Reed Smith papers

Reed Smith was born on February 26, 1920, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth May Wiggins and Ray Patton Smith. His family was heavily involved with the local Lutheran church. Smith attended Oberlin College, where he studied political science. Oberlin was a very politically active campus when Smith arrived in 1939, and he became involved in the Peace Society there. In 1941, Smith served in Osborne, Kansas, as a member of an American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Peace Caravan. Soon after returning, Smith was drafted into the army, but registered as a Conscientious Objector (CO). He served at many different CO camps throughout the course of World War II, including two stints doing forestry work in Maryland, work at a state mental institution in New Jersey, and work in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. During this time, Smith was selected for international relations training at Swarthmore College, but the program was terminated soon after he arrived, so he returned to domestic CO camps. After being discharged from Civilian Public Service (CPS) in December of 1945, Smith joined an AFSC team to aid reconstruction work in Europe. After three months training at Pendle Hill, Smith travelled to France, Germany, and Poland with the AFSC, taking part in an Anglo-American Quaker Transport Team stationed just outside of Warsaw, Poland. Smith went back to Oberlin to finish his degree after returning from Europe in 1947. He then went on to complete an master's in political science from Pennsylvania State University, an master's in Russian, and a Ph.D. in political science, both from Columbia University. He married Marjorie Allen, whom he met while at Penn State. Smith’s professional career was spent teaching, both while in the process of completing his post-graduate degrees and later at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Sources: Ayoub, Christine, ed. Memories of the Quaker Past. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation, 2014.