Gerald L. K. Smith
Gerald L. K. Smith | |
---|---|
Born | Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith February 27, 1898 Pardeeville, Wisconsin, U.S. |
Died | April 15, 1976 Glendale, California, U.S. | (aged 78)
Resting place | Eureka Springs, Arkansas 36°24′31″N 93°43′34″W / 36.408633°N 93.725986°W |
Education | Valparaiso University (BBS) |
Political party | Union (1935–1936) America First (1943–1947) America First Party (1943) Christian Nationalist (1948–1956) |
Other political affiliations | Democratic |
Spouse |
Elna Sorenson (m. 1922) |
Children | 1 |
Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith (February 27, 1898 – April 15, 1976) was an American clergyman, politician and organizer known for his populist and far-right demagoguery.[1][2][3][4] A leader of the populist Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression, afterward he became known for far-right causes including the Christian Nationalist Crusade, which he founded in 1942. He founded the America First Party in 1943 and was its 1944 presidential candidate, winning fewer than 1,800 votes.[5][6][4][7] He was a preeminent antisemite and a white supremacist.[4][8]
Late in life, he built the Christ of the Ozarks statue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, with donations, and initiated the Passion Play there.[5]
Early life and education
Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith was born on February 27, 1898, in
In 1918, after two and a half years of study, Smith graduated from Valparaiso University in Indiana with a degree in biblical studies.[5] Smith enlisted in the United States Army but was not deployed before the end of World War I. An attack of nephritis forced him to return to Viroqua to recuperate.[10]
Ministry
Smith said that he determined he would be a Disciples of Christ minister, like three generations of his family before him, when he was twelve.[9] He was ordained in 1916, while at Valparaiso. Upon his recovery from nephritis in 1919, he became a temporary pastor in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, then at a larger church in Footville, then organized another church in the larger community of Beloit. On return from a trip to Chicago, he expressed his earliest recorded views on race in a letter to his parents: "[W]hen you see the white and black mixing it is terrible. White girls dancing cheek to cheek with black men. ... It sickens one."[10]
After marriage and another period of illness, Smith joined a larger church in
In 1929, Smith's wife contracted tuberculosis, and he moved his family to Shreveport, Louisiana, to seek treatment. He became minister of Kings Highway Christian Church, where his congregation included the city's mayor, two bank presidents, and the president of the Chamber of Commerce. In his early time in Shreveport, Smith was ecumenical, preaching at B'Nai Zion Temple and in return sharing his pulpit with the temple's rabbi.[11]
Politics
Upon his move to Shreveport, shortly after the
Shortly after his arrival in the city, Smith met Governor
In 1934, Long formed the
After Long was assassinated in 1935, Smith failed to take control of the Long faction in Louisiana and was effectively expelled from the state politically by Seymour Weiss. Smith was fired from Share Our Wealth, which was soon abolished.[17]
Union Party
After departing Louisiana, Smith campaigned in Georgia for
Late in the 1936 campaign, Smith announced his intent to form an independent movement to
In the fall of 1936, Smith returned to Louisiana to join former Governor
America First Party of 1943
As European tensions rose with the ascendancy of the Nazi Party in Germany, Smith tried to form an alliance with the non-interventionist America First Committee, but did not succeed.[citation needed]
In 1943, Smith formed the America First Party, essentially appropriating the name. He became a member of William Dudley Pelley's fascist Silver Legion of America, which was patterned after Hitler's brown shirts.[24] (Pelley was later convicted for violating the Espionage Act in 1942 and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but he was acquitted in 1944 for violating the Alien Registration Act.) Smith told an audience of Silver Shirts, "We're going to drive that cripple out of the White House," meaning Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[25]
After moving to Michigan, Smith ran for the United States Senate as a Republican from there, but lost in the primary.
