Dr. Elbert B. (E.B.) Smith, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, died on April 30, 2013. He was born in Benham, Kentucky, the son of Elbert and Gladys Smith. Professor Smith graduated from Maryville College and served during WWII as a naval communications and deck officer. He received A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. He taught at Youngstown University, Iowa State University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Maryland.
From 1954-55, Dr. Smith was the Fulbright professor of American history and international relations at Ochanomisu University and the University of Tokyo. In 1976, he was a pioneer in the Fulbright program, teaching uncensored American history at Moscow State University. He returned to Moscow State University in 1982 and taught at Leningrad University in 1991. He also taught as an exchange professor at Beijing University in China in 1983 and 1988.
Professor Smith published biographies of Francis Preston Blair, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and Presidents William Buchanan, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. He also wrote a history of the pre-Civil war struggle over slavery along with other scholarly papers.
Active in politics, he was the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa in 1962 and 1966. He was Lyndon Johnson’s campaign manager for Iowa in 1964. E.B. was appointed by President Carter to serve on the U.S. Board of Foreign Scholarships, which administers the Fulbright program. He was vice-president and later president of the Fulbright Association. In his later years, E.B. enjoyed sailing, visiting friends and family, and traveling with his companion, Jean Gosselin.
E.B. was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Jean Smith, in 2002. He is survived by children Randall E. Smith of Saco, ME and wife Jean, Stephen A. Smith and wife Barbara and Henry Scott Smith, and wife Kathy Gramp, Robert O. Smith, all of Fairhaven and wife Anita, and Amy J. Smith of Wailuku, HI; nine grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren; a brother Robert Smith of Saratoga Springs, NY and a sister Frances Stricklett of Lanham, MD.