GEORGE A. SMATHERS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 293542

GEORGE SMATHERS
The U.S. Senator from Florida is shown from the chest up wearing a suit and tie in this black and white photograph.
Photograph signed: "George Smathers", B/w, 8x10. George Armistead Smathers (1913-2007) represented Florida in the US House of Representatives from 1947-1951. In 1950 President Truman personally asked Smathers to run against Senator Claude Pepper, who had been part of a "dump Truman" movement in 1948. Smathers defeated Pepper (later a Representative) in a very nasty Democratic primary, going on to serve three terms in the Senate (1951-1969). Smathers was a close friend of both President Kennedy and President Nixon, but later remarked that JFK was "a lot more fun." Smathers, who grew rich as a lobbyist and businessman, bequeathed $20 million to his alma mater, the University of Florida, where he had been captain of the basketball team and president of the student body. A Marine Corps veteran of World War II, Smathers is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was the last surviving signer of the Southern Manifesto of 1956, opposing school desegregation. From the personal collection of Ralph Errington Ward (1926-2009). Ward, a fighter pilot and squadron commander in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II, went on to become President and CEO of Cheseborough-Ponds, Inc., transforming the cosmetics firm into a major home product conglomerate. Adhesive residue on verso (no show through). Lightly creased. Lightly silvered. Otherwise, fine condition.