Howard W. Smith (February 2, 1883—October 3, 1976), U.S. Congressman from Virginia, was a leader of the Conservative coalition. Smith was long the leading opponent of civil rights laws for Blacks, but he had supported equal rights for women since the 1920s, thanks to his close association with feminist leader Alice Paul. He forged an alliance with Congresswoman Martha Griffiths, a liberal feminist from Michigan, to include gender as a protected category in the Civil Rights Law of 1964. Griffith and Smith defeated the liberals of the AFL-CIO who had long opposed the Equal Rights Amendment. February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in Leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States. ... The Conservative coalition was a coalition in American politics bringing together Republicans (most of whom were conservatives) and the minority of conservative Democrats, most of them from the South. ... Alice Paul Alice Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American suffragist leader. ... Martha Edna Wright Griffiths (January 29, 1912 - April 22, 2003) was an American lawyer and judge before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1954. ... The AFL-CIO is the largest labor union federation in the United States. ... The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have guaranteed equal rights under law for Americans regardless of sex. ...

Born in Broad Run, Fauquier County Va., February 2, 1883, he attended public schools and graduated from Bethel Military Academy, Warrenton, Va., 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, Va.. During World War I he was assistant general counsel to the federal Alien Property Custodian. In 1918-22 1917 he was Commonwealth attorney of Alexandria, Va.. He served as a judge 1922-1930, and also engaged in banking, farming, and dairying. He was elected in 1930 to Congress, and authored the anti-Communist Smith Act in 1940. February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Website Virginia. ... The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act (18 USC 2385) of 1940 made it a criminal offense for anyone to knowingly or wilfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing the Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence...

As chairman of the all-powerful Committee on Rules after 1955 he controlled the flow of legislation in the House. Speaker Sam Rayburn tried to reduce his power in 1961 with only some success, but Smith's close ties to other southern Democrats, and to Republicans, kept him in power. He was defeated for renomination by a liberal Democrat, who in turn was defeated by a Republican who took over the seat. He resumed the practice of law in Alexandria, Va., where he died October 3, 1976; interment was in Georgetown Cemetery, Broad Run, Va. Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (6 January 1882–16 November 1961) was a United States politician from Texas. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in Leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Sources

• Dierenfield, Bruce J. Keeper of the Rules: Congressman Howard W. Smith of Virginia (1987)
• Dierenfield , Bruce J. "Conservative Outrage: the Defeat in 1966 of Representative Howard W. Smith of Virginia." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1981 89 (2): 181-205.
• Jones, Charles O. "Joseph G. Cannon and Howard W. Smith: an Essay on the Limits of Leadership in the House of Representatives" Journal of Politics 1968 30(3): 617-646.
• Robinson, Donald Allen. "Two Movements in Pursuit of Equal Employment Opportunity." Signs 1979 4(3): 413-433. on alliance between Smith and Griffiths.

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress