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.
In June, 1957, President
Dwight Eisenhower appointed Smith
as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Cuba. He held the
post until 20th January, 1959. Smith is the author of the book, The
Fourth Floor (1962), an account of the Fidel
Castro revolution
in Cuba.
Earl
Edward Smith
In 1965 Dorothy
Kilgallen managed to obtain a private interview with Jack
Ruby.
She told friends that she had information that would "break the
case wide open". Aware of what had happened to Bill
Hunter and Jim Koethe, Kilgallen handed
her interview notes to her friend Florence
Smith. She told friends that she had obtained information that
Ruby and J.
D. Tippit were
friends and that David Ferrie was involved
in the assassination of John
F. Kennedy.
On 8th November, 1965,
Dorothy Kilgallen, was found dead in
her New York apartment. She was fully
dressed and sitting upright in her bed. The police reported that she
had died from taking a cocktail of alcohol and barbiturates. The notes
of her interview with Jack
Ruby
and the article she was
writing on the case had disappeared. Florence
Smith, died two days later of a cerebral hemorrhage.
On his return to the United
States Smith settled in Florida and became director of the Bank
of Palm Beach and Trust Corporation and the U.S. Sugar Corporation.
He also served as mayor
of Palm Beach (1971-1977). In June, 1982, Smith became a member of
the Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba.
Earl Edward Tailer Smith
died in 1991.
Earl
Smith and John F. Kennedy in 1963
Namebase: Earl E. T. Smith
Forum Debates
Online
Seminar: Florence Pritchett and the Kennedy Assassination
Florence Pritchett
Earl T. Smith
The CIA and Fidel Castro
The Kennedy Assassination
Watergate
(1)
Earl
E. T. Smith gave evidence to the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary on 27th August, 1960.
F. W. Sourwine: Mr.
Smith, when you were appointed Ambassador to Cuba, were you briefed
on the job?
Earl E. Smith: Yes; I was.
F. W. Sourwine: Who gave
you this briefing?
Earl E. Smith: I spent
6 weeks in Washington, approximately 4 days of each week, visiting
various agencies and being briefed by the State, Department and those
whom the State Department designated.
F. W. Sourwine: Any particular
individual or individuals who, had a primary part in this briefing?
Earl E. Smith: The answer
is, in the period of 6 weeks I was briefed by numbers of people in
the usual course as every Ambassador is briefed.
F. W. Sourwine: Is it true,
sir, that you were instructed to get a briefing on your new job as
Ambassador to Cuba from Herbert Matthews of the New York Times?
Earl E. Smith: Yes; that
is correct.
F. W. Sourwine:
Who gave you these instructions?
Earl E. Smith: William
Wieland, Director of the Caribbean Division and Mexico. At that time
he was Director of the Caribbean Division, Central American Affairs.
F. W. Sourwine: Did you,
sir, in fact see Matthews?
Earl E. Smith: Yes; I did.
F. W. Sourwine: And did
he brief you on the Cuban situation?
Earl E. Smith: Yes; he
did.
F. W. Sourwine: Could you
give us the highlights of what he told you?...
Earl E. Smith: We talked
for 2 1/2 hours on the Cuban situation, a complete review o£
his feelings regarding Cuba, Batista, Castro, the situation in Cuba,
and what he thought would happen.
F. W. Sourwine: What did
he think would happen?
Earl E. Smith: He did not
believe that the Batista government could last, and that the fall
of the Batista government would come relatively soon.
F. W. Sourwine: Specifically
what did he say about Castro?
Earl E. Smith: In February
1957 Herbert L. Matthews wrote three articles on Fidel Castro, which
appeared on the front page of the New York Times, in which he eulogized
Fidel Castro and portrayed him as a political Robin Hood, and I would
say that he repeated those views to me in our conversation....
F. W. Sourwine: What did
Mr. Matthews tell you about Batista?
