Addie Viola Smith

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Addie Viola Smith
A black and white photograph of a white woman with short, dark hair.
Pictured in 1948
Consul and secretary to the Consulate General of the United States, Shanghai
In office
1939 – c. 1942
Trade commissioner in Shanghai, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of Commerce
In office
January 1, 1928 – 1939
Assistant trade commissioner in Shanghai
In office
November 1, 1922 – December 31, 1927
Personal details
Born(1893-11-14)November 14, 1893
Stockton, California, United States
DiedDecember 13, 1975(1975-12-13) (aged 82)
Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
Domestic partnerEleanor Mary Hinder
EducationBachelor of laws, Washington College of Law, 1920
OccupationAttorney
ProfessionForeign Service officer
Known forFirst woman Foreign Service officer in the United States Foreign Service to work under the United States Department of Commerce, first woman assistant trade commissioner, trade commissioner in Shanghai

Addie Viola Smith (November 14, 1893 – December 13, 1975), also known as Shi Fanglan (Chinese: 施芳蘭),[1] was an American attorney who served as the trade commissioner to Shanghai from 1928 to 1949. She was the first woman Foreign Service officer in the United States Foreign Service to work under the United States Department of Commerce and the first woman assistant trade commissioner.

Smith was born and raised in Stockton, California. She attended college in San Francisco and worked for a merchandising company in California from 1910 to 1917. In 1917, she moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the United States Department of Labor. She attended the Washington College of Law part time and earned a bachelor of laws in 1920. In October 1920, Smith joined the Foreign Service. She was assigned to Beijing as a clerk in the trade commissioner's office and promoted to assistant trade commissioner in Shanghai in 1922.

Smith was appointed trade commissioner of Shanghai in 1928. During her tenure, she promoted the importation of American automobiles into China and the introduction of American radio. She held the post until 1939, when she took on the position of consul and secretary to the United States Consulate in Shanghai. Thereafter, Smith served in several roles in the United States government. She was the representative of the International Federation of Women Lawyers to the United Nations from 1952 to 1964. She was also a member of several feminist organizations, including the American Women's Club of Shanghai and the Joint Committee of Shanghai Women's Organizations; scholars have described her international feminist activism as being rooted in imperialist and colonialist attitudes.

Smith met her life partner, Eleanor Mary Hinder, in Shanghai in 1926. They lived together, with periods of separation, until Hinder’s death in 1963. Smith remained close to Hinder's family and chronicled their genealogy. Smith died on December 13, 1975, in Mosman, New South Wales, Australia, and was cremated. Smith and Hinder were memorialized by their friends with two stone seats at the E.G. Waterhouse National Camellia Gardens in Caringbah.

Early life (1893–1920)[edit]

Addie Viola Smith was born in Stockton, California, on November 14, 1893, to Rufus Roy Smith, a publisher, and Addie Gabriela Smith (née Brown). Smith studied business administration at Heald's Business College in San Francisco, graduating in 1908. From 1910 to 1917, she worked for a large California-based merchandising firm that sold dry goods.[2] She then moved to Washington, D.C., in 1917 and took the civil service examination. That year, she was hired into the United States Department of Labor by Julia Lathrop, the director of the United States Children's Bureau, to work under Grace Abbott in implementing recently passed child labor legislation.[3] Smith also served as a confidential clerk to an assistant secretary of labor, assistant chief of the Women's Division of the United States Employment Service, and chief of the Information Division of the United States Training and Dilution Service. In 1919, she worked on the first National Industrial Conference and edited the proceedings of the first International Labor Office Conference.[4]

During her service with the Labor Department, Smith attended the Washington College of Law as a part-time student and obtained a bachelor of laws degree in 1920.[5] She was also mentored by a network of women in government and politics, whom she drew upon throughout her career.[3]

Early foreign service career in China (1920–1927)[edit]

