Seacoast Blog #29
January 26, 2009 

Time tends to exaggerate or obliterate the truth. That’s why we research and write history. We dig up the facts, as best we can, and interpret them for a new generation. When I wrote my book on the first 140 years of Wentworth by the Sea, quite a few people asked, cautiously, if I was going to mention that the Wentworth had been an "exclusive" hotel. It was a fact, but it was not a revelation. Almost all luxury hotels of the era routinely barred people of color, Jews, often Catholics. But most people have set aside that fact or never heard it, or deny it altogether. (Continued below)

Did the Smiths discriminate?

READ THE ARTICLE being debated

Still others think that, whether it was true or not, there’s no sense in airing dirty laundry in public, particularly laundry that is decades old. But that is, of course, exactly why I had to broach the topic. We need to remember with as much clarity as possible, the good with the bad. My goal was not to demonize the hotel owners, nor to deify them. My goal was simply to tell the story as it happened, warts and all – which is what I did.

In the context of an entire book, the civil rights battle of July 4, 1964 did not raise any alarms. A number of people wrote to tell me they were pleased to see it included in the story. No one complained until I expanded and focused the story into a newspaper article. That brought one sharp rebuke from a former hotel employee of James and Margaret Smith who ran the hotel from 1946-1980. That letter to the Portsmouth Herald, where the article recently appeared, brought a detailed defense from the Smith’s former daughter-in-law, who was an eye witness to the 1964 event in which the Smiths reluctantly allowed a black couple to dine at their restaurant.

I could not be more pleased to see two people with opposing views express themselves on this topic. This is why I write history. I want to inform readers about the past, but I prefer to engage them in the debate. Here are the two letters in full with my thanks to the authors Russell Sweeney and Sandy Domina whose letters also appeared in the Portsmouth Herald.

POINT:
Former Wentworth hotel owner was not racist

Jan. 19, 2009
To the Editor:

I am writing to refute some of the information about James Barker Smith, the former owner of the Wentworth by the Sea hotel, being a racist (front page column Jan. 19.)

My family moved to Portsmouth in September 1964, and from the summer of 1965 to 1980, my mother Helen Sweeney, was employed as Jim Smith’s executive secretary. The hotel was open from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. After the hotel had closed for the season, my mother worked at the farmhouse or winter office. I knew Jim Smith almost as well as my own father, and the man I knew never had a racist bone in his body.

In fact, I am sure that if any hotel employee had refused to seat or register a guest because of their race, that that person would have been terminated on the spot. I along with my two brothers worked at the Wentworth in various capacities during our high school and college years.

The article goes on to say that the Wentworth would not serve "Jews, Catholics, Greeks or other minorities" and that the Smiths purchased the Wentworth because it was an exclusive business serving wealthy "Gentile" clients. This statement could not be farther from the truth. During my college years, I worked as a bellman and doorman and got to know a great many of the guests personally. A lot of the guests were elderly Jewish women from Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue in New York. These women would stay at the Wentworth the entire summer. I often joked that from July 4 to Labor Day that the Wentworth became the biggest convalescent home north of Boston.

Finally, the article states that in July of 2004, locals celebrated that historic event and that it was Jim Smith’s worst nightmare when dozens of African Americans crowded into the dining room at the Wentworth. Jim Smith sold the hotel in 1981 and died of cancer in July 1990.

Although most of the employees during that time have either moved on to other endeavors or are now deceased. I am sure that they would agree with me that many of the statements made in this article are false. The Smiths worshipped all of their guests regardless of race, color or creed.

Russell S. Sweeney

COUNTERPOINT:
Yes, Hotel owners vetted guests and staff  and routinely practiced discrimination

January 21, 2009
To the Editor:

I am writing in response to J. Dennis Robinson's front page article {Portsmouth Herald, Monday, January 19, 2009] on the Wentworth Hotel, published Jan, 19, and as well to the letter written by Russell S. Sweeney, published January 20. Hopefully I can clarify. with all due respect, the question of racism at the old Wentworth-by-the-Sea. 

