Earl T. Smith Options

[John Simkin]

Earl Edward Tailer Smith was born in Rhode Island in 1903. He studied at Yale University (1926-28) before becoming an investment broker and a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He also became a partner in the investment brokers, Paige, Smith, and Remick (1930-1939).

In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Smith as special assistant in the Office of Production Management (later War Production Board). He left this post to serve in the United States Army during the Second World War. He served overseas and by the end of the war reached the rank of lieutenant colonel? In 1947 Smith married Florence Pritchett. The couple had three children.

Florence had been having an affair with JFK since 1944. The couple spent a lot of time together. Betty Spalding said that for Kennedy, "Over a long period of time, it was probably the closest relationship with a woman I know of." However, because Kennedy was a Roman Catholic, marriage was out of the question.

In June, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Smith as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Cuba. FBI files reveal that over the next two years JFK made more than a dozen visits to Cuba in order to meet Florence. Florence also met Kennedy in Miami and Palm Beach, where their homes were conveniently adjoined.

According to one account: "JFK would elude the Secret Service on occasion in order to have trysts with women. He did this in Palm Beach when he hopped a fence to swim with Flo Smith. The Secret Service agents couldn't find him and called in the FBI. They finally turned to Palm Beach Police Chief Homer Large, a trusted Kennedy family associate. The Police Chief knew exactly where to find Jack - next door in Earl E. T. Smith's swimming pool. Jack and Flo were alone, and as Homer put it, "They weren't doing the Australian crawl."

Smith became a bitter opponent of JFK after the Bay of Pigs. Smith, who was a director of the the U.S. Sugar Corporation, had lost a lot of money as a result of Castro gaining control of Cuba. In 1962 Smith wrote an account of the Castro revolution entitled, The Fourth Floor.

Is it possible that Earl T. Smith was one of those who put the money up for the assassination of JFK? He had both personal and economic reasons for wanting him dead?

Smith remained active in anti-Castro politics. In June, 1982, Ronald Reagan appointed Smith as a member of the Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba.

Earl Edward Tailer Smith died in 1991.

Picture below shows Smith and JFK discussing ways of keeping Florence happy.

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[James Richards]

Earl Smith and Batista.

James

[Ron Ecker]

Picture below shows Smith and JFK discussing ways of keeping Florence happy.

John,

It's clear from the brace JFK is wearing that Flo wasn't good for his back problem. But did he have to flaunt the problem in front of Earl?

Ron

[Thomas H. Purvis]

Earl Edward Tailer Smith was born in Rhode Island in 1903. He studied at Yale University (1926-28) before becoming an investment broker and a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He also became a partner in the investment brokers, Paige, Smith, and Remick (1930-1939).

In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Smith as special assistant in the Office of Production Management (later War Production Board). He left this post to serve in the United States Army during the Second World War. He served overseas and by the end of the war reached the rank of lieutenant colonel? In 1947 Smith married Florence Pritchett. The couple had three children.

Florence had been having an affair with JFK since 1944. The couple spent a lot of time together. Betty Spalding said that for Kennedy, "Over a long period of time, it was probably the closest relationship with a woman I know of." However, because Kennedy was a Roman Catholic, marriage was out of the question.

In June, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Smith as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Cuba. FBI files reveal that over the next two years JFK  made more than a dozen visits to Cuba in order to meet Florence. Florence also met Kennedy in Miami and Palm Beach, where their homes were conveniently adjoined.

According to one account: "JFK would elude the Secret Service on occasion in order to have trysts with women. He did this in Palm Beach when he hopped a fence to swim with Flo Smith. The Secret Service agents couldn't find him and called in the FBI. They finally turned to Palm Beach Police Chief Homer Large, a trusted Kennedy family associate. The Police Chief knew exactly where to find Jack - next door in Earl E. T. Smith's swimming pool. Jack and Flo were alone, and as Homer put it, "They weren't doing the Australian crawl."

Smith became a bitter opponent of JFK after the Bay of Pigs. Smith, who was a director of the the U.S. Sugar Corporation, had lost a lot of money as a result of Castro gaining control of Cuba. In 1962 Smith wrote an account of the Castro revolution entitled, The Fourth Floor. 

Is it possible that Earl T. Smith was one of those who put the money up for the assassination of JFK? He had both personal and economic reasons for wanting him dead?

Smith remained active in anti-Castro politics. In June, 1982, Ronald Reagan appointed Smith as a member of the Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba.

Earl Edward Tailer Smith died in 1991.

Picture below shows Smith and JFK discussing ways of keeping Florence happy.

John;

An excellent and informative post.

Just one example of the kinds of money and power which could, and in all probability did, provide a portion of the motive for elimination of JFK.

As with other "links" in the chain, the link to Smith must be generated through his money, power, position, and associations.

It is therefore quite unlikely that Mr. Smith had no connections to, and with William Pawley.

Once we get to Pawley, then one can "branch" into both the Louisiana links in this chain as well as those in Texas.

Tom

[John Simkin]

Robert Howard has posted this interesting passage from Thomas G Paterson's book, Contesting Castro - The United States & The Triumph of the Cuban Revolution (1994)

Like many other prominent Americans, the young Democratic U.S. Senators John F. Kennedy and George Smathers partied on the island. In December 1957, Kennedy and Smathers journeyed to Havana. They visited Ambassador Smith, a Kennedy friend from Palm Beach, and his wife and former model, Florence Pritchett Smith with whom the Massachusets politician had had a love affair some years before. The pleasure seeking senators apparently never discussed the rebellion, although Smather's, as he himself put it "had made a career of Cuban problems." Instead golf, sailing, nightclubs, and women occupied their time. Crime boss Meyer Lansky's widow claimed later that during that trip her husband helped locate women to satisfy Kennedy's now-famed sexual athleticism. "Kennedy wasn't a great casino man," remembered Smathers, "but the Tropicana night-club had a floor show you wouldn't believe."