In the 1930s, Smith was a faculty member at
Brookwood Labor College. On June 5, 1933, with the departure of
A.J. Muste, Smith was appointed director of the college until it closed in 1937. Smith was a long-time
pacifist. He was a member of the
Committee on Militarism in Education and the
Fellowship of Reconciliation (both major pacifist organizations during and after World War I). In
1948, Smith was selected as the
Socialist vice presidential candidate to run along with
Norman Thomas. The 1948 Socialist ticket garnered 139,569 votes. In 1930 Tucker was the Socialist candidate for U.S. Representative from New York 2nd District. Tucker finished third of four candidates with 6,144 votes for 3.8% of the total vote. On January 8, 1949, Smith was dismissed from his position at
Olivet College because he had organized a teachers' union following the dismissal of colleague and professor of political science
T. Barton Akeley. In May 1949
Socialist Party dinner, New York University philosophy professor
Sidney Hook attacked Smith's dismissal, arguing that teachers should be judged on merit only by their peers. ==References==