In 1947, the
Presidential bids
Smith ran as the America First Party candidate in the
"Gerald Smith ran for president because he lusted for power, but his hatred for Jews and his relentless crusade against them had no such 'rational' motivation... Smith was fascinated by the Office of the President of the United States," wrote biographer Glen Jeansonne.[4]
Post-war activities
In 1946, Smith was sentenced to 60 days in jail for contempt in court for Illinois for misconduct at the trial of
In the early 1950s, at the time of the appointment of
In 1956, Smith joined a strong campaign against the
The Christian Nationalist platform called for deportations of Jews and African Americans. Smith and his groups also targeted screeds against Catholics, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and others.[25] In 1959, the Cross and the Flag, the Christian Nationalist Crusade's magazine, claimed that six million Jews were not killed in death camps in Europe during World War II but instead immigrated to the United States during the war.[30]
Last years
Smith eventually moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he bought and renovated a mansion as a retirement home. In 1964, he began construction of a planned religious theme park on his own property, to be called "Sacred Projects". Smith's biographer, Glen Jeansonne, in Gerald L. K. Smith: Minister of Hate, writes that Smith only had $5,000 to his name at the end of 1963 and yet raised $1,000,000 by the spring of 1964 to commission and construct the "Christ of the Ozarks" project.
Although the park was never fully developed, in 1966 the centerpiece, the Christ of the Ozarks statue, was completed on Magnetic Mountain at an elevation of 1,500 feet, from where it overlooked the town. Emmet Sullivan, the sculptor, had worked under Gutzon Borglum as one of the sculptors of Mount Rushmore.[31]
Smith's original plans were for a life-size recreation of ancient Jerusalem in the hills near Eureka Springs; no construction of this portion took place. He did initiate an annual outdoor Passion Play, inspired by another passion play which is performed every ten years in the town of Oberammergau, Germany. It is staged in an amphitheater located near the statue for several nights each week from late April through late October.
Personal life and death
Smith married Elna Sorenson in 1922. The couple adopted their only child, whom they named Gerald L. K. Smith Jr.[5]
Smith died age 78 on April 15, 1976, of pneumonia in Glendale, California.[3][25][32] His wife took over the Christian Nationalist Crusade at his death.[25] With his wife, he is buried adjacent to the Christ of the Ozarks statue, where hymns are continuously played near the graves.[33]
Works
Smith is claimed to be the originator of the following quotation, often wrongly attributed to others (in particular Baptist pastor, author, and political commentator, Adrian Rogers, who quoted it in a sermon without attribution):
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."[34]
According to the
Smith read Henry Ford's book The International Jew, which became one of his favorites; Smith sold many copies of this book, which he reprinted.[4]
- Books published by Smith
- The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem (prepared by Gerald L. K. Smith)[36]
- Books by Smith
- Matters of Life and Death: A Handbook for Patriots dealing with the issues on which America will rise or fall[37]
- Books edited by others
- Besieged patriot : autobiographical episodes exposing communism, traitorism, and Zionism from the life of Gerald L.K. Smith[38]
See also
- 1948 United States presidential election
- Christian nationalism
- Holocaust denial
- Meade McClanahan, Los Angeles City Council member recalled from office in 1946, because of his association with Smith
References
- ^ 'The Technique of Propaganda for Reaction: Gerald L. K. Smith's Radio Speeches', The Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring, 1944), pp. 84-93
- TheGuardian.com. August 7, 2019.
- ^
- ^ a b c d e
Jeansonne, Glen (June 1, 1997). Gerald L. K. Smith: Minister of Hate. LSU Press. pp. 7, 62, 110, 188 (demagoguery), 101 (presidential bid), 148–9 (International Jew), 125, 164 (white supremacy), 152 (fascination). ISBN 9780807121689. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
- ^ Dart, John (December 23, 1977). "Founded by Gerald L. K. Smith". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
- ^ a b "US President National Vote". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
- ^ "How the Christian Identity Movement Began". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Jeansonne 1988, pp. 11–17.
- ^ a b Jeansonne 1988, pp. 18–20.
- ^ a b c d Jeansonne 1988, pp. 22–24.
- ^ Moore, Leonard J. (1991). Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921–1928. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, p. 26.
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, pp. 28–31.
- ^ White 2006, p. 199.
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, pp. 37–40.
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, pp. 42–43.
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, pp. 46–49.
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, p. 44.
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, pp. 51–53.
- ^ a b Jeansonne 1988, p. 59.
- ^ "Smith, Noe to Speak Here Saturday: Pair Will Stop in Minden in Tour of State", Minden Signal-Tribune, October 20, 1936, p. 1
- ^ Jeansonne 1988, p. 60.
- ^ Albert E. Kahn and M. Sayers. The Plot against the Peace: A Warning to the Nation![permanent dead link]. 1st ed. New York: Dial Press, 1945, p. 196. "... The Cross and the Flag [was] a propaganda magazine which was soon to be named by the Department of Justice as an agency used in a conspiracy to undermine the morale of the United States armed forces. The Cross and the Flag was published in Detroit by ex-Silver Shirter No. 3223, Gerald L. K. Smith."
