M. Brewster Smith

Who is M. Brewster Smith?

Mahlon Brewster Smith was an American psychologist and past president of the American Psychological Association. His career included faculty appointments at Vassar College, New York University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago and University of California, Santa Cruz. Smith had been briefly involved with the Young Communist League as a student at Reed College in the 1930s, which resulted in a subpoena by the U.S. Senate in the 1950s. That activity also caused him to be blacklisted by the National Institute of Mental Health without his knowledge.

Smith testified against segregation in schools as an expert witness in the Brown v. Board of Education case; the scope and scientific basis for Smith's testimony has been the subject of controversy. He was the vice president of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health, the group whose recommendations led to the deinstitutionalization of most of the mentally ill in the United States. In 1961, he helped to interview and select the first group of Peace Corps volunteers.

Smith authored several notable works in social psychology, and a collection of his works was published in 2003. He was editor of two major psychological journals and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Kurt Lewin Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest. Smith died in 2012 after a brief illness.