The America First Party was an isolationist political party which was founded on January 10, 1943. [1] Its leader, Gerald L. K. Smith, was the party's presidential candidate in the 1944 U.S. presidential election.
Party founder Gerald L. K. Smith had previously been a key part of the Union Party, which eventually split with Smith over his racial and antisemitic views. In the years following the split, Smith acted as an activist and fundraiser for the Republican "Old Guard". Smith adopted their reactionary version of isolationism and eventually sought an alliance with the America First Committee, although they found Smith to be too ideologically focused. [1] However, there was common ground between Smith and the America First Committee regarding Jews and elements of fascism. When the America First Committee disbanded in 1941, some of its associates found their way into Smith's orbit and along with previous associates with the Union Party, founded the America First Party. [1]
In March 1944, Smith stated that he and his associates in the party favored Charles A. Lindbergh for president of the United States. [2]
Wendell Willkie 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, and General Douglas MacArthur claimed all the delegates. [3] Gerald L. K. Smith proclaimed that the candidate's decision "was a great victory for the America First people."[ citation needed ] 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."[ citation needed ]
"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." [4]
Harry H. Bennett, of the Ford Motor Company, 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. [5]
General Robert E. Wood, former head of the America First Committee, 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. [6]
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." [7]
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." [8]
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." [9]
Six hours earlier, Gov. Dewey, the Republican presidential nominee, charged in Springfield, Illinois, that Smith had made a "sinister effort to smear" [10] Bricker. Smith, said Dewey, "is one of those rabble-rousers who, like Adolf Hitler, makes racial prejudice his stock in trade." [11]
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." [12]
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."[ citation needed ]
In Detroit, Smith said that he was "happy and proud" to share a place with Congressman Hamilton Fish of New York on Dewey's "purge list."[ citation needed ]
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." [13]
Ultimately, the vice presidential spot on the America First ticket was taken by former Father Coughlin activist Harry Romer. [1]
The results of the 1944 presidential election were less than encouraging for America First Party members; of the more than 47,600,000 presidential votes cast, Smith received a mere 1,780, mostly from the states of Texas and Michigan.[ citation needed ]
This America First Party was renamed the Christian Nationalist Party in August 1947. [14] Initially, Smith announced that the party would not nominate a candidate for the 1948 election. [14]
In 1948 the Christian Nationalist Party nominated Smith for President and Harry Romer for vice president; [15] according to the website "ourcampaigns.com" this ticket received just 42 votes nationwide. [16] The campaign platform included a full-scale defense of segregation, as well as opposition to civil rights. [1]
In 1952 a rump America First Party nominated Douglas MacArthur for president, and Harry F. Byrd for vice president, without their consent, while the Christian Nationalists nominated MacArthur and crusading anti-Communist California State Senator Jack B. Tenney. [17] 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. [1]
The name "America First Party" was used by several later campaigns unconnected to the original party:
Wendell Lewis Willkie was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for president. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican field's only interventionist: although the U.S. remained neutral prior to Pearl Harbor, he favored greater U.S. involvement in World War II to support Britain and other Allies. His Democratic opponent, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, won the 1940 election with about 55% of the popular vote and took the electoral college vote by a wide margin.
The 1940 United States presidential election was the 39th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1940. Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican businessman Wendell Willkie to be reelected for an unprecedented third term in office. Until 1988, this was the last time in which the incumbent's party won three consecutive presidential elections. It was also the fourth presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1920, 1944, and 2016.
The 1944 United States presidential election was the 40th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7, 1944. The election took place during World War II, which ended the following year. Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey to win an unprecedented fourth term. It was also the fifth presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1920, 1940, and 2016.
The 1948 United States presidential election was the 41st quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 1948. In one of the greatest election upsets in American history, incumbent President Harry S. Truman, the Democratic nominee, defeated heavily favored Republican Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey, and third-party candidates, becoming the third president to succeed to the presidency upon his predecessor's death and be elected to a full term.
Thomas Edmund Dewey was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and 1948, losing the latter to Harry S. Truman in a major upset. The 288 combined electoral votes Dewey received from both elections place him second behind William Jennings Bryan as the candidate with the most electoral votes who never acceded to the presidency.
The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 7 to 11, 1952, and nominated the popular general and war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower of New York, nicknamed "Ike", for president and the anti-communist crusading Senator from California, Richard M. Nixon, for vice president.
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The 1940 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 24 to June 28, 1940. It nominated Wendell Willkie of New York for president and Senator Charles McNary of Oregon for vice president.
From March 11 to June 3, 1952, delegates were elected to the 1952 Republican National Convention.
From March 9 to June 1, 1948, voters of the Republican Party elected delegates to the 1948 Republican National Convention, in part to choose the party nominee for president in the 1948 United States presidential election.
From March 12 to May 17, 1940, voters of the Republican Party chose delegates to nominate a candidate for president at the 1940 Republican National Convention. The nominee was selected at the convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 24–28, 1940.
From March 14 to June 11, 1944, voters of the Republican Party selected delegates to the 1944 Republican National Convention for the purpose of selecting their nominee for president in the 1944 election at the 1944 Republican National Convention held from June 26 to June 28, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois.
The 1944 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 7, 1944. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1944 United States presidential election. Voters chose 47 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
The 1944 United States presidential election in Wyoming took place on November 7, 1944, as part of the 1944 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1944 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 7, 1944, as part of the 1944 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1940 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the 1940 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.
The 1944 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 7, 1944, as part of the 1944 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1940 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the 1940 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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