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{{Short description|American politician (1873–1944)}}
{{Redirect|Alfred E. Smith|his great-grandson, the stockbroker and philanthropist|Alfred E. Smith IV||Al Smith (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Al Smith
| image               = SMITH, ALFRED. HONORABLE LCCN2016862532 Trim.jpg
| caption             = Smith {{circa}} 1920s
| order               = 42nd [[Governor of New York]]
| lieutenant          = [[George R. Lunn]]<br>[[Seymour Lowman]]<br>[[Edwin Corning]]
| term_start          = January 1, 1923
| term_end            = December 31, 1928
| predecessor         = [[Nathan L. Miller]]
| successor           = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
| lieutenant1         = [[Harry C. Walker]]
| term_start1         = January 1, 1919
| term_end1           = December 31, 1920
| predecessor1        = [[Charles S. Whitman]]
| successor1          = Nathan L. Miller
| office2             = 7th President of the [[New York City Board of Aldermen]]
| term_start2         = January 1, 1918
| term_end2           = December 31, 1918
| predecessor2        = [[Frank L. Dowling]]
| successor2          = [[Robert L. Moran]]
| office3             = [[New York City Sheriff's Office#New York County|Sheriff of New York County]]
| termstart3          = January 1, 1916
| term_end3           = December 31, 1916
| predecessor3        = [[Max Samuel Grifenhagen]]
| successor3          = [[David H. Knott]]
| office4             = 103rd [[List of speakers of the New York State Assembly|Speaker of the New York State Assembly]]
| term_start4         = January 1, 1913
| term_end4           = December 31, 1913
| predecessor4        = [[Edwin Albert Merritt]]
| successor4          = [[Thaddeus C. Sweet]]
| office5             = Member of the [[New York State Assembly]]<br>from [[Manhattan|New York County]]'s 2nd district
| term_start5         = January 1, 1904
| term_end5           = December 31, 1915
| predecessor5        = Joseph Bourke
| successor5          = [[Peter J. Hamill]]
| birth_name          = Alfred Emanuel Smith
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1873|12|30}}
| birth_place         = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1944|10|4|1873|12|30}}
| death_place         = New York City, New York, U.S.
| restingplace        = [[Calvary Cemetery (Queens)|Calvary Cemetery]]
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Catherine Dunn|May 6, 1900|May 4, 1944|end=died}}
| children            = 5
}}
'''Alfred Emanuel <!-- NOTE: Do not add "Al" here per [[WP:HYPOCORISM]]--> Smith''' (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served as the 42nd [[governor of New York]] from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he was the party's presidential nominee in the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]], losing to [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee [[Herbert Hoover]] in a [[Landslide victory|landslide]].

The son of an [[Irish Americans|Irish American]] mother and a [[American Civil War|Civil War]]–veteran [[Italian Americans|Italian American]] father, Smith was raised on the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]], New York City, near the [[Brooklyn Bridge]]. He resided in that neighborhood for his entire life. Although Smith remained personally untarnished by [[Corruption in the United States|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.<ref name="Slayton 2001">Slayton 2001, ch 1–4</ref> Smith served in the [[New York State Assembly]] from 1904 to 1915 and was the [[Speaker of the New York State Assembly|speaker of the Assembly]] in 1913. He also served as the sheriff of New York County from 1916 to 1917. He was first elected governor in [[1918 New York gubernatorial election|1918]], lost his [[1920 New York gubernatorial election|1920]] bid for re-election, and was elected again in [[1922 New York state election|1922]], [[1924 New York state election|1924]], and [[1926 New York state election|1926]]. Smith was the foremost urban leader of the [[efficiency movement]] in the U.S. and was noted for achieving a wide range of reforms as governor.

Smith was the first [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] to be the nominee for the [[U.S. presidency]] of a major party. His 1928 presidential candidacy mobilized both [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic]] and [[Anti-Catholicism in the United States|anti-Catholic]] voters.<ref>Neal R. Pierce, ''The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven States of the Deep South'' (1974), pp 123–61</ref> Many [[Protestantism|Protestants]], particularly [[German Americans|German]] [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] and [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptists]], feared his candidacy, believing that the [[pope]] in Rome would dictate his policies. Smith was also a committed "wet" (i.e., an opponent of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]); as governor he had repealed [[New York (state)|New York State]]'s prohibition law. 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.<ref>Daniel Okrent, ''Last Call'', 2010.</ref> Hoover, who was the incumbent Republican [[secretary of commerce]], was aided by [[Roaring Twenties|national prosperity]], the absence of American involvement in war, and anti-Catholicism, and he [[1928 United States presidential election|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. During the Roosevelt presidency, Smith became an increasingly vocal opponent of Roosevelt's [[New Deal]].

==Early life==
[[File:Alfred E. Smith, full-length portrait, between the ages 17 and 27, standing, facing slightly left LCCN97508795 Trim.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Smith {{circa}} 1890s]]

Smith was born at 174 South Street and raised in the Fourth Ward on the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]] in 1873;  he resided there for his entire life.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=MacAdam |first=George |title=Governor Smith of New York |magazine=The World's Work |volume=XXXIX |issue=3 |page=237 |publisher=Doubleday, Page & Co. |location=New York |date=January 1920 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cLYoVSHPLAgC&pg=PA237 |access-date=September 1, 2010}}</ref> His mother, Catherine (née Mulvihill), was the daughter of Maria Marsh and Thomas Mulvihill, who were immigrants from [[County Westmeath]], Ireland.<ref>{{cite book |last=Slayton |first=Robert A. |title=Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2001 |location=New York |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOahalX-CxQC&pg=PA13 |isbn=978-0-684-86302-3}}</ref> His father, baptised Joseph Alfred Smith in 1839, was the son of Emanuel Smith, an Italian ''marinaro'' (sailor).{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} The elder Alfred Smith (Anglicized name for Alfredo Emanuele Ferraro) was the son of Italian and German<ref>{{cite book |last=Barkan |first=Elliott Robert |title=Making it in America: a sourcebook on eminent ethnic Americans |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2001 |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingitinameric00bark/page/350 350] |url=https://archive.org/details/makingitinameric00bark |url-access=registration |isbn=978-1-57607-098-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-25847-12175-45?cc=1937366&wc=M99Q-NSQ:723368583 |title=New York State Census, 1855; pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-25847-12175-45 |publisher=[[FamilySearch]] }}</ref> immigrants. He served with the [[11th New York Infantry|11th New York Fire Zouaves]] in the opening months of the Civil War.

Smith grew up with his family struggling financially in the [[Gilded Age]]; New York City matured and completed major infrastructure projects. The [[Brooklyn Bridge]] was being constructed nearby. "The Brooklyn Bridge and I grew up together", Smith would later recall.<ref>Slayton (2001), p. 16</ref> His four grandparents were of ethnic [[German American|German]], [[Irish American|Irish]] as well as [[Italian American|Italian]] ancestry,<ref name="Josephsons, 1969">Josephsons 1969</ref> but Smith identified more with the Irish-American community and became its leading spokesman in the 1920s.

His father Alfred owned a small trucking firm, but died when Smith was 13. Aged 14, Smith had to drop out of [[St. James Elementary School (New York City)|St.&nbsp;James parochial school]] to help support the family, and worked at a fish market for seven years. Prior to dropping out of school, he served as an altar boy, and was strongly influenced by the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] priests he worked with.<ref name="Burner">{{cite web |last=Burner |first=David |title=Al Smith |url=http://www.anb.org/articles/06/06-00608.html?a=1&n=al%20smith&d=10&ss=1&q=2 |publisher=American National Biography |access-date=24 March 2013}}</ref> He never attended high school or college, and claimed he learned about people by studying them at the [[Fulton Fish Market]], where he worked for $12 per week. His acting skills made him a success on the amateur theater circuit. He became widely known, and developed the smooth oratorical style that characterized his political career. 

==Political career==
[[File:C.F. Murphy and A.E. Smith LCCN2014701930 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[Charles F. Murphy]] and Smith in 1915]]
{{Al Smith series}}
In his political career, Smith built on his working-class beginnings, identifying himself with immigrants and campaigning as a man of the people. Although indebted to the [[Tammany Hall]] [[political machine]] (and particularly to its boss, [[Charles Francis Murphy|"Silent" Charlie Murphy]]), he remained untarnished by corruption and worked for the passage of progressive legislation.<ref name="far226"/> It was during his early unofficial jobs with Tammany Hall that he gained renown as an orator.<ref name="Von Drehle 2003 204-210">{{cite book |last=Von Drehle |first=David |title=Triangle: The Fire That Changed America |year=2003 |publisher=Grove Press New York |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-8021-4151-X |pages=[https://archive.org/details/triangle00davi/page/204 204–210] |url=https://archive.org/details/triangle00davi/page/204 }}</ref> Smith's first political job was in 1895, as an investigator in the office of the Commissioner of Jurors as appointed by Tammany Hall.

