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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: M89- 17
Creator: Smathers, George A. 1913-2007
Title, Dates: George A. Smathers films and recordings, 1950s-1960s.
Amount: 95 films
5 items audio recordings
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Unarranged.
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Biographical/Historical:     George Armistead Smathers (1913-2007) was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1920, he moved with his family to Miami, Florida. He attended Miami High School and then earned his bachelor's and law degree from the University of Florida before entering private practice. He served as assistant U.S. district attorney in Miami from 1939 to 1942. He volunteered for the Marine Corps to serve during World War II; after his discharge in 1945, he became special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Tom Clark.

    From 1947 to 1951, Smathers served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Florida's Fourth Congressional District. In 1950, he unseated Senator Claude Pepper to become the first south Florida candidate elected into the U.S. Senate, where he served until his retirement in 1969. As a senator, Smathers chaired the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, served on the Democratic Policy Committee, and won election as Secretary to the Democratic Conference. He also had close friendships with John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
Summary:     This collection contains video and audio recordings of interviews with U.S. Senator George A. Smathers speaking on national questions affecting Florida and Floridians. Topics discussed include communism, pending legislation, foreign relations with Cuba and Russia, the Space Program and the Space Race, civil rights, and general politics. The video recordings in this collection include a Democratic fundraiser in Miami for which President Kennedy and Senator Smathers gave speeches, Smathers' campaign commercials, segments from Smathers' weekly television program "Senator Smathers Reports," and his appearances on debate programs and television shows. The audio recordings are interviews with Smathers.
Finding Aids:
Additional Physical Form: Several films are listed on the Guide to Florida Films, and some of those are digitized on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/learn/research-tools/guides/film/catalog.php
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Electronic Records Access: https://www.floridamemory.com/learn/research-tools/guides/film/catalog.php
Subject Access Fields: Smathers, George A. 1913-2007
Legislators United States
Audio recordings.
Interviews. aat
Machine-readable artifacts. aat
Video recordings. aat
Added Entries