Talk:Charles Smith (developer)

Solomon Scandal - Yiddish

It's undisputed that Smith arrived in the US speaking only Yiddish. The WaPo obituary covers this. If this requires a second source, this one is unsatisfactory. Let's drop this citation or replace it.

The reference to http://www.solomonscandals.com/?tag=general-services-administration is suspicious. It appears that the specific page cited does not exist.

AndersW (talk) 02:28, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Solomon Scandal - Yiddish

Greetings, everyone. I am the creator, maintainer and owner of solomonscandals.com as well as the author of The Solomon Scandals (Twilight Times Books, 2009), a suspense novel inspired by the GSA scandals over the years and favorably reviewed by The Washington City Paper (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/36918/kindle-in-the-wind-who-needs-agents-and-traditional-publishing) and used in the past in a history course at George Washington University. I did not create the Wikipedia citations relating to Smith article and discovered this talk page through my referrer list. Below, I'll discuss the topic immediately at hand and suggest some new Smith-related ones for this page and maybe others.

I strongly agree with Anders Warga that http://www.solomonscandals.com/?tag=general-services-administration should be dropped since it is simply a list of posts where the GSA-related tag shows up.

A much better citation would be from David Bruce Smith's folksy and entertaining book, Conversations with Papa Charlie. already listed in the References Section of Wikipedia's article on Charles. On page 9, David Smith, a grandson of Charles, writes: "When Reuven took Papa Charlie to his first day at P.S. 125, the school officials gave him an oral examination, which luckily emphasized mathematics. Papa Charlie did not yet speak a word of English. But because math had always been his favorite subject, he received a high score and was placed in the fourth grade. Within a few months, he had advanced to his peer group--the sixth grade."

If Wikipedia wants to expand the current entry on Charles E. Smith beyond a stub, contributors can find Smith-related posts through the following search at solomonscandals.com:

http://www.solomonscandals.com/?s=charles+e.+smith

Of possible interest--not just for Wikipedia's Charles E. Smith page but also in a few cases for the Ribicoff page and maybe even the Washington Post page--might be:

'Conversations with Papa Charlie' book review: Thumbs up--and toes, relax (http://www.solomonscandals.com/?p=4839)

Solomon for real? (http://www.solomonscandals.com/?p=250)

Sen. Ribicoff's spooky investment (http://www.solomonscandals.com/?p=248)

The Skyline collapse--and property rights vs. human life (http://www.solomonscandals.com/?p=249)

Robert Smith's death as the W. Post covered it: Nothing on Skyline or secret Ribicoff investment (http://www.solomonscandals.com/?p=4539)

A tale of two obituaries--plus wisdom from J.Y. Smith, first official editor of the W. Post obit desk (http://www.solomonscandals.com/?p=4641)

In regard to the secret and illegal Ribicoff investment in a CIA-occupied and Smith-controlled building in Arlington, Virginia, a second source would be a New Republic article, "On the Take: The Secret Fringe Benefits Enjoyed by Congress," on Page 10 of the Sept. 13, 1975, issue. The article was written by then-NBC correspondent James R. Polk. His earlier work for the Washington Star-News, on Watergate campaign finance, won a Pulitzer Prize.

Confirming my reporting for the New Haven Register and other clients of the now-defunct States News Service, Polk wrote that the Ribicoff case "embraces an outright violation of law." Ribicoff even sat on a committee overseeing GSA.

Since this is part of history, I'd like to see the record set straight about the Smiths and the media in the context of Ribicoff's illegal investment through a trustee. I am still baffled, more than three decades later, why the newspapers of the high quality and stature of the Washington Post and the Star would ignore a story as important as the one associated with the Key Building, where Ribicoff secretly participated in a Smith-controlled partnership. Perhaps other Wikipedians can cite appropriate sources and truly flesh out an explanation.

Just why? Concern about offending real estate advertisers, including the Smiths themselves? Yes, the Smiths advertised heavily in the Post and elsewhere. Friendships between the Smiths and Abe Ribicoff and the owners and members of the media? Ideology? I myself am on the progressive side, helped register voters for Obama, and admired the better side of the Senator, a true hero in many ways; but when it came to Ribicoff and Smith, did the liberal media for the most part have a real blind spot? The Not Invented Here Syndrome--ignoring scoops from other sources? Or as an explanation, how about plain rotten news judgment? Or a mix of reasons? At any rate the Post has never explained its strange failure to pick up the facts verified by a Pulitzer Prize winner and used by him not just in the New Republic but, later, on the NBC Nightly News.

Partly from the bizarre omission came ideas for The Solomon Scandals, for which Charles Smith was one of the inspirations for the eponymous character even though this roman a clef is in fact just that--a novel rather than pure and actual history. The CIA-media conspiracy in Scandals is mostly an invention despite questions that Carl Bernstein has raised in the past about the agency and the press (http://carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php). Solomon's fondness for including well-connected people in his partnerships is reality-inspired. As real estate records show, that's exactly what the Smiths did, bringing in VIPs ranging from columnist Art Buchwald to top judges, not just Ribicoff.

On the other side of the coin, let me emphasize the Smiths' prominence as philanthropists in the Washington area. I very much hope that will be a major theme in any future versions of the entries on Charles and members of his family.

David Rothman - 703-370-6540 / davidrothman@pobox.com / Wikipedia member davidrothman

Davidrothman (talk) 16:17, 22 January 2013 (UTC)