During his time as the Governor of New York, Smith became known as a progressive; [[David Farber (historian)|David Farber]] wrote that "Smith became a strong and effective advocate of worker safety laws and championed, then and for years after, legislation aimed at giving workers more rights and protections against economic exploitation." He staunchly supported labor unions and pressed for protective legislation for the workers, stressing the need to expand the rights of working women in particular. A “New Era Progressive”, Smith advocated local governnment funded facilities and services such as hospitals, parks and schools in poor and working-class areas. Speaking of the role of the state in 1927, Smith said: "The State is a living force. It must have the ability to clothe itself with human understanding of the daily, living needs of those whom it is created to serve."<ref name="far226">{{cite book |title=Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist |first=David |last=Farber |author-link=David Farber (historian) |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973457-3 |page=226}}</ref> However, Smith envisioned a progressive vision based on state and local intervention, and decentralizing power to specific locales and communities. He was ambivalent with regard to federal economic intervention, which eventually led him to oppose the New Deal legislation.<ref name="Farber 2013 228">{{cite book |title=Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist |first=David |last=Farber |author-link=David Farber (historian) |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973457-3 |page=228}}</ref>

===State legislature===
[[File:Alfred E. Smith 1904.png|thumb|left|Smith's official [[New York State Assembly|State Assembly]] portrait, 1904]]
Smith was first elected to the [[New York State Assembly]] (New York Co., 2nd D.) in 1904, and was repeatedly elected to office, serving through 1915.<ref name="Burner"/> After being approached by [[Frances Perkins]], an activist, to improve labor practices, Smith sought to improve the conditions of factory workers.

Smith served as vice chairman of the state commission appointed to investigate factory conditions after 146 workers died in the 1911 [[Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire]]. Meeting the families of the deceased Triangle factory workers left a strong impression on him. Together with Perkins and [[Robert F. Wagner]], Smith crusaded against dangerous and unhealthy workplace conditions and championed corrective legislation.<ref name="Von Drehle 2003 204-210" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/news/the_labor_movement/index.html?story=/opinion/walsh/politics/2011/03/25/obama_al_smith_and_the_triangle_fire |title=Obama, the Triangle Fire and the Real Father of the New Deal |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=March 25, 2011}}</ref>

The Commission, chaired by State Senator Robert F. Wagner, held a series of widely publicized investigations around the state, interviewing 222 witnesses and taking 3,500 pages of testimony. They hired field agents to do on-site inspections of factories. Starting with the issue of fire safety, they studied broader issues of the risks of injury in the factory environment. Their findings led to thirty-eight new laws regulating labor in New York State, and gave each of them a reputation as leading progressive reformers working on behalf of the working class. In the process, they changed Tammany's reputation from mere corruption to progressive endeavors to help the workers.<ref>Robert Ferdinand Wagner" in ''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1977)</ref> [[New York City Fire Department|New York City's Fire]] Chief John Kenlon told the investigators that his department had identified more than 200 factories where conditions resulted in risk of a fire like that at the Triangle Factory.<ref>''The New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/1911/10/14/archives/factory-firetraps-found-by-hundreds-chief-kenlon-has-a-list-of.html "Factory Firetraps Found by Hundreds," October 14, 1911],</ref>

The State Commission's reports led to the modernization of the state's labor laws, making New York State "one of the most progressive states in terms of labor reform."<ref>Richard A. Greenwald, ''The Triangle Fire, the Protocols of Peace, and Industrial Democracy in Progressive Era New York'' (2005), 128</ref><ref>''[[The Economist]]'', "[https://www.economist.com/united-states/2011/03/17/the-birth-of-the-new-deal Triangle Shirtwaist: The Birth of the New Deal]", March 19, 2011, p. 39.</ref> New laws mandated better building access and egress, fireproofing requirements, the availability of fire extinguishers, the installation of alarm systems and automatic sprinklers, better eating and toilet facilities for workers, and limited the number of hours that women and children could work. In the years from 1911 to 1913, sixty of the sixty-four new laws recommended by the Commission were legislated with the support of Governor [[William Sulzer]].<ref>Slayton, ''Empire Statesman'' (2001) pp 92–92</ref>

[[File:AlSmithDesk1913.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Smith at his desk in the [[New York State Capitol|State Capitol]], 1913]]

In 1911, the Democrats obtained a majority of seats in the State Assembly, and Smith became Majority Leader and Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. The following year, following the loss of the majority, he became the Minority Leader. When the Democrats reclaimed the majority after the next election, he was elected [[Speaker of the New York State Assembly|Speaker]] for the 1913 session. He became Minority Leader again in 1914 and 1915. In November 1915, he was elected [[Sheriff of New York County, New York]]. By now he was a leader of the [[Progressive Era|Progressive movement]] in New York City and state. His campaign manager and top aide was [[Belle Moskowitz]], a daughter of Jewish immigrants.<ref name="Slayton 2001"/>

===Governor (1919–1920, 1923–1928)===
[[File:Al Smith, governor of New York (portrait by Douglas Volk).png|thumb|left|Gubernatorial portrait of Al Smith by [[Douglas Volk]]]]

After serving in the patronage-rich job of sheriff of [[New York County, New York|New York County]] beginning in 1916, Smith was elected governor of New York in 1918 with the help of Tammany Boss [[Charles F. Murphy]] and [[James A. Farley]], who brought Smith the upstate vote.<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2015-03-17 |title=Saint Patrick and the Wearing of the Green {{!}} richardjgarfunkel.com |url=https://www.richardjgarfunkel.com/2015/03/17/saint-patrick-and-the-wearing-of-the-green/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1919, Smith gave the famous speech "A man as low and mean as I can picture",<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Penguin (Non-Classics) |isbn=0-14-028500-8 |last=MacArthur |first=Brian |title=The Penguin Book of 20th-Century Speeches |date=May 1, 2000}}</ref> making a drastic break with publisher [[William Randolph Hearst]]. Hearst, known for his notoriously sensationalist and largely left-wing position in the state Democratic Party, was the leader of its populist wing in the city. He had combined with Tammany Hall in electing the local administration, and had attacked Smith for starving children by not reducing the cost of milk.<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-532534-8 |last=Procter |first=Ben H. |title=William Randolph Hearst |page=[https://archive.org/details/williamrandolphh00benp/page/85 85] |year=2007 |url=https://archive.org/details/williamrandolphh00benp/page/85 }}</ref>

Smith lost his bid for re-election in the [[1920 New York gubernatorial election]], but was again elected governor in [[1922 New York state election|1922]], [[1924 New York state election|1924]] and [[1926 New York state election|1926]], with Farley managing his campaign. In his 1922 re-election, he embraced his position as an anti-prohibitionist. Smith offered alcohol to guests at the Executive Mansion in Albany, and repealed the state's [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] enforcement statute, the Mullan-Gage law.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lerner |first=Michael |title=Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City |url=https://archive.org/details/drymanhattanproh00lern |url-access=registration |year=2007 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-03057-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/drymanhattanproh00lern/page/239 239–240]}}</ref>

As governor, Smith became known nationally as a progressive who sought to make government more efficient and more effective in meeting social needs. Smith's assistant [[Robert Moses]] built the nation's first state park system and reformed the [[Civil service commission|civil service]], later gaining appointment as [[Secretary of State of New York]]. During Smith's time in office, New York strengthened laws governing workers' compensation, women's pensions and children and women's labor with the help of [[Frances Perkins]], soon to be President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[United States Secretary of Labor|Labor Secretary]].

[[File:TIMEMagazine13Jul1925.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' cover, July 13, 1925]]

===1924 presidential election===

In 1924, [[Al Smith 1924 presidential campaign|Smith unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination]] for president, advancing the cause of civil liberty by decrying [[lynching]] and racial violence. Roosevelt delivered the nominating speech for Smith at the [[1924 Democratic National Convention]] in which he saluted Smith as "the Happy Warrior of the political battlefield."<ref name="Slayton 2001" /> Smith represented the urban, east coast wing of the party as an anti-prohibition "wet" candidate, while his main rival for the nomination, President [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s son-in-law [[William Gibbs McAdoo]], a former [[Secretary of the Treasury]], stood for the more rural tradition and prohibition "dry" candidacy.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Al Smitator h |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/549669/Al-Smith |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref> The party was hopelessly split between the two. An increasingly chaotic convention balloted 100 times before both men accepted that neither would be able to win the required two-thirds of the votes, and so each withdrew. On the 103rd ballot, the exhausted party nominated the little-known candidate [[John W. Davis]] of [[West Virginia]], a former congressman and [[List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom|United States Ambassador to Great Britain]] who had been a dark horse presidential candidate in 1920. Davis lost the election by a landslide to Republican incumbent [[Calvin Coolidge]], who won in part because of the prosperous times.

