1. Truman Smith was a Whig member of the United States Senate from Connecticut from 1849 to 1854 and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th and 5th congressional districts from 1839 to 1843 and from 1845 to 1849.
Truman Smith served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1831 to 1832, and in 1834.
Between 1846 and 1854, Smith oversaw the national campaigns of the Whigs in a role similar to a modern national party chairman.
Truman Smith was the nephew of Nathaniel Smith and Nathan Smith.
Truman Smith completed preparatory studies and graduated from Yale College in 1815, where he was a member of Brothers in Unity.
Truman Smith studied law at Litchfield Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1818, commencing practice in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Truman Smith married Maria Cook on June 2,1832, and they had three children, Catherine Marie Smith, Jeannie Penniman Smith, and George Webster Smith.
Truman Smith married Mary Ann Dickinson Walker on November 7,1850, by whom he had six children, Truman Houston Smith, Samuel Hubbard Smith, Edmond Dickinson Smith, Robert Shufeldt Smith, Henry Humphry Smith, and Allen Hoyt Smith.
Truman Smith was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1831 to 1832 and again in 1834.
Truman Smith was elected as a Whig to the United States House of Representatives, representing the 5th district, during the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses, and serving from March 4,1839, to March 3,1843, declining renomination in 1842.
Truman Smith was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1844.
Truman Smith was elected back to the House of Representatives representing the 4th District for the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses.
Truman Smith served from March 4,1845, to March 3,1849.
Between 1846 and 1854, Truman Smith acted as a prototypical national party chairman for the Whig Party.
The Whigs did particularly well in the Congressional elections that fall, holding all of their Northern Congressional seats and picking up fourteen House Seats in New York, one in New Jersey, five in Pennsylvania, three in Ohio and one in Georgia, although they failed to gain Iowa's two new senatorial seats, which Truman Smith spent considerable resources on.
Truman Smith overestimated Whig support in the South, leading to surprise when Scott was defeated in a landslide.
Truman Smith resigned from the Senate on May 24,1854.
Truman Smith retired from business that year and died in Stamford, Connecticut, on May 3,1884.