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Gerald L. K. Smith: Minister of Hate
In the first full-length biography of evangelist Gerald L. K. Smith (1898--1976), Glen Jeansonne traces the tempestuous career of this notorious bigot. A spellbinding speaker and brilliant organizer, Smith founded the reactionary hate sheet The Cross and the Flag as well as the anti-Semitic Christian Nationalist Crusade and ran for president three times.
Exhaustively researched, this study contains information from Smith's FBI dossier, his personal papers, and Smith himself. Also included are compelling arguments concerning the causes of anti-Semitism in America, the role of demagogues, and the mentality of their loyal supporters.
Exhaustively researched, this study contains information from Smith's FBI dossier, his personal papers, and Smith himself. Also included are compelling arguments concerning the causes of anti-Semitism in America, the role of demagogues, and the mentality of their loyal supporters.
284 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1988
41 people want to read
About the author
Glen Jeansonne
26 books13 followersA specialist in twentieth-century American political history, Glen Stewart Jeansonne taught at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Williams College, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he worked from 1978 until his retirement until 2015. He earned his BA in history from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and his Ph.D. at Florida State University under the direction of William Ivy Hair.
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September 28, 2017
I'd come across multiple references to Gerald L.K. Smith in books and essays about Huey Long, populist governor of and senator from Louisiana in the thirties. Smith was a political associate, present at Long's assassination, a speaker at his funeral, all of this constituting the height of his career. The next forty years were, to say the least, a disappointment, politically speaking.
Long was an ambiguous figure, a progressive demagogue and potentially a real challenge to FDR. Smith's own evolution after his death was towards the right, the far right. He was against non-whites and non-protestants, against communism and socialism, against England and Israel, against floridation of the water, sex education and pornography. He was, the author alluding to his early ministerial career, a 'minister of hate'. What he was for, beyond his personal appropriations of the figures of Long and of Jesus, was less clear, his occasional heroes ranging from Hitler to Douglas MacArthur, Joseph McCarthy and Orville Fabus.
Well researched, Smith having cooperated, this book is (and may well abide as) the only full biography of its subject. The writing is clear, having the tone, to my ear, of a reworked doctoral dissertation. The analysis, however, is rather shallow, being primarily focused on the personal psychology of the subject rather than on the movements he supported and the material conditions which gave rise to them. Having hoped for some more insight into a contemporary movement which brought another know-nothing to national prominance (and the White House), I was hoping for rather more insight. Still, it's a solid book, an important contribution to the literature of the radical fringes of American politics.
Long was an ambiguous figure, a progressive demagogue and potentially a real challenge to FDR. Smith's own evolution after his death was towards the right, the far right. He was against non-whites and non-protestants, against communism and socialism, against England and Israel, against floridation of the water, sex education and pornography. He was, the author alluding to his early ministerial career, a 'minister of hate'. What he was for, beyond his personal appropriations of the figures of Long and of Jesus, was less clear, his occasional heroes ranging from Hitler to Douglas MacArthur, Joseph McCarthy and Orville Fabus.
Well researched, Smith having cooperated, this book is (and may well abide as) the only full biography of its subject. The writing is clear, having the tone, to my ear, of a reworked doctoral dissertation. The analysis, however, is rather shallow, being primarily focused on the personal psychology of the subject rather than on the movements he supported and the material conditions which gave rise to them. Having hoped for some more insight into a contemporary movement which brought another know-nothing to national prominance (and the White House), I was hoping for rather more insight. Still, it's a solid book, an important contribution to the literature of the radical fringes of American politics.
Displaying 1 of 1 review