Undeterred, Smith returned to fight a determined campaign for the party's nomination in 1928. He was aided by the endorsement of [[Philip La Follette]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Glad|first=Paul W.|title=The History of Wisconsin – Volume V: War, a New Era, and Depression, 1914–1940|page=321|isbn=978-0870206320|year=2013|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society }}</ref> son of 1924 [[Progressive Party (United States, 1924–1934)|Progressive Party]] presidential candidate [[Robert M. La Follette]], who died in 1925 seven months after receiving 16.62 percent of the popular vote—the fifth-highest proportion for any [[List of third party performances in United States presidential elections|third-party presidential candidate]].<ref group="note">The four higher proportions are [[Know Nothing]] former President [[Millard Fillmore]] in [[1856 United States presidential election|1856]] (21.54 percent), Southern Democrat and incumbent Vice-President [[John C. Breckinridge]] in [[1860 United States presidential election|1860]] (18.20 percent), "[[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Bull Moose]]" former President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] in [[1912 United States presidential election|1912]] (27.39 percent), and independent [[Ross Perot]] in [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]] (18.91 percent).</ref>

===1928 presidential election===
{{Main|Al Smith 1928 presidential campaign}}
Reporter Frederick William Wile made the oft-repeated observation that Smith was defeated by "the three P's: Prohibition, Prejudice and Prosperity".<ref>reprinted 1977, John A. Ryan, "Religion in the Election of 1928," ''Current History'', December 1928; reprinted in Ryan, ''Questions of the Day'' (Ayer Publishing, 1977) p.91</ref> The Republican Party was still benefiting from an economic boom, as well as a failure to reapportion Congress and the electoral college following the 1920 census,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Prewitt|first=Kenneth|date=July 13, 2017|title=The 1920 Census Broke Constitutional Norms—Let's Not Repeat That in 2020|url=https://items.ssrc.org/parameters/the-1920-census-broke-constitutional-norms-lets-not-repeat-that-in-2020/|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Social Science Research Council|language=en-US}}</ref> which had registered a 15 percent increase in the urban population. The party was biased toward small-town and rural areas. Its presidential candidate [[Herbert Hoover]], who headed the Census of 1920, did little to alter this state of affairs.

Historians agree that prosperity, along with widespread anti-Catholic sentiment against Smith, made Hoover's election inevitable.<ref>William E. Leuchtenburg, ''The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–32'' (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1958) pp. 225–240.</ref> He defeated Smith by a landslide in the [[1928 United States presidential election]], carrying five Southern states via crossover voting by conservative white Democrats.<ref group="note">Since the [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement of blacks in the South]] at the turn of the century, whites had dominated voting in that region.</ref>

[[File:Goodcitizennovember1926.jpg|thumb|left|Political cartoon suggesting the Pope was the force behind Al Smith. ''[[The Good Citizen]]'', November 1926. Publisher: [[Pillar of Fire Church]], New Jersey.]]

The fact that Smith was Catholic and the descendant of Catholic immigrants was instrumental in his loss of the election of 1928.<ref name="Burner"/> Historical hostilities between Protestants and Catholics had been carried by national groups to the United States by immigrants, and centuries of Protestant domination allowed myths and superstitions about Catholicism to flourish. Long-established Protestants had viewed the waves of Catholic immigrants from [[Ireland]], [[Italy]] and [[Eastern Europe]] since the mid-19th century with suspicion. In addition, many Protestants carried old fears related to extravagant claims of one religion against the other which dated back to the [[European wars of religion]]. They feared that Smith would answer to the Pope rather than the [[United States Constitution]].

Scott Farris notes that the anti-Catholicism of American society was the sole reason behind Smith's defeat, as even contemporary Prohibition activists would admit that their main problem with the Democratic candidate was his faith and not any political view. [[Bob Jones Sr.]], a prominent Protestant pastor in [[South Carolina]], said:{{cquote|I'll tell you, brother, that the big issue we've got to face ain't the liquor question. I'd rather see a saloon on every corner of the South than see the foreigners elect Al Smith president.<ref name="farris">{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher= Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa}}</ref>}} A Methodist newspaper in Georgia called Catholicism "a degenerate type of Christianity," while Southern Baptist newspapers ordered their readers to vote against Smith, claiming that he would close down Protestant churches, end freedom of worship and prohibit reading the Bible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa |page=137 |quote="A Methodist newspaper in Georgia called Catholicism “a degenerate type of Christianity,” while a Baptist newspaper warned that Smith, if elected, would close down all Protestant churches and end not only freedom of worship but freedom of the press as well."}}</ref> Charles Hillman Fountain, a Protestant writer, insisted that Catholics should be barred from holding any office.<ref>{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa |pages=125–126 |quote="Smith’s campaign, Catholic commentators said, would now demonstrate whether Catholics would continue to be “debarred from any share in the government they support with their blood and money,” or whether they would finally be accepted as equals. The campaign proved that many Protestants believed they should remain debarred. A general in the Army was widely quoted as stating that Catholics were fine as “cannon fodder” but one should never become commander-in-chief. Prominent Protestant minister and author Charles Hillman Fountain went further and wrote that not only was a Catholic unfit to be president, but “no Catholic should be elected to any political office.”"}}</ref> Farris states that "More disturbing than the ridiculous and the dangerous was the respectable anti-Catholicism", as contemporary newspapers and Protestant churches tried to mask their anti-Catholicism as genuine concern. Protestant activists insisted that Catholicism represents an alien culture and medieval mentality, claiming that Catholicism is incompatible with American democracy and institutions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa |pages=126–137 |quote="More disturbing than the ridiculous and the dangerous was the respectable anti-Catholicism. [...] Christian Century magazine labelled Catholicism “an alien culture, of a medieval Latin mentality,” and insisted a reasonable voter could oppose Smith “not because he is a religious bigot” but because there is “a real issue between Catholicism and American institutions."}}</ref>

Catholics were portrayed as [[reactionary]] despite being more left-wing than mainstream American Protestant congregations at the time.<ref name="farris" /> [[William Allen White]], a renowned newspaper editor, warned that Catholicism would erode the moral standards of America, saying that "the whole [[Puritan]] civilization which has built a sturdy, orderly nation is threatened by Smith." While [[Herbert Hoover]] avoided raising the issue of Catholicism on the campaign trail, he defended the Protestant actions in a private letter:

{{blockquote|text=There are many people of intense Protestant faith to whom Catholicism is a grievous sin, and they have as much right to vote against a man for public office because of that belief. That is not persecution.<ref name="farris" />}}

White rural conservatives in the [[Southern United States|South]] also believed that Smith's close association with [[Tammany Hall]], the Democratic machine in Manhattan, showed that he tolerated corruption in government, while they overlooked their own brands of it. Another major controversial issue was the continuation of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], the enforcement of which was widely considered problematic. Smith personally favored the relaxation or repeal of Prohibition laws because they had given rise to more criminality. The Democratic Party split North and South on the issue, with the more rural South continuing to favor Prohibition. During the campaign, Smith tried to duck the issue with non-committal statements.<ref>Lichtman (1979);Slayton 2001</ref>

Smith was an articulate proponent of good government and efficiency, as was Hoover. Smith swept the entire Catholic vote, which in 1920 and 1924 had been split between the parties; he attracted millions of Catholics, generally ethnic whites, to the polls for the first time, especially women, who were first allowed to vote in 1920. He lost important Democratic constituencies in the rural North as well as in Southern cities and suburbs. Smith did retain the loyalty of the Deep South, thanks in part to the appeal of his running mate, Senator [[Joseph Taylor Robinson|Joseph Robinson]] from [[Arkansas]], but lost five states of the Rim South to Hoover. Smith carried the popular vote in each of America's ten most populous cities, an indication of the rising power of the urban areas and their new demographics.

Smith was not a very good campaigner. His campaign theme song, "[[The Sidewalks of New York]]", had little appeal among rural Americans, who also found his 'city' accent slightly foreign when heard on radio. Smith narrowly lost his home state; New York's electors were biased in favor of rural upstate and largely Protestant districts. However, in 1928, his fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt (a Protestant of Dutch old-line stock) was elected to replace him as governor of New York.<ref>Slayton 2001; Lichtman (1979)</ref> Farley left Smith's camp to run Roosevelt's successful campaign for governor in 1928, and then Roosevelt's successful campaigns for the Presidency in 1932 and 1936.

