Author: John L. Smith, Jr.

John L. Smith, Jr. is a retired corporate communications manager for a Florida energy company. He is the author of The Unexpected Abigail Adams: A Woman "Not Apt to Be Intimidated." He is a state certified social sciences instructor and a former board member of the Tampa Bay History Center. His family lineage holds membership numbers with Sons of the American Revolution. Smith is a Vietnam-era veteran and holds honorable discharges from the U.S. Air Force Reserve and the U.S. Army Reserve. He graduated with a BS degree from the University of South Florida in 1989 and received an MBA from the University of Tampa. Listed in the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb), Smith is an active SAG-AFTRA member, having appeared in many films, television shows, commercials, and corporate training videos. He is currently writing a book about the American Revolution and his historical work has been featured by Knowledge Quest, National Review and Smithsonian Magazine.

Features Posted on

The Early Years: John Adams Lists Abigail’s Faults and Abigail Replies!

As a young country lawyer, John Adams thought he seemed to lack focus. “Ballast is what I want, I totter, with every Breeze. My motions are unsteady.”[1] History has shown that he eventually would find his “Ballast” in the steady personage of Abigail (Smith) Adams, his almost-equally-famous better half. Over the course of their fifty-four-year-long […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
Diplomacy Posted on

The First Countries to Diplomatically Recognize the United States

“Diplomacy is seduction in guise …”, whispered Benjamin Franklin to his fellow commissioner John Adams. “One improves with practice.” Although the quote isn’t real and was written into the script of the HBO/Playtone miniseries John Adams, the spirit of the words rang very true when it came to the infant “United American-States”[1] trying to find […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

The Scandalous Divorce Case that Influenced the Declaration of Independence

During the hot, humid Philadelphia summer of 1776, the writing of the Declaration of Independence was just another Congressional housekeeping chore which the delegates decided would have to be done to explain to people everywhere why the vote for American independence had just happened. As Thomas Jefferson later described it: “an appeal to the tribunal […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
Features Posted on

The Complex Character of John Paul Jones and his Polite Home Invasion

To British aristocracy, John Paul Jones was a thieving rebel and a Scotch-borne traitor to the Empire. To seacoast citizens of the British Isles, Jones was portrayed as Blackbeard the pirate, a renegade rogue cutthroat. “Chap-books depicted Paul Jones as a buccaneer, armed to the teeth, in highly colored pictures, bloody and terrifying. Mothers frightened […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
People Posted on

Daniel Boone: Facts vs. Hearsay

In Hollywood terms, biographies of Daniel Boone might be advertised as, “Based on a true story.” Daniel Boone being known as a legendary Kentucky trailblazer is an undisputed fact in American history. That he was a backcountry militia leader during the Revolutionary War is a fact substantiated primarily by sketchy frontier rosters and pension statements […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
People Posted on

Henry Knox, Drug Dealer?

How many times does someone get the chance to read through the business correspondence files of one of the Founding Era’s most fascinating personalities? I had the distinct privilege of doing just that while researching an angle of Henry Knox’s Boston bookstore. I learned that Henry sold much more than just books – he sold […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
People Posted on

Benjamin Franklin: America’s First Whistleblower

Edward Snowden and the NSA documents. Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables. Daniel Elsberg and the Pentagon papers. Benjamin Franklin and the Hutchinson letters? Snowden, Assange, and Elsberg all considered themselves to be self-appointed whistleblowers. Individuals who wanted to open governments by disclosing sensitive government documents. Without a doubt, all three started huge controversies […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.