Background
He was born on January 14, 1870 in Dover, New Hampshire, United States, the only son and second child of Jeremiah Smith, 1837-1921, and Hannah (Webster) Smith.
He was born on January 14, 1870 in Dover, New Hampshire, United States, the only son and second child of Jeremiah Smith, 1837-1921, and Hannah (Webster) Smith.
Jeremiah was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and at Harvard, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1892 and that of LL. B. in 1895.
He served as secretary to Justice Gray of the United States Supreme Court in 1895-96, and thereafter he practised law in Boston. In 1915 he was a member of the Rockefeller Foundation War Relief Commission and in that capacity visited Switzerland, Austria, Rumania, Belgium, and Turkey.
During the First World War he served in France as a captain in the Quartermaster's Corps. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 he acted as counsel to the Treasury Department representatives and financial advisers to the American Commission to Negotiate Peace. As such he was brought into close association with Thomas W. Lamont and Norman Davis, financial experts of the American delegation. He represented the United States on the financial commission of the Conference. In 1920 he accompanied Lamont to Japan and China, serving as counsel to the mission of which Lamont was chairman during the prolonged negotiations for the organization of a new international financial Consortium for China.
Smith's policy for Hungary was one of rigorous economy in governmental expenses and of reducing the excessive number of government employees. These measures, in which he received the cooperation of the Hungarian Government, were so successful that the financial year ending June 30, 1925, showed a large surplus instead of a deficit, and the portion of the international loan set aside for possible budget deficits was turned to other purposes. The improvement continued through the second year of Smith's tenure, which showed a budget surplus of approximately sixty million gold crowns.
Early in 1926 the financial position of Hungary seemed so satisfactory that there was no reason apparent for continuation of League supervision beyond June 30, 1926.
In 1927 Smith became a member of the financial committee of the League of Nations and two years later was counsel to the group of American financial experts who participated in the formation of the "Young Plan" for German reparations payments. In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered him the position of secretary of the treasury, but he declined.
He took active interest in the affairs of Phillips Exeter Academy, serving as a trustee for many years, as his father and grandfather had done before him. He was also a fellow of Harvard College. Because of ill health in his later years he retired from many of his activities. His death occurred in his sixty-sixth year.
In domestic politics he was a Democrat.
Quotations: In an address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University on June 24, 1927, entitled "The Preservation of Peace, " he described himself as "a strong believer in what the League of Nations is trying to do, " and stated that for the preservation of peace he saw "no adequate substitute for public discussion and personal negotiation. "
He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He remained unmarried and lived much of his life in the family home on Berkeley Street, Cambridge, Massachussets.