James Monroe Smith

James Monroe Smith (October 9, 1888 – May 26, 1949) was an American educator and academic administrator in Louisiana, best known for an embezzlement scandal that sent him to prison.

Early life Smith grew up on a small farm in rural Jackson Parish, becoming a public school teacher and principal. He attended Valparaiso University in Indiana, earning a bachelor of pedagogy in 1913. He later became principal of DeQuincy High School in DeQuincy, Louisiana.

He had stints teaching at LSU and Northwestern State University before, in 1922, becoming dean of the College of Education at Southwestern Louisiana Institute, which is today the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He earned a PhD in educational administration from Columbia University in 1927.

President of LSU In 1931, Louisiana governor Huey Long appointed him the seventh president of Louisiana State University. His administration was marked by Long's deep involvement in the university, which led to both massive investment and regular interference. In 1934, Long (then a senator) ordered Smith to expel seven students involved in an anti-Long piece that ran in the student newspaper, The Daily Reveille. LSU students nicknamed Smith "Jimmy the Stooge". LSU's student enrollment roughly quadrupled during his term in office.

After prison Smith was released from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary on February 6, 1946. He worked briefly as principal of the Burritt Preparatory School for Boys at Spencer, Tennessee before returning to Louisiana. In 1948, Gov. Earl Long, Huey's brother, named Smith head of rehabilitation programs at Angola State Penitentiary. He died of a heart attack at Angola on May 26, 1949.