Background
Smith, Ralph Tyler was born on October 6, 1915 in Granite City. Son of Alfred Thomas and Clara (Slattery) Smith.
officer politician United States senator
Smith, Ralph Tyler was born on October 6, 1915 in Granite City. Son of Alfred Thomas and Clara (Slattery) Smith.
Bachelor of Arts, Illinois College, 1937. Juris Doctor, Washington University, Saint Louis, 1940.
Smith was a Republican politician from Illinois and served in the Illinois state house from 1955 through 1969, including two years as Speaker from 1967 to 1969. Upon the death of Everett Dirksen, Governor Richard B. Ogilvie appointed Smith to fill his vacancy in the United States Senate. He served from September 17, 1969 to November 3, 1970.
He ran for retention in the 1970 special election, but was defeated by Adlai East. Stevenson III. Smith attended Illinois College and graduated in 1937.
He attended law school at Louis, Missouri, and was admitted to the bar in 1940. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve and was called to active duty in July 1942.
Smith was commissioned as an ensign in October of that year and served until January 1946. He returned to Alton, Illinois and resumed his fledgling law practice.
In 1954, he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly.
When Smith ran against Stevenson, the Utah College Republicans sent a then unknown nineteen-year-old student, Karl Rove, to work on Smith"s campaign. Smith died in Alton and is buried at Sunset Hill Cemetery.
Member Illinois House of Representatives, 1955-1969, majority whip, 1963, speaker of house, 1967-1969. Member United States Senate from Illinois, 1969-1970. Served with United States Naval Reserve, 1942-1946.
Member American, Illinois, Madison County Alton, Wood River bar associations, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion.
Married Mary Elizabeth Anderson, October 23, 1942.