Howard W. Smith
Encyclopedia
Howard Worth Smith Democratic
U.S. Representative
from Virginia
, was a leader of the conservative coalition
who supported both racial segregation
and women's rights
.
, on February 2, 1883, he attended public schools and graduated from Bethel Military Academy, Warrenton, Virginia
, in 1901. He took his LLB at the law department of the University of Virginia
at Charlottesville in 1903, was admitted to the bar in 1904 and practiced in Alexandria, Virginia
.
During World War I
, he was assistant general counsel to the Federal Alien Property Custodian
. From 1918 to 1922 he was Commonwealth's Attorney
of Alexandria. He served as a judge 1922 to 1930 (he was often referred to as "Judge Smith" even while in Congress), and also engaged in banking, farming, and dairying.
measures such as the Tennessee Valley Authority
Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act
.
, Smith led the opposition to the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) established by the Wagner Act of 1935. Conservatives created a special House committee to investigate the NLRB, headed by Smith and dominated by opponents of the New Deal.
The committee conducted a sensationalist investigation that undermined public support for the NLRB and, more broadly, for the New Deal. In June 1940, amendments proposed by the Smith Committee passed by a large margin in the House, due in part to Smith's new alliance with William Green
, president of the American Federation of Labor
. The AFL was convinced the NLRB was controlled by leftists who supported the Congress of Industrial Organizations
not the AFL in organizing drives. New Dealers stopped the Smith amendments but Roosevelt gave way and replaced the CIO-oriented members on the NLRB with men acceptable to Smith and the AFL.
These hearings were an early step in the process that led to the Taft Hartley Act in 1947. That law somewhat reduced the political power the Wagner Act had conferred on labor unions.
} of 1940 . After President Roosevelt signed it into law, it required resident alien
s to register (obtain a green card
.) It also banned advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government or its political subdivisons. CPUSA chairman Gus Hall
, among others, was later convicted of violating its provisions.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Yates v. United States
(1957) that the First Amendment protected much radical speech, essential halting Smith Act prosecutions.
after 1955, Smith controlled the flow of legislation in the House.
When the Civil Rights Act of 1957
came before Smith's committee, Smith said "The Southern people have never accepted the colored race as a race of people who had equal intelligence ... as the white people of the South."
Speaker Sam Rayburn
tried to reduce his power in 1961 with only some success, but Smith's close ties to other southern Democrats kept him in power.
Smith held up the Civil Rights Act of 1964
. One of Rayburn's reforms was the "Twenty-One Day Rule" requiring a bill to be sent to the floor within 21 days. Under pressure, Smith released the bill.
of Title VII of the Act. The Congressional Record shows Smith made serious arguments, voicing concerns that white women would suffer greater discrimination without a protection for gender. Liberals on race—who knew Smith was hostile to civil rights for blacks—assumed falsely that he was hostile to rights for women, unaware of his long connection with white feminists.
In 1964 the burning national issue was civil rights for black
s. Liberals argued that it was the Negro's hour, and that women should wait their turn, but the NWP found a way to include sex as a protected category, and thus achieved one of the main goals of the movement.
The prohibition on sex discrimination was added on the floor by Smith. While Smith was a conservative who strongly opposed civil rights laws for blacks, he supported such laws for women. Smith's amendment was passed by a teller vote of 168 to 133. Historians debate Smith's motivation—was it a cynical attempt to defeat the bill
by someone opposed to both civil rights for blacks and women, or did he support women's rights and was attempting to improve the bill by broadening it to include women? Smith expected that Republicans
, who had included equal rights for women in their party's platform since 1944, would probably vote for the amendment. Historians speculate that Smith was trying to embarrass northern Democrats
who opposed civil rights for women because labor unions opposed the clause.
Smith was not joking: he asserted that he sincerely supported the amendment and, indeed, along with Rep. Martha Griffiths
, he was the chief spokesperson for the amendment. For twenty years Smith had sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment—with no linkage to racial issues—in the House because he believed in it. He for decades had been close to the National Woman's Party
and its leader Alice Paul
, one of the leaders in winning the vote for women back in 1920 and the chief supporter of equal rights proposals since then. She and other feminists had worked with Smith since 1945 trying to find a way to include sex as a protected civil rights category. Now was the moment. Griffith argued that the new law would protect black women but not white women, and that was unfair to white women. Furthermore, she argued that the laws "protecting" women from unpleasant jobs were actually designed to enable men to monopolize those jobs, and that was unfair to women who were not allowed to try out for those jobs. The amendment passed with the votes of Republicans and Southern Democrats. Republicans and Northern Democrats voted for the bill's final passage.
died in 1946, Judge Congressman Smith sought the nomination to succeed him. The Byrd Organization
, of which Smith was a member, instead nominated A. Willis Robertson, who was elected to the Senate.