Earl E. Smith: Mr. Matthews
had a very poor view of Batista, considered him a rightist ruthless
dictator whom he believed to be corrupt. Mr. Matthews informed me
that he had very knowledgeable views of Cuba and Latin American nations,
and had seen the same things take place in Spain. He believed that
it would be in the best interest of Cuba and the best interest of
the world in general when Batista was removed from office.
F. W. Sourwine: It was
true that Batista's government was corrupt, wasn't it?
Earl E. Smith: It is true
that Batista's government was corrupt. Batista was the power behind
the Government in Cuba off and on for 25 years. The year 1957 was
the best economic year that Cuba had ever had.
However, the Batista regime
was disintegrating from within. It was becoming more corrupt, and
as a result, was losing strength. The Castro forces themselves never
won a military victory. The best military victory they ever won was
through capturing Cuban guardhouses and military skirmishes, but they
never actually won a military victory.
The Batista government
was overthrown because of the corruption, disintegration from within,
and because of the United States and the various agencies of the United
States who directly and indirectly aided the overthrow of the Batista
government and brought into power Fidel Castro.
F. W. Sourwine: What were
those, agencies, Mr. Smith?
Earl E. Smith: The US Government
agencies - may I say something off the record?
(Discussion off the record.)
F. W. Sourwine: Mr. Smith,
the pending question before you read your statement was: What agencies
of the US Government had a hand in bringing pressure to overthrow
the Batista government, and how did they do it?
Earl E. Smith: Well, the
agencies, certain influential people, influential sources in the State
Department, lower down echelons in the CIA. I would say representatives
of the majority of the US Government agencies which have anything
to do with the Embassy...
F. W. Sourwine: Mr. Smith,
when you talked with Matthews to get the briefing before you went
to Cuba, was he introduced to you as having any authority from the
State Department or as being connected with the State Department in
any way?
Earl E. Smith: Let me go
back. You asked me a short while ago who arranged the meeting with
Mr. Matthews.
F. W. Sourwine: And you
said Mr. Wieland.
Earl E. Smith: I said Wilham
Wieland, but Wilham Wieland also had to have the approval of Roy Rubottom,
who was then Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs.
Now, to go back to this question, as I understood it, you said - would
you mind repeating that again?
F. W. Sourwine: I asked
if, when you were, sent to Mr. Matthews for this briefing, he was
introduced to you as having any official connection with the State
Department or any authority from the Department?
Earl E. Smith: Oh, no.
I knew who he was, and they obviously knew I knew who he was, but
I believe, that they thought it would be a good idea for me to get
the viewpoint of Herbert Matthews, and also I think that Herbert Matthews
is the leading Latin American editorial writer for the New York Times.
Obviously the State Department would like to have the support of the
New York Times...
James Eastland: Mr. Smith,
we have had hearings, a great many, in Miami, with prominent Cubans,
and there is a thread that runs through the whole thing that people
connected with some Government agency went to Cuba and called on the
chiefs of the armed forces and told them that we would not recognize
the government of the President-elect, and that we would not back
him, and that because of that the chiefs of the armed forces told
Batista to leave the country, and they set up a government in which
they attempted to make a deal with Castro. That is accurate, isn't
it, Tom?
Thomas Dodd: I would say
so, yes...
James Eastland: Let me
ask you this question. As a matter of fact, isn't it your judgment
that the State Department of the United States is primarily responsible
for bringing Castro to power in Cuba?
Earl E. Smith: No, sir,
I can't say that the State Department in itself is primarily responsible.
The State Department played a large part in bringing Castro to power.
The press, other Government agencies, Members of Congress are responsible...
James Eastland: You had
been warning the State Department that Castro was a Marxist?
Earl E. Smith: Yes, sir.
James Eastland: And that
Batista's government was a friendly government. That is what had been
your advice as to the State Department?
Earl E. Smith: Let me answer
that this way, which will make it very clear. When I went to Cuba,
I left here with the definite feeling according to my briefings which
I had received, that the U.S. Government was too close to the Batista
regime, and that we were being accused of intervening in the affairs
of Cuba by trying to perpetuate the Batista dictatorship.
