Dennis Alan "Denny" Smith (born January 19, 1938) is an American businessman and former United States congressman from the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. A native of the state, he served in the Air Force before working in the airline industry and taking over the family's newspaper business. A Republican, he served ten years in Congress from 1981 until 1991. His father was former Oregon Governor Elmo Smith.

Early life

Dennis Smith was born in the

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost ...

city of

Ontario, Oregon Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 11,366 at the 2010 census. The city is the largest community in the region of far eastern Oregon, also k ...

, on January 19, 1938. In 1956, he graduated from Grant Union High School in John Day and enrolled at

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in Salem. He joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

in 1958, and served until 1960, when he joined the Oregon Air National Guard. Smith then earned a bachelor of arts degree from Willamette in 1961. He returned to the Air Force in 1962 and remained there until 1967, serving as a fighter pilot in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. In the war, he flew the F-4C Phantom and completed about 180 missions. Smith remained in the aviation field as a flight engineer and co-pilot for a commercial airline, flying from 1967 until 1976. In 1968, he also took over the family's newspaper business when his father died. He worked for

Pan American Airlines Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

, and in 1974 was chosen by fellow employees to serve as the union's lobbyist in Washington, DC. He was inducted into the Oregon Aviation Hall of Honor in 2009.

Political career

Smith was first elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1980 to represent Oregon's 2nd congressional district as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. He defeated 12-term Democrat Al Ullman by only 3,700 votes. Smith was undoubtedly helped by Ronald Reagan winning every county in the sprawling district. For his first term, Smith represented a vast district that stretched from his home in the state capital, Salem, all the way to the Idaho border. When the

1980 census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...

gave Oregon another congressional district, Smith's home in Salem, along with much of the western portion of the old 2nd, was placed in the newly created 5th district. He was elected from this district in 1982 and was reelected three more times. While in the House, Smith served on the Budget, the Interior and Insular Affairs, and

Veterans' Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

committees. Rep Denny Smith

Smith was comfortably reelected in 1984 and 1986. In 1988, however, he was nearly defeated by Democratic State Representative Mike Kopetski, winning by only 707 votes. Kopetski sought a rematch in 1990 and won by attacking Smith for his ties to several collapsed savings and loans. While still serving in Congress, Smith established and headed Oregonians Against Crime, which placed Oregon's 1988 Anti-crime Bill on the ballot by initiative petition and successfully campaigned for its passage. In 1994, Smith was the Republican nominee for

Governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

, but lost to Democratic state Senate President John Kitzhaber. He was also the Republican National Committeeman for Oregon up until 2000.

Later years

Smith is now the chairman of Eagle Newspapers, a printing and publishing company in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

Family life

Smith married Sandra in 1962 and was divorced in 1967, after the couple had one son. He married Kathleen Barrett, and they had three children, divorcing in 1986. Smith married Deanna Marie Koenig in 1989. Deanna died in 2011. The only son of former Oregon Governor Elmo Smith and his wife Dorothy, he is also a cousin of

Steve Symms Steven Douglas Symms (born April 23, 1938) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a four-term congressman (1973–81) and two-term U.S. Senator (1981–93), representing Idaho. He is a partner at Parry, Romani, DeConcini & Symms, a ...

, a former congressman and Senator from Idaho.

References

External links

Democrats Ask for Ethics Inquiry Over Congressman's S.& L. Role
- ''New York Times''
review of Denny Smith by Robert Glück
- "The Guardian"
Smith delegation may double
- ''The Register-Guard''
Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Denny 1938 births United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War American aviators Aviators from Oregon Commercial aviators Living people Pan Am people People from Ontario, Oregon Politicians from Salem, Oregon Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oregon Republican National Committee members United States Air Force officers Willamette University alumni Military personnel from Oregon