Smith lost his primary election in 1966 to a liberal Democrat
, State Delegate
George Rawlings
, Jr., who was in turn soundly defeated by Republican
William L. Scott
.
requested that it be removed. Georgia
Congressman John Lewis
said:
Solomon said he displayed the portrait to acknowledge Smith's cooperative work with Republicans when he was chairman but that he was unaware of his segregationist views. The portrait was subsequently removed.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, was a leader of the conservative coalition
Conservative coalition
In the United States, the conservative coalition was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, wing of the Democratic Party...
who supported both racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
.
Early life and education
Born in Broad Run, VirginiaBroad Run, Virginia
Broad Run is a small, unincorporated community in Fauquier County, Virginia. It is on Bust Head Road just north of Interstate 66 and State Route 55, near the Prince William County line. Broad Run is named after the river that flows through the town...
, on February 2, 1883, he attended public schools and graduated from Bethel Military Academy, Warrenton, Virginia
Warrenton, Virginia
Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census, and 14,634 at the 2010 estimate. It is the county seat of Fauquier County. Public schools in the town include Fauquier High School, Warrenton Middle School, Taylor Middle School and two...
, in 1901. He took his LLB at the law department of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
at Charlottesville in 1903, was admitted to the bar in 1904 and practiced in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was assistant general counsel to the Federal Alien Property Custodian
Alien Property Custodian
An Alien Property Custodian was an office within the Government of the United States during World War I and again during World War II, serving as a Custodian of Enemy Property to property that belonged to US enemies.-World War I:...
. From 1918 to 1922 he was Commonwealth's Attorney
Commonwealth's Attorney
Commonwealth's Attorney is the title given to the elected prosecutor of felony crimes in Kentucky and Virginia. Other states refer to similar prosecutors as District Attorney or State's Attorney....
of Alexandria. He served as a judge 1922 to 1930 (he was often referred to as "Judge Smith" even while in Congress), and also engaged in banking, farming, and dairying.
Congressional career
He was elected in 1930 to Congress. He initially supported New DealNew Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
measures such as the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act
National Industrial Recovery Act
The National Industrial Recovery Act , officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly...
.
Opposed NLRB
A leader of the conservative coalitionConservative coalition
In the United States, the conservative coalition was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, wing of the Democratic Party...
, Smith led the opposition to the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
(NLRB) established by the Wagner Act of 1935. Conservatives created a special House committee to investigate the NLRB, headed by Smith and dominated by opponents of the New Deal.
The committee conducted a sensationalist investigation that undermined public support for the NLRB and, more broadly, for the New Deal. In June 1940, amendments proposed by the Smith Committee passed by a large margin in the House, due in part to Smith's new alliance with William Green
William Green (labor leader)
William Green was an American trade union leader. Green is best remembered for serving as the President of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 to 1952.-Early years:...
, president of the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
. The AFL was convinced the NLRB was controlled by leftists who supported the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
not the AFL in organizing drives. New Dealers stopped the Smith amendments but Roosevelt gave way and replaced the CIO-oriented members on the NLRB with men acceptable to Smith and the AFL.
These hearings were an early step in the process that led to the Taft Hartley Act in 1947. That law somewhat reduced the political power the Wagner Act had conferred on labor unions.
Alien Registration Act of 1940
Rep. Smith proposed the anti-Communist Alien Registration Act (Smith ActSmith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
} of 1940 . After President Roosevelt signed it into law, it required resident alien
Resident Alien
Resident Alien is the debut album from the British glam rock band Spacehog. Released by Elektra Records on 24 October 1995, the album was certified as gold on 29 July 1996 and included the hit single "In the Meantime", which reached the top of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the United States,...
s to register (obtain a green card
Green Card
Green card may refer to:* Permanent residence , known informally as a green card* Green Card , a 1990 movie whose title refers to the American document above...
.) It also banned advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government or its political subdivisons. CPUSA chairman Gus Hall
Gus Hall
Gus Hall, born Arvo Kustaa Hallberg , was a leader and Chairman of the Communist Party USA and its four-time U.S. presidential candidate. As a labor leader, Hall was closely associated with the so-called "Little Steel" Strike of 1937, an effort to unionize the nation's smaller, regional steel...