After I had been in Cuba
for approximately 2 months, and had made a study of Fidel Castro and
the revolutionaries, it was perfectly obvious to me as it would be
to any other reasonable man that Castro was not the answer; that if
Castro came to power, it would not be in the best interests of Cuba
or in the best interests of the United States....
In my own Embassy there
were certain ones of influence who were pro-26th of July, pro-Castro,
and anti-Batista.
James Eastland: Who were
they?
Earl E. Smith: Do I have
to answer that question, Senator?
James Eastland: Yes, I
think you have to. We are not going into it unnecessarily.
Earl E. Smith: I don't
want to harm anybody. That is the reason I asked.
I would say the Chief of
the Political Section, John Topping, and the Chief of the CIA Section.
It was revealed that the No. 2 CIA rnan in the embassy had given unwarranted
and undue encouragement to the revolutionaries. This came out in tke
trials of naval officers after the Cienfuegos revolution of September
I957...
James Eastland: He (Batista)
didn't have to leave. He had not been defeated by armed force.
Earl E. Smith: Let me put
it to you this way: that there are a lot of reasons for Batista's
moving out. Batista had been in control off and on for 25 years. His
government was disintegrating, at the end due to corruption, due to
the fact that he had been in power too long. Police brutality was
getting worse.
On the other hand there
were three forces that kept Batista in power. He had the support of
the armed forces, he had support of the labor leaders. Cuba enjoyed
a good economy.
Nineteen hundred and fifty-seven
was one of the best years in the economic history of Cuba. The fact
that the United States was no longer supporting Batista had a devastating
psychological effect, upon the armed forces and upon the leaders of
the labor movement. This went a long way toward bringing about his
downfall.
On the other hand, our
actions in the United States were responsible for the rise to power
of Castro. Until certain portions of the American press began to write
derogatory articles against the Batista government, the Castro revolution
never got off first base.
Batista made the mistake
of overemphasizing the importance of Prio, who was residing in Florida,
and underestimating the importance of Castro. Prio was operating out
of the United States, out of Florida, supplying the revolutionaries
with arms, ammunition, bodies and money.
Batista told me that when
Prio left Cuba, Prio and Alameia (Aleman) took $140 million out of
Cuba. If we cut that estimate in half, they may have shared $70 million.
It is believed that Prio spent a great many millions of dollars in
the United States assisting the revolutionaries. This was done right
from our shores....
F. W. Sourwine: Is there
any doubt in your mind that the Cuban Government, under Castro, is
a Communist government?
Earl E. Smith: Now?
F. W. Sourwine: Yes.
Earl E. Smith: I would
go further. I believe it is becoming a satellite.
The logical thing for the
Russians to do would be to move into Cuba which they had already done,
and to take over, which they would do by a mutual security pact.
Then, when the United States
objects, all they have to say is:
"We will get out of
Cuba when you get out of Turkey."
Thomas Dodd: You are not
suggesting-
Earl E. Smith: That is
a speech I made in February.
Thomas Dodd: Yes, but you
are not suggesting that the Communists will cease and desist from
their activities in Cuba and Central and South America, or anywhere
else, if we get out of these other places?
Earl E. Smith: Out of Turkey?
Thomas Dodd: Yes.
Earl E. Smith: It would
mean a great deal to them if we got out of Turkey. I am no expert
on Turkey.
Thomas Dodd: You do not
have to be an expert on Turkey, but you ought to be a little bit of
an expert on the Communists to know this would not follow at all.
Every time we have retreated
from one place, they have moved into new areas.
Earl E. Smith: Senator,
I did not say what they would do.
Thomas Dodd: I know, but...
Earl E. Smith: That they
would move into Cuba to retaliate with us.