- ^ a b c d "Gerald L.K. Smith Dead. Anti-Communist Crusader". The New York Times. Associated Press. April 16, 1976. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
- ^ a b "Anti-Semitism in the United States in 1947" (PDF). Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith. 1948. p. 15 (NEC, KKK), 53 (offices), 79 (offices). Retrieved May 26, 2020.
- ^ "Gerald L.k. Smith, "america First" Head, Sentenced to 60 Days in Jail". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. March 20, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
- ^ Stuart Svonkin, Jews Against Prejudice: American Jews and the Fight for Civil Liberties, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, p 120
- S2CID 161789563.
- ^ "Holocaust Denial Timeline". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on April 12, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- ^ Reed, Roy (July 27, 1972). "Hippies and Gerald L. K. Smith Make Ozark Resort Town a Model of Coexistence; Hippies and Gerald L. K. Smith Coexist in an Ozark Resort Town". The New York Times. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
- ^ Thackrey Jr, Ted (April 16, 1976). "Reverend Gerald L.K. Smith, 78, Dies in Glendale. Political Orator Was Damned, Revered". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 17, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
- ^ Jeansonne, Glen (Winter 2002). "Gerald L. K. Smith" (PDF). Wisconsin Magazine of History. 86 (2): 18–29. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 7, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
- ^ Smith, Gerald L.K. (1958). "The Cross and the Flag, Volumes 16-17". Google Books.
- ^ "Extensions of Remarks: January 16, 1958". Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the Congress (PDF). Part 1 (January 7, 1958 to January 30, 1958). Vol. 104. U.S. Government Printing Office. January 30, 1958. p. 650.
- ^
LCCN 74153861.
- ^ Smith, Gerald L. K. (1958). Matters of Life and Death: A Handbook for Patriots dealing with the issues on which American will rise or fall'. Christian Nationalist Crusade.
- ^
Elna M. Smith; Charles F. Robertson, eds. (1978). Besieged patriot : autobiographical episodes exposing communism, traitorism, and Zionism from the life of Gerald L.K. Smith. Elna M. Smith Foundation. LCCN 86672606.
Further reading
Articles
- Janowitz, Morris. "The Technique of Propaganda for Reaction: Gerald L. K. Smith's Radio Speeches." The Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 1, 1944, pp. 84–93.
- Jeansonne, Glen. "Preacher, Populist, Propagandist: The Early Career of Gerald L. K. Smith." Biography, vol. 2, no. 4, Fall 1979, pp. 303–327.
- Jeansonne, Glen. "Partisan Parson: An Oral History Account of the Louisiana Years of Gerald L. K. Smith." Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, vol. 23, no. 2, 1982, pp. 149–158.
- Jeansonne, Glen. "Oral History, Biography, and Political Demagoguery: The Case of Gerald L. K. Smith." The Oral History Review, vol. 11, 1983, pp. 87–102.
- Sitton, Tom. "Direct Democracy vs. Free Speech: Gerald L. K. Smith and the Recall Election of 1946 in Los Angeles." doi:10.2307/3640706.
- Jeansonne, Glen. "Huey P. Long, Gerald L. K. Smith and Leander H. Perez as Charismatic Leaders." Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, vol. 35, no. 1, 1994, pp. 5–21.
- Jeansonne, Glen. "Arkansas's Minister of Hate: A Research Odyssey." doi:10.2307/40023193.
- Jeansonne, Glen. "Gerald L. K. Smith: From Wisconsin Roots to National Notoriety." Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 86, no. 2, Winter 2002, pp. 18–29. Full issue available.
Books
- Jeansonne, Glen (1988). Gerald L.K. Smith: Minister of Hate. New Haven: ISBN 978-0300041484.
- Ribuffo, Leo P. (1983). The Old Christian Right: The Protestant Far Right From the Great Depression to the Cold War. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
- White, Richard D. (2006). Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long. New York: Random House. pp. 199. ISBN 1-4000-6354-X.
External links
- Gerald L. K. Smith at Find a Grave
- Gerald L K Smith in 1956
- "Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith", Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
- Gerald L.K. Smith, American Jewish Committee, 1953
- FBI files on Gerald L.K. Smith, obtained under the FOIA and hosted at the Internet Archive:
- University of Michigan: Gerald L. K. Smith Papers: 1922-1976