Smith was appointed to the United States Foreign Service as a Foreign Service officer in October 1920 and assigned to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce under the United States Department of Commerce. She was the first woman to serve as a Foreign Service officer under the Bureau.[6] Smith initially worked as a clerk in the trade commissioner's office in Beijing.[7] During her time as a clerk, Smith requested permission to sit for a civil service examination so that she could obtain a promotion to assistant trade commissioner.[8] Despite support from her immediate supervisor and American businesses operating in China, the Assistant Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce O. P. Hopkins, denied her application. Hopkins wrote to Smith: "The Bureau has not yet made any definite decision as to what its policy will be toward employing women as assistant trade commissioners and trade commissioners."[9] Smith wrote back, stating that "the opening of higher positions to women is not nearly so 'grave and serious' a matter, as is the caliber of the representatives, be they men or women, which the Bureau sends to its foreign posts", and that she had a right to sit for the exam.[8] The government official Hilda Muhlhauser Richards also intervened on Smith's behalf—threatening to "take the issue to New York women's organizations"—prompting Hopkins to reverse his decision.[9] Smith became the first woman appointed to the post of assistant trade commissioner on November 1, 1922.[10]

Trade commissioner in Shanghai (1928–1939)[edit]

While serving as assistant trade commissioner, Smith again sought promotion to full trade commissioner. After an initial rejection, Smith sought help from Clara Burdette, president of the California Federation of Women's Clubs, who appealed to Herbert Hoover, the Secretary of Commerce and a personal friend; at that point, however, Smith's appointment had already been confirmed by Julean Arnold, her immediate superior, and she took up the role on January 1, 1928.[11] Smith was the first woman trade commissioner in the Foreign Service.[12] Smith also served as the registrar of the Chinese Trade Act of 1922. In that role, Smith was responsible for ensuring corporate compliance with registration requirements, sometimes litigating against firms herself in the United States Court for China—becoming the third woman to be admitted admitted to practice before the court in 1934.[13]

As trade commissioner, Smith was responsible for reporting on Chinese industry, infrastructure, and trade opportunities to the Department of Commerce; advising American business interests; serving as a liaison between American and Chinese businesses; implementing U.S. trade policy; and promoting the expansion of American trade in China.[14] Throughout her career, Smith prioritized building roads as a means of increasing the import of American automobiles to China.[14] In 1935, Smith began lobbying to bring shortwave radio broadcasting to China, believing that there was demand among American expatriates in Asia and estimating the Shanghai market at approximately 12,000 listeners.[15] She believed that that market would purchase American-made receivers; that both American expatriates and native Chinese listeners would purchase American goods advertised on radio programs; and that American radio would improve China–United States relations.[16] In 1937, she persuaded General Electric to open W6XBE, which rebroadcast NBC's domestic radio programs to China from the San Francisco Bay Area.[17] The station launched on February 19, 1939.[18] Based on feedback from other Americans in China, Smith worked to improve its programming, suggesting that the station "give succinct resumes of important American happenings and events, to be given by prominent persons identified with American governmental, commercial, financial, and cultural life", such as "broadcasts of Carnegie Hall concerts, symphony orchestras, military bands, and similar items".[19]

Post-trade commissioner career (1939–1975)[edit]

Smith resigned as trade commissioner in 1939, when she was appointed consul and secretary to the United States Consulate in Shanghai.[20] In that role, she worked to evacuate Americans during the 1941 Japanese invasion of the Shanghai International Settlement.[21] From 1942 to 1946, Smith lived and worked in Washington, D.C. She served as an economic specialist for the United States Department of State from 1942 to 1943, and worked with the China America Council of Commerce and Industry on post-war trade from 1944 to 1946. She moved back to China in 1946 to open the Council's Shanghai headquarters, and then worked for private companies and the United States China Relief Mission.[20]

In 1949, Smith left China and moved to Bangkok, where she worked for the United States Economic Cooperation Administration and the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East.[20] From 1952 to 1964, Smith was the representative of the International Federation of Women Lawyers to the United Nations in New York.[20]

International feminist activism[edit]

During her time in Shanghai, Smith joined and helped to organize international feminist groups. She was a member of several organizations, including the American Women's Club of Shanghai and the Joint Committee of Shanghai Women's Organizations[22] She also ran for the Shanghai Municipal Council in 1930.[23] Smith's activism sometimes caused tension with native Chinese women; Smith and other Western expatriates viewed their role as engaging in dialogue with Chinese women and "sincerely endeavor[ing] to reflect the best of American ideals and traditions".[24] However, according to the historians Alexandra Epstein and Sarah Paddle, Smith and her contemporaries also adopted colonialist or imperialist mindsets, seeking to instill American values in China through intellectual exchange and philanthropy.[25]

For example, in August 1928, Smith attended the inaugural Pan-Pacific Women's Conference, a meeting of internationalist feminists in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, along with two native Chinese women, her partner Eleanor Mary Hinder, and another Western expatriate woman in China.[26] At the conference, Smith—without consulting the Chinese members of her delegation—suggested that China host the next conference in 1930,[27] causing what Epstein has called an "international incident".[28] Dr. Mei Iung Ting, a native Chinese woman, responded "If the next conference is going to be held in China the invitation should be from the Chinese women".[29]

Personal life[edit]

Smith met her life partner, Eleanor Mary Hinder, in March 1926. Hinder, an Australian woman, was then working on a fellowship grant with the Young Women's Christian Association.[30] Soon thereafter, Hinder and Smith fell in love, and Hinder moved into Smith's apartment.[31] They lived together in Shanghai until 1941—with some periods spent apart as a result of work and war[32]—where they were "devoted to each other, shar[ing] a house[ ] and creat[ing] a garden".[33] After Hinder was denied United States citizenship, Smith and Hinder established a residence in Sydney, Australia, in 1957.[20] Smith was a member of the Royal Australian Historical Society, the League of Women Voters, Sydney, and the Australian Local Government Women's Association, serving as its vice president from 1968 to 1970.[34] Hinder died in 1963; Smith remained close with her family and chronicled their genealogy.[33] Smith died on December 13, 1975, in Mosman, New South Wales, Australia, and was cremated. Smith and Hinder were memorialized by their friends with two stone seats at the E.G. Waterhouse National Camellia Gardens in Caringbah.[33]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Stanoff 2023.
  2. ^ Barker 2006; Epstein 2008, p. 702.
  3. ^ a b Epstein 2008, pp. 702–703.
  4. ^ Calkin 1978, p. 90; Stanoff 2023.
  5. ^ Barker 2006; Epstein 2008, p. 702; Paddle 2001, p. 327.
  6. ^ Barker 2006; Epstein 2008, p. 700; Krysko 2011, p. 92.
  7. ^ Barker 2006; Epstein 2008, p. 700; Krysko 2011, p. 92; Stanoff 2023.
  8. ^ a b Epstein 2008, p. 708.
  9. ^ a b Epstein 2008, p. 708–709.
  10. ^ Barker 2006; Epstein 2008, p. 709; Krysko 2011, p. 92; Stanoff 2023.
  11. ^ Epstein 2008, p. 709–710.
  12. ^ Calkin 1978, p. 90; Epstein 2008, pp. 703–704.
  13. ^ Barker 2006; Epstein 2008, p. 707; The Hongkong Telegraph 1934, p. 1.
  14. ^ a b Epstein 2008, pp. 704–705.
  15. ^ Krysko 2011; Epstein 2008, p. 705.
  16. ^ Krysko 2011, pp. 95–96.
  17. ^ Krysko 2011, p. 97.
  18. ^ Krysko 2011, p. 90.
  19. ^ Krysko 2011, p. 98.
  20. ^ a b c d e Barker 2006; Epstein 2008, p. 715.
  21. ^ Thompson 2011, p. 404.
  22. ^ Epstein 2008, pp. 712–715; Stanoff 2023.
  23. ^ Thompson 2011, pp. 293–294.
  24. ^ Epstein 2008, p. 712.
  25. ^ Epstein 2008, pp. 712–715; Paddle 2001, pp. 335–336.
  26. ^ Epstein 2008, pp. 712–715; Paddle 2001, pp. 337–338.
  27. ^ Epstein 2008, p. 714; Paddle 2001, pp. 337–338.
  28. ^ Epstein 2008, p. 714.
  29. ^ Paddle 2001, p. 338.
  30. ^ Thompson 2011, pp. 276–277.
  31. ^ Epstein 2008, p. 710; Thompson 2011, p. 293.
  32. ^ Thompson 2011, pp. 293, 404, 419–420.
  33. ^ a b c Barker 2006.
  34. ^ Barker 2006; Stanoff 2023.

Sources[edit]

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