Governor Charles Manley Smith

Born in West Rutland, Vermont, CHARLES MANLEY SMITH was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College. He served as private secretary to former Vermont Governor Redfield Proctor when Proctor was Secretary of War and then farmed for a number of years before moving to Rutland, Vermont, where he engaged in the manufacture of bricks. He was also president of the Vermont Maple Leaf Sugar Company and of the Marble Savings Bank, and director of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Montpelier, the Vermont Children’s Aid Society, the Vermont Historical Society, and the Vermont Farm Bureau. He served in the state Senate in 1927 and 1929 and in the state House of Representatives in 1931, after which he was Lieutenant Governor for two years prior to his election as governor. During his gubernatorial administration, old-age pension and unemployment laws were enacted by the state legislature. Smith died at his home in Rutland less than one year after leaving office.