(2) Earl E. T. Smith, statement to the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary (27th August, 1960)
First let me say that to
date I have made no public statement regarding my experiences in Cuba
because I did not feel that, as a former Ambassador, it was my function
to say anything which might be interpreted as critical of the administration
which I had served. I have only the greatest respect and admiration
for President Eisenhower, whose integrity is beyond question.
However, the establishment
of a Communist regime in Cuba involves the defense and safety of this
country and as you asked me to testify before you, I do so, recognizing
that the welfare of the United States must transcend personal desires
and reticence.
From personal experience
I have learned that many very influential sources in the United States
are dedicated to the overthrow of all dictatorships. They are as opposed
to anti-Communist rightest dictators, who are friendly to the United
States, as to the Communist dictators whom they regard as progressive.
They adopt a doctrinaire attitude toward this question which is so
impractical that they ultimately unwittingly defeat themselves. If
dictatorship versus democracy were the only question that faced us,
it would not be difficult to make a decision. However, as we are in
the midst of a struggle for survival, other considerations are pertinent.
If the policy of the United
States is to bring about the overthrow of dictators in the hope that
democracy will follow, then I believe that the United States must
be prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to preserve law and
order and relevant chaos during that interim period of transition.
If free and open elections are to be held, when a dictator is overthrown,
a provisional government must be formed and such government needs
outside support to maintain law and order. To do otherwise leaves
a vacuum for the Communists to gain control. Such a vacuum did not
occur in Cuba while I was the U.S. Ambassador there. Instead, a group
was ready to seize power - a Communist group.
If we are to intervene
sufficiently to bring about the overthrow of dictatorships, then we
should intervene to whatever extent is required to fulfill our purpose.
Otherwise, in my opinion, we must wait for the normal self-development
of a people and not assist revolution. And we must be prepared to
receive the criticism of supporting friendly governments recognized
by the United States, although they have been labeled dictatorships.
To make my point more clear, let me say that, we helped to overthrow
the Batista dictatorship which was pro-American only to install the
Castro dictatorship which is pro-Russian.
(3)
New
York Journal American (15th November, 1965)
The death of Dorothy Kilgallen, Journal-American columnist
and famed TV personality, was contributed to by a combination of moderate
quantities of alcohol and barbiturates, a medical examiner's report
stated today.
As many personalities whose
multiple duties and responsibilities demand unceasing attention, Miss
Kilgallen experienced recurring tensions in meeting her deadlines
for performances - both as a newspaperwoman and TV performer.
In his report today, Dr.
James Luke, Assistant Medical Examiner, said that although Miss Kilgallen
had only "moderate amounts of each," the effect of the combination
had caused depression of the central nervous system "which in
turn caused her heart to stop."
(4)
David Welsh, Ramparts (November,
1966)
We know of no serious person who really believes that
the death of Dorothy Kilgallen, the gossip columnist, was related
to the Kennedy assassination. Still, she was passionately interested
in the case, told friends she firmly believed there was a conspiracy
and that she would find out the truth if it took her all her life.
Miss Kilgallen was the
first to make public the existence of Acquilla Clemons, a witness
to the Tippit killing whose name does not appear once in the Warren
Report or volumes. She was also the only reporter ever to interview
Jack Ruby privately since the killing of Oswald. During the Ruby trial,
which she covered for the now defunct New York Journal-American, Judge
Joe E. Brown granted her 30 minutes alone with Ruby in the judge's
chambers; the other reporters were furious.
One of the biggest scoops
of Miss Kilgallen's career came when she pirated the transcript of
Ruby's testimony before the Warren Commission and ran it in the Journal-American.
Thousands of New Yorkers were shocked at the hopelessly inept questioning
of Ruby by Chief Justice Warren, by Warren's almost deliberate failure
to follow up the leads Ruby was feeding him.
Miss Kilgallen died in
her bed on November 8, 1965. Dr. James Luke, a New York City medical
examiner, said the cause of death was "acute barbiturate (sic)
and alcohol intoxication, circumstances undetermined." Dr. Luke
said there were not high enough levels of either alcohol or barbiturates
(sic) to have caused death, but that the two are "additive"
and together are quite enough to kill. This cause of death, he observed,
is not at all uncommon. Was it suicide? Accident? Murder? - Dr. Luke
said there was no way of determining that.
