14 Facts About Jess Smith

Jesse W Smith was a member of President Warren G Harding's Ohio Gang.

Jess Smith was born and raised in Washington Court House, Ohio, where he became a friend of Harry M Daugherty.

Jess Smith had a desk at the Department of Justice and was Harry Daugherty's chief advisor.

Jess Smith was Daugherty's roommate at Washington, DC's Wardman Park Hotel.

Jess Smith is rumored to have sold bonded liquor to bootleggers.

Jess Smith was associated with a house at 1625 K Street and became an embarrassment to Harding and Daugherty as the Teapot Dome scandal focused increased scrutiny on Harding and his supporters.

On May 30,1923, Jess Smith died of a gunshot wound, and was found with a pistol at his side.

Jess Smith's death was pronounced a suicide, but Alabama Senator James Thomas Heflin alleged otherwise, first at an investigatory hearing and later from the floor of the United States Senate.

Jess Smith followed up two days later, in the Senate, quoting an Alabama bootlegger.

Jess Smith is one of four characters from whose point of view Gore Vidal's novel of the period, Hollywood, is told.

Jess Smith is portrayed as a business-savvy but weak-willed and sycophantic follower of Harding and Daugherty, and it's speculated that his death might have been a murder used to cover up the Ohio Gang's crimes.

Roy Hoopes' novel Our Man in Washington speculates that Jess Smith might have been murdered as part of a coverup.

Jess Smith is played by Ed Jewett in season 3 of the television series Boardwalk Empire.

When Harry Daugherty's office comes under investigation for its connections to bootleggers, Jess Smith becomes increasingly paranoid.