====Voter realignment====
[[File:Al Smith - Bain News Service.jpg|thumb|right|Al Smith giving a speech]]

Some political scientists believe that the 1928 election started a voter realignment that helped develop Roosevelt's [[New Deal coalition]].<ref>Degler (1964)</ref> One political scientist said, "...not until 1928, with the nomination of Al Smith, a northeastern reformer, did Democrats make gains among the urban, blue-collar and Catholic voters who were later to become core components of the New Deal coalition and break the pattern of minimal class polarization that had characterized the [[Fourth Party System]]."<ref>Lawrence (1996) p 34.</ref> However, historian [[Allan Lichtman]]'s quantitative analysis suggests that the 1928 results were based largely on religion and are not a useful barometer of the voting patterns of the New Deal era.<ref>Lichtman (1976)</ref>

Lichtman notes that the sole defining issue of the election was anti-Catholicism, which radically realigned states' voting patterns. States that had never voted Republican after Reconstruction, such as Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, voted for Hoover, while Smith carried Massachusetts and Rhode Island—states that had never voted Democratic before save for 1912. Lichtman further proves this by pointing out that Smith and Hoover had very similar political views save for religion and Prohibition, and yet the 1928 election had a turnout of 57%, despite previous 1920s American elections having their turnouts below 50%.<ref name="farris" />

Christopher M. Finan (2003) says Smith is an underestimated symbol of the changing nature of American politics in the first half of the last century. He represented the rising ambitions of urban, industrial America at a time when the hegemony of rural, agrarian America was in decline, although many states had legislatures and congressional delegations biased toward rural areas due to a lack of redistricting after censuses. Smith was connected to the hopes and aspirations of immigrants, especially Catholics and Jews from eastern and southern Europe. Smith was a devout Catholic, but his struggles against religious bigotry were often misinterpreted when he fought the religiously inspired Protestant morality imposed by prohibitionists.

The 1928 election initiated a complete voter realignment of African-Americans, who overwhelmingly supported the Republican Party prior to 1928.<ref>{{cite book|last=Topping|first=Simon|title= Lincoln's Lost Legacy: The Republican Party and the African American Vote, 1928–1952|pages=11, 14–16|publisher=[[University Press of Florida]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0813032283}}</ref> Hoover sought "Southern Strategy" for the election, and sided with the segregationist [[lily-white movement|lily-white]] Republicans at the expense of the pro-civil rights [[black-and-tan faction|black and tans]].<ref name="dell">{{cite journal |last=O'Dell |first=Samuel |year=1987 |title=Blacks, the Democratic Party, and the Presidential Election of 1928: A Mild Rejoinder |publisher=Clark Atlanta University |doi=10.2307/274997 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/274997 |journal=Phylon |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=1–11|jstor=274997 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Prominent African Americans were removed from positions of leadership in the Republican Party and replaced with lily-white Republicans in order to appeal to the segregationist South, and Hoover's spokesmen in the South spoke of his commitment to [[white supremacy]].<ref name="mccarthy">{{cite journal |last=McCarthy |first=G. Michael |year=1978 |title=Smith vs. Hoover: The Politics of Race in West Tennessee|publisher=Clark Atlanta University |doi=10.2307/274510 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/274510 |journal=Phylon |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=154–168|jstor=274510 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Allan Lichtman wrote that Hoover "sought a permanent reorganization of southern Republicanism under the leadership of white racists."<ref name="dell"/> This action was taken to exploit the unpopularity of Smith in the South, as Hoover and his cabinet were "convinced that white Southern votes were more essential to a Hoover win than black ones".<ref name="mccarthy"/> Hoover assured Southern voters that he "had no intention of appointing colored men" and pledged that he had "no intention—party platform notwithstanding—of foisting off an anti-lynch law on the white South";<ref name="mccarthy"/> at the same time, Hoover heavily emphasized "his rural-Protestant roots" and appealed to the white voters' anti-urban and [[anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] sentiments, while also portraying Smith as a pro-civil rights candidate.<ref name="mccarthy"/> According to ''[[Phylon]]'', apart from the Catholics' perceived allegiance to the Pope over the United States, American anti-Catholicism was also racially motivated, as Southern Protestants "strongly opposed the church's liberal policies—particularly its uncompromising position against social and political segregation."<ref name="mccarthy"/>

Al Smith was supportive of racial equality and appointed African Americans to the New York City school system and the [[New York City Civil Service Commission]].<ref name="mccarthy"/> Major black newspapers throughout the United States such as ''[[The Chicago Defender]]'', ''[[Baltimore Afro-American]]'' and ''[[New Journal and Guide|Norfolk Journal and Guide]]'' endorsed Smith for president,<ref name="dell"/> and prominent members of the [[NAACP]] supported Smith, with [[Walter White (NAACP)|Walter Francis White]] writing that "Governor Smith is by far the best man available for the Presidency" and arguing that Smith's "nomination and election would be the greatest blow at bigotry that has ever been struck."<ref name="dell"/> Smith attracted the attention of disheartened African-American voters, as he was unpopular in the South, faced prejudice as a Catholic, and had a reputation of a "spokesman for ethnic minorities in Northern cities".<ref name="dell"/> As such, Smith's candidacy, coupled with Hoover's Southern concession, initiated abandonment of loyalty to the Republicans and embrace of the Democratic Party by African-American voters. Samuel O'Dell wrote in ''[[Phylon]]'' that 1928 black voters "bolted to the Democratic party in unprecedented numbers."<ref name="dell"/>

Smith was also known as an economic progressive, and championed progressive reforms such as a shorter workweek, [[workers' compensation]] laws, as well as health and workplace safety reforms. Many of his reforms later inspired the New Deal, even though Smith himself came to oppose the New Deal legislation.<ref name="Alter 2006 34">{{cite book |title=The defining moment: FDR's hundred days and the triumph of hope |year=2006 |publisher=Simon & Schuster, Inc. |page=34 |isbn=978-0-7432-4600-2 |first=Jonathan |last=Alter |author-link=Jonathan Alter}}</ref> A hallmark of Smith's progressivism was his support for and extensive ties to New York labor unions; Smith believed that workers need to be protected from economic exploitation, and became known for legislation that expanded the power of labor unions, enhanced safety regulations, and provided essential services such as healthcare and education to impoverished neighbourhoods and working-class communities.<ref name="far226"/> However, Smith said little about his economic progressivism on the 1928 campaign trail, as the public was largely supportive of the conservative economic vision that the incumbent Republican administration pursued, crediting it with the economic prosperity at the time.<ref>{{cite book |title=Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist |first=David |last=Farber |author-link=David Farber (historian) |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973457-3 |page=252}}</ref>

===Opposition to Roosevelt and the New Deal===
[[File:Governor Roosevelt and Al Smith.jpg|thumb|left|Franklin D. Roosevelt (left) and Smith (right) in Albany, New York]]

Smith felt slighted by Roosevelt during the latter's governorship. They became rivals in the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1932|1932 Democratic Party presidential primaries]] after Smith decided to [[Al Smith presidential campaign, 1932|run for the nomination]] against Roosevelt, the presumed favorite. At the convention, Smith's animosity toward Roosevelt was so great that he put aside longstanding rivalries to work with McAdoo and Hearst to block Roosevelt's nomination for several ballots. That coalition fell apart when Smith refused to work on finding a compromise candidate; instead, he maneuvered to become the nominee. After losing the nomination, Smith eventually campaigned for Roosevelt in 1932, giving a particularly important speech on behalf of the Democratic nominee at Boston on October 27 in which he "pulled out all the stops".<ref>J. Joseph Huthmacher, ''Massachusetts People and Politics: The Transition from Republican to Democratic Dominance and Its National Implications'' (1973), p. 248.</ref>

Smith became highly critical of Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] policies, which he deemed a betrayal of good-government progressive ideals and ran counter to the goal of close cooperation with business. Smith joined the [[American Liberty League]], an organization founded by [[conservative Democrat]]s who disapproved of Roosevelt's New Deal measures and tried to rally public opinion against the New Deal. The League published pamphlets and sponsored radio programs, arguing that the New Deal was destroying personal liberty; however, the League failed to gain support in the 1934 or 1936 elections and rapidly declined in influence. It was officially dissolved in 1940.<ref>George Wolfskill. ''The Revolt of the Conservatives: A History of the American Liberty League, 1934–1940''. (Houghton Mifflin, 1962).</ref><ref>Jordan A. Schwarz, "Al Smith in the Thirties," ''New York History'' (1964): 316–330. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23162631 in JSTOR]</ref> Smith's antipathy to Roosevelt and his policies was so great that he supported Republican presidential nominees [[Alf Landon]] in [[1936 United States presidential election|the 1936 election]] and [[Wendell Willkie]] in [[1940 United States presidential election|the 1940 election]].<ref name="Slayton 2001"/>

