Howard W. Smith
| Howard W. Smith | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 8th district |
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In office March 4, 1931 – January 3, 1967 At-large: March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935 |
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| Preceded by | R. Walton Moore |
| Succeeded by | William L. Scott |
| Chairman of the House Committee on Rules | |
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In office January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1967 |
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| Preceded by | Leo E. Allen |
| Succeeded by | William M. Colmer |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Howard Worth Smith February 2, 1883 Broad Run, Virginia |
| Died | October 3, 1976 (aged 93) Alexandria, Virginia |
| Resting place | Little Georgetown Cemetery Broad Run (Fauquier County) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Lillian Proctor (m. 1913–19) d. flu pandemic Ann Corcoran (m. 1923) |
| Children | Howard Worth Smith, Jr. (d. 2003) Violett (both by Lillian) |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia (LL.B.) |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Howard Worth Smith (February 2, 1883 – October 3, 1976), Democratic U.S. Representative from Virginia, was a leader of the powerful but informal conservative coalition who supported both racial segregation and women's rights.
Born in Broad Run, Virginia, 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.
He was elected in 1930 to the House of Representatives. He initially supported New Deal measures such as the Tennessee Valley Authority Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act. A leader of the conservative coalition, he 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 that was 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, partly because 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 rival Congress of Industrial Organizations in organizing drives. New Dealers stopped the Smith amendments, but Roosevelt replaced the CIO-oriented members on the NLRB with men acceptable to Smith and the AFL.
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