Background
He was born on October 5, 1895 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, the son of William Long Smith and Ida Frances Bedell, both buyers for the Pettis Dry Goods Company.
He was born on October 5, 1895 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, the son of William Long Smith and Ida Frances Bedell, both buyers for the Pettis Dry Goods Company.
Walter was a student at Manual Training High School. Later, he enrolled briefly at Butler University but had to withdraw because of his father's illness.
Smith graduated from the Infantry School at Fort Benning, then completed the advanced course in 1932. In 1935 he graduated from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He also attended the Army War College in Washington, graduating in June 1937.
While still a student, Smith decided to enter military service, and in 1910 he enlisted as a private in the Indiana National Guard. He first went on active duty during the 1913 flood in Indianapolis and in 1916 served with the Mexican border expedition.
After working as a mechanic, he was ordered back to active duty during World War I. In November 1917, Smith completed the officers' training camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps. He was assigned to the Thirty-ninth Infantry, Fourth Division, at Camp Greene, North Carolina, and on April 20, 1918, sailed with the division to France. He fought with the French at Cheteau-Thierry and in the third Battle of the Marne.
After being wounded by shrapnel, Smith returned to the United States. Although he was promoted to first lieutenant (as a reserve officer on temporary active duty) in September 1918 and received a commission as first lieutenant in the Regular Army in July 1920, advancement in rank came slowly between the world wars. He was made captain in September 1929 and had to wait nearly ten years before becoming a major.
Smith's assignments during the interwar period equipped him with organizing, administrative, and planning skills crucial to managing modern warfare. He served first in Washington, with the Bureau of Military Intelligence. From there he went to staff assignments in various posts. In April 1925 he became assistant to the chief coordinator of the Bureau of the Budget and later was deputy chief coordinator and vice-chairman of the Federal Liquidation Board. He was assigned to the Forty-fifth Infantry at Fort William McKinley, in the Philippines, 1929-1931.
He taught at the Infantry School for a year. While at the Infantry School, Smith captured the attention of Omar N. Bradley and George C. Marshall. Both men put Smith's name on their lists of future leaders. In October 1939, General Marshall called Smith to Washington to aid him in building up the army. Promotions now came rapidly. Smith became a lieutenant colonel in April 1941, a colonel in August 1941, a brigadier general in February 1942, a major general in December 1942, and a lieutenant general in January 1943. Marshall made Smith assistant secretary and then, in September 1941, secretary of the General Staff. In this job Smith coordinated the work of staff agencies.
In February 1942 Smith was named secretary of the Joint Chiefs and United States secretary to the Combined Chiefs, posts in which he played a key role in establishing the smooth functioning of the two groups. In September 1942, Smith joined General Dwight D. Eisenhower as his chief of staff. He served in London while Eisenhower gathered the forces for the cross-Channel invasion and then followed the general during Allied assaults on North Africa in November 1942, on Sicily in July 1943, on Italy in September 1943, and on France in June 1944.
After the surrender of Germany in May 1945, Smith remained with Eisenhower until that December. During this period Smith established his reputation as one of the finest chiefs of staff in history. He often represented Eisenhower at conferences involving the Allied high command.
Although Smith returned from Europe in January 1946 as chief of the Operations and Planning Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Harry S. Truman appointed him ambassador to Russia (1946 - 1949) two months later. Smith was a negotiator during the crucial period when relations between the two countries deteriorated into the cold war.
In March 1949, Smith became commander of the First Army, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York. In 1951 he received the fourth star of a full general. In the wake of charges of inept intelligence contributing to the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, President Truman named him director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
When Eisenhower became president, he moved Smith from the CIA to the State Department as undersecretary. Smith saw himself as "the policy chief of staff" for Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. In May 1954 he was the United States representative to the Geneva Far Eastern Conference, called to discuss the possible reunification of Korea and a settlement of the war in Indochina.
He resigned as undersecretary in October 1954 to become vice-chairman of American Machine and Foundry Company, a position he held until his death in Washington.
He believed that Russia had always been imperialist and that Soviet Russia would continue its expansionist efforts. But he felt that the Soviets wanted to avoid war and that the Communist world was not an impregnable monolith. He argued that the break between Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and Premier Josef Stalin of Russia was real and that the United States should support Tito and encourage similar defections.
Critics saw him as quick-tempered, harsh, abrupt, and arbitrary. Supporters would also point to his personal warmth in relaxed moments. But, in the estimation of nearly everyone, he was a nearly perfect chief of staff.
Quotes from others about the person
Stephen E. Ambrose, in The Supreme Commander (1970), summarized Smith's role: "He decided who could see Eisenhower and who could not, handled much of Eisenhower's civil affairs and diplomatic duties, had almost unlimited responsibility and authority in all matters except promotion of officers and operational directives, was the 'no' man in the office, and frequently represented Eisenhower at meetings. "
On July 1, 1917, he married Mary Eleanor (Norrie) Cline; they had no children.