According to [[Jonathan Alter]], the reasons for Smith's opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal were principally personal rather than ideological. Roosevelt wronged Smith in 1931 by opposing the proposal for an unequivocal stand for repeal of Prohibition postulated by Smith and his Northern progressive wing of the party.<ref>{{cite book |title=The defining moment: FDR's hundred days and the triumph of hope |year=2006 |publisher=Simon & Schuster, Inc. |page=89 |isbn=978-0-7432-4600-2 |first=Jonathan |last=Alter |author-link=Jonathan Alter}}</ref> Moreover, many of Smith's proposals and policies from his time as governor of New York were expanded and turned into federal legislation within the New Deal, leading Smith to believe that Roosevelt stole his ideas and was taking credit for them at his expense.<ref name="Alter 2006 34"/> Speaking of Roosevelt in 1932, Smith proclaimed: "Frank Roosevelt just threw me out of a window."<ref>{{cite book |title=The defining moment: FDR's hundred days and the triumph of hope |year=2006 |publisher=Simon & Schuster, Inc. |page=67 |isbn=978-0-7432-4600-2 |first=Jonathan |last=Alter |author-link=Jonathan Alter}}</ref> Smith later abandoned his criticism of the New Deal once Roosevelt arranged for the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]] to rent space in the [[Empire State Building]], which eased Smith's financial problems. Shortly before his death in 1944, Smith changed his view of Roosevelt completely, speaking to a reporter: "He [Roosevelt] was the kindest man who ever lived, but don't get in his way."<ref>{{cite book |title=The defining moment: FDR's hundred days and the triumph of hope |year=2006 |publisher=Simon & Schuster, Inc. |page=325 |isbn=978-0-7432-4600-2 |first=Jonathan |last=Alter |author-link=Jonathan Alter}}</ref>

Although personal resentment was one factor in Smith's break with Roosevelt and the New Deal, Christopher Finan (2003) argues that Smith was consistent in his beliefs and politics, suggesting that Smith always believed in social mobility, economic opportunity, religious tolerance, and individualism. Historian David Farber argues that while Smith was always a "firm believer in the use of government to right wrongs", his vision was ultimately based on decentralizing power to the states and local communities, which would have pursued public ownership and economic interventionism on the local and regional level. Smith was also far less supportive of direct federal intervention, on which "he was ambivalent, even uncertain."<ref name="Farber 2013 228"/> Despite the break between the men, Smith and [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] remained close. In 1936, while Smith was in [[Washington, D.C.]], making a vehement radio attack on the President, she invited him to stay at the [[White House]]. To avoid embarrassing the Roosevelts, he declined. Historian Robert Slayton observes that Smith and Roosevelt did not reconcile until a brief meeting in June 1941, and he also suggests that during the early 1940s, the antipathy which Smith held toward his former ally had waned.<ref>Slayton, ''Empire Statesman'', pp. 397–398.</ref> Upon the death of Smith's wife, Katie, in May 1944, Roosevelt sent Smith a note of personal condolence. Smith's grandchildren later recalled that he was greatly touched by it.<ref>Slayton, ''Empire Statesman'', pp. 399–400.</ref>

==Business life and later years==
[[File:Babe Ruth Gov.jpg|thumb|right|Smith golfing with [[baseball]] great [[Babe Ruth]] in [[Coral Gables, Florida]], in 1930.]]
After the 1928 election, Smith became the president of Empire State, Inc., the corporation that built and operated the [[Empire State Building]]. Construction for the building symbolically began on March 17, 1930, [[St. Patrick's Day]], per Smith's instructions. Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon when the world's tallest skyscraper opened on May 1, 1931, which was [[May Day]], an international labor celebration. Its construction had been completed in only 13 months, a record for such a large project.

As with the [[Brooklyn Bridge]], which Smith had seen being built from his Lower East Side boyhood home, the Empire State Building was both a vision and an achievement that had been constructed by combining the interests of all, rather than being divided by the interests of a few.  Smith continued to promote the Empire State Building, which was derided as the "Empty State Building" due to a lack of tenants, in the years following its construction.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/new-york/new-york-city/attractions.html |title=NYT Travel: Empire State Building |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019094149/http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/new-york/new-york-city/attractions.html |archive-date=October 19, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A Renters' Market in London |first=Adam |last=Smith |url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1833243,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819192152/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1833243,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 19, 2008 |magazine=Time |date=August 18, 2008 |access-date=July 10, 2010}}</ref>

In 1929, Smith was awarded the [[Laetare Medal]] by the [[University of Notre Dame]], considered the most prestigious award for [[American Catholics]].<ref>{{cite web  |title=Recipients |url=https://laetare.nd.edu/recipients/#info1929|website=The Laetare Medal|publisher=University of Notre Dame |access-date=31 July 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Al Smith and Charles Francis Adams III.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Smith (right) with [[Charles Francis Adams III]] in December 1929, during his time as director of Empire State, Inc.]]

In 1929 Smith was elected President of the Board of Trustees of the [[History of the New York State College of Forestry|New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University]].<ref>Reznikoff, Charles, ed. 1957. ''Louis Marshall: Champion of Liberty. Selected Papers and Addresses''. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, p. 1123.</ref> Knowing his fondness for animals, in 1934 Robert Moses made Al Smith the Honorary Night Zookeeper of the newly renovated [[Central Park Zoo]]. Though a ceremonial title, Smith was given keys to the zoo and often took guests to see the animals after hours.<ref>{{Cite Power Broker}}</ref>

Smith was an early and vocal critic of the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] regime in [[Germany]]. He supported the [[Anti-Nazi boycott of 1933]] and addressed a mass-meeting at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]] against [[Nazism]] that March.<ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1933/03/28/archives/35000-jam-streets-outside-the-garden-solid-lines-of-police-hard.html "35,000 JAM STREETS OUTSIDE THE GARDEN; Solid Lines of Police Hard Pressed to Keep Overflow Crowds From Hall. AREA BARRED TO TRAFFIC Mulrooney Takes Command to Avoid Roughness – 3,000 at Columbus Circle Meeting. 35,000 IN STREETS OUTSIDE GARDEN"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 28, 1933. Accessed June 7, 2017.</ref> His speech was included in the 1934 anthology ''Nazism: An Assault on Civilization''.<ref>Pierre van Paasen and James Waterman Wise, eds., ''Nazism: An Assault on Civilization'' (New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1934), pp. 306–310.</ref> In 1938, Smith took to the airwaves to denounce Nazi brutality in the wake of ''[[Kristallnacht]]''. His words were published in ''The New York Times'' article "Text of the Catholic Protest Broadcast" of November 17, 1938.<ref>David M. Kennedy, ''Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) {{ISBN|9780199743827}}</ref><ref>Slayton, ''Empire Statesman'', p. 391.</ref>

Like most New York City businessmen, Smith enthusiastically supported American military involvement in [[World War II]]. Although he was not asked by Roosevelt to play any role in the war effort, Smith was an active and vocal proponent of FDR's attempts to amend the [[Neutrality Acts of 1930s|Neutrality Act]] in order to allow [[Cash and carry (World War II)|"Cash and Carry"]] sales of war equipment to be made to the [[British Empire in World War II|British]]. Smith spoke on behalf of the policy in October 1939, to which FDR responded directly: "Very many thanks. You were grand."<ref>Slayton, ''Empire Statesman'', pp. 391–392.</ref>

In 1939, Smith was appointed a [[Papal Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape]], one of the highest honors which the Papacy bestowed on a layman.

Smith died at the [[Rockefeller Institute Hospital]] on October 4, 1944, of a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]], at the age of 70. He had been broken-hearted over the death of his wife from [[cancer]] five months earlier, on May 4, 1944.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alfred E. Smith Dies Here at 70; 4 Times Governor—End Comes After a Sudden Relapse Following Earlier Turn for the Better—Ran For President in '28—His Rise From Newsboy and Fishmonger Had No Exact Parallel in U.S. History|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1230.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=July 28, 2011|date=October 4, 1944|page=1}}</ref> He was funeralized at [[St. Patrick's Cathedral (New York City)|St. Patrick's Cathedral]] and is interred at [[Calvary Cemetery (Queens)|Calvary Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/laborhall/2006_smith.htm |title=U.S. Department of Labor – Labor Hall of Fame – Alfred E. Smith |publisher=dol.gov |access-date=June 17, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217010256/http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/laborhall/2006_smith.htm |archive-date=February 17, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1944-10-08 |title=35,000 Outside Cathedral In Tribute at Smith Funeral; THE FINAL TRIBUTE TO ALFRED EMANUEL SMITH 35,000 IN 5TH AVE. FOR SMITH FUNERAL |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/10/08/archives/35000-outside-cathedral-in-tribute-at-smith-funeral-the-final.html |access-date=2025-06-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
On May 6, 1900, Al Smith married Catherine Ann Dunn, with whom he had five children.<ref name="Slayton 2001" /> He was a devout [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].

