[Three items from Gerald L.K. Smith's 1942 Senate campaign]

Smith, Gerald L.K.

Detroit: 1942. Three items: a 3-page, 8.5x14 inch mimeographed transcript of a speech on rubber, sugar, and whiskey (criticizing rationing practices during the war); a two-page mimeographed "Vital message" calling for donations after Communist leader Earl Browder's release from prison; and a printed sheet from the Congressional Record of one of Smith's editorials that had been entered into the record by Congressman Roy O. Woodruff. Small pencil notations by the original recipient give the date of receipt on the two mimeographed items; all have a horizontal fold crease.

Smith, a vociferous fascist preacher and anti-Semite, modified his message during the war to argue that he supported US victory and that it was the Communists and New Dealers who imperiled it by "trying to change our form of government in the middle of the war." Walter Winchell, the news commentator and gossip columnist, had nicknamed him "Gerald Lucifer KKKodfish Smith," and Smith makes repeated digs at Winchell in these documents, citing his underworld connections (true) and challenging Winchell to ask his rabbi to help dig up evidence that Smith had led anything other than "a patriotic Christian life."

Cat.No: 288242

Price: $100.00