Thomas Meade McClanahan Jr. was an industrial engineer and businessman who was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1945 but was ousted by voters in 1946 based upon his support for controversial preacher and political organizer Gerald L. K. Smith.
McClanahan in 1952
McClanahan in 1946.
Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith was an American clergyman, politician and organizer known for his populist and far-right demagoguery. He began his career as a leader of the populist Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression. After the death of Huey Long he shifted away from advocating wealth redistribution towards anti-communism and later anti-semitism, becoming known for far-right causes such as the Christian Nationalist Crusade, which he founded in 1942. He founded the America First Party in 1943 and was its 1944 presidential candidate, winning fewer than 1,800 votes. He was a preeminent antisemite and a white supremacist.
Smith c. 1936
Smith came to prominence as the national organizer of Huey Long's Share Our Wealth Society.