[[File:Governor Al Smith Gravesite.jpg|thumb|The gravesite of Governor Smith at Calvary Cemetery]]

==Legacy==
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2021}}
Buildings and other landmarks named after Smith include the following:

* [[Alfred E. Smith Building]], a 1928 skyscraper in [[Albany, New York]];
* [[Alfred E. Smith Houses|Governor Alfred E. Smith Houses]], a public housing development in [[Lower Manhattan]] near his birthplace;
* Governor Alfred E. Smith Park, a playground in the [[Two Bridges, Manhattan|Two Bridges]] neighborhood in Manhattan near his birthplace;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alfred E. Smith Playground : NYC Parks |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/alfred-e-smith-playground |access-date=2025-08-14 |website=www.nycgovparks.org}}</ref>
* Happy Warrior Playground (named for Smith's nickname), a playground in the [[Upper West Side]] of [[Manhattan]];<ref>{{Cite web |title=Happy Warrior Playground : NYC Parks |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/happy-warrior-playground |access-date=2025-08-14 |website=www.nycgovparks.org}}</ref>
* [[Governor Alfred E. Smith (fireboat)|Governor Alfred E. Smith]], a former front line and current reserve [[fireboat]] in the [[New York City Fire Department]] fleet;
* Governor Alfred E. Smith [[Sunken Meadow State Park]], a state park in the [[Administrative divisions of New York#Town|Town]] of [[Smithtown, New York|Smithtown]], [[Suffolk County, New York|Suffolk County]];
* Alfred E. Smith Recreation Center, a youth activity center in the Two Bridges neighborhood, Manhattan;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alfred E. Smith Recreation Center : NYC Parks |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/recreationcenters/M194 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=www.nycgovparks.org}}</ref>
* PS 163 Alfred E. Smith School, a school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan;<ref>{{Cite web |title=P.S. 163 Alfred E. Smith |url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M163 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250618103426/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M163 |archive-date=June 18, 2025 |access-date=2025-08-14 |website=web |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>
* PS 1 Alfred E. Smith School, a school in Manhattan's Chinatown;<ref>{{Cite web |title=P.S. 001 Alfred E. Smith |url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M001 |access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>
* [[Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School]] in the South Bronx;
* [[Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner]], a fundraiser held for [[Catholic charities]] and a stop on the presidential campaign trail;
* Smith Hall, a residence hall at Hinman College, [[Binghamton University]];
* Smith Hall, a residence hall at [[Farmingdale State College]]; and
* [[Camp Smith (New York)|Camp Smith]], a state-owned military installation of the New York Army National Guard in Cortlandt Manor near Peekskill, New York, about {{convert|30|mi|km}} north of New York City, at the northern border of Westchester County, consisting of {{convert|1900|acre|km2}}.

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===Popular culture and commemorations===
[[File:Alfred E Smith, 1944 issue.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The US Government issued a [[commemorative stamp]] honoring Albert E. Smith, issued in 1944]]
[[File:He's Our Al (1928 sheet music).pdf|thumb|Sheet music for ''He's Our Al'' (1928)]]
* Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt were filmed by [[Lee de Forest]] in his DeForest [[Phonofilm]] [[sound-on-film]] process during the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which ran from June 21 to July 9. This film is now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the [[Library of Congress]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7vwCQAAQBAJ&q=maurice+zouary+collection+roosevelt&pg=PA16|title=The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926–1931|last=Bradley|first=Edwin M.|date=2015-06-14|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476606842|pages=16|language=en}}</ref>
* In Sinclair Lewis' 1928 novel ''[[The Man Who Knew Coolidge]]'', Smith is cited as an example of the opportunities "in this new and increasingly practical America for any bright fellow today!" <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/manwhoknewcoolid0000lewi|url-access=registration|title=The Man who Knew Coolidge: Being the Soul of Lowell Schmaltz, Constructive and Nordic Citizen|last=Lewis|first=Sinclair|date=1928|publisher=Harcourt, Brace|pages=[https://archive.org/details/manwhoknewcoolid0000lewi/page/269 269]|language=en}}</ref>
* A song entitled "''He's Our Al''" was dedicated for Smith in 1928, written by A. Seymour Brown and Albert Von Tilzer.
* The [[Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner|Al Smith Dinner]], first held in 1945 by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, is an annual dinner to raise funds for Catholic charities in [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York|New York]]. It was typically attended by presidential candidates for much of the 20th century; however, it has become less influential in modern times.<ref name="Dinner">{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Jonathan |title=Kamala Harris to skip Al Smith dinner, a traditional event for major presidential candidates |url=https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-al-smith-dinner-109cbfcdb2693c960483b8d4843cd704 |agency=The Associated Press |date=21 September 2024}}</ref>
* In [[Harry Turtledove]]'s [[alternate history]] ''[[Southern Victory]]'' series, in which the [[Confederate States of America]] wins the [[American Civil War]] in 1862, Al Smith is elected President of the United States in 1936 on the Socialist Party ticket, defeating Democratic incumbent Herbert Hoover. As per the Richmond Agreement with Confederate President Jake Featherston, he allowed plebiscites to be held in the states of Kentucky, [[State of Sequoyah|Sequoyah]] and Houston on re-admittance to the Confederacy; the rejection of readmittance in Sequoyah serves as a casus belli for the [[Settling Accounts|Second Great War]] in North America (1941–1944). Smith serves until 1942, when he is killed in a bombing raid on the [[Powel House]] in Philadelphia and is succeeded by his Vice President Charles W. La Follette (the fictional son of [[Robert M. La Follette]]).
* Smith was portrayed by [[Alan Bunce]] in the 1960 film ''[[Sunrise at Campobello]]'', and by [[Wilbur Fitzgerald]] in HBO's 2005 TV-movie ''[[Warm Springs (film)|Warm Springs]]''. Both of these movies focus on Franklin D. Roosevelt's struggle with polio.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/29/archives/review-1-no-title-sunrise-at-campobello-opens-at-the-palace.html|title=Review 1 – No Title:' Sunrise at Campobello' Opens at the Palace|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|date=1960-09-29|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-18|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Electoral history==
{{anchor|1918_election}}

===New York gubernatorial elections, 1918–1926===
{| class=wikitable
|+''' 1918 General election results'''<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/12/31/97057956.pdf "Election result"], ''The New York Times'', 31 December 1918</ref>

|- style="background:lightgrey"
! Governor candidate
! [[Running mate|Running Mate]]
! Party
! colspan="2"| Popular Vote

|-
| '''[[Alfred E. Smith]]'''
| '''[[Harry C. Walker]]'''
| '''[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''1,009,936'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''(47.37%)'''

|-
| [[Charles S. Whitman]]
| [[Edward Schoeneck]] (Republican),<br />Mamie W. Colvin (Prohibition)
| [[United States Republican Party|Republican]],<br />[[Prohibition Party|Prohibition]]
| style="text-align:right" | 995,094
| style="text-align:right" | (46.68%)

|-
| Charles Wesley Ervin
| [[Ella Reeve Bloor]]
| [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]]
| style="text-align:right" | 121,705
| style="text-align:right" | (5.71%)

|-
| [[Olive Johnson|Olive M. Johnson]]
| August Gillhaus
| [[Socialist Labor Party|Socialist Labor]]
| style="text-align:right" | 5,183
| style="text-align:right" | (0.24%)

|}
{{anchor|1920_election}}
{| class=wikitable
|+''' 1920 General election results'''

|- style="background:lightgrey"
! Governor candidate
! [[Running mate|Running Mate]]
! Party
! colspan="2"| Popular Vote

|-
| '''[[Nathan L. Miller]]'''
| '''[[Jeremiah Wood]]'''
| '''[[United States Republican Party|Republican]]'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''1,335,878'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''(46.58%)'''

|-
| [[Alfred E. Smith]]
| George R. Fitts
| [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:right" | 1,261,812
| style="text-align:right" | (44.00%)

|-
| [[Joseph D. Cannon]]
| [[Jessie Wallace Hughan]]
| [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]]
| style="text-align:right" | 159,804
| style="text-align:right" | (5.57%)

|-
| [[Dudley Field Malone]]
|
| [[Farmer-Labor Party|Farmer-Labor]]
| style="text-align:right" | 69,908
| style="text-align:right" | (2.44%)

|-
| George F. Thompson
| Edward G. Deltrich
| [[Prohibition Party|Prohibition]]
| style="text-align:right" | 35,509
| style="text-align:right" | (1.24%)

|-
| John P. Quinn
|
| [[Socialist Labor Party|Socialist Labor]]
| style="text-align:right" | 5,015
| style="text-align:right" | (0.17%)

|}
* [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/09/13/107001378.pdf List of candidates], ([[.pdf]]) in ''[[The New York Times]]'' of September 13, 1920

