Gerald L. K. Smith

Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith (February 27, 1898 – April 15, 1976) was an American Disciples clergyman, politician and organizer known for his populist and far-right activism. He began his career as a leader of the Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression. After the death of Huey Long he shifted away from advocating wealth redistribution towards anti-communism and later anti-semitism, becoming known for far-right causes. He founded the America First Party in 1943 and was its 1944 presidential candidate, winning fewer than 1,800 votes. In 1947, he founded the Christian Nationalist Party, which would become the Christian Nationalist Crusade, a vehicle that would lead to the emergence of Christian Identity as an organized movement. Smith has been noted as "the most persistently successful of America's anti-Jewish propagandists" and "the most infamous American fascist". Late in life, he built the Christ of the Ozarks statue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and initiated the Passion Play there.