Robert Eben Smylie (31 October 1914 - July 17, 2004) is an American politician and lawyer from Idaho. A member of the Republican Party of Idaho, he served as the 24th Idaho Governor for twelve years, from 1955 to 1967.
Video Robert E. Smylie
Initial years
Born in Marcus, Iowa, Smylie graduated from high school in Cresco in 1932 at the height of the Depression. Offering a residence by an uncle, he moved to Idaho to attend the College of Idaho at Caldwell. During the school year, he participated in debates, yearbooks, soccer and student governance, and boarded back to Iowa in the summer.
After graduating in 1938, he moved to Washington DC, where he simultaneously worked at the Covington Burling law firm, was a US Capitol policeman, and attended George Washington University Law School until his graduation in 1942. He married Lucile Irwin on the 4th December, 1943 and the couple had two sons.
Maps Robert E. Smylie
Careers
After starting to practice law in Washington, D.C., Smylie abandoned his training in 1942 to join the U.S. Coast Guard. as a lawyer and stationed in Philadelphia and the Philippines during World War II. He returned to his private practice in 1946.
In January 1947, Smylie became deputy attorney general in Idaho, under the newly elected Robert Ailshie. Later that year, Ailshie suddenly died of a heart attack at age 39 and Smylie was appointed attorney general at age 33 by Governor C. A. Robins. After he was elected for a full term in 1950, Smylie ran for governor in 1954, for the chair was not eligible for re-election at that time and held by the Republic of Len Jordan. Beginning with the 1946 election, Idaho changed from a two-year period to four years to the governor, but with that change forbidding a succession (re-election). Smylie was elected governor in 1954 and successfully lobbied the 1955 legislative to propose amendments to the state constitution to allow for re-election of the governor, who voted by the electorate in the 1956 general election. Smylie was re-elected in 1958 and 1962. He was the first governor born 20th century.
During his tenure, the state park system was created and sales tax was adopted. In February 1955, following an order from a BBC correspondent, Smylie's fast-tracked law to remove the Idaho anomaly became the only one of the 48 states that did not observe George Washington's Birthday as a holiday. While governor, Smylie served as chairman of the Western Governors Association (1959-1961) and as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1960. Smylie served on the Executive Committee of the National Governors Conference from 1956 to 1957, from 1959 to 1960, and in 1963.
Smylie ran for a fourth term in 1966, but was defeated (61 to 39%) in the Republican party by his successor Don Samuelson, whom he pushed forward as a state senate six years earlier. Smylie attributed her support to a newly implemented sales tax of 3 percent in 1965 as a major factor in her defeat. Sales taxes are easily approved by voters in the November election; it stayed at three percent until 1983 and is now six percent.
Selection results
Leaving the governor's office after a dozen years at age 52, Smylie returned to law practice in 1967. He served as Trustee, Chairman of the Supervisor, and as acting President of the College of Idaho. Smylie ran for the US Senate seat open in 1972, but was fourth in the Primary Republic, won by Jim McClure.
Death
As a former governor for more than 37 years, Smylie died in Boise at the age of 89 on July 17, 2004, and his wife Lucile died less than six weeks later. They were buried in Pioneer Cemetery in Boise.
References
External links
- Paper from Robert E. Smylie, Presidential Library Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Robert E. Smylie in Discover the Mausoleum
- The Basque Museum - an obituary of Idaho Statesman
- National Governors Association
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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