[2] That honor, accorded the senior wire service reporter present at presidential news conferences, became more popularly known when it was continued by Smith's UPI colleague Helen Thomas.

After the United States entered the Second World War, he was designated as one of the wire service reporters to follow the president on all his travels.

[citation needed] Despondent over the death of his son in the Vietnam War and perhaps suffering from PTSD as a result of witnessing the Kennedy assassination, Smith died at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 13, 1970, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In 1970, the White House Correspondents' Association established The Merriman Smith Memorial Award for excellence in presidential news coverage under deadline pressure.

[11] His name was removed from the award in 2022 because of his support of excluding Black and female journalists from membership in the National Press Club and from attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner.