Robert E. Smylie

Robert Eben Smylie (October 31, 1914 – July 17, 2004) was an American politician and attorney from Idaho. Smylie, who is a member of the Idaho Republican Party, served as the 24th governor of Idaho for twelve years, from 1955 to 1967. He was the first Governor of Idaho who was born in the 20th century. Smylie is Idaho’s third longest governor, with a tenure only one week shorter than future governor Butch Otter.

In the 1966 election, Smylie, who was seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive term, was defeated in the Republican primary by Idaho State Senator Don Samuelson, who won the election.

Early life and education Born in Marcus, Iowa, Smylie graduated from high school in Cresco in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression. Offered a place to live by an uncle, in 1934, he moved to Idaho to attend the College of Idaho in Caldwell. During the school year, he participated in speech and debate, the yearbook, football, and student government, and received a scholarship from the National Youth Administration for working as a secretary for the Department of Philosophy and Religion. under newly elected Robert Ailshie. That November, Ailshie unexpectedly died of a heart attack at age 39; Smylie was appointed attorney general at age 33 by Governor C. A. Robins, and was elected to a full four-year term in 1950.

Governor of Idaho 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 (re-election). Smylie was elected governor at age forty 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, the first Idaho governor born in the 20th century, was re-elected in 1958 and 1962. In his 1962 reelection, with the backing of labor unions, Smylie vowed to veto any legislation that established right-to-work laws in Idaho. Another factor that led to Smylie's reelection in 1962 was his Democratic opponent's support of gambling.

During his tenure as governor, Smylie increased the minimum wage, established a five-day work week for state employees, increased funding for public education and highway infrastructure, maintained annual balanced budgets, and created the Department of Commerce, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Idaho State Historical Society Museum, the Department of Water Resources and the Permanent Building Fund. By 1962, Idaho's school districts had been reduced to 110. 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 (1959–1961) 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 was described by a regional columnist as one of the "shrewdest politicians" of the Republican Party.

After Barry Goldwater's loss to Lyndon B. Johnson and the Democrats winning a majority over the Republicans in the Senate and House, Smylie claimed that Goldwater was on the "wrong side of every issue" and remarked that it was one of the biggest losses in the history of the Republican Party and that it needed to move to the center. whom he had encouraged to run for the state senate six years earlier. The sales tax was easily approved by voters in the November election; it stayed at three per cent until and is now Smylie said of the sales tax in 1998: "Its passage marked a defining moment in the state’s struggle toward political and economic maturity."

Later career 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. but finished fourth in the Republican primary, won by Jim McClure.

Personal life Smylie married Lucile Irwin on December 4, 1943, and the couple had two sons.