequent 1984 television series.
Along with
Last Train from Berlin, he wrote three other books,
The Population Explosion (1960), a children's book
Washington, D.C.; The Story of our Nation's Capital (1967), and a memoir
Events Leading Up to My Death: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Reporter (1996).
Family life
Smith's son, Jack, as an ABC correspondent received Peabody and Emmy awards for his coverage of
technologyTechnology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment...
; he died of
pancreatic cancerPancreatic cancer is a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. Each year in the United States, about 42,470 individuals are diagnosed with this condition and 35,240 die from the disease. The prognosis is generally poor; less than 5 percent of those diagnosed are still alive five years after diagnosis...
in
Marin CountyMarin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2007, the population was 248,096. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is...
, California, days before what would have been his 59th birthday."
Smith also had a daughter, Catherine H. Smith of
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
, by his March 1942 marriage to the former Benedicte "Bennie" Traberg (September 25, 1921—October 29, 2008), then a 20-year-old journalist originally from Denmark, whom Smith called the most impressive person he had ever known "far above presidents and generals". There were three grandchildren.
Catherine Smith, who wrote her mother's
obituaryAn obituary is primarily an attempt by a publication to give an account of the life of someone considered significant who has recently died...
, quoted from Smith's 1996 memoirs
Events Leading Up to My Death, that their relationship "was born in an atmosphere of acute crisis." With World War II heating up, recalled Catherine Smith, and "both of them heading out of the German capital, they decided to marry just four days after their first date. My mother's young age required her return to Nazi-occupied Denmark for parental approval and the Danish queen's intervention to obtain traveling papers, but the couple reunited successfully three months later in Berne, Switzerland."
Mrs. Smith managed her husband's career, handled the finances and investments, and helped with the processing of his publications. Catherine Smith noted that her mother was the one most responsible for the development of Smith's patrician demeanor. "She was a formidable presence at his side and major force behind his success. She edited all his books and articles, and was his agent, negotiating all his broadcasting and other contracts. She arranged every aspect of what, in later years, became a very lucrative speaking career. When my parents traveled on the
lecturethumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
circuit, she once laughingly told a
LansingLansing is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan, and the state's sixth largest city. It is located about 80 miles west-northwest of Detroit and is mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, paper ... : 'My husband never knows where his trips will take him .... It's not until we get ready to board the plane that he'll inquire 'Where are we going?' and then I will tell him.'"
The Smiths lived at their
Potomac RiverThe Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately 383 statute miles long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles . In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the...
home in Bethesda, Maryland, from 1958 until his death of
pneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lung. Frequently, it is described as lung parenchyma/alveolar inflammation and abnormal alveolar filling with fluid ....
, after which Mrs. Smith relocated to a
condominiumA condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
on
Marco IslandOriginally named San Marco Island by Spanish explorers, Marco Island is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. The city is an island on the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Southwest Florida. It is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
. She died at the age of eighty-seven of complications from
hydrocephalusHydrocephalus , also known as "water on the brain", is a medical condition. People with hydrocephalus have an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles, or cavities, of the brain. This may cause increased intracranial pressure inside the skull and progressive enlargement of...
. The Smiths are interred at historic Oak Hill Cemetery in the
GeorgetownGeorgetown is a neighborhood located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River waterfront. Founded in 1751, the city of Georgetown substantially predated the establishment of the city of Washington and the District of Columbia. Georgetown retained its separate...
section of
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
External links