Changes

|name=George Armistead Smathers

|name=George Armistead Smathers

|image=George Smathers of FL.jpg

|image=George Smathers of FL.jpg

|office=[[United States Senator]]<br>for [[Florida]]

|office=Secretary of the<br>Senate Democratic Conference

|term_start=January 3, 1951

|term_end=January 3, 1969

|preceded=[[Claude Pepper]]

|succeeded=Edward John Gurney

|office2=[[United States Representative]] for [[Florida]]'s 4th Congressional District

|office2=[[United States Senator]] for [[Florida]]

|term_start2=January 3, 1947

|term_start2=January 3, 1951

|term_end2=January 3, 1951

|term_end2=January 3, 1969

|preceded2=Pat Cannon

|preceded2=[[Claude Pepper]]

|successor2=Bill Lantaff

|succeeded2=Edward John Gurney

|office3=[[United States Representative]] for [[Florida]]'s 4th Congressional District

|term_start3=January 3, 1947

|term_end3=January 3, 1951

|preceded3=Pat Cannon

|successor3=Bill Lantaff

|birth_date=November 14, 1913}

|birth_date=November 14, 1913}

|birth_place=[[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]], [[New Jersey]]

|birth_place=[[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]], [[New Jersey]]

==Career==

==Career==

After the war, Smathers was elected to serve two terms in the [[United States House of Representatives]] for Florida's 4th congressional district from 1947 to 1951. He established a reputation for being a [[moderate]] but a staunch [[anti-communist]]. In the 1946 Democratic primary, Smathers unseated by a 2-1 margin Representative Arthur Patrick "Pat" Cannon (1904–1966). Smathers served two terms in the [[United States House of Representatives]], representing Florida’s Fourth Congressional District from 1947 to 1951. He pushed the Truman administration agenda, especially the [[Truman Doctrine]], designed to rein in the former [[Soviet Union]] and [[communist]] aggression. Smathers sought to designated Miami a gateway to [[Latin America]]n commerce and cultural exchange. Congressman Smathers sponsored legislation to create the [[Everglades National Park]] and supported the [[24th Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]], which outlawed poll taxes in federal elections. Later states were also required to abolish poll taxes.<ref>Briam Lewis Crispell,  ''Testing the Limits: George Armistead Smathers and Cold War America,'' (Athens: the University of Georgia Press, 1999), pp. 13-37.</ref>

After the war, Smathers was elected to serve two terms in the [[United States House of Representatives]] for Florida's 4th congressional district from 1947 to 1951. He established a reputation for being a [[moderate]] but a staunch [[anti-communist]]. In the 1946 Democratic primary, Smathers unseated by a 2–1 margin Representative Arthur Patrick "Pat" Cannon (1904–1966). Smathers served two terms in the [[United States House of Representatives]], representing Florida’s Fourth Congressional District from 1947 to 1951. He pushed the Truman administration agenda, especially the [[Truman Doctrine]], designed to rein in the former [[Soviet Union]] and [[communist]] aggression. Smathers sought to designated Miami a gateway to [[Latin America]]n commerce and cultural exchange. Congressman Smathers sponsored legislation to create the [[Everglades National Park]] and supported the [[24th Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]], which outlawed poll taxes in federal elections. Later states were also required to abolish poll taxes.<ref>Briam Lewis Crispell,  ''Testing the Limits: George Armistead Smathers and Cold War America,'' (Athens: the University of Georgia Press, 1999), pp. 13-37.</ref>

President Truman encouraged Representative Smathers to challenge liberal Senator [[Claude Pepper]] in the 1950 Senate Democratic primary. Pepper had acquired Truman's wrath when he tried to block the latter's nomination to a full term as President at the 1948 Democratic National Convention held in [[Philadelphia]]. Truman also invited Smathers to fly with him from [[Washington, D.C.]] to Key West. Although Pepper, a strong orator, was believed by political observers to have been unbeatable, he had made himself vulnerable because of his postwar advocacy  of Conciliation to the [[Soviet Union]] and his advocacy of sharing nuclear technology.<ref>James C. Clark,  ''Red Pepper and Gorgeous George: Claude Pepper's Epic Defeat in the 1950 Democratic Primary'' (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2011), p. 41-47, 65.</ref> Smathers' campaign attacked Pepper on other fronts besides foreign policy, including the senator's support for [[universal health care]] and his ambiguous position on the Fair Employment Practice Committee, which Franklin Roosevelt had established by executive order in 1941. Ultimately, Smathers won the nomination with 397,315 votes (54.8 percent to Pepper's 319,754 (45.2), a margin of 63,000 votes; he then prevailed in the November [[general election]] over Republican John P. Booth, 76 to 24 percent.

President Truman encouraged Representative Smathers to challenge liberal Senator [[Claude Pepper]] in the 1950 Senate Democratic primary. Pepper had acquired Truman's wrath when he tried to block the latter's nomination to a full term as President at the 1948 Democratic National Convention held in [[Philadelphia]]. Truman also invited Smathers to fly with him from [[Washington, D.C.]] to Key West. Although Pepper, a strong orator, was believed by political observers to have been unbeatable, he had made himself vulnerable because of his postwar advocacy  of Conciliation to the [[Soviet Union]] and his advocacy of sharing nuclear technology.<ref>James C. Clark,  ''Red Pepper and Gorgeous George: Claude Pepper's Epic Defeat in the 1950 Democratic Primary'' (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2011), p. 41-47, 65.</ref> Smathers' campaign attacked Pepper on other fronts besides foreign policy, including the senator's support for [[universal health care]] and his ambiguous position on the Fair Employment Practice Committee, which Franklin Roosevelt had established by executive order in 1941. Ultimately, Smathers won the nomination with 397,315 votes (54.8 percent to Pepper's 319,754 (45.2), a margin of 63,000 votes; he then prevailed in the November [[general election]] over Republican John P. Booth, 76 to 24 percent.