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Al Smith: Hero of the Cities; A Political Portrait Drawing on the Papers of Frances Perkins
Freshly examined and balanced if admiring account of Smith, his background, political development from ward politician to New York governor and presidential candidate, legislative and administrative contributions, unhappy close of his political career, and his person and personality.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 31, 2022
Robert Caro should have written about Al Smith in place of Robert Moses. NYC would be a better place.
March 25, 2019
The first candidate to come from the big city. Alfred E. Smith was an urban populist who rose to become governor of the largest state in the nation at that time. He was the first Roman Catholic to
run for president. He ran in 1928 against Herbert Hoover and sadly ran up against the national sugar
high that was the Roaring 20s and the anti-Catholic attitudes prevalent in so much of the country.
The book by the husband and wife team of Matthew and Hannah Josephson and they took up the slack
from former Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins who started the project. Perkins first met Smith when she was a young social worker and he a member of the NYS Assembly. She testified and he was
part of the legislative committee that investigated the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in 1911. She served in the Smith administration and the Roosevelt administrations and of course was
FDR's Secretary of Labor. When the two men broke in 1932 she was one of the few who stayed on good terms with both.
Smith was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and lived there his whole life up to when he
became governor. He never went to college, he became interested in politics and did what many
immigrant kids did at the time join the machine known as Tammany Hall or the New York County
Democratic Committee. His first job was at the Fulton Fish Market in his neighborhood and in those days Tammany controlled the Market and the better jobs there. When asked about his
education he always bragged on the fact his degree was FFM, Fulton Fish Market.
By 1904 Smith got the Democratic nomination for Assembly in his area which was tantamount to
election. The book goes into a lot of the problems he had being lacking in formal education as he
was. But he must have had a brilliant mind and with a little tutoring by State Senator Robert F.
Wagner and soon Smith got his sea legs in the State Legislature. In fact once he got said sea legs
Smith was a popular man and something of a raconteur. That popularity made him Speaker when
the Democrats took control in 1910.
He did a term as New York County Sheriff when that was an elected post and a year as President of
the Board of Alderman in New York City when Tammany boss Charles Murphy ran him for Governor
in 1918. In that most Republican of years, New York went against the national tide and he won
beating incumbent Charles Whitman.
Smith only served one term and was defeated in an even more Republican year of 1920 by Nathan
Miller. But he was back again in 1922 and was re-elected in 1924 and 1926. He made his first bid
for the White House in 1924 when he and William Gibbs McAdoo deadlocked the Democratic convention and John W. Davis emerged as the nominee.
One thing that Smith was always consistent on. He was the face and voice of opposition to Prohibition, the 18th amendment. As governor as a matter of policy he refused to have state police
enforce the Volstead Act. It was part of his platform when he did gain the nomination in 1928.
Smith's whole persona and identity was in office. He was at loose ends when he was no longer
governor and he and his handpicked successor Franklin D. Roosevelt saw their relationship chill.
He made a try for the nomination again in 1932 feeling he earned another shot. The convention
didn't think so. He actually opposed a lot of New Deal measures. However when the country's
concerns turned to foreign affairs and the wars starting in Europe and the Far East he backed FDR's
foreign policy all the way. There was a reconciliation of sorts with the two men before Smith
passed away in 1944.
I'm not sure how much of this book the Josephsons and how much Perkins influenced the work.
Still Al Smith is a prototype American success story and a story that we should all learn.
run for president. He ran in 1928 against Herbert Hoover and sadly ran up against the national sugar
high that was the Roaring 20s and the anti-Catholic attitudes prevalent in so much of the country.
The book by the husband and wife team of Matthew and Hannah Josephson and they took up the slack
from former Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins who started the project. Perkins first met Smith when she was a young social worker and he a member of the NYS Assembly. She testified and he was
part of the legislative committee that investigated the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in 1911. She served in the Smith administration and the Roosevelt administrations and of course was
FDR's Secretary of Labor. When the two men broke in 1932 she was one of the few who stayed on good terms with both.
Smith was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and lived there his whole life up to when he
became governor. He never went to college, he became interested in politics and did what many
immigrant kids did at the time join the machine known as Tammany Hall or the New York County
Democratic Committee. His first job was at the Fulton Fish Market in his neighborhood and in those days Tammany controlled the Market and the better jobs there. When asked about his
education he always bragged on the fact his degree was FFM, Fulton Fish Market.
By 1904 Smith got the Democratic nomination for Assembly in his area which was tantamount to
election. The book goes into a lot of the problems he had being lacking in formal education as he
was. But he must have had a brilliant mind and with a little tutoring by State Senator Robert F.
Wagner and soon Smith got his sea legs in the State Legislature. In fact once he got said sea legs
Smith was a popular man and something of a raconteur. That popularity made him Speaker when
the Democrats took control in 1910.
He did a term as New York County Sheriff when that was an elected post and a year as President of
the Board of Alderman in New York City when Tammany boss Charles Murphy ran him for Governor
in 1918. In that most Republican of years, New York went against the national tide and he won
beating incumbent Charles Whitman.
Smith only served one term and was defeated in an even more Republican year of 1920 by Nathan
Miller. But he was back again in 1922 and was re-elected in 1924 and 1926. He made his first bid
for the White House in 1924 when he and William Gibbs McAdoo deadlocked the Democratic convention and John W. Davis emerged as the nominee.
One thing that Smith was always consistent on. He was the face and voice of opposition to Prohibition, the 18th amendment. As governor as a matter of policy he refused to have state police
enforce the Volstead Act. It was part of his platform when he did gain the nomination in 1928.
Smith's whole persona and identity was in office. He was at loose ends when he was no longer
governor and he and his handpicked successor Franklin D. Roosevelt saw their relationship chill.
He made a try for the nomination again in 1932 feeling he earned another shot. The convention
didn't think so. He actually opposed a lot of New Deal measures. However when the country's
concerns turned to foreign affairs and the wars starting in Europe and the Far East he backed FDR's
foreign policy all the way. There was a reconciliation of sorts with the two men before Smith
passed away in 1944.
I'm not sure how much of this book the Josephsons and how much Perkins influenced the work.
Still Al Smith is a prototype American success story and a story that we should all learn.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews