University of Virginia Library

Files Represent 35 Years In Politics

Smith Donates Congressional Papers

Howard Worth Smith, who
was the powerful Democratic
chairman of the Rules Committee
of the House of Representatives
for 11 years, has given the
University his personal and official
papers covering 35 years
in Congress.

Announcement of the gift was
made Saturday after a meeting
of the University's Board of
Visitors.

In a resolution, the Board
stated that "These papers will
be of great value to students and
scholars as they study the period
during which 'Judge' Smith, as
he is known to all of us, was an
active participant in the public
life of the Commonwealth and
the Nation." Mr. Smith was a
member of the Board of Visitors
from 1952 to 1960.

The 84-year-old former congressman,

who resides in Fauquier
county, was chairman of the
House Rules Committee from
1955 to 1966. It was during this
time that he achieved his highest
level of power.

The conservative Smith, representing
Virginia's Eighth District,
frequently opposed programs
of the Roosevelt, Truman,
Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson
administrations and fought
against what he considered to be
government extravagance, what
he called improper civil rights
legislation, and what he termed
the "dictatorship of the judiciary
enforced by bayonets."

The Smith papers cover the
73rd Congress through the 89th,
state and national election campaigns,
files and memorandum
about Presidents beginning with
Franklin Roosevelt, files on the
1961 attempt of the Kennedy
forces to realign the House Rules
Committee and complete files on
the committee.

There are also numerous files
and letters on civil rights legislation,
higher education, National
Labor Relations Board investigations
and Virginia politics. In
addition there are speeches and
recordings made by Mr. Smith,
scrapbooks, and framed photographs
that hung in his Washington
office for years.

Mr. Smith's most famous
piece of legislation was probably
the Smith Act of 1940, requiring
aliens to register with the
government. Under it numerous
Communists have been sentenced
when convicted of conspiracy to
overthrow the government.

Mr. Smith began his career in
public life in 1917, 14 years after
receiving a law degree from the
University. After serving as Commonwealth's
Attorney in Alexandria
for five years, he became
judge of the Corporation Court
there and went on to the 16th
signed in 1930 and was elected
to Congress in 1931.

Circuit Court in 1928. He re-

Under arrangements specified
by Mr. Smith, the Institute for
Social Science Research in Washington
will examine and index
the papers within a five-year period
in accordance with a plan
developed by Dr. Theodore
Schellenberg, formerly assistant
archivist of the United States.