Art J. Smith
Arthur J. Smith also Herbert N. Smith (1898 - May 1939) was the founder of the Khaki Shirts in the US in the 1930s. The group established its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and claimed a doubtful membership of 25,000.[1] Arthur J. Smith served with the British Army from 1914 to 1918 before enlisting with the American Army.[2] He once worked for the WPA and died of heart disease in Shamokin, Pennsylvania in May of 1939.
In July 1933 the Khaki Shirts held a meeting in Queens, New York. Communists invaded the meeting, the lights went out and one communist was killed. Art Smith testified before a grand jury that Athos Terzani was responsible for the killing. Terzani was tried for murder but acquitted. Later one of Smith's followers confessed the killing. Art Smith was convicted for giving perjured testimony to a grand jury and was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in Sing Sing prison in New York state.[3]
Notes
- ↑ RACES: Shirt Business
- ↑ Negative Intelligence, By Roy Talbert, page 245
- ↑ American Jewish Committee report on Pelley and the Silver Shirts (undated)
