Dan Smoot was born on October 5, 1913, in East Prairie, MO. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and traveled to Dallas, TX in January 1931. He worked odd end manual labor jobs until he enrolled in the YMCA and was able to attend high school in 1930. Smoot proposed to his high school sweetheart, “Betty” (Maybeth) Evans and they married on August 11, 1933. Smoot was offered a scholarship to attend Southern Methodist University (SMU) and graduated in 1938. He attended graduate school at Harvard until he dropped out in 1941 in order to enlist in the Army. Due to medical conditions, he was rejected to serve the military. Instead, he became an FBI agent in order to support the World War II effort from the United States. Dan Smoot was an FBI agent from 1941 until 1951 where he resigned in order to be a political commentator. Smoot started up a political commentary newsletter called Facts Forum which was the material used for the ABC public affairs television series Answers for Americans. In 1956, Smoot started publishing The Dan Smoot Report along with conservative radio reports bearing the same name. In 1969, he tried to run for U.S. Senator of Texas for the 1970 elections and started a campaign fund. He was unsuccessful in the primary elections. He later shifted his focus to writing and published several books including The Invisible Government, The Business End of Government, The Hope of the World, along with an autobiography, People Along the Way. In 1971, The Dan Smoot Report was dropped from the station broadcasting. Smoot went on to continue political commentary until his death on July 24, 2003. He was survived by two children and his ex-wife.

Cited:
Smoot, Dan. (1993). People Along the Way...Autobiography of Dan Smoot. Tyler Press; Tyler, TX. Print.