[3] During the school year, he participated in speech and debate, the yearbook, football, and student government, and received a scholarship from the National Youth Administration for working as a secretary for the Department of Philosophy and Religion.

[3] At the College of Idaho, Smylie studied political science and developed his initial interests in current events—attending a political rally for John Hamilton, chairman of the Republican National Committee during Alf Landon’s campaign against Franklin D. Roosevelt's reelection for the US presidency in 1936, attending Roosevelt's visit to the College of Idaho in 1937, and competing in debate and oratory events at the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament at Washburn University in Topeka, KS in 1938, the year of his graduation.

In his 1962 reelection, with the backing of labor unions, Smylie vowed to veto any legislation that established right-to-work laws in Idaho.

[12] In February 1955, following a prompt from a BBC reporter, Smylie fast-tracked legislation to remove the anomaly of Idaho being the only one of the 48 states that did not observe George Washington's Birthday as a holiday.

[18][19] Smylie ran for a fourth term in 1966, but was soundly defeated (61–39%) in the Republican primary by his successor, Don Samuelson,[20] whom he had encouraged to run for the state senate six years earlier.

[1] Smylie attributed his support of the newly implemented sales tax of three per cent in 1965 as a major factor in his defeat.

[28] Smylie said of the sales tax in 1998: "Its passage marked a defining moment in the state’s struggle toward political and economic maturity."

[22] Smylie was a candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat in 1972,[29] but finished fourth in the Republican primary, won by Jim McClure.