George M. Smith

George M. Smith was born May 18, 1912, in Montreal, Quebec. He attended college in Winnipeg before emigrating to the United States in 1941. He moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then relocated to the Milwaukee suburb of Greenfield, Wisconsin, where he earned his American citizenship in 1944.

He worked as a salesman for a textile company and was said to be an expert in wool. He came from political obscurity to run for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin in 1948. Spending only $53 on his campaign,^[1] he shocked the state by winning the Republican Party nomination over well-known Wisconsin Republicans Frank E. Panzer, William Trinke, and James L. Callan.^[2] Newspapers at the time theorized that his primary victory was due in part to having a familiar name.^[1] Smith went on to win the general election with 49% of the vote, in an era when Republicans were fairly dominant in Wisconsin's statewide elections.^[2]

Smith would win re-election twice, in 1950 and 1952, becoming only the third Wisconsin lieutenant governor to serve three terms.^[3][4] He won these terms despite the fact that he never became a very active campaigner. That ultimately was his downfall when he ran for a fourth term in 1954. Delegates to the Republican Party state convention cited the need for a lieutenant governor nominee who would pull his weight for the ticket when they endorsed long-time Republican state senate leader Warren P. Knowles for the job.^[5] Knowles defeated Smith in the statewide primary, though Smith still received 47% of the primary vote.^[6]

After leaving office, Smith operated an insurance business out of his home in Greenfield and did not run for another political office. He had chronic Nephritis, and, in 1962, he became partly paralyzed due to a fall. He died four months after his accident, on October 21, 1962, at a hospital in Milwaukee.^[7]

George M. Smith married Jannet R. Warner in 1935. They had at least three children together and were married for 27 years before his death in 1962.^[7]