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 organiser, 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.
Glen Jeansonne is professor of history at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the author of Women of the Far Right: The Mothers' Movement and World War II and Leander Perez, Boss of the Delta.
