Lamar Seeligson Smith – 50th Reunion Essay

Lamar Seeligson Smith

419 E. Hathaway

San Antonio, TX 78209

lamarsmith21@gmail.com

202-716-9622

Spouse(s): Elizabeth L. Schaefer

Child(ren): Nell Smith, Tobin Smith

Grandchild(ren): Ramsey Smith, Calder Smith

Education: Yale, BA, 1969; SMU, JD, 1975

Career: attorney, state representative, county commissioner, Member of Congress (1987–2019)

Avocations: tennis, hiking, boating

College: Ezra Stiles

A majority of those 50 years (32) were spent in Congress, another ten in local and state government. As John Adams supposedly said, “Politics is like taking a road through a quagmire. There is only one place to get off and that is at the end.”

I credit Yale for stirring an initial interest in public service. Taking US History courses, reading biographies of Presidents, and internalizing an almost unspoken expectation that Yale graduates would become community leaders led, somewhat surprisingly, to a political career. I was not a campus activist and my only political ambition after graduation from Yale and law school was to be elected a justice of the peace—it was part-time, paid well, and I liked the title “judge.” I never held that office. After a short stint as a state representative and a longer one as a county commissioner, a Congressional seat opened up. I was elected in 1986.

A Yale degree, when I overcame being defensive about it in some rural parts of the district, gave me credibility and some distinction. And, inevitably, there were constituents with direct and indirect ties to Yale. Given the fast undergraduate company I was in and a feeling of having been part of the best, at least for four years, did bolster my confidence. And, of course, there are plenty of Yalies to be found in public life who at their best serve as ideal examples of principled leadership.

Looking back, having observed hundreds of public and private sector executives and employees, I’ve come to some conclusions:

The race usually doesn’t go to the smartest but to the hardest-working candidate: persistence is more important than genius. But beware of the genius who also works hard!

An individual will rise to the top of their profession if the simply do what they say they are going to do: don’t make a commitment you can’t keep but keep every commitment.

Compromise is not a four-letter word: it likely is the only way to advance your goals.

Trust your intuition and life experiences: you will be right a great majority of the time. (there’s that Yale confidence again).

A natural leader has a smile as a default facial feature: they embrace the next challenge, absorb failures along the way and make the person they are dealing with feel encouraged.

Enough! I’ve announced my retirement from Congress (as of the end of 2018) so I no longer have a pulpit from which to preach. To circle back to Yale (and with a genuflect to Frank Sinatra) I do have a few regrets, though too few to mention, except for one. I wish I had signed up for Vincent Scully’s course on American Art and Architecture.

Finally thanks to all my classmates and the faculty for making Yale, to me, a shining intellectual city on a vaunted academic hill.