I was a guest at the hotel from 1955 through 1971, every summer, usually for the month of July, which was the height of the " social season". James Barker Smith and his wife Margaret had been running the hotel for about ten years by the time I arrived. In 1964 I started working there, engaged to their son, and in 1965 I married "JB" Smith. In 1971 I left the hotel with my son, James, the third. My parents and I were one of the first Catholic families to enjoy this resort, and I can assure you that at that time the Smiths were making radical changes to the hotel clientele, having recognized that there was a great deal of money in Boston Irish society, as well as in Providence Italian society. They clung to "old" money as long as possible, but then succumbed to the new generation of plenty. During the early 1960's the guest list was so strongly Irish-Italian (Catholics!) that each winter Jim and Margaret would take two or three boxes of guest cards, drive South for three or four days, rent a hotel room in Boston or Providence with free local calling, and personally phone each guest from the previous summers to confirm their future reservation. The money and power behind a successful hotel were truly what mattered to them even at the cost of having to hold Catholic Mass in the Ballroom at 8:00 AM every Sunday " in season". However, having advanced that far from the lessons of their childhood, they did everything possible to keep Jews, Blacks, and Gays from coming.

I propose that Russell (whom I have known for many years), kindly distinguish the real "split" here that the Smiths made: The Catholics could join the Protestants because the money was there; the Jews and Blacks, however, were another story....The Smiths held out against them for years and I would suggest from having lived the life there, that the elderly women from New York that Russell refers to in his letter were anything but Jewish. If one goes back to the old summer brochures filled with photos of summer guests, the proof is there. The only Jewish families that I can think of that were welcomed at the hotel were local businessmen -- the Singers, the Kraskers, and the Goodmans. These three families kept the hotel supplied with good plumbing and good paper napkins, and were of use to the Smiths - in my estimation, their token acknowledgement. In sum, the Smiths picked their guest list. 

Many unpleasant bigoted arguments went on behind closed doors. I remember the summer of Affirmative Action when we were asked to hire three minorities for sixty days. James Barker flatly refused until he was informed by his lawyer that he had no choice. The boys arrived and two were gone within two weeks for some "misdemeanors" not to be tolerated by management. I do not recall the fate of the third young man. The next summer the hotel was asked again, but somehow the Smiths avoided the issue. At no time can I recall the summer staff being anything but white anglo, completely devoid of minorities or Jews..... I only remember one gay kitchen worker and he did not stay the full season. I also recall a decision by the Smiths regarding a fraternal organization that wanted to have a convention at the hotel; I do not recall the details but remember being told that " they were not the kind of people we wanted to encourage to come as summer guests.. I have no recollection even of any black or minority maids.. When the Reeds came for dinner in 1964, the evening was tense and embarrassing for the Reeds, the Smiths, the staff, and all the guests in the dining room. Thankfully, it ended with the Reeds being seated but was further indication that this bright and well-respected hotel man was yet caught up in his quest for staying power. I do not believe that Jim Smith's treatment of the Reeds was as more a personal distaste for black people as it was his vision of them walking into an all-white dining room and having a negative effect -- a huge impact -- on his future guest list. Unfortunately, protecting that guest list was always more important than learning tolerance and maintaining human dignity for everyone. I believe the Smiths prospered and survived in a time of great social transition and perhaps did their best to make their way, but their resistance was formidable.  

Helen Sweeney, Russell's Mother, worked tirelessly in blind devotion for years for little remuneration or appreciation from the Smiths. I always thought she deserved much more, as she was asked to "cover" for Jim Smith on many occasion when it allowed him to avoid conflict.  

This letter may appear unkind to my former in-laws. Their feelings of superiority and their self-absorbing way of life were part of the reason I left the hotel in 1971. But if only old walls could talk. Once you're in a power seat, you have to find ways to stay there or you lose ground....and I remember being highly discouraged by my parents in high school from dating a Jewish boy.... so in many ways we all shared a questioning culture and had to learn and choose... Margaret Smith came from a powerful Colorado family and there were many times when I saw her rude and selfish. I wish she had been different and I wish Jim Smith had not put his hotel's success ahead of his human relationships. He hardly knew his son. 

Margaret and Jim Smith did many kind and generous things for the Seacoast community during their years at the Wentworth Hotel and they deserve to be remembered for these kindnesses. The hotel prospered under their care and gave hundreds of people superb memories of delicious times when life was sweet and plentiful. It remains unfortunate that my experience with the family gave me further insight. I wish, Russell, that I could protect your opinion of the Smiths, but I know from having to flee from the distaste, that many poor and prejudiced decisions were made in the years I lived at the hotel, and many of them adversely affected good people. 

Sandy Smith Domina
Kittery Point, Maine

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