As we say, Dorothy Kilgallen
probably does not belong on any list of Kennedy-related deaths. But
questions do remain. An editor of Screen Stars magazine, Mary
Brannum, says she received a phone call a few hours before Dorothy's
body was discovered, announcing that she had been murdered. Miss Kilgallgen's
"What's My Line" makeup man said that shortly before her
death she vowed she would "crack this case." And another
New York show biz friend said Dorothy told him in the last days of
her life: "In five more days I'm going to bust this case wide
open."
(5)
Jim Marrs, Crossfire (1989)
Whatever information Kilgallen learned and from whatever
source, many researchers believe it brought about her strange death.
She told attorney Mark Lane: "They've killed the President, (and)
the government is not prepared to tell us the truth . . . " and
that she planned to "break the case." To other friends she
said: "This has to be a conspiracy! . . . I'm going to break
the real story and have the biggest scoop of the century." And
in her last column item regarding the assassination, published on
September 3, 1965, Kilgallen wrote: "This story isn't going to
die as long as there's a real reporter alive - and there are a lot
of them." But on November 8, 1965, there was one less reporter.
That day Dorothy Kilgallen was found dead in her home. It was initially
reported that she died of a heart attack, but quickly this was changed
to an overdose of alcohol and pills.
(6)
John J. Johnson, Florence Pritchett (28th July, 2004)
Jack Kennedy met Florence Pritchett when he was still
in the Navy in 1944. Flo was good-looking, five foot seven, with brown
eyes and brown hair. Lots of girls were prettier, but Flo had so much
personality. In her junior year in high school, she went to see John
Robert Powers and got a job as a Powers model. When school was over,
she got on a bus and went to New York to pose. Her first photograph
was a shaving ad in the second issue of Life magazine.
For
Flo, modeling was the first step toward being somebody. She wanted
to be part of the scene, to be somebody, do interesting things, and
meet interesting people. She met Richard Canning, the son of a bubble
gum king. He was a Catholic, so Flo converted to Catholicism, and
in 1940 they were married in Ridgewood. Canning was not enormously
wealthy, but he could afford to dine at the Stork Club every day.
He went into the Air Force in Texas. By then Powers had started his
modeling school and he put Flo in charge of fashion. She told the
girls what "type" they were and what kind of clothes they
should wear. Flo had gotten to know Lorelle Hearst, the wife of William
Randolph Hearst, Jr. Lorelle was woman's editor of the Hearst paper,
the New York Journal American, and she offered Flo a job as fashion
editor. Flo spent many weekends at the Hearst place in Manhassett,
a great estate with twisty roads and big stone gates.2
By all accounts, the girl who stood highest with Jack was still Flo
Pritchett, whom he saw in New York and Washington. Chuck Spalding
said that Flo was the only person who could always be guaranteed to
make Jack laugh. Chuck's wife Betty added that, for Jack, "Over
a long period of time, it was probably the closest relationship with
a woman I know of." But Flo knew better than anyone else that
there would never be a marriage to Jack. Although Flo had converted
to Catholicism to marry Canning, she was later divorced. Flo had outgrown
her husband who was still in Texas, so they decided to part. They
were divorced around 1943 in Las Vegas.
In
Jack's appointment book for June 28, 1947 there was an entry in Flo's
handwriting: "Flo Pritchett's birthday! SEND DIAMONDS."
That day she was twenty-seven. Within a year she would be married
again.
