Gerald L. K. Smith
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]
Gerald L. K. Smith
April 15, 1976 (aged 78)
Union (1935–1936)
America First (1943–1947)
America First Party (1943)
Christian Nationalist (1948–1956)
1
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[edit]
Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith was born on February 27, 1898, in Pardeeville, Wisconsin, to Sarah and Lyman Z. Smith. He had one sister, Barbara, who was ten years older.[9] His father was a traveling salesman and preacher who spoke on patriotic occasions and was a supporter of Robert La Follette.[9] Gerald Smith said of his childhood, "We took it for granted that the word 'Christian' was the companion for the word 'American.'"[9] The family moved to rural Richland County, Wisconsin, and Gerald Smith received a public education, first at rural schools and then at a larger school in Viola.[9] After Lyman Smith recovered from pernicious anemia, which he had suffered from during most of his son's childhood, the family moved to Viroqua, Wisconsin, where Gerald Smith graduated high school in 1915.[9]
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[edit]
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 Kansas, Illinois. In 1922, he drew national attention for a sermon at a ministerial convention in St. Louis and moved to Indianapolis, where he preached to a congregation of two thousand. In Indianapolis, rumors circulated that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan,[11] which was popular among the state's Protestant men but notorious following the conviction of Grand Wizard D. C. Stephenson.[12] Smith denied these rumors throughout his life.[11]
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]
Personal life and death[edit]
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]
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):
According to the Congressional Record of 1958, it had also been said by U.S. Senator James Eastland of Mississippi during his address at the November 13, 1957, annual meeting of the Illinois Agricultural Association.[35]
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]
Articles
Books