Named to the Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba by Ronald Reagan; Ambassador to Switzerland by John F. Kennedy (he declined because Switzerland was charged with United States' relations in Cuba); and to the War Production Board by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The United States's Ambassador to Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power, Smith contended that Castro could not have come to power without the aid of the United States.
Founded the brokerage firm Paige, Smith & Remick in 1929.