In the 1930s and 1940s there was a rabble-rousing preacher by the name of Gerald L. K. Smith, who went into politics. He became a follower of Huey Long. Later he developed a populist, isolationist, pro-Nazi platform in association with Francis K. Townsend and Father Charles Coughlin. In 1942 he ran for the U. S. Senate. In 1944 (according to Wikipedia) he ran for President as the candidate of a party he had founded, called America First (one of several parties of that name). It was probably about that time that this story took place.

As told by my dad, E. W. Chaffee II, Laurance had gotten fed up with Smith and his Nazi rhetoric. He went over to the blacksmith shop in Amenia, and had the blacksmith make him up an oversized replica of a German military decoration, the Iron Cross. Dad described it as being about a foot and a half square. It was cut out of heavy plate iron, and had a piece of plow chain attached to it. Laurance sent it through the mail to Gerald L. K. Smith. But he didn't wrap up the Iron Cross (wrapping was optional in those days). He just attached a tag to it, with Smith's name and address in big letters. At that time most people knew what an Iron Cross was, so naturally it attracted attention along the way, and must have caused a bit of a stir. Strangely enough, Smith never thanked Laurance for this generous gift.

As told by John Van Schenck Chaffee, January 2017