, among others, was later convicted of violating its provisions.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298 , was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving free speech and congressional power...
(1957) that the First Amendment protected much radical speech, essential halting Smith Act prosecutions.
Chairman of the Rules Committee, 1955
As chairman of the all-powerful United States House Committee on RulesUnited States House Committee on Rules
The Committee on Rules, or Rules Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. Rather than being responsible for a specific area of policy, as most other committees are, it is in charge of determining under what rule other bills will come to the floor...
after 1955, Smith controlled the flow of legislation in the House.
Opposition to civil rights legislation
An opponent of racial integration, Smith used his power as Rules Committee chairman to keep much civil rights legislation from even coming to a vote on the House floor.When the Civil Rights Act of 1957
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, , primarily a voting rights bill, was the first civil rights legislation enacted by Congress in the United States since Reconstruction following the American Civil War.Following the historic US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v...
came before Smith's committee, Smith said "The Southern people have never accepted the colored race as a race of people who had equal intelligence ... as the white people of the South."
Speaker Sam Rayburn
Sam Rayburn
Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
tried to reduce his power in 1961 with only some success, but Smith's close ties to other southern Democrats kept him in power.
Smith held up the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
. One of Rayburn's reforms was the "Twenty-One Day Rule" requiring a bill to be sent to the floor within 21 days. Under pressure, Smith released the bill.
Equal rights for women
Two days before the vote, Smith offered an amendment to insert "sex" after the word "religion" thereby adding gender as a protected classProtected class
Protected class is a term used in United States anti-discrimination law. The term describes characteristics or factors which can not be targeted for discrimination and harassment...
of Title VII of the Act. The Congressional Record shows Smith made serious arguments, voicing concerns that white women would suffer greater discrimination without a protection for gender. Liberals on race—who knew Smith was hostile to civil rights for blacks—assumed falsely that he was hostile to rights for women, unaware of his long connection with white feminists.
In 1964 the burning national issue was civil rights for black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
s. Liberals argued that it was the Negro's hour, and that women should wait their turn, but the NWP found a way to include sex as a protected category, and thus achieved one of the main goals of the movement.
The prohibition on sex discrimination was added on the floor by Smith. While Smith was a conservative who strongly opposed civil rights laws for blacks, he supported such laws for women. Smith's amendment was passed by a teller vote of 168 to 133. Historians debate Smith's motivation—was it a cynical attempt to defeat the bill
Wrecking amendment
In legislative debate, a wrecking amendment is an amendment made by a legislator who disagrees with the principles of a bill and who seeks to make it useless rather than directly opposing the bill by simply voting...
by someone opposed to both civil rights for blacks and women, or did he support women's rights and was attempting to improve the bill by broadening it to include women? Smith expected that Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, who had included equal rights for women in their party's platform since 1944, would probably vote for the amendment. Historians speculate that Smith was trying to embarrass northern Democrats
Northern Democrats
The Northern Democrats was the third section of the split United States Democratic party during the election of 1864. The party supported the Lincoln Administration during the United States presidential election, 1864....
who opposed civil rights for women because labor unions opposed the clause.
Smith was not joking: he asserted that he sincerely supported the amendment and, indeed, along with Rep. Martha Griffiths
Martha Griffiths
Martha Wright Griffiths was an American lawyer and judge before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1954. Griffiths was the first woman to serve on the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means and the first woman elected to the United States Congress from Michigan as...
, he was the chief spokesperson for the amendment. For twenty years Smith had sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment—with no linkage to racial issues—in the House because he believed in it. He for decades had been close to the National Woman's Party
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
and its leader Alice Paul
Alice Paul
Alice Stokes Paul was an American suffragist and activist. Along with Lucy Burns and others, she led a successful campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.-Activism: Alice Paul received her undergraduate education from...
, one of the leaders in winning the vote for women back in 1920 and the chief supporter of equal rights proposals since then. She and other feminists had worked with Smith since 1945 trying to find a way to include sex as a protected civil rights category. Now was the moment. Griffith argued that the new law would protect black women but not white women, and that was unfair to white women. Furthermore, she argued that the laws "protecting" women from unpleasant jobs were actually designed to enable men to monopolize those jobs, and that was unfair to women who were not allowed to try out for those jobs. The amendment passed with the votes of Republicans and Southern Democrats. Republicans and Northern Democrats voted for the bill's final passage.
