Jean Edward Smith Papers

Jean Edward Smith was born on October 13, 1932, in Washington, D.C. A graduate of McKinley High School in Washington, D.C., Smith received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1954. Serving in the military from 1954-61, he rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant to Captain (RA) US Army (Artillery). Smith served in West Berlin and Dachau, West Germany. In 1964, he obtained a Ph.D. from the Department of Public Law and Government of Columbia University. Smith began his teaching career as assistant professor of government at Dartmouth College, a post he held from 1963 until 1965. He then became a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto in 1965 and enjoyed a long and productive tenure at that institution. Smith authored a full-length biography of General Lucius D. Clay entitled "Lucius D. Clay: An American Life" (1990) and edited Clay's papers in the two volume set "The Papers of General Lucius D. Clay: Germany, 1945-1949" (1974). His other works on Germany include "The Defense of Berlin" (1963), "The Wall As Watershed" (1966), and "Germany Beyond the Wall" (1969). Smith has also written "The Constitution and American Foreign Policy" (1989), "George Bush's War" (1992), and "John Marshall: Definer of a Nation" (1996).

Lucius D. Clay was born on April 23, 1897, in Marietta, Georgia. Best known for organizing the Berlin airlift in 1948, Clay served as commander in chief of U.S. forces in Europe and military governor of the U.S. Zone in Germany after World War II. Clay gained a reputation as a good organizer and a good logistics man. He was one of the few U.S. generals to earn the four-star rank without holding a combat command. The son of U.S. Senator Alexander Stephens Clay and Frances (White) Clay, Lucius graduated in 1918 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. He married Marjorie McKeown on September 21, 1918. The Clays had two sons: Lucius D. Clay, Jr. and Frank B. Clay. After leaving the academy, Clay held several army engineering posts. He was on General Douglas MacArthur's staff in the Philippines in 1937, and he directed the construction of the Red River Dam in Denison, Texas, from 1938 to 1940. His next assignment, held from 1940 to 1941, was to manage the national civil airport program. During World War II, Clay worked as director of the army procurement program. In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Clay deputy military governor in Germany under General Dwight D. Eisenhower. From 1947 to 1949, Clay was commander in chief of U.S. forces in Europe and military governor of the U.S. Zone in Germany. Clay instigated and implemented the Berlin airlift, and he oversaw the formation of West Germany's democratic government. He retired from the military in 1949. Clay made his mark as a corporate executive and political adviser during the later portion of his life. From 1950 to 1962, he served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Continental Can Company. Between 1963 and 1973, was senior partner of Lehman Brothers. He was a strong supporter and trusted adviser of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. When the Berlin crisis flared up again in 1961-62, President John F. Kennedy appointed Clay his personal representative in Berlin, granting him the rank of ambassador. Lucius D. Clay died in his home at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1978, at the age of 80.