The America First Party was an isolationist political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 which was founded on January 10, 1943. Its leader, Gerald L. K. Smith

Gerald L. K. Smith

Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith was an American clergyman and political organizer, who became a leader of the Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression and later the Christian Nationalist Crusade...

, was the party's presidential candidate in the 1944 U.S. Presidential Election.

Election history

The results of the 1944 presidential election were less than encouraging for America First Party members; Smith received 1,780 votes, mostly from the states of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. This America First Party was renamed the Christian Nationalist Crusade in 1947.

In 1948 the Christian Nationalist Party nominated Smith for President and Harry Romer for vice president.http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,779941,00.html; according to the website "ourcampaigns.com" this ticket received just 42 votes nationwide http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=1945.

In 1952 a rump

Rump organization

In Politics, a Rump organization is a remnant of a larger political grouping that continues to exist after the group has formally dissolved, split or been abolished.-See also:* Rump party* Rump legislature* Rump state* Rump Parliament...

 America First Party nominated Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...

 for President, and Harry F. Byrd

Harry F. Byrd

Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville in Clarke County, Virginia, was an American newspaper publisher, farmer and politician. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia...

 for vice president, without their consent, while the Christian Nationalists nominated MacArthur and crusading anti-Communist California State Senator Jack B. Tenney.http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,816859,00.html This election apparently marked the final time that candidates were fielded by the original Smith movement or its offspring.

Later parties

The name "America First Party" was used by several later campaigns unconnected to the original party:

• Perennial candidate
  Perennial candidate
  A perennial candidate is one who frequently runs for public office with a record of success that is infrequent, if existent at all. Perennial candidates are often either members of minority political parties or have political opinions that are not mainstream. They may run without any serious hope...
  
   Lar Daly
  Lawrence Joseph Sarsfield Daly
  Lawrence Joseph Sarsfield Daly , aka Lar "America First" Daly, was a fringe American politician who ran unsuccessfully for a variety of political offices , often campaigning wearing an Uncle Sam suit.Daly was a Republican primary candidate for Governor of Illinois in both 1956 and 1964...
  
   used it in the 1960 presidential campaign, where he received 1,767 write-in votes.
• Justice Ralph Forbes of London, Arkansas
  London, Arkansas
  London is a city in Pope County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Russellville Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:London is located at ....
  
   ran as the "America First Party" candidate in the 1996 presidential campaign with Pro-Life
  Pro-life
  Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
  
   leader Andy Anderson as his running mate, winning 932 votes.http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe1996/summ.htm He had tried unsuccessfully to file as the candidate of his own Freedom Party.http://web.archive.org/web/20041212165011/http://www.swtimes.com/archive/2001/September/14/news/PartyAddedToBallot.html. Forbes had a reactionary hard-right past, having previously been a campaign manager for David Duke
  David Duke
  David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
  
  's Populist Party run for the Presidency and had also been an officer in the American Nazi Party
  American Nazi Party
  The American Nazi Party was an American political party founded by discharged U.S. Navy Commander George Lincoln Rockwell. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Rockwell initially called it the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists , but later renamed it the American Nazi Party in...
  
  .http://www.falange.us/rockwell.htm
• In 2002 a new America First Party organization was formed by a group of Pat Buchanan
  Pat Buchanan
  Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
  
   supporters who left the Reform Party
  Reform Party of the United States of America
  The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
  
  . They fielded eleven candidates for various local and federal offices in 2002, two candidates in 2004, and one in 2006. For more information, see America First Party (2002)
  America First Party (2002)
  The America First Party is a paleoconservative third party in the United States.The party was formed in 2002 when a group of Pat Buchanan supporters left the Reform Party. The party is pro-life, opposes all gun control, seeks to end affirmative action, racial quotas, and illegal and unlimited...
  
  .