Al: A Brief Run-Up
Alfred Emanuel Smith (1873-1944) was born to Catholic immigrants in a rough neighborhood on NY’s lower East Side. He identified with his Irish forebears, but in fact, he was a mixed breed. His father was working class, but strong for education, so Al was sent to St. James, a parochial school. In his early teens his father died, and Al was needed to help support the family.
For the next seven years, he worked at the Fulton Fish Market, not far from the Brooklyn Bridge that was under construction. Al would later say, that the Fulton Fish Market was his alma mater. He did some of everything, and learned about life. He was blessed with an outgoing disposition, a cheery smile, and the politician’s gift for remembering names and faces. The Democratic political bigwigs of NY’s Tammany Hall took a liking to him, and by the time he was thirty, Al was elected to the NY State Legislature.
His fellow legislators viewed the young fellow who spoke with the “dese, dems and doses” of the lower undereducated class, as a Tammany hack. Al was always a flashy dresser, and his fractured pronunciation never changed – but his efforts, diligence, native intelligence, good will and honest devotion to his constituents began to win him grudging support. And then more support.
After the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, Al Smith’s name became prominent. He was Vice Chair of a special commission that recommended and implemented dozens of new laws and regulations for worker and workplace safety. His constituents continued to re-elect him by large margins. And he, in turn, would live in their neighborhood for the rest of his life.
By the end of WWI, the street-kid from the Lower East Side was Governor of New York.
The Tenor of the Times 1920s Style
By 1920, the boys had “seen Paree,” and there was no keeping ’em down on the farm. That of course, gave rise to the Roaring 20s, with sea-changes in American morals, goals and dreams and opportunities.
When Prohibition became law of the land, the morally emancipated rejected the piety of their elders, leading to an unintended and seemingly unstoppable wave of crime. That caused the pious ones to double down on their goals, which now included war on the speakeasies and racketeers.
When Women Suffrage became law of the land, hemlines went up, corsets were trashed, hair got bobbed, lipstick was in every purse, and the gals were ready for a good time, to the consternation of their parents.
When Henry Ford priced his automobile to fit the pocketbook of every worker (around $300), the flivver became as common as a cup of coffee. Cars were everywhere.
Meanwhile the stock market was rising and the good times were rolling.
The Governor and the Aristocrat
New York was the most populous state in the union in the 1920s. Naturally its governor was (and still is) observed closely for higher political office. A NY governor who is re-elected a few times like Al Smith, was a high seed for the Presidency.
He had known the aristocratic Franklin D. Roosevelt of Hyde Park for more than a decade, when FDR served in the State Legislature and then as Asst. Secretary of the Navy. They agreed on many fronts and their relationship was invariably pleasant. Their styles however, were poles apart.
As the Democratic convention of 1924 approached, top-seeded Smith asked polio-stricken Roosevelt to place his name in nomination. FDR, whose jaunty grin belied his obvious pain and cane, actually stole the show as he introduced “The Happy Warrior.” But the convention went to 103 ballots and finally to John W. Davis of WV, who nobody ever heard of – to face incumbent Calvin Coolidge. Davis lost.
The Problems of 1928
Al Smith finally won the next Democratic nomination and was ready for 1928, but faced a formidable opponent: Herbert Hoover, of the impressive resume.
If Al Smith was a poor-boy-makes-good story, Herbert Hoover was Horatio Alger on steroids. Poor Iowa farm-boy, orphaned by ten and foster raised by family members in Oregon, Hoover worked his way through Stanford University, became a mining engineer, a millionaire by thirty, and had consulting offices in six countries by forty. During WWI, he became a mega-philanthropist whose name was known far and wide. He also served as Secretary of Commerce for eight years.
The election was a no-brainer between the affable Smith, and the reserved Hoover with the stiff collar.
Journalists of the time believed that Smith might have made a decent President, but was defeated by the Three-Ps: Prosperity, Prohibition and Prejudice.
Prosperity was indeed a way of life in 1928, when even newsboys and garage mechanics could dabble in the stock market and double their weekly wages in a month – or less. Nothing succeeds like success.
Prohibition… the fly in the ointment. Hoover was a reluctant “dry” supporter; he had been accustomed to fine wining and dining for decades. But as law of the land, he was bound to support it. Al Smith was a loud and avowed “wet.” He liked a beer. His constituents liked a beer. No two ways about it.
But the Prejudice part. As the 20s continued to roar, the Ku Klux Klan of post-Civil War notoriety had a resurgence. Al Smith was not only an Irishman, but a Catholic, in a country still deeply connected to the Protestant faith and still not crazy about the Irish. Some insisted that if Smith became President, he would be taking orders from the Pope.
And if that wasn’t enough, Al Smith was also picturesque: flashy, undereducated, and a potential embarrassment compared to the cosmopolitan heads of state around the world.
He didn’t have a chance.
Sources:
Stoddard, Henry L. – Presidential Sweepstakes: The Story of Political Conventions and Campaigns – G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1948
Troy, Gil – See How They Ran: The Changing Role of the Presidential Candidate, Free Press, 1991
ttps://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alfred_E._Smith
Presidential History Blog 
I don’t think that Smith’s religion had anything to do with the outcome of the election. In 1928 Hoover was one of the most popular people in the whole country and he was part of the successful Coolidge administration, which would associate him with the booming economy. In 1920 both parties wanted to run Hoover for president, that is how wide his popularity was. The Democrats could have run anyone, and they still would have lost.
I wonder what Smith was thinking after the stock market crashed. Did he think, “I could have done better,” or, “Thank God i’m not overseeing this mess,”?