{{anchor|1922_election}}
{| class=wikitable
|+''' 1922 General election results'''

|- style="background:lightgrey"
! Governor candidate
! [[Running mate|Running Mate]]
! Party
! colspan="2"| Popular Vote

|-
| '''[[Alfred E. Smith]]'''
| '''[[George R. Lunn]]'''
| '''[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''1,397,670'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''(55.21%)'''

|-
| [[Nathan L. Miller]]
| [[William J. Donovan]]
| [[United States Republican Party|Republican]]
| style="text-align:right" | 1,011,725
| style="text-align:right" | (39.97%)

|-
| [[Edward F. Cassidy]]
| Theresa B. Wiley
| [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]],<br />[[Farmer-Labor Party|Farmer-Labor]]
| style="text-align:right" | 109,119
| style="text-align:right" | (4.31%)

|-
| George K. Hinds
| William C. Ramsdell
| [[Prohibition Party|Prohibition]]
| style="text-align:right" | 9,499
| style="text-align:right" | (0.38%)

|-
| Jeremiah D. Crowley
| John E. DeLee
| [[Socialist Labor Party|Socialist Labor]]
| style="text-align:right" | 9,499
| style="text-align:right" | (0.38%)

|}

{{anchor|1924_election}}
{| class=wikitable
|+''' 1924 General election results'''

|- style="background:lightgrey"
! Governor candidate
! [[Running mate|Running Mate]]
! Party
! colspan="2"| Popular Vote

|-
| '''[[Alfred E. Smith]]'''
| [[George R. Lunn]]
| '''[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''1,627,111'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''(49.96%)'''

|-
| [[Theodore Roosevelt Jr.]]
| '''[[Seymour Lowman]]'''
| [[United States Republican Party|Republican]]
| style="text-align:right" | 1,518,552
| style="text-align:right" | (46.63%)

|-
| [[Norman Thomas|Norman Mattoon Thomas]]
| [[Charles Solomon (politician)|Charles Solomon]]
| [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]]
| style="text-align:right" | 99,854
| style="text-align:right" | (3.07%)

|-
| [[James P. Cannon]]
| Franklin P. Brill
| [[Workers Party of America|Workers]]
| style="text-align:right" | 6,395
| style="text-align:right" | (0.20%)

|-
| Frank E. Passonno
| Milton Weinberger
| [[Socialist Labor Party|Socialist Labor]]
| style="text-align:right" | 4,931
| style="text-align:right" | (0.15%)

|}

{{anchor|1926_election}}
{| class=wikitable
|+''' 1926 General election results'''

|- style="background:lightgrey"
! Governor candidate
! [[Running mate|Running Mate]]
! Party
! colspan="2"| Popular Vote

|-
| '''[[Alfred E. Smith]]'''
| '''[[Edwin Corning]]'''
| '''[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''1,523,813'''
| style="text-align:right" | '''(52.13%)'''

|-
| [[Ogden L. Mills]]
| [[Seymour Lowman]]
| [[United States Republican Party|Republican]]
| style="text-align:right" | 1,276,137
| style="text-align:right" | (43.80%)

|-
| [[Jacob Panken]]
| [[August Claessens]]
| [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]]
| style="text-align:right" | 83,481
| style="text-align:right" | (2.87%)

|-
| Charles E. Manierre
| Ella McCarthy
| [[Prohibition Party|Prohibition]]
| style="text-align:right" | 21,285
| style="text-align:right" | (0.73%)

|-
| [[Benjamin Gitlow]]
| Franklin P. Brill
| [[Workers Party of America|Workers]]
| style="text-align:right" | 5,507
| style="text-align:right" | (0.19%)

|-
| Jeremiah D. Crowley
| John E. DeLee
| [[Socialist Labor Party|Socialist Labor]]
| style="text-align:right" | 3,553
| style="text-align:right" | (0.12%)

|}

===United States presidential election, 1928===

{{start U.S. presidential ticket box| pv_footnote=| ev_footnote=}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row
| name=[[Herbert Hoover]]
| party=[[United States Republican Party|Republican]]
| state=California
| pv=21,427,123
| pv_pct=58.2%
| ev=444
| vp_name=[[Charles Curtis]]
| vp_state=[[Kansas]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row
| name=Alfred E. Smith
| party=[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]
| state=New York
| pv=15,015,464
| pv_pct=40.8%
| ev=87
| vp_name=[[Joseph Taylor Robinson]]
| vp_state=[[Arkansas]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row
| name=[[Norman Thomas]]
| party=[[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]]
| state=New York
| pv=267,478
| pv_pct=0.7%
| ev=0
| vp_name=[[James H. Maurer]]
| vp_state=[[Pennsylvania]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row
| name=[[William Z. Foster]]
| party=[[Communist Party USA|Communist]]
| state=[[Illinois]]
| pv=48,551
| pv_pct=0.1%
| ev=0
| vp_name=[[Benjamin Gitlow]]
| vp_state=New York}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box other
| footnote=
| pv=48,396
| pv_pct=0.1%}}
{{end U.S. presidential ticket box
| pv=36,807,012
| ev=531
| to_win=266}}
* '''Source (Popular Vote):''' {{Leip PV source 2|year=1928| as of=July 28, 2005}}
* '''Source (Electoral Vote):''' {{National Archives EV source|year=1928| as of=July 28, 2005}}

==Works==
*''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)

