Forgotten Democrats - Part 2 - Al Smith

Here’s Part II of The Forgotten Democrats—a focused look at Al Smith, the New York governor who began as a centrist Democrat, Governor of New York, four-time Presidential candidate, and 1928 nominee for President, and evolved into a conservative critic of FDR.

Smith was a leader of the Progressive Era because of his efficiency-oriented, growth-promoting pro-business policies as governor. He moved from a leader of liberals in the 1920s to a leader of conservatives in the 1930s.

His name became best known a generation later for the "Al Smith dinner," a remarkable tradition beginning with JFK in 1960 by which a fancy fundraising gala for Catholic charities features the two presidential nominees dining with each other and then taking turns joking about their opponents amid laughter by the donor-attendees.

Early Life

Al Smith was born into modest circumstances on Oliver Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side—then a teeming neighborhood of Irish, German, Italian, and English immigrants. Though of mixed heritage, Smith proudly identified with the Irish Catholic community, which would later become his core political base.

Born to Alfred Emanuel Smith and Catherine Mulvihill, young Al lost his father—a Civil War veteran and small business owner—when he was just 13. With his father's death, financial pressure forced Smith to leave school at age 14 to support his family. He went to work at the bustling Fulton Fish Market, earning $12 per week, which he later called his real education. “All the learning I ever got,” he liked to say, “was at the Fulton Fish Market.”

A natural performer with a gift for public speaking, Smith also pursued amateur theater, a pastime that helped him develop the communication skills that would later define his political career. On May 6, 1900, he married Catherine A. Dunn. Together, they had five children.

Political Career: The Rise of a Reforming Democrat

Al Smith’s political life was shaped by the gritty realities of New York’s machine politics and the high ideals of progressive reform. From the beginning, Smith leaned into his working-class identity and immigrant roots, presenting himself not as a lofty ideologue but as a practical man of the people. He rose through the ranks with the support of Tammany Hall and its leader “Silent” Charlie Murphy, but unlike many who owed their careers to the machine, Smith maintained a reputation for personal integrity and legislative seriousness.

His first political post came in 1895 as a clerk in the Commissioner of Jurors office. By 1903, Smith had won a seat in the New York State Assembly, where his legislative instincts quickly became evident. After the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, Smith served as vice chair of a special commission investigating workplace safety, and he became a vocal advocate for labor protections, improved factory conditions, and workers' rights.

As Democrats took control of the state legislature, Smith’s influence grew. He became chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in 1911, Majority Leader in 1912, and Assembly Speaker in 1913. With the backing of his savvy political adviser Belle Moskowitz, Smith soon emerged as a leader of New York’s Progressive movement. His brand of reformism was grounded in real-world experience and a deep empathy for ordinary citizens.

In 1918, Smith was elected Governor of New York. Though his tenure was interrupted by a 1920 defeat, he rebounded in 1922 and was reelected twice more in 1924 and 1926. As governor, he emphasized state-level reforms: expanding workers’ compensation, building infrastructure, empowering the civil service, and working closely with allies like Robert Moses and Frances Perkins—names that would later become central in the Roosevelt administration.

Though aligned with Tammany Hall, Smith often clashed with other power brokers—especially William Randolph Hearst, the left-wing populist newspaper magnate. Smith destroyed Hearst’s political ambitions by painting him as a reckless demagogue more interested in headlines than governance. “A man as low and mean as I can picture,” Smith declared, effectively ending Hearst’s serious political aspirations.

Smith’s rhetorical style was populist, but not demagogic. He mastered both the policy details in backroom negotiations and the folksy speeches that rallied the public. His analogies were vivid, his vocabulary plain but colorful, and his political instincts razor sharp. However, he never built a lasting statewide party machine, which left the door open for Franklin D. Roosevelt to consolidate power after 1928.

Smith’s 1924 presidential bid, although unsuccessful, cemented his role as a national leader. The Democratic Convention was deeply divided over Prohibition and cultural identity. Smith, representing the urban, ethnic, “wet” faction, was opposed by the rural “dry” wing led by William Jennings Bryan and William McAdoo. The deadlock led to a compromise candidate, John W. Davis, but Roosevelt famously delivered Smith’s nomination speech, calling him “the Happy Warrior of the political battlefield.”

Smith would get his chance four years later.

The 1928 Election – A Cultural Earthquake

By 1928, Al Smith had finally secured the Democratic nomination, making history as the first Catholic ever to top a major-party presidential ticket. The campaign spotlighted three pivotal factors: Prohibition, Prejudice, and Prosperity.

1. Prohibition: A “wet” candidate, Smith called for modifying the Eighteenth Amendment that enshrined Prohibition. Yet, he often avoided taking a firm public position, trying to appease both “wet” Northern cities and “dry” rural/Southern voters.

2. Religion: As the first Catholic nominee, Smith drew intense anti–Catholic sentiment: fears of papal influence (“he’d answer to the Pope”), cross burnings by the KKK, and attacks on Tammany Hall’s graft — all fueled a backlash.

