Robert Burns Smith

Robert Burns Smith ( born December 29, 1854 Hickman County, Kentucky, † November 16, 1908 in Kalispell, Montana ) was an American politician and from 1897 to 1901, the third Governor of the State of Montana.

Early years and political rise

Robert Smith attended the public schools of his home in Kentucky. After a subsequent law degree, he was admitted in 1877 as a lawyer. Then he opened a law office in Mayfield. In 1882 he moved to the Montana Territory, where he first lived in Dillon and from 1889 in Helena pursued his legal profession.

Smith began his political career as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Montana in 1885 Between 1885 and 1889 he was United States Attorney. ; in 1890 he was attorney for the city Helena. In 1894 he was an unsuccessful candidate of the Populist Party for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. His party soon went on in the Democratic Party. In November 1896 he was elected as its candidate for the new governor of Montana, where he clearly prevailed with 71 percent of the vote to Republican Alexander C. Botkin.

Governor of Montana

Robert Smith took up his new position on January 4, 1897. In his four-year tenure, the schools and universities of the state were encouraged. The expansion of the road network was advanced, and the construction of the State Capitol in the capital was tackled. After the end of his term in January 1901, Smith retired from politics. The next five years he worked as a lawyer in Butte. Then he had to give up this work for health reasons. Robert Smith died in November 1908. He was married to Catherine Crossland, with whom he had two children.