FBI
files allege that during 1957-1958 Jack Kennedy made several trips
to Havana, Cuba, to visit Flo Pritchett who was then married to millionaire
American Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith and a strong supporter of Cuban
dictator Batista. Other meetings took place in Miami and Palm Beach
during Flo's visits to the States. Kennedy made more than a dozen
trips to Cuba to see them and stayed at the Smith home. Seymour Hersh
states that on one of these trips, the U.S. Embassy was told by Cuban
police and military intelligence officials that Senator Kennedy was
of concern to them "for security reasons." The Cubans reported
that Kennedy was going to bed with the wife of the Italian ambassador
and they would hate to have the young senator shot while on a visit
to Havana. "You know those Italians," they said. An embassy
official was assigned to tell Kennedy "to cut it out."
The
Smiths also spent much time in Palm Beach, where their home conveniently
adjoined the Kennedy house, and Kennedy saw considerably more of Florence.
Several books have suggested that JFK wanted to send Earl Smith to
Switzerland so he could have Flo to himself. This seems unlikely since
Earl would undoubtedly have taken his wife with him. According to
Earl, Kennedy wanted to appoint him ambassador to Switzerland, but
Fidel Castro objected because the U.S. and Cuba no longer maintained
diplomatic relations and Switzerland represented the U.S. in Cuba.
Since Earl had been ambassador to Cuba under Eisenhower, Castro claimed
his appointment to Switzerland represented a conflict of interest.
So Earl's name was withdrawn, which was just as well because he didn't
see eye-to-eye with JFK politically.
Lem
Billings says, "Later there were stories of secret interludes
between Jack and Flo, feverish encounters on the stretch of sand connecting
their respective homes. Although I never personally witnessed any
of these meetings, I don't for a second doubt that they occurred."
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."
After
he was caught in this encounter, Jack realized he couldn't be so blatant.
Still, he was convinced that none of the Secret Service men, his pals,
or the servants would ever say anything and, even if they did, no
one would ever print it.
Flo Pritchett died of leukemia in 1965 at age forty-five.
(7)
Robert
W. Pelton, article about his book, Traitors & Treason (2002)
What's your traitor-treason I.Q.? If you can answer the following
questions, it's high. If you miss one or more, you should carefully
read Traitors & Treason.
* Which Secretary of State
was identified as a Soviet agent?
* How many of the 17 Americans
who helped create the United Nations were later exposed as Communist
moles?
* Who allowed the head
of the American Communist Party to have an office in the White House?
* Which President promoted
a highly placed Communist mole after the FBI had exposed the man?
* Which major American
university gave an honorary degree to a notorious Communist spy?
These are questions to
which every American should rightfully have an honest answer! But,
unfortunately, most do not. As the Honorable Ezra Taft Benson says:
"The truth must be told even at the risk of destroying, in large
measure, the influence of men who are widely respected and loved by
the American people. The stakes are high. Freedom and survival is
the issue."
Tragedy was carefully orchestrated
by traitors in the Government and the media with regard to Cuba, Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia, Rhodesia, China, El Salvador, Nicaragua and many other
countries. Anastasio Somoza, former President of free Nicaragua, offered
a startling insight: "I have factual evidence that the . . .
betrayal of Nicaragua was not perpetrated out of ignorance, but rather
by design." Somoza was soon after assassinated. Earl E.T. Smith
was the American Ambassador to Cuba when it was similarly delivered
to the Communists. He makes this concise comment: "Nicaragua
is Cuba all over again." Is this not treason?
(8)
John
Simkin,
Florence
Pritchett and the Kennedy Assassination (24th
November, 2004)
There has been no investigation into the death of Florence Pritchett.
Officially she died of a cerebral haemorrhage. Is it possible that
she was murdered? Maybe it was because she had Kilgallen’s notes
for her article on the Kennedy assassination. However, I think if
she was murdered it might have been more about what she knew rather
than what property she had in her possession. I believe that Florence
Pritchett had been her main source of information on political issues
connected to Kennedy. Not only because she was had been having an
affair with Kennedy for nearly 20 years, but because she was the wife
of Earl Smith, a leading figure in the anti-Castro community in Florida.
Pritchett was ideally placed to know what had been going on during
1963. The greatest puzzle of all is why she was allowed to live as
long as she did.
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