Gerald L. K. Smith

Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith (February 27, 1898 - April 15, 1976) was considered a demagogue by many. He was briefly the leader of the Share Our Wealth movement.

Smith was born in Pardeeville, Wisconsin. He was ordained as a minister in the Disciples of Christ denomination of Christianity in 1916. Smith moved to Louisiana in 1928 since his wife contracted tuberculosis and Shereveport had a good reputation for helping people with tuberculosis. Smith became a minister in Shreveport, Louisiana, making radio broadcasts attacking local utility companies and corruption while supporting trade unions.

Smith became a friend of Huey Long in 1932. They launched the Share Our Wealth society soon afterwards. The Share Our Wealth movement proposed a cap on personal income. Smith resigned his ministry and worked recruiting members to the society.

After Long was assassinated in 1935, Smith took over the society for a short time. Smith entered into an alliance with Francis Townsend, Father Charles Coughlin and Huey Long followers to form the Union Party. The party nominated William Lemke as their Presidential candidate in the 1936 election.

Unlike Long, who was generally favorable to racial tolerance, Smith soon took the Share Our Wealth movement in the direction of white supremacy and racism. Smith became associated with the isolationist America First Committee. After this group dissolved in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Smith formed the America First Party. Smith ran for the United States Senate out of Michigan as a Republican but he lost in the primary with 130,000 votes. Smith ran as the candidate of the party in the 1944 Presidential election, winning 1,781 votes (1530 in Michigan, 281 in Texas). Smith's only other run for the Presidency was in 1956 where he recieved 8 write-in votes in California.

Smith went on to suggest that the Holocaust never happened and that various politicians had links to a 'Jewish Conspiracy'. Smith was shunned by most politicians, such as Strom Thurmond, who distanced the States' Rights Democratic Party from Smith.

Smith eventually moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. In 1964, he began construction of a planned religious theme park. The park was never fully developed as originally planned. However, in 1966 the centerpiece of his plan, the Christ of the Ozarks Statue, was completed overlooking the town on Magnetic Mountain at an elevation of 1500 feet. The sculptor, Emmet Sullivan was one of the sculptors of Mount Rushmore. Smith also had plans for a life-size recreation of ancient Jerusalem in the hills near Eureka Springs. While this was never fully realized, each year an outdoor passion play inspired by that of Oberammergau, Gemany is staged on a set over one-tenth of a mile long. Smith died in 1976 due to pneumonia.