3. Prosperity: Running in the shadow of the booming 1920s, Smith was up against Herbert Hoover, the GOP’s symbol of economic stability. Hoover was seen as best equipped to continue America’s prosperity

Smith blasted Hoover directly, saying, “Let’s look at the record.” He energized Catholic urban voters and women—groups who had often sat out previous elections. His campaign theme, “The Sidewalks of New York,” and his New York accent endeared him to city-dwellers but alienated rural Americans.

Ultimately, Hoover won by a landslide. Smith carried the Deep South thanks to Joseph Robinson on the ticket, but he lost ground in rural Northern and suburban areas.

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Voter Realignment – The Long-Term Impact

Though he lost, Smith’s campaign catalyzed a seismic political shift. His appeal to urban Catholics and blue-collar workers laid the groundwork for the New Deal coalition. Political scientist Allan Lichtman noted:

“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…”

Smith’s appeal signaled the end of the Fourth Party System and heralded the urban–ethnic voting majority that would buoy FDR into the Fifth Party System.

Moving to the Right: Al Smith's Conservative Turn

By the early 1930s, things had changed. Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt—once political allies in New York—had grown distant. They clashed over style, substance, and ambition, and by 1932, both were vying for the Democratic presidential nomination. Smith felt the sting when his old enemy, William Randolph Hearst, swung his media empire behind FDR, delivering the nomination to Roosevelt.

Though Smith reluctantly campaigned for Roosevelt in 1932, his loyalty wasn’t repaid. The incoming administration offered him no post and pivoted sharply left into the New Deal era—embracing heavy federal spending, national regulation, and sweeping social programs.

For Smith, this was more than a personal slight—it was a betrayal of everything he believed in. A lifelong “good-government” progressive, he had championed clean, efficient governance and partnership with business. Now, he watched in dismay as Roosevelt piled up deficits and expanded federal power.

In 1932, Smith had warned his fellow Democrats of the danger of dividing Americans by class:

“Demagogic appeal to the masses of the working people of the country to destroy themselves by setting class against class and rich against poor.”

That same year, he quietly but firmly coalesced with other conservatives. In 1934, Smith joined the newly formed American Liberty League, a group dedicated to halting what they saw as Roosevelt’s drift toward centralization and socialism. One by one, he endorsed Republican presidential candidates—Alfred Landon in 1936 and Wendell Willkie in 1940.

Al Smith’s 1936 speech before the American Liberty League was more than political dissent—it was a searing moral rebuke of Roosevelt’s New Deal. He began by affirming his lifelong commitment to the Democratic Party:

“I was born in the Democratic Party and I expect to die in it. I was attracted to it in my youth because I was led to believe that no man owned it… but that it belonged to all the plain people in the United States.”

Smith made clear that his protest was about principle, not ambition:

“I am not a candidate for any nomination by any party at any time... There is nothing personal in this whole performance so far as I am concerned.”

His most urgent warning centered on the breakdown of constitutional balance and the rise of executive and bureaucratic overreach:

“In the name of Heaven, where is the independence of Congress?... They surrendered all of their powers to the Executive… Speaking for the rank and file of American people, we don’t want any executive to tell Congress what it must do.”

He condemned what he saw as class warfare and reckless spending:

“Permanent prosperity is dependent upon both capital and labor alike... There can be no permanent recovery upon any governmental theory of soak the rich or soak the poor.”

He called out the Roosevelt administration’s failure to honor its 1932 platform:

“The balance of the platform was thrown in the wastebasket… Get the Democratic and Socialist platforms, lay them side by side… you will put your hand on the Socialist platform. You couldn’t touch the Democratic.”

And in a stark cultural warning, he delivered this chilling contrast:

“There can be only one Capitol—Washington or Moscow. There can be only one flag—the Stars and Stripes, or the Red Flag of the godless union of the Soviet.”

Ultimately, Smith pleaded with his fellow Democrats to return to their foundational principles:

“Stop! Stop wasting your substance in a foreign land, and come back to your Father’s house.”

This speech not only symbolized Smith’s final break with the New Deal, but made him a spokesman for the conservative Democrats and classical liberals who felt betrayed by Roosevelt’s left turn. It remains one of the sharpest internal critiques of the New Deal from within the party that enacted it.

Was Smith simply bitter at being shut out? Possibly. But accounts from the time, and later historians, emphasize that Smith’s turn wasn’t driven by spite—it was consistent. He continued to champion:

• Economic mobility—he believed every man should have a shot at rising through talent and effort.

• Religious tolerance—never again would a man be punished or excluded because of faith.

• Individualism over class—Smith viewed sweeping class-based rhetoric as dangerous and divisive.

In short, Al Smith provides a compelling example of a conservative Democrat standing on principle—unwilling to abandon constitutional governance, economic empowerment, and social cohesion in exchange for party loyalty.

John W. Davis in Part I, Al Smith here in Part II—next time, our series continues digging into the lives of principled, often forgotten Democrats whose stories still resonate today.