Hugh Heyne Smythe (August 19, 1913 – June 22, 1977) was an American author, sociologist, diplomat and professor.

[1] Smythe taught sociology and anthropology at the university level at multiple schools, both in the United States and abroad.

From 1961 to 1962, Smythe was a senior adviser in economic and social affairs to the US Mission to the United Nations.

His tenure coincided with the Six-Day War and the severing of diplomatic ties with the United States.

He later became notorious for the "Smythe Telegram" that he wrote during the increasing tensions before the war, where he demanded that the U.S. return to a pro-Arab foreign policy and said that the U.S. should ignore previous promises to Israel that Egypt would not be allowed to ban Israeli ships from transiting the Straits of Tiran.