BRIEFS ON DIPLOMATIC, MILITARY AND CIVILIAN CAREER, WALTER BEDELL SMITH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100320002-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-004188000100320002-5
Briefs on Diplomatic, *military and Civilian Career,
WALTER B~~DELL,, SM~T~,, ~ ,;,,
General Smith has had a long career as a soldier, diplomat and
administrator in civilian top rank Government posts.
He is one of the few American diplomats who has conferred directly
as a representative of the Allied free world powers with Joseph Staline
For four and one half years, as a junior officer, he was on loan
from the Army to the Bureau of the Budget in Washington, was Assistant
to the Chief Coordinator and later was Executive Officer and Deputy
Chief Coordinator of the Budget. He also during this period was
Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Liquidation Board that wound up
disposition of surplus materials of World War Io
General Smith came into diplorna.tic prominence in 19l~5 when he
secret],y went to Lisbon and, acting for General Eisenhower, negotiated
the surrender of Italy, a heavy blow at that time to the Lerman military
machine and a great benefit to America and its allies. Later, as General
Eisenhocrer~s representative, he signed the surrender documents.
During active operations in Europe he negotiated with the Germans
and arranged for the emergency food supply of occupied Holland. Again,
acting on behalf of the Supreme Commander, he signed the surrender
instruments ending the war with Germany.
The Headquarters of Combined Chiefs of Staff was originally set
up by General Smith in 19t~2 and he was its first U. S. Secretary,
previously having been Secretary of the General Staff of the United
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-004188000100320002-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-004188000100320002-5
States War Department,
As an infantry combat soldier in France with the ~.tt-. Division
in World War I, and later as a combat intelligence officer in Washington
and in the field, this former Indiana National Guard enlisted man began
to acquire the military knowledge for the staff positions he later held.
He was graduated from the Infantry School, Command and General Staff
School, and the Army War College, and served three tours of duty as
instructor at the Infantry School.
His reputation for handling harmoniously intricate and differing
views of military and civilian leaders of various nationalities was
enhanced when he was appointed Chief of Staff of the European Theater
of Operations in September 19112, then as Chief of Staff to General Eisenhower
in the North African Theater, and finally as Chief of Staff of SHAEF.
General Eisenhower has said of Smiths service during this period;-
~~He was a Godsend--a master of detail with clear comprehension of main
issues. Serious, hard working, and loyal, he proved equally as capable in
difficult conference as Yie was in professional activity. Strong in character
and abrupt by instinct, he could achieve harmony without appeasement,
and earned for himself an enviable standing throughout the armies and
governments of Europe.~~
In 19!16 when General Smith was in the process of taking over the
Operations Division of the War Department General Staff, a post that
General Eisenhower once occupied, he was appointed ambassador to the
Soviet Union, remaining in his military status by an Act of Congress,
and so served until 25 March 19119. He was a member of the U. S. delegation
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-004188000100320002-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-004188000100320002-5
to tree Paris Peace Conference and also was the U. S. representative
on the Hungarian Treaty Commission. He was one of the U. S. delegation
at the Moscow, Paris and London Conferences of Foreign Ministers and
was the spokesman for the United States, Great Britain and France at
the Moscow Conference with Stalin on the Berlin Blockade.
Returning to the United States in 1949 he was appointed Commanding
General of the famous First Arm with headquarters on Governors Island,
New York, and in October 1950, was called upon to become Director of
Central Intelligence--primarily to reorgani2e the Central Intelligence
Agency, Americats top agency for the correlation and coordination and
dissemination of intelligence.
General Smith was married on 1 July 1917 to Mary Eleanor Cline of
Indianapolis, Indianan He has been seven times decorated by the U. S..
Governments including three awards of the DSM and one of the Navy DSrie
He has also received high decorations from eleven foreign governments.
He holds honorary degrees from seven U. S. and foreign universities.
He was born on 5 October 1895.
He is the author of ~fEisenhowerts Six Great Decisions,~~ and of a
book, ~i~ Three Years in Moscow.~~
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP99-004188000100320002-5