True Life Tuesday: Addie Viola Smith

Addie Viola Smith was born on November 14, 1893 in Stockton, California, She was the daughter of Rufus Roy, a publisher, and Addie Gabriela (nee Brown) Smith. She earned a degree in business from Healdi Business College in San Francisco in 1917. She moved to Washington, DC in April 1917. She was hired to work at the United States Children's Bureau to work on implementing recently passed child labor laws. Addie earned a bachelor of laws degree from the Washington College of Law in 1920. 

In October 1920 Addie was appointed to the US foreign service as a Foreign Services Officer and was assigned to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. She was the first woman to serve in this position. She initially worked as a clerk in the commissioner's office in Beijing. In 1922 her application to be promoted to assistant trade commissioner was denied director O.P. Hopkins, even though she had the backing of her supervisor and American business in the city. He eventually reversed his decision due to pressure and she was appointed to the post on November 1, 1922. On January 1, 1928 she was promoted to full trade commissioner. She was also the first woman to hold this post. In 1934 she became the 3rd woman to be admitted to practice before the United States Court for China. 

Addie was an avid motorist and was known to be an expert on the roads in China. She was regularly consulted by the Chinese government on road proposals. She prioritized building roads in the country to increase the import of American automobiles. In 1935 she began lobbying to bring shortwave radio to China. In 1937 she convinced General Electric to open W6XBE which would rebroadcast programming from San Francisco. The station launched on February 19, 1939. She was appointed counsel and secretary to the United States Consulate in Shanghai in 1939. She returned to Washington, DC from 1942-6 while China and Japan were at war. In 1946 she returned to Shanghai to open the headquarters of the China America Council of Commerce and Industry. In 1949 she moved to Bangkok where she worked for the United States Economic Cooperation Administration.

Addie met her life partner, Eleanor Hinder in March 1926 while Hinder was working on a grant with the Young Women's Christian Association. After Hinder was denied US citizenship in 1957 the couple moved to her native Australia. Hinder died in 1963 and Smith died on December 13, 1975. They were both cremated and were memorialized by friends with the placement of two stone seats at the E.G. Waterhouse National Camellia Gardens in Caringbah.