The Legacy of Dan Smoot
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Thu Jan 08, 2009 at 09:04:27 AM EST
Born into poverty, Dan Smoot pulled himself up by his own boot straps to become an Ivy League PHD and go to work for the  FBI.  Homeless, he moved to Dallas, finished high school and got a scholarship to SMU.  This led to a degree at Harvard.  He would become one of the founding members of the John Birch Society and helped start right wing radio broadcasts with programs reaching over 20 million listeners according to friends.  Smoot was an early fore runner to the Limbaugh and Hannity programs of today. He was placed into power by religious right wealth.  He spent the last years of his life writing and residing in Tyler, Texas. Dan died July 24, 2003 leaving behind a generation of Americans influenced by his conspiracy theories.  Depending on which story you go by, he was either censured or retired from the FBI.  He then began his campaign with Texas oil money backing to launch his charges against insiders he suspected ran the country.  Understanding a little about Smoot helps shed light on an extensive movement he helped lay the ground work for.
     In Dan Smoot's radio broadcast on Jan.13, 1969 he stated that Franklin Roosevelt in 1929 organized a revolution in the U.S. causing a depression to lead us into socialism.  Author Glen Heansonne says that Smoot helped promote Gerald Smith's progaganda.  Smith was a leading anti-Semite adhering to white supremacy. Smith once ran for President and taught followers the fascist salute.
     The March 7, 1994 John Birch Society magazine, "The New American", says Dan saw early on that Pearl Harbor was a set up by our own government. Dan also saw as an FBI agent how that FDR and Truman protected Communists.  In l962 Dan published the book INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT.  The book is a summary of his paranoia in which he believed invisible elements contol the nation and led us into wars and economic disasters to further their own interests.  The book is a capsule of what John Birch circles adhere to.
     Smoot's autobiography is promoted by the John Birch Society. In the work, writer Smoot reveals the contacts he has had with several leading figures in the hard American right.  The work is titled, PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY.  In the book Dan claims that the government prevents schools to have prayer like they were intended to.  He also reminds his fellow companions from the conspiracy right that President Wilson inaugurated World War I to make the world safe for socialism.  Smoot also believed just as Wilson lied to the nation to get them into WWI, Roosevelt used the same tactic to get the U.S. involved in World War II.  Smoot, like his buddies, believed FDR was a socialist.  Dan beleived that FDR used the war to convert our economy into an "international socialist dictatorship".
     Dan wrote that wealthy Jewry from America created Israel and oppressed innocent Arab peoples by their Zionist manipulations. This former FBI investigator claimed he had information that FDR had a chance to end WWII earlier after visiting with General MacArthur.  FDR extended the war 11 more months to accomplish his purposes.  A fellow political pilgrim with deep pockets by the name of H.L. Hunt heard of Smoot and helped set him up with his Facts Forum radio program.  Hunt wanted Smoot to expose people like Roosevelt and Truman.  The grade school drop out Hunt, found a bond with the Harvard scholar.  The popular radio host recalls sharing a speaking platform at Carnegie Hall with Joseph McCarthy and William Buckley Jr.
     Dan claims the famous candy maker, Robert Welch, who founded the John Birch Society, was fascinated with Smoot's views. The two pooled their "brilliance" to help get the Society off the ground.  Dan would write that the Society would become "the brightest hope for our nation."
     Smoot's racial views are clear in his autobiography.  He claims that Negroes never developed a culture much above barbarism and paganism. Dan believed there was no race problem in the nation until in 1928 Comnnunists started agitating the issue in America.  A common theme in Birch Society circles was that integration was a Communist plot.  Dan believed the Supreme Court ruined both races with the decision in 1954 to integrate schools.  Dan said the FCC was manipulated ty the NAACP and Democatic Party, whom he called "left wing outfits", to seek to banish him from the airwaves.
     There are a couple of humorous stories in Dan's book worth repeating.  He claimed to be walking down Commerce Street in Dallas with a couple of friends. One was J.C. Penny, the chain store milionaire. They looked down to see a nickel lying on the sidewalk.  Mr. Penny stooped to pick up the coin but was beaten to the task by the other companion, oil billionaire H. L. Hunt.  One man in California wrote Dan to brag on his radio programs and promised to support him.  A dog food company was the sponsor and the man stated he did not own a dog but would gladly eat a bowl of the dog food himself if it meant keeping Dan on the air!  Smoot befriended J. Evetts Haley, a staunch segregationist who ran for governor of Texas. Smoot says Evetts used to carry a huge pistor around with him in the travels he made around the state. When a young woman once asked Evetts why he carried that gun with him all the time he replied, "Well, honey you never know when you're going to meet some son of a bitch that needs shootin."
     The legacy Smoot left with years of articles published and stories shared on radio bred a huge foundation for future right wing radio hosts.



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Dan Smoot was not (as this article claims) "a founding member" of the John Birch Society. In fact, he never joined the JBS although he endorsed it and spoke at its events. I obtained, via FOIA request, Smoot's entire FBI personnel file and a separate FBI file on his publication, Dan Smoot Report-- both of which provide fascinating insights. Significantly, Smoot misrepresented his FBI experiences (and the circumstances regarding his retirement). My report on Smoot may be seen here: https://sites.google.com/site/ernie124102/smoot

by ernie1241 on Sun Jan 27, 2013 at 04:59:19 PM EST


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