America First Party (1943)
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The America First Party was an
isolationist Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entan ...
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
which was founded on January 10, 1943. Its leader, Gerald L. K. Smith, was the party's presidential candidate in the 1944 U.S. presidential election.


Background

The America First Party advocated a reactionary version of isolationism advanced by Smith after he split from his support of the Republican “Old Guard.” It was notable for “flourishes of racism and
Anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
.” In March 1944, Smith stated that he and his associates in the party favored
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for president of the United States. When
Wendell Willkie Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for President. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican ...
withdrew from the race for the 1944 Republican presidential nomination on April 5, following his complete loss of the Wisconsin primary in which New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey,
Harold Stassen Harold Edward Stassen (April 13, 1907 – March 4, 2001) was an American politician who was the 25th Governor of Minnesota. He was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1948, considered for a ti ...
, and
General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...
claimed all the delegates, Gerald L. K. Smith proclaimed that the candidate's decision “was a great victory for the America First people.” Willkie had stated during the Wisconsin campaign that any candidate who did not repudiate “America First and Gerald L. K. Smith cannot possibly be elected president.” “I hope,” Smith said in a statement on April 5, 1944, “that the other possibilities within the party have learned by now that the way to make votes is not to attack Gerald Smith and the America First movement.” Harry H. Bennett, of the
Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
, in a statement on April 9, 1944, repudiated claims that he said had been made by Smith that America First had the support of
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
. General Robert E. Wood, former head of the
America First Committee The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost United States isolationist pressure group against American entry into World War II. Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak. The AFC principally supp ...
, stated in Chicago on April 16, 1944, that there was no connection between the pre-Pearl Harbor organization and the current party led by the Reverend Gerald Smith. On April 29, 1944, Smith released a statement claiming that Governor Dewey was “Willkie’s man”, adding that “true nationalists and American Firsters cannot support Dewey-Roosevelt-Willkie internationalism.”


1944 Election


Convention

The America First party nominated Gerald Smith as its candidate for president on July 31, at its first convention, begun July 29, in Detroit, and chose an electoral college slate to support him. Further, the convention nominated Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, already the Republican vice-presidential nominee, as Smith's running mate. Bricker, reached by telephone at Columbus, Ohio, said of the Detroit nomination: "I know nothing about it. I know no one connected with it. I shall not permit my name to be used in any such connection. I am a candidate for vice-president on the Republican ticket only."


Reaction

At a night press conference in St. Louis on August 1, Gov. Bricker denounced Smith and the America First party, stating, “The act of Smith, in associating my name with his on a spurious ticket without any notice of any kind whatsoever, is the cheapest of demagoguery. I denounce it and shall not have my name used in any such connection.” Six hours earlier, Gov. Dewey, the Republican presidential nominee, charged in Springfield, Illinois, that Smith had made a “sinister effort to smear” Bricker. Smith, said Dewey, “is one of those rabble-rousers who, like
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, makes racial prejudice his stock in trade.” Bricker, who had arrived in St. Louis for a two-day conference of the 26 Republican governors, told reporters that he had paid very little attention to Smith or his movement until last night, “when he associated my name with his at a meeting of some kind that was held in Michigan.” Bricker added, “I hate demagoguery, religious intolerance and racial prejudice. They can destroy our free government, as they have destroyed liberty around the world. I shall fight them as long as I am in public office or as long as I live. “The right of religious worship according to one’s own conscience is protected to every American citizen in the bill of rights. The men and women of our armed forces are fighting and dying to preserve that precious right. We must preserve it here at home.” In Detroit, Smith said that he was “happy and proud” to share a place with Congressman
Hamilton Fish Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State ...
of New York on Dewey's “purge list.” Smith added that Bricker, in “repudiating our sincere desire to mobilize 3,000,000 of our people in his behalf, displays the same weakness he showed when he capitulated unnecessarily to Mr. Dewey in Chicago.” Ultimately, the vice presidential spot on the America First ticket was taken by former
Father Coughlin Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic priest based in the United States near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the ...
activist Harry Romer.


Election outcome

The results of the 1944 presidential election were less than encouraging for America First Party members; of the over 47,600,000 presidential votes cast, Smith received a mere 1,780, mostly from the states of
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and
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. This America First Party was renamed the Christian Nationalist Crusade in August 1947. The organization published a monthly periodical named ‘’The Cross and the Flag,’’ from April 1942 until December 1977, after Smith’s death in 1976.


Subsequent elections

In 1948 the Christian Nationalist Party nominated Smith for President and Harry Romer for vice president; according to the website "ourcampaigns.com" this ticket received just 42 votes nationwide. The campaign platform included a full-scale defense of segregation, as well as opposition to civil rights. In 1952 a rump America First Party nominated Douglas MacArthur for president, and
Harry F. Byrd Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization. ...
for vice president, without their consent, while the Christian Nationalists nominated MacArthur and crusading anti-Communist California State Senator Jack B. Tenney. This election apparently marked the final time that candidates were fielded by the original Smith movement or its offspring. By this time, Smith and others in the party had become devout anti-Communists, and this worked against the organization's isolationist and non-interventionist ideology.


Later parties

The name "America First Party" was used by several later campaigns unconnected to the original party: *
Perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...
Lar Daly used it in the 1960 presidential campaign, where he received 1,767 write-in votes. *Justice Ralph Forbes of London, Arkansas, ran as the "America First Party" candidate in the 1996 presidential campaign with
anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...
leader Andy Anderson as his running mate, winning 932 votes. He had tried unsuccessfully to file as the candidate of his own Freedom Party. Forbes had a reactionary hard-right past, having previously been a campaign manager for
David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...
's Populist Party run for the Presidency and had also been an officer in the
American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
. * In 2002 after Pat Buchanan returned to the Republican Party, many of his campaign supporters also left the Reform Party to form the current America First Party, a
paleoconservative Paleoconservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism in the United States stressing American nationalism, Christian ethics, regionalism, and traditionalist conservatism. Paleoconservatism's concerns overlap with those of the ...
party headquartered and with ballot access in Mississippi.


See also

*
List of political parties in the United States This is a list of political parties in the United States, both past and present. The list does not include independents. Active parties Major parties Third parties Represented in state legislatures ''The following third parties have ...


Further reading

*Jeansonne, Glen ''Gerald L.K. Smith: Minister of Hate'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988


References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in the United States Politics of World War II Defunct conservative parties in the United States American nationalist parties Defunct far-right political parties in the United States Political parties established in 1943 1943 establishments in the United States Political parties with year of disestablishment missing