JFK contemporary George Smathers dies at 93

[Cooley Hurd]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/20/obit.smathers.ap/index.html

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Former U.S. Sen. George A. Smathers, a polished, dashing politician who forged friendships with presidents, waged war against communism, resisted civil rights legislation and was an early voice cautioning of Fidel Castro's rise to power, died Saturday. He was 93.

The Democrat, who served two terms in the U.S. House and three in the Senate, suffered a stroke Monday, said his son, Bruce. He lived in Indian Creek Village, an exclusive island community outside Miami.

Smathers was among a new breed of congressmen -- along with John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon -- who arrived on Capitol Hill in the late 1940s with a worldliness that few before them had brought. Shaped by World War II duty in the Marines, Smathers used his more than two decades in Washington to focus on international issues and fight the spread of communism.

The senator was a political force who managed to unseat familiar faces, garner the ears of the powerful and stake a place as a moderate able to straddle both sides of the aisle. But by the time Smathers left office in 1969 -- at his own choosing -- some dismissed his legislative achievements as far less impressive than his Rolodex.
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[MisterP]

1. "Former senator known for good looks, opposing civil rights"

now there's a synopsis
did they give Ralph Yarborough a send-off like this in '96?

[nealmhughes]

2. Disgusting old fart, he invented Swiftboating, destroying my cousin Claude Pepper in the Senate

race, the man who invented the New Deal, detente and was the anti-Joe Kennedy, pressing for intervention in Europe when WWII began.
I'd rather be remembering Pepper's accomplishments than that old fart Smathers...a blip on the historical radar.

[Vidar]

3. I greatly appreciate your aditional commentary. Thank you.

Smathers, I've never heard of, but I remember Claude Pepper fondly.

[LeftishBrit]

4. I greatly admire Claude Pepper, from all I know of him

I hadn't heard of Smathers before now, but he sounds utterly disgusting.

[Rowdyboy]

5. Claude Pepper was a giant who remained a force until the end....

Smathers was a pimple on a gnat's ass, insignificant and unmourned, a 90 year waste of perfectly good oxygen.