Yes - the Dewhurst book had been available for a while before the most common (and most blatant) stories appeared (the ones that go beyond insinuating a Smithsonian cover-up to claiming it had been proven to the point a Supreme Court ruling had addressed it).
It's always been my theory the Dewhurst book was the inspiration for the later stuff. Dewhurst's book was one of the few to have been based on an author's own research (as opposed to simply quoting as fact any and all stories one could find). Still, the book struck me as more speculation than specifics.
One also needs to bear in mind that many bones forwarded to the Smithsonian (and other museums) and hailed in newspaper (etc.) articles as those of human giants - especially back in the 19th century - didn't disappear at all. Once at the museum(s) they were subsequently identified as belonging to non-human megafauna.
See, for example, the discussion in this 1891 collection of essays:
https://books.google.com/books?id=b10XAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA177&dq=Henrion giants&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Nx5eVYf6Is7_yQS0-IC4Dg&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Henrion giants&f=false