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Al Smith

Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as the 42nd governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's presidential nominee in 1928.

"Alfred E. Smith" redirects here. For his great-grandson, the stockbroker and philanthropist, see Alfred E. Smith IV. For other uses, see Al Smith (disambiguation).

Al Smith

Joseph Bourke

Alfred Emanuel Smith

(1873-12-30)December 30, 1873
New York City, U.S.

October 4, 1944(1944-10-04) (aged 70)
New York City, U.S.

Catherine Dunn
(m. 1900; died 1944)

5

The son of an Irish-American mother and a Civil War–veteran Italian-American father, Smith was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan near the Brooklyn Bridge. He resided in that neighborhood for his entire life. Although Smith remained personally untarnished by corruption, he—like many other New York Democrats—was linked to the notorious Tammany Hall political machine that controlled New York City politics during his era.[1] Smith served in the New York State Assembly from 1904 to 1915 and held the position of Speaker of the Assembly in 1913. Smith also served as sheriff of New York County from 1916 to 1917. He was first elected governor of New York in 1918, lost his 1920 bid for re-election, and was elected governor again in 1922, 1924, and 1926. Smith was the foremost urban leader of the Efficiency Movement in the United States and was noted for achieving a wide range of reforms as the New York governor in the 1920s.


Smith was the first Roman Catholic to be nominated for president of the United States by a major party. His 1928 presidential candidacy mobilized both Catholic and anti-Catholic voters.[2] Many Protestants (including German Lutherans and Southern Baptists) feared his candidacy, believing that the Pope in Rome would dictate his policies. Smith was also a committed "wet", which was a term used for opponents of Prohibition; as New York governor, he had repealed the state's prohibition law. As a "wet", Smith attracted voters who wanted beer, wine and liquor and did not like dealing with criminal bootleggers, along with voters who were outraged that new criminal gangs had taken over the streets in most large and medium-sized cities.[3] Incumbent Republican Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover was aided by national prosperity, the absence of American involvement in war and anti-Catholic bigotry, and he defeated Smith in a landslide in 1928.


Smith then entered business in New York City, and became involved in the construction and promotion of the Empire State Building. He sought the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination but was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, his former ally and successor as governor of New York. During the Roosevelt presidency, Smith became an increasingly vocal opponent of Roosevelt's New Deal.

a 1928 skyscraper in Albany, New York;

Alfred E. Smith Building

Governor Alfred E. Smith Houses, a public housing development in near his birthplace;

Lower Manhattan

Governor Alfred E. Smith Park, a playground in the neighborhood in Manhattan near his birthplace;

Two Bridges

Governor Alfred E. Smith, a former front line and current reserve in the New York City Fire Department fleet;

fireboat

Governor Alfred E. Smith , a state park in the Town of Smithtown, Suffolk County;

Sunken Meadow State Park

Alfred E. Smith Recreation Center, a youth activity center in the Two Bridges neighborhood, Manhattan;

PS 163 Alfred E. Smith School, a school on the of Manhattan;

Upper West Side

PS 1 Alfred E. Smith School, a school in Manhattan's Chinatown;

in the South Bronx;

Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School

a fundraiser held for Catholic Charities and a stop on the presidential campaign trail;

Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

Smith Hall, a residence hall at Hinman College, ;

Binghamton University

Smith Hall, a residence hall at ; and

Farmingdale State College

Camp Smith, a State owned military installation of the New York Army National Guard in Cortlandt Manor near Peekskill, NY, about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City, at the northern border of Westchester County and consists of 1,900 acres (7.7 km2).

(.pdf) in The New York Times of September 13, 1920

List of candidates

Campaign Addresses of Governor Alfred E. Smith, Democratic Candidate for President 1928. Washington, DC: Democratic National Committee, 1929.

Progressive Democracy: Addresses & State Papers. 1928.

Up to Now: An Autobiography (The Viking Press, 1929)

Smith's great-grandson

Alfred E. Smith IV

List of covers of Time magazine (1920s)

Al Smith presidential campaign, 1928

Al Smith presidential campaign, 1932

J. Raymond Jones

at Faded Page (Canada)

Works by Alfred E. Smith

. The New York Times. October 4, 1944.

"Alfred E. Smith Dies Here at 70; 4 Times Governor"

. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

"Happy Warrior Playground"

. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

"Governor Alfred E. Smith Park"

. Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site.

"Al Smith"

Murphy, Kevin C. .

"Lost Warrior: Al Smith and the Fall of Tammany"

A film clip is available for viewing at the Internet Archive

"Al Smith Hails End of Dry Law, 1933/11/13 (1933)"

Booknotes interview with Robert Slayton on Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith, May 13, 2001.

from C-SPAN's The Contenders

"Al Smith, Presidential Contender"

Archived October 31, 2019, at the Wayback Machine

Finding aid for the Alfred E. Smith Papers at the Museum of the City of New York

from the Museum of the City of New York Collections blog

Alfred E. Smith – The People's Politician?

in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Newspaper clippings about Al Smith