Larkin_I._Smith

Larkin I. Smith

Larkin I. Smith

American politician


Larkin Irvin Smith (June 26, 1944 – August 13, 1989) was an American Congressman from Mississippi serving for seven months until he was killed in a plane crash in Perry County, Mississippi in 1989.

Quick Facts Preceded by, Succeeded by ...

Smith was born in Poplarville, Mississippi to Nona Orene Bounds and her husband Hezekiah K. Smith Sr. Smith was named after his maternal grandfather Larkin Bounds and his maternal uncle Irvin E. Bounds. He received his bachelor's degree from William Carey University and then served at various positions in the police forces in both Pearl River and then Harrison counties. He became the police chief in Gulfport and thereafter the Harrison County sheriff.

In 1988, Smith ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Mississippi's 5th congressional district in the southern portion of the state after eight-term incumbent Trent Lott gave up the seat to make a successful run for the Senate.

He defeated Democratic State Senator Gene Taylor and took office on January 3, 1989. However, Smith died on the night of August 13 in a plane crash in rural Perry County near Gulfport after returning from opening the Little League baseball "Dixie Youth World Series" in Hattiesburg. The bodies of Smith and pilot Chuck Vierling were not recovered until the next morning after a search in which rescuers had to bulldoze their way through the forest. Smith's death came only six days after fellow Representative Mickey Leland of Texas died in a plane crash in Ethiopia on August 7, 1989.

Taylor would succeed Smith in a special election held some two months after the crash, beating Republican candidate Tom Anderson. Taylor was reelected every two years until 2010, when he was defeated by Republican State Representative Steven Palazzo.

See also


References

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections

    • Infoplease biography of Smith
    • Larkin I. Smith at Find a Grave
    • United States Congress. "Larkin I. Smith (id: S000584)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
    • Appearances on C-SPAN

    Share this article:

    This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Larkin_I._Smith, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.