==See also==
* [[Alfred E. Smith IV]], Smith's great-grandson
* [[List of covers of Time magazine (1920s)|List of covers of ''Time'' magazine (1920s)]]
* [[Al Smith presidential campaign, 1928]]
* [[Al Smith presidential campaign, 1932]]
* [[J. Raymond Jones]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{reflist|"Smith to Talk Oct. 23." The New York Times 10 Oct. 1940, XC ed., sec. 30210: 17. Print.=|"Smith Says Roosevelt Aroused Spirit of Class Hatred in Nation." The New York Times 24 Oct. 1940, XC ed., sec. 30224: 1–18. Print.=}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|35em}}
*BAUMAN, MARK K. “Prohibition and Politics: Warren Candler and Al Smith’s 1928 Campaign.” The Mississippi Quarterly 31, no. 1 (1977): 109–17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26474327.
* Bornet, Vaughn Davis. ''Labor Politics in a Democratic Republic: Moderation, Division, and Disruption in the Presidential Election of 1928'' (1964) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=97604804 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604230041/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=97604804 |date=June 4, 2011 }}
* Chiles, Robert. "School Reform As Progressive Statecraft: Education Policy In New York Under Governor Alfred E. Smith, 1919–1928." ''Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era'' 15.4 (2016): 379–398.
* Chiles, Robert. "Working-Class Conservationism in New York: Governor Alfred E. Smith and 'The Property of the People of the State'" ''Environmental History'' (2013) 18#1 pp: 157–183.
*[https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100831140 Chiles, Robert. 2018. ''The Revolution of '28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal''. Cornell University Press.]
* Colburn, David R. "Governor Alfred E. Smith and the Red Scare, 1919–20," ''Political Science Quarterly'', vol. 88, no. 3 (Sept. 1973), pp.&nbsp;423–444. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2148992 In JSTOR].
* Craig, Douglas B. ''After Wilson: The Struggle for Control of the Democratic Party, 1920–1934'' (1992) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=10806989 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604230111/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=10806989 |date=June 4, 2011 }} see Chap. 6 "The Problem of Al Smith" and Chap. 8 "'Wall Street Likes Al Smith': The Election of 1928"
*Curtis, Finbarr. “The Fundamental Faith of Every True American: Secularity and Institutional Loyalty in Al Smith’s 1928 Presidential Campaign.” The Journal of Religion 91, no. 4 (2011): 519–44. https://doi.org/10.1086/660925.
* {{cite journal
 |last=Degler
 |first=Carl N.
 |year=1964
 |title=American Political Parties and the Rise of the City: An Interpretation
 |journal=Journal of American History
 |volume=51
 |issue=1
 |pages=41–59
 |doi=10.2307/1917933
 |jstor=1917933}}
* {{cite book
 |last=Eldot
 |first=Paula
 |title=Governor Alfred E. Smith: The Politician as Reformer
 |url=https://archive.org/details/governoralfredes0000eldo
 |url-access=registration
 |year=1983
 |publisher=Garland
 |isbn=0-8240-4855-5
 }}
* {{cite book
 |last=Finan
 |first=Christopher M.
 |title=Alfred E. Smith: The Happy Warrior
 |year=2003
 |publisher=Hill and Wang
 |isbn=0-8090-3033-0
 |url=https://archive.org/details/alfredesmithhapp00fina
 }}
* Garrett, Charles. (1961). ''The La Guardia Years: Machine and Reform Politics in New York City''. New Brunswick, NJ: [[Rutgers University Press]].
* {{cite book
 |last=Handlin
 |first=Oscar
 |title=Al Smith and His America
 |url=https://archive.org/details/alsmithhisameric00hand
 |url-access=registration
 |year=1958
 |publisher=Little, Brown
 }}
* {{cite journal
 |last=Hostetler
 |first=Michael J.
 |year=1998
 |title=Gov. Al Smith Confronts the Catholic Question: The Rhetorical Legacy of the 1928 Campaign
 |journal=Communication Quarterly
 |volume=46
 |pages=12–24
 |doi=10.1080/01463379809370081
 }}
* {{cite book
 |last=Josephson
 |first=Matthew and Hannah
 |title=Al Smith: Hero of the Cities
 |url=https://archive.org/details/alsmithheroofcit00jose
 |url-access=registration
 |year=1969
 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin
 }}
* {{cite book
 |last=Lawrence
 |first=David G.
 |title=The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority: Realignment, Dealignment, and Electoral Change from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton
 |year=1996
 |publisher=Westview Press
 |isbn=0-8133-8984-4
 }}
* {{cite book
 |last=Lichtman
 |first=Allan J.
 |title=Prejudice and the old politics: The Presidential election of 1928
 |url=https://archive.org/details/prejudiceoldpoli0000lich
 |url-access=registration
 |year=1979
 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press
 |location=Chapel Hill, NC
 |isbn=0-8078-1358-3
 |oclc=4492475
 }}
* {{cite journal
 |last=Lichtman
 |first=Allan
 |year=1976
 |title=Critical Election Theory and the Reality of American Presidential Politics, 1916–40
 |journal=The American Historical Review
 |volume=81
 |issue=2
 |pages=317–351
 |doi=10.2307/1851173
 |jstor=1851173
 }}
*Madaras, Lawrence H. “THEODORE ROOSEVELT, JR. VERSUS AL SMITH: THE NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION OF 1924.” New York History 47, no. 4 (1966): 372–90. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23162551.
* {{cite journal
 |last=Carter
 |first=Paul A.
 |year=1980
 |title=Deja Vu; Or, Back to the Drawing Board with Alfred E. Smith
 |journal=Reviews in American History
 |volume=8
 |issue=2
 |pages=272–276
 |doi=10.2307/2701129
 |jstor=2701129
 |s2cid=146565621
 }}; review of Lichtman
* {{cite book
 |last=Moore
 |first=Edmund A.
 |title=A Catholic Runs for President: The Campaign of 1928
 |year=1956
|oclc =475746
 }} [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94966769 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604230331/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94966769 |date=June 4, 2011 }}
* {{cite book
 |last=Neal
 |first=Donn C.
 |title=The World beyond the Hudson: Alfred E. Smith and National Politics, 1918–1928
 |year=1983
 |publisher=Garland
 |location=New York
 |isbn=978-0-8240-5658-2
 |page=308
 }}
* {{cite journal
 |last=Neal
 |first=Donn C.
 |year=1984
 |title=What If Al Smith Had Been Elected?
 |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly
 |volume=14
 |issue=2
 |pages=242–248
 }}
* {{cite book
 |last=Perry
 |first=Elisabeth Israels
 |title=Belle Moskowitz: Feminine Politics and the Exercise of Power in the Age of Alfred E. Smith
 |year=1987
 |page=280
 |publisher=Oxford University Press
 |isbn=0-19-504426-6
  }}
* {{cite news
 |title=Smith to Talk Oct. 23.
 |year=1940
 |page=17
 |newspaper=New York Times
  }}
* {{cite news
 |title=Smith Says Roosevelt Aroused Spirit of Class Hatred in Nation.
 |year=1940
 |pages=1, 18
 |newspaper=New York Times
  }}
* Rulli, Daniel F. "Campaigning in 1928: Chickens in Pots and Cars in Backyards," ''Teaching History: A Journal of Methods'', Vol. 31#1 pp 42+ (2006) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5014694766 online version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604230413/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5014694766 |date=June 4, 2011 }} with lesson plans for class
* Schwarz, Jordan A. "Al Smith in the Thirties." ''New York History'' (1964): 316–330. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23162631 in JSTOR]
* {{cite book
 |last=Slayton
 |first=Robert A.
 |title=Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith
 |year=2001
 |publisher=Free Press
 |isbn=978-0-684-86302-3
 |page=[https://archive.org/details/empirestatesmanr00robe/page/480 480]
 |url=https://archive.org/details/empirestatesmanr00robe/page/480
 }}, the standard scholarly biography
* Stonecash, Jeffrey M., et al. "Politics, Alfred Smith, and Increasing the Power of the New York Governor's Office." ''New York History'' (2004): 149–179. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23183295 in JSTOR]
* Sweeney, James R. "Rum, Romanism, and Virginia Democrats: The Party Leaders and the Campaign of 1928." ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 90 (October 1982): 403–31.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{EB1922 Poster|Smith, Alfred Emanuel|Al Smith}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Smith, Alfred E.|name=Alfred E. Smith|author=yes}}
* {{cite news|title=Alfred E. Smith Dies Here at 70; 4 Times Governor|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1230.html|date=October 4, 1944|work=The New York Times}}
* {{cite web|title=Happy Warrior Playground|url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=10772|work=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}}
* {{cite web|title=Governor Alfred E. Smith Park|url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=6453|work=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}}
* {{cite web|title=Al Smith|url=http://www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/smith-al.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021204051826/http://www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/smith-al.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 4, 2002|work=Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site}}
* {{cite web|title=Lost Warrior: Al Smith and the Fall of Tammany|first=Kevin C.|last=Murphy|url=http://www.kevincmurphy.com/alsmith.htm}}
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=1933-11-13_Al_Smith_Hails_End_of_Dry_Law|description="Al Smith Hails End of Dry Law, 1933/11/13 (1933)"}}
* [https://www.c-span.org/video/?164139-1/empire-statesman ''Booknotes'' interview with Robert Slayton on ''Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith'', May 13, 2001.]
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?301273-1/al-smith-presidential-contender "Al Smith, Presidential Contender"] from [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[The Contenders]]''
* [http://mcnycatablog.org/2013/07/30/alfred-e-smith-papers-1886-1945/ Finding aid for the Alfred E. Smith Papers at the Museum of the City of New York] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031232112/https://mcnycatablog.org/2013/07/30/alfred-e-smith-papers-1886-1945/ |date=October 31, 2019 }}
* [http://mcnyblog.org/2013/10/01/alfred-e-smith-the-peoples-politician/ Alfred E. Smith – The People's Politician?] from the [http://mcnyblog.org/ Museum of the City of New York Collections blog]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/016682}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-ny-hs}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Edwin Albert Merritt]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Majority Leader of the [[New York State Assembly|New York Assembly]]|years=1912}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Frank L. Young]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Minority Leader of the [[New York State Assembly|New York Assembly]]|years=1912}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Harold J. Hinman]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Harold J. Hinman]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Minority Leader of the [[New York State Assembly|New York Assembly]]|years=1914–1915}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Joseph M. Callahan]]}}
|-
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Edwin Albert Merritt]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Speaker of the New York State Assembly|Speaker of the New York Assembly]]|years=1913}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thaddeus C. Sweet]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=Frank Dowling}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[New York City Council|New York City Board of Aldermen]]|years=1917–1918}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Robert L. Moran]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Charles S. Whitman]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of New York]]|years=1919–1920}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of New York]]|years=1923–1928}}
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|-
{{s-ppo}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of New York]]|years=[[1918 New York gubernatorial election|1918]], [[1920 New York gubernatorial election|1920]], [[1922 New York gubernatorial election|1922]], [[1924 New York gubernatorial election|1924]], [[1926 New York gubernatorial election|1926]]}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after=[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[John W. Davis]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets|nominee]] for [[President of the United States]]|years=[[1928 United States presidential election|1928]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{USDemPresNominees}}
{{Unsuccessful major party pres candidates}}
{{Governors of New York}}
{{SpeakerNYAssembly}}
{{NYCCouncilSpeakers}}
{{New York State Democratic Committee}}
{{United States presidential election, 1920}}
{{United States presidential election, 1924}}
{{United States presidential election, 1928}}
{{United States presidential election, 1932}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Al}}
[[Category:Al Smith| ]]
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