Born in Marcus, Iowa, Smylie graduated from high school in Cresco in 1932 at the height of the Depression. Offered a place to live by an uncle, he moved to Idaho to attend the College of Idaho in Caldwell. During the school year, he participated in debate, the yearbook, football, and student government, and hitchhiked back to Iowa in the summers. After his graduation in 1938 he moved to Washington D.C., where he simultaneously clerked at the law firm of Covington Burling, was a U.S. Capitol policeman, and attended George Washington University Law School until his graduation in 1942. He married Lucile Irwin on December 4, 1943 and the couple had two sons.
Career
Having begun practicing law in Washington, D.C., Smylie left his practice in 1942 to join the U.S. Coast Guard as a lawyer and was stationed in Philadelphia and the Philippines during World War II. He returned to his private practice in 1946. In January 1947, Smylie became a deputy attorney general in Idaho, under newly elected Robert Ailshie. Later that year, Ailshie unexpectedly died of a heart attack at age 39 and Smylie was appointed attorney general at age 33 by Governor C. A. Robins. After he was elected to a full term in 1950, Smylie ran for governor in 1954, as the seat was not eligible for re-election at the time and was held by Republican Len Jordan. Starting with the 1946 election, Idaho changed from two-year to four-year terms for governor, but with the change it disallowed self-succession. Smylie was elected governor in 1954 and successfully lobbied the 1955 legislature to propose an amendment to the state constitution to allow gubernatorial re-election, which was approved by voters in the 1956 general election. Smylie was re-elected in 1958 and 1962. He was its first governor born in the 20th century. During his tenure, a state park system was created, and a sales tax adopted. In February 1955, following a prompt from a BBC reporter, Smylie fast-tracked legislation to remove the anomaly of Idaho being the only one of the 48 states that did not observe George Washington's Birthday as a holiday. While governor, Smylie served as chair of the Western Governors Association and as chair of the Republican Governors Association. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1960. Smylie served on the National Governor's Conference Executive Committee from 1956 to 1957, from 1959 to 1960, and in 1963. Smylie ran for a fourth term in 1966, but was soundly defeated in the Republican primary by his successor, Don Samuelson, whom he had encouraged to run for the state senate six years earlier. Smylie attributed his support of the newly implemented sales tax of three per cent in 1965 as a major factor in his defeat. The sales tax was easily approved by voters in the November election; it stayed at three per cent until and is now
Election results
Later years
Leaving the governor's office after a dozen years at age 52, Smylie returned to the practice of law in 1967. He served as Trustee, Chair of Trustees, and as acting President of the College of Idaho. Smylie ran for the open U.S. Senate seat in 1972, but finished fourth in the Republican primary, won by Jim McClure.
Death
A former governor for more than 37 years, Smylie died in Boise at age 89 on July 17, 2004, and his wife Lucile died less than six weeks later. They are interred at Pioneer Cemetery in Boise. Lucile's sister Virgil was the widow of D. Worth Clark, Democratic U.S. Senator from Idaho.