Defeat
After U.S. Senator Carter GlassCarter Glass
Carter Glass was a newspaper publisher and politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He served many years in Congress as a member of the Democratic Party. As House co-sponsor, he played a central role in the development of the 1913 Glass-Owen Act that created the Federal Reserve System. Glass...
died in 1946, Judge Congressman Smith sought the nomination to succeed him. The Byrd Organization
Byrd Organization
The Byrd Organization was a political machine led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. that dominated Virginia politics for much of the middle portion of the 20th century...
, of which Smith was a member, instead nominated A. Willis Robertson, who was elected to the Senate.
Smith lost his primary election in 1966 to a liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrat can refer to:* Liberal Democrats, a UK political party* Liberal Democrats , an Italian political party* Liberal Democratic Party , a Japanese political party* Liberal Democrats , a Sudanese political party...
, State Delegate
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...
George Rawlings
George Rawlings
George Chancellor Rawlings, Jr. was an American politician and Attorney at law from the U.S. state of Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1963 to 1969....
, Jr., who was in turn soundly defeated by Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
William L. Scott
William L. Scott
William Lloyd Scott was a Republican politician from Virginia.Scott was born in Williamsburg, Virginia. He received a law degree from George Washington University, and was employed by the federal government 1934–1961, principally as trial attorney with Department of Justice...
.
Post-congressional career
Smith resumed the practice of law in Alexandria, where he died at age 93 on October 3, 1976. He was interred in Georgetown Cemetery, Broad Run, Virginia.1995 Portrait controversy
In January 1995, the House Rules Committee chairman, Republican Congressman Gerald B. H. Solomon, had a portrait of Smith hung in the Committee hearing room. The Congressional Black CaucusCongressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing the black members of the United States Congress. Membership is exclusive to blacks, and its chair in the 112th Congress is Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.-Aims:...
requested that it be removed. Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
Congressman John Lewis
John Lewis (politician)
John Robert Lewis is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1987. He was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , playing a key role in the struggle to end segregation...
said:
It is an affront to all of us ...[Smith is] perhaps best remembered for his obstruction in passing this country's civil rights laws. A man who in his own words never accepted the colored race as a race of people who had equal intelligence and education and social attainments as the White people of the South...
Solomon said he displayed the portrait to acknowledge Smith's cooperative work with Republicans when he was chairman but that he was unaware of his segregationist views. The portrait was subsequently removed.
Sources
- Brauer, Carl M. "Women Activists, Southern Conservatives, and the Prohibition of Sex Discrimination in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act", 49 Journal of Southern History, February 1983 online via JSTOR
- Dierenfield, Bruce J. Keeper of the Rules: Congressman Howard W. Smith of Virginia (1987)
- Dierenfield , Bruce J. "Conservative Outrage: the Defeat in 1966 of Representative Howard W. Smith of Virginia." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1981 89 (2): 181-205.
- Freeman, Jo. "How 'Sex' Got Into Title VII: Persistent Opportunism as a Maker of Public Policy," Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice, Vol. 9, No. 2, March 1991, pp. 163–184. online version
- Gold, Michael Evan. A Tale of Two Amendments: The Reasons Congress Added Sex to Title VII and Their Implication for the Issue of Comparable Worth. Faculty Publications - Collective Bargaining, Labor Law, and Labor History. Cornell, 1981 http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=cbpubs
- Jones, Charles O. "Joseph G. Cannon and Howard W. Smith: an Essay on the Limits of Leadership in the House of Representatives" Journal of PoliticsJournal of PoliticsThe Journal of Politics is a peer-reviewed academic journal of political science established in 1939 and published quarterly by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Southern Political Science Association....
1968 30(3): 617-646. - Robinson, Donald Allen. "Two Movements in Pursuit of Equal Employment Opportunity." Signs 1979 4(3): 413-433. on alliance between Smith and Griffiths.
- Storrs, Landon R. Y. Civilizing Capitalism: The National Consumers' League, Women's Activism, and Labor Standards in the New Deal Era University of North Carolina PressUniversity of North Carolina PressThe University of North Carolina Press , founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina....
. 2000. - Woods, Clinton Jacob, “Strange Bedfellows: Congressman Howard W. Smith and the Inclusion of Sex Discrimination in the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” Southern Studies, 16 (Spring–Summer 2009), 1–32.