Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873–October 4, 1944), often known as Al Smith, was Governor of New York and a U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. He lost the election to Herbert Hoover.

Al Smith waves to crowds, 1928

Early life

Although Smith grew up in relative comfort on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, he quit school and began work at the age of fourteen, after his father's death. In his political career he emphasized his lowly beginnings, identified himself with immigrants, and campaigned as a man of the people. Although indebted to the Tammany Hall political machine for his entry into politics and for their ongoing support, he remained untarnished by corruption and worked for the passage of progressive legislation. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1903 and his oratorical gifts and skill at drafting legislation helped him become the majority leader. When he served as vice-chairman of the commission appointed to investigate factory conditions after the disastrous Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in 1911, he became acutely aware of the dangerous and unhealthy conditions under which many laborers worked and championed legislation to protect workers.

Political career

After serving as sheriff of New York County for several years beginning in 1915, Smith was elected governor of New York in 1918. He lost the election of 1920 in the Republican landslide of that year, but was reelected governor in 1922 and served three more terms. As governor, he became known nationally as a progressive who sought to make government more efficient and more effective in meeting social needs. His parks czar, Robert Moses, constructed the nation's first state park system; Smith later appointed him New York State Secretary of State. During his term, New York strengthened laws governing workers' compensation, women's pensions, and child and women's labor. In 1924 he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president. Franklin D. Roosevelt made the nominating speech in which he called Smith "the Happy Warrior of the political battlefield."

Al Smith finally secured the Democratic presidential nomination in 1928. His acceptance speech was the first live broadcast of a political event on television, although few saw this experimental early broadcast; a great many more heard it on radio.

Smith was the first major-party presidential candidate of the Roman Catholic faith.

A major controversial issue was the continuation of alcohol Prohibition. Smith was personally in favor of relaxation or repeal of Prohibition, but the Democratic Party refused to back him on the issue. During the campaign Smith tried to duck the issue with noncommittal statements. A satire portrayed Smith being asked, "Are you wet (anti-Prohibition) or dry (pro-Prohibition)?" with Smith replying, "I can't remember. Maybe I'll know better by November."

The 1928 election

The Republican Party was riding high on the economic boom of the 1920s, which their presidential candidate Herbert Hoover vowed to continue. Hoover defeated Smith by a significant margin in the 1928 Election.

Part of Smith's especially poor showing can be attributed to anti-Catholic bias, anti-New York City bias, and Smith's own bad campaigning. Smith's campaign theme song, "The Sidewalks of New York", was not likely to appeal to people in Missouri, and Smith's own brogue seemed foreign to many people. Some newspapers outside major cities even publicly condemned him as an "alien" because of the foreign origin of his parents (both were immigrants from Ireland) and the large number of immigrants living in his state.

Smith felt slighted by Roosevelt during Roosevelt's governorship. They became rivals for the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination. When Roosevelt won and began pursuing the policies of the New Deal, Smith began to work against Roosevelt more. He became a leader of the American Liberty League, a leading opponent of the New Deal, and supported the Republican presidential candidates, Alfred M. Landon in the 1936 election and Wendell Willkie in the 1940 election. His son, Al Smith, Jr. . actually endorsed Republican Richard Nixon in 1960.

Later life

After the 1928 election, when a friend of Smith encouraged him to invest in a real estate company that was constructing the world's tallest building in New York's Midtown Manhattan, he became the president of Empire State, Inc., the corporation which built and operated the Empire State Building. Smith was present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony when the building opened for business in May 1931.

In 1936, he campaigned against Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Al Smith died on October 4, 1944, and is interred at Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.

Al Smith in fiction

In Harry Turtledove's Alternate History books American Empire: The Victorious Opposition and Settling Accounts: Return Engadgement Al Smith is elected in 1936 as the third socialist president of the United States. He easily defeats Democratic incumbent Herbert Hoover. His turn is marked with violence in the state of Houston, a former piece of the Confederate state of Texas. Smith is unable to prevent Confederate rearmament led by Confederate President Jake Featherston. Smith met with Featherston in Richmond in 1940 to discuss ways to end the violence in former Confederate territories. They agreed to a plebiscite in the former Confederate states of Houston, Kentucky, and Sequoyah under the conditions that blacks as well as whites be allowed to vote (Something neither country allowed.), states that change hands will remain demilitarized for the next twenty-five years, and that Featherston would not ask for the return of the portions of Virginia, Sonora, and Arkansas that the US annexed. The agreement would only be in effect if Smith won reelection.

Smith's Democratic opponent Robert Taft was defeated in the election. In the plebiscite Houston and Kentucky returned to the CS. Featherston demanded all the conquered territory including Sequoyah despite its decision to remain with the US, and he remilitarized Kentucky. Smith and the rest of the US at last figured out Featherston would demand more and more regardless what happened, and Smith rejected the demands. On June 21, 1941, Featherston ordered a surprise attack on the United States. War had begun.

External links

• Tammany Hall Links

Reference

• Adapted from the public domain text at Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. The original authors cited the following sources:
  • Black, Allida. Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 12-18.
  • Lichtman, Allan J. "Alfred E. Smith" in Franklin D Roosevelt: His Life and Times. New York: DaCapo Press, 1985, 387-388.

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Nathan L. Miller | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Governor of New York
1923 – 1928 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Franklin D. Roosevelt

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
John W. Davis | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Democratic Party Presidential candidate
1928 (lost) | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt