GEN Walter Bedell Smith, USA
United States Ambassador to Soviet Union
In office April 3, 1946 – December 25, 1948
President	Harry S Truman
Preceded by	W. Averell Harriman
Succeeded by	Alan G. Kirk
4th Director of Central Intelligence
In office October 7, 1950 – February 9, 1953
President	Harry S Truman
Preceded by	RADM Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, USN
Succeeded by	Allen W. Dulles
Under Secretary of State
In office February 9, 1953 – October 1, 1954
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	David K. E. Bruce
Succeeded by	Herbert Hoover, Jr.
Born	October 5, 1895 Indianapolis, Indiana
Died	9 August 1961 (aged 65) Washington, D.C.
Spouse(s)	Mary Eleanor Smith
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1911-46, 1949-1953
Rank	General

General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith GBE KCB (October 5, 1895 – August 9, 1961) was Dwight D. Eisenhower's Chief of Staff during Eisenhower's tenure at SHAEF and Director of the CIA from 1950 to 1953. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1948.

[edit] Early career

Smith at age 16 enlisted in as a private in the Indiana National Guard in 1911. In 1917, after graduating from Officer Candidate Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Infantry, Officers' Reserve Corps. Serving during World War I, he was with the 4th Infantry Division (United States) while in France. In September 1918, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Regular Army.

Postings between the World Wars included the War Department's Bureau of Military Intelligence, intelligence officer and adjutant for the 37th Infantry Regiment. In 1922, he was adjutant for the 12th Infantry Brigade. From 1925 to 1929, he worked as an assistant in the White House Bureau of the Budget. Back in the Army, he served with the 45th Infantry Regiment in the Philippines. He also attended the Infantry School, Command and General Staff School, and the Army War College.

[edit] World War II

When General George C. Marshall became the Army's Chief of Staff, he called in Smith (then a Major) to be Assistant to the Secretary of the General Staff. He became Secretary in September 1941 and in February 1942 was named U.S. Secretary of the Combined Chiefs of Staff. Just before the invasion of North Africa, Marshall sent him to England to be Chief of Staff for the European Theater of Operations. In March 1944, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Smith Chief of Staff. He remained in that role until V-E Day, including making the arrangements for and accepting the surrender of German military forces on May 7, 1945. ^[1][2]

Smith had a reputation as a brusque manager, peppered with salty speech, and was often referred to as Eisenhower's "hatchet man". Such was the case when Gen. George S. Patton needed to be disciplined, Smith was tasked with delivering the bad news.

During the liberation of Paris, Gen. Smith wrote a confidential memo that recommended that black troops be removed from units liberating the city.^[3]

[edit] Post-war career and retirement

Smith took leave from the Army to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1949. Seeking to return to the United States, he resigned his ambassadorship and in March 1949, he was promoted to General and assumed command of First United States Army at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. In 1950, President Harry S Truman selected him as Director of Central Intelligence (head of the Central Intelligence Agency), where he served until 1953. He retired from the Army upon leaving the DCI position on February 9, 1953.^[4] He also served as Under Secretary of State from 1953 to 1954 and played a role in the creation of the National Security Agency.

From 1954 to 1957 he was a founder member of the influential Bilderberg Group.^[5][6]

In 1955, he was approached to perform the voiceover and opening for the movie "To Hell And Back," which was based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy, he accepted, and has small parts in the movie—most notably, in the beginning of the movie, where he is dressed in his old service uniform, speaking of Murphy. He also narrates several parts of the movie, referring constantly to "the foot soldier."

He died from a heart attack on August 9, 1961 at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington. He was subsequently buried in Section 7 of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Mary Eleanor Smith (1893-1963), is buried with him.

Various writings by Second World War senior commanders, including but not limited to George S. Patton, Omar Bradley, and others, have tended to portray Smith unfavorably. An effective, ruthless administrator, he is best remembered as being an exceptional professional staff officer, but a man not well-admired by his peers or subordinates. His major military decorations included three Army Distinguished Service Medals and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

Smith was portrayed (in a more or less uncontroversial light) by actor Edward Binns in the film Patton.

[edit] References

1. ^ 1945: Germany signs unconditional surrender website of the BBC
2. ^ Earl F. Ziemke "The U.S. Army in the occupation of Germany 1944-1946" Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D. C., 1990, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-619027. CHAPTER XV:The Victory Sealed
3. ^ "Paris liberation made 'whites only'". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984436.stm. Retrieved 2009-04-07. 
4. ^ Walter Smith CIA website
5. ^ "The Real Aims of the Bilderberg Club". BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. April 6, 1982. 
6. ^ Jasper, William F. (July 12, 2004). Rogues' gallery of EU founders: the emerging European superstate, now moving forward under the EU, is the result of a deliberate scheme put into motion many years ago by powerful planners and plotters. 20. The New American. p. 15. ISSN 08856540. "Attendees at the founding Bilderberg meeting (1954), for example, included: David Rockefeller, global banker and later chairman of the CFR; Dean Rusk, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and later U.S. Secretary of State; Joseph E. Johnson, president of the Carnegie Endowment; C.D. Jackson, head of Time, Inc.; Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, former head of the OSS, precursor to the CIA; and Lord Dennis Healey, Labor Party leftist and later British Chancellor of the Exchequer.". 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Walter Bedell Smith

• Arlington bio
• The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funeral, 1921-1969, CHAPTER XX, General Walter Bedell Smith, Special Full Honor Funeral, 9-14 August 1961 by B. C. Mossman and M. W. Stark
• Papers and World War II Documents of Walter Bedell Smith, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

v • d • e Directors of Central Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Sidney Souers · Hoyt Vandenberg · Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter · Walter B. Smith · Allen W. Dulles · John A. McCone · William Raborn · Richard Helms · James R. Schlesinger · William Colby · George H. W. Bush · Stansfield Turner · William J. Casey · William H. Webster · Robert Gates · R. James Woolsey, Jr. · John M. Deutch · George Tenet Central Intelligence Agency Porter J. Goss · Michael Hayden · Leon Panetta

v • d • e United States Under Secretaries of State Polk • Davis • Fletcher • Phillips • Grew • Olds • Clark • Cotton • Castle • Phillips • Welles • Stettinius • Grew • Acheson • Lovett • Webb • Bruce • Smith • Hoover • Herter • Dillon • Bowles • Ball • Katzenbach • Richardson • Irwin