Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith (February 27, 1898 – April 15, 1976) was an American clergyman and political organizer, who became a leader of the Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression and later the Christian Nationalist Crusade. He founded the America First Party in 1944, for which he was a presidential candidate in the election that year.
He was born in Pardeeville, Wisconsin on February 27, 1898 to Sarah and Lyman Z. Smith. He had o...
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Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith (February 27, 1898 – April 15, 1976) was an American clergyman and political organizer, who became a leader of the Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression and later the Christian Nationalist Crusade. He founded the America First Party in 1944, for which he was a presidential candidate in the election that year.
He was born in Pardeeville, Wisconsin on February 27, 1898 to Sarah and Lyman Z. Smith. He had one sister. The family moved and the children grew up in Viroqua, Wisconsin. He graduated from Valparaiso University in Indiana in 1918 with a degree in biblical studies.
The descendant of three generations of Disciples of Christ ministers, he followed his father into the ministry, becoming ordained in 1916. He first ministered in the Midwest: Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
Smith married Elna Sorenson in 1922. They adopted their only child, whom they named Gerald L. K. Smith Jr.
Smith moved his family to Louisiana in 1928 because his wife...
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