Marguerite L. Smith

At the age of 25 Marguerite L. Smith became the youngest member of the New York State Legislature. Running on the Republican ticket in 1919, Miss Smith represented the nineteenth district of New York County in the State Assembly. She received her nomination from the Republican Party without prior notice, after Irwin Kurtz, chairman of draft board 179, whom she had worked with in the war cause, offered her name to the Republican leader of the nineteenth district. Her campaign slogan, "America first, last, and all the time," reflected her work with war veterans: she established War Camp Community Headquarters for soldiers, was Chairman of the Red Cross Auxilliary 56, and participated in collection drives for soldiers. Though she was not African American, large portion of her support also came from Harlem's female African American community. During the Republican primaries, she defeated African American minister Richard M. Bolden. She successfully repeated her bid for the position in 1920 but was unsuccessful in 1921. While in office, she became the first woman to preside as Speaker of the Assembly and Chairman of the Committee of Social Welfare. Miss Smith established an impressive legislative track: she successfully introduced a bill to build a war memorial in the city, proposed bills to pay bonuses to war veterans, establish juvenile courts, regulate the use of narcotics and worked on education and child welfare measures. Her defeat in 1921 may have been the result her failure to gain the endorsement of Citizens Union. The group charged that Miss Smith was not actively interested in city legislation and instead endorsed her democratic opponent, James Male, who went on to win the 1921 election. Miss Smith was the daughter of Dr. J Gardner Smith, President of Harlem's Chamber of Commerce. She attended New York College Institute for 13 years before graduating with honors in 1912. Miss Smith subsequently attended and, in 1916, graduated from Columbia University Teacher's College with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Diploma to teach Hygiene and Physical Training. At the time of her campaign, she was the acting club director and a teacher of Hygiene and Physical Training at Columbia University's Horace Mann School. She received a leave of absence during her service in the legislature. It is possible that she later married. The autobiography, The price of success: from the life and times of Dr. J. Gardner Smith, lists her as editor under the name Marguerite L. (Smith) Eiser.