in November 1945, he summoned Smith to become his assistant chief of staff for operations and planning. However, soon after his arrival back in Washington he was asked by President Harry S. Truman and U.S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes to become the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union. In putting Smith's nomination for the post before the United States Senate, Truman asked for and received special legislation permitting Smith to retain his permanent military rank of major general. Smith's service as the American ambassador was eventful. Although it was not Smith's fault, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union during his tenure deteriorated rapidly as the Cold War set in. Smith's tenacity of purpose was in line with the policy of containment that replaced about 1947 the conciliant stance that had for some years tried to find common ground with Moscow. He became convinced that no understanding was possible in dealings with the Soviets short of acquiescence to their expansionism, and that their intransigence and delaying tactics precluded the reconstruction and economic recovery of Europe. He saw the Soviet Union as a secretive, totalitarian, and antagonistic state. In My Three Years in Moscow (1950), Smith's account of his time as ambassador, he wrote: Smith returned to the United States in March 1949. Truman offered him the post of Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, but Smith declined the appointment and preferred to return to military duty. He was appointed as the commander of the First Army at Fort Jay, New York, his first command since 1918. Throughout the war, Smith had been troubled by a recurring stomach ulcer. The problem became severe in 1949. He was no longer able eat a normal diet, and he suffered from malnutrition. Smith was admitted to the Walter Reed Army Hospital, whose surgeons decided to remove most of his stomach. That did cure his ulcer, but Smith remained malnourished and thin. Director of Central Intelligence On 7 October 1950, Truman selected Smith as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Since the post had been established in 1946, there had been three directors, none of whom had wanted the position. The 1949 Intelligence Survey Group had produced the Dulles-Jackson-Correa Report, which found that the CIA had failed in its responsibilities in both the coordination and production of intelligence. In response, the