Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Political powerbroker Smith dies

Chester Horace "Chet" Smith, one of Nevada's most powerful behind-the-scenes political figures who one editorial writer called the state's "unknown third senator" because of his influence, died Feb. 17 in Alexandria, Va. He was 85.

As the state's premier political mover and shaker for four decades until his retirement in 1979, Smith served as an aide to three Nevada senators -- Pat McCarran, Alan Bible and Howard Cannon -- and served on the presidential campaign staffs of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

For many years Smith was an influential Las Vegas lawyer. He was one of the "McCarran Boys," a group of prominent Nevada lawyers who worked for the powerful senator while attending law school in the nation's capital.

"Chet was the epitome of a staff man -- the best staff man I've ever seen," said Las Vegas lawyer Ralph Denton, a partner with Smith in the law firm of (Cal) Cory, Denton & Smith and Smith's friend since 1946.

"He was a tremendously loyal man to the people for whom he worked. He had great integrity. He was just an outstanding, remarkable man. Chet was respected by all of the people in office in Washington, D.C., that he knew."

In a Nov. 13, 1979, editorial in the now-defunct North Las Vegas Valley Times, late publisher Bob Brown wrote: "Smith has been 'Mr. Behind the Scenes' of Nevada politics. He has been, in effect, our unknown third senator in Washington.

"Smith has been the shrewd, brainy sidekick and workhorse for the giants of Nevada politics. ... He was the experienced political in-fighter who made the tough decisions by which men rose or fell in Nevada politics. He gave no quarter to opponents during a campaign. ... (but) he never held a grudge."

A man of vision, Smith in the early 1970s played a key behind-the-scenes role in paving the way for Southern Nevada's booming growth.

While Bible was serving as head of the Senate District of Columbia Committee, Smith, the committee's staff director, was credited by political observers with calling the shots and securing for the state federal funds for the Southern Nevada Water Project, which brought Lake Mead water to the area.

That appropriation resulted in the establishment of a water supply that opened the floodgates for Southern Nevada's tremendous population boom of the late 20th century -- unprecedented growth that continues today.

Born in Burns, Ore., Smith grew up in Winnemucca and, as a school boy, got a job as a reporter for the Humboldt Daily Star. At age 19 he became the state's youngest editor of a daily newspaper when he took the top post at the Star.

During World War II, Smith served in the Marine Corps as a combat correspondent with the 5th Marine Division. He reported for Stars and Stripes and other publications on the Feb. 19, 1945, landing on Iwo Jima.

Smith was awarded the Purple Heart, Navy Commendation and a Presidential Unit Citation. Before his discharge, Smith edited the first daily newspaper that was published in Japan for American occupational forces.

After the war, Smith switched careers from journalism to politics and went to Washington to study at George Washington University, where he earned his law degree.

In 1946 he went to work for Sen. E.P. Carville, serving as a legislative assistant and press secretary.

Under Republican Gov. Charles Russell, in the early 1950s, Smith served as an executive assistant and budget director. He also was Russell's best man at his wedding.

As an aide to McCarran, Smith was with the senator in 1954 when McCarran died of a heart attack while campaigning in Hawthorne.

Smith knelt at McCarran's side and attempted to revive him before jumping up on a chair and shouting for a doctor and a priest.

For the remainder of that campaign season, Smith served as manager of the first of what would be four successful Senate campaigns for Bible, who served in the Senate until 1975.

Despite running Bible's campaigns, Smith served only a couple of years as an aide to Bible, choosing instead to return to Las Vegas and his law practice.

Under Cannon in the late 1970s, Smith served as staff director and general counsel for the Senate Committee on Small Business and as chief counsel for Cannon's Senate Rules Committee.

Smith retired to Alexandria in 1979 but often visited Las Vegas.

He was married to the former Elizabeth "Betty" Harrison Pence from 1948 until her death in 1974. He later married the former Miriam O'Dell Fox, who preceded him in death in 2000.

Smith is survived by two daughters, Anne Elizabeth Ponsen of Alexandria, Va., and Sandra Harrison Hilburn of Greenville, S.C.

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