{{Short description|FBI agent; conservative political broadcaster}} {{Infobox person | name = Howard "Dan" Smoot | image = Dan_Smoot,_anti-communist.png | image_size = 140px | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|10|5}} | birth_place = East Prairie, Missouri, U.S. | death_place = Tyler, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|7|24|1913|10|5}} | occupation = Federal Bureau of Investigation agent<br>Political commentator | spouse = Mabeth Evans Smoot (divorced)<br>{{marriage|Virginia McKnight Smoot||1996|end=her death}} | children = Larry Smoot, Barney Smoot | parents = Bernie Smooth, Dora Allbright Smoot | political_party = Independent | alma_mater = Southern Methodist University<br>Harvard University }}
'''Howard Smoot''', known as '''Dan Smoot''' (October 5, 1913 – July 24, 2003), was a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and conservative political commentator. From 1956 to 1971, he published ''The Dan Smoot Report,'' which was a weekly newsletter and radio program.
==Early life and education== Smoot was born on October 5, 1913, in East Prairie, Missouri. At age 10, he became an orphan. Smoot worked odd and manual labor jobs until 1930 when he enrolled in the YMCA and could begin high school. In January 1931, he moved to Dallas, Texas. Southern Methodist University offered him a scholarship and he graduated in 1938. He attended Harvard University for further postgraduate education until he dropped out in 1941 to enlist in the United States Army.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Dan Smoot Collection - Cushing Memorial Library & Archives |url=https://findingaids.library.tamu.edu/index.php/dan-smoot-collection |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=findingaids.library.tamu.edu}}</ref>
==Career== The military rejected Smoot due to medical reasons, so Smoot became an FBI agent to support the World War II effort. Smoot was an FBI agent from 1941 until 1951. He resigned in 1951 to become a political commentator.<ref name=":0" /> Smoot was unsuccessful in his campaign for public office, but he rose to fame as a pundit on radio and television. He initially served as the spokesman and face of H. L. Hunt's Facts Forum before leaving to create his own.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |url=https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scholarship-online/book/21460/chapter-abstract/181243010?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2023-02-12 |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226326764.003.0003 |title=Right-Wing Broadcasting's Supreme Individualist |date=2011 |last1=Hendershot |first1=Heather |pages=65–101 |isbn=978-0-226-32678-8 }}</ref> From 1956 to 1971, he published ''The Dan Smoot Report,''<ref name=":0" /> which was a weekly newsletter and later also a 15-minute radio program where he took the position as a constitutional conservative.<ref name=":1" /> Alongside Hunt, Billy James Hargis, and Carl McIntire, he has been described as among "four of the era’s most prominent extremist broadcasters".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hendershot |first1=Heather |title=What's Fair on the Air?: Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest |date=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=10}}</ref>
In 1962, Smoot wrote ''The Invisible Government'' concerning early members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Other books include ''The Hope of the World''; ''The Business End of Government''; and his autobiography, ''People Along the Way''. Additionally he was associated with Robert W. Welch, Jr.'s John Birch Society and wrote for the society's ''American Opinion'' bi-monthly magazine.<ref>Smoot's autobiography and review by Jane Ingraham (1994)</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.peterbgemma.com/2014/01/dan-smoot/|title=Dan Smoot: The Man and His Message|author=Peter B. Gemma|date=2000|magazine=The New American|accessdate=May 21, 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605035942/http://www.peterbgemma.com/2014/01/dan-smoot/|archivedate=June 5, 2016}}</ref>
In 1972, Smoot served as campaign manager for American Independent Party presidential candidate John G. Schmitz.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smoot |first=Dan |title=The Invisible Government |isbn=978-1494851378 |publication-date=December 31, 2013}}</ref>
==Personal life== Smoot married his high school girlfriend Maybeth Evans on August 11, 1933. They later divorced. He had two children.<ref name=":0" />
==Bibliography== * ''The Hope of the World'' (1958) * ''The Invisible Government'' (1962) * ''The Business End of Government'' (1973) * ''People Along the Way: The Autobiography of Dan Smoot'' (1993)
==Further reading== * Hendershot, Heather. ''What's Fair on the Air? Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest'' (University of Chicago Press; 2011) 260 pages; covers the rise and fall of prominent far-right radio hosts: H. L. Hunt, Dan Smoot, Carl McIntire, and Billy James Hargis.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=9168| name=Dan Smoot}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Dan Smoot}} * [https://archive.org/details/DanSmoot FBI file on Dan Smoot] * [https://archive.org/details/SmootReport The Dan Smoot Report]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smoot, Dan}} Category:1913 births Category:2003 deaths Category:People from Mississippi County, Missouri Category:Southern Methodist University alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Category:20th-century American journalists Category:American political writers Category:American radio personalities Category:People from Dallas Category:People from Tyler, Texas Category:John Birch Society members Category:American conspiracy theorists Category:Television personalities from Texas Category:20th-century American male journalists