The Revolution of ’28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal

by Robert Chiles

The Revolution of ’28 explores the career of New York governor and 1928 Democratic presidential nominee Alfred E. Smith. Robert Chiles peers into Smith’s work and uncovers a distinctive strain of American progressivism that resonated among urban, ethnic, working-class Americans in the early twentieth century. The book charts the rise of that idiomatic progressivism during Smith’s early years as a state legislator through his time as governor of the Empire State in the 1920s, before proceeding to a revisionist narrative of the 1928 presidential campaign, exploring the ways in which Smith’s gubernatorial progressivism was presented to a national audience. As Chiles points out, new-stock voters responded enthusiastically to Smith's candidacy on both economic and cultural levels. Chiles offers a historical argument that describes the impact of this coalition on the new liberal formation that was to come with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, demonstrating the broad practical consequences of Smith’s political career. In particular, Chiles notes how Smith’s progressive agenda became Democratic partisan dogma and a rallying point for policy formation and electoral success at the state and national levels. Chiles sets the record straight in The Revolution of ’28 by paying close attention to how Smith identified and activated his emergent coalition and put it to use in his campaign of 1928, before quickly losing control over it after his failed presidential bid.

Genres: Biography, Politics, History, American History

298 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly knew Al Smith as the first Catholic to get a major party nomination for the Presidency and as the man who gave Robert Moses his real first taste of power and as the patron of Belle Moskowitz. So it was nice to be able to read a book more or less devoted to him specifically. It's also got a very interesting thesis, that the election of 1928 was actually the beginning of a sea change in Democratic national strategy that paid off with the election of FDR. Smith's political life shifted from that of a Tammany Hack to significant power when he basically achieved the fusion of the progressive goals of the Settlement House movement with the Tammany political machine to drive the power of the Democratic Party beyond NYC into the whole of New York State. It was an incredible combination and one that was not easy to achieve given the strongly differing views the two groups had on government corruption and efficiency. But Smith pulled it off, and established a significant progressive record as Governor of New York, at the time the richest and most populous state in the Union.

Smith ran on this, and a message of inclusion for ethnic Catholics that had the effect of splitting the Democratic base, and indeed alienating the powerful Southern wing of the Democratic party. But the combination of statist progressivism, and ethnic outreach, became the basis of Democratic party politics really until the 2016 election when the Democrats abandoned the ethnic working class to Trump. Still, Smith lost in a landslide but the author makes a number of significant observations about the success that Smith and his message had in the depressed New England textile mill towns that were losing to competition from the Southern states. In these areas, he drove high turnout among ethnic Catholics and his progressive policy ideas really won out.

When the depression spread across the country, FDR used precisely the roadmap that Smith had used to sweep the country in 1932. The New Deal was significantly different from what Smith had proposed, but then so were the issues it was meant to address. The ethos was there, and the way in which it was sold to the American people owed much to the Smith legacy. All in all, this was an excellent and informative book.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al Smith is best remembered today as the first Catholic to win the nomination of a major political party. In doing so his campaign overcame considerable opposition from within his own prejudice-bound Democratic Party, and though he fell well short of winning the White House in 1928 he is credited with winning for them the support of the millions of ethnic voters who would go on to become an important part of the "New Deal coalition" that made the Democrats the dominant political party in America for a generation. While his appeal traditionally has been credited to their identification with his ethnic and religious background, in this book Robert Chiles makes the case that this obscures the real source of his appeal, which was the unabashedly progressive agenda he advocated in that race, one rooted in the policies he pursued throughout his career in New York politics.

As Chiles explains, Smith was drawn to progressivism through his interactions with settlement house activists in New York City in the 1910s. Though them he gained a greater awareness of the issues facing immigrants and urban workers, which he sought to address through government policy. As a state legislator and governor he pursued reforms on issues ranging from conservation to government efficiency, all of which were central to his platform as the Democratic presidential candidate. This won him the support of many ethnic voters, whose political identification at this time was in a state of flux. Drawn to the candidate of a party who addressed their concerns, they maintained their allegiance for his successor, Franklin Roosevelt, who drew upon much of Smith's progressive legacy when formulating the policies of his own administration during his time as president.

By highlighting Smith's progressivism, Chiles contributes both to our understanding of this important politician and his long-term impact upon American politics. In the process he also helps to explain the under-appreciated origins of a political shift that shaped the nation in which Americans live today. Together it makes for a book that no student of the era or of American political history more generally can afford to ignore.

[Bruce Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Revolution of ’28 Al Smith American Progressive, and the Coming of the New Deal by Robert Chiles (audio book 11.5 hours). As we all know from high school history classes, the phrase Tammany Hall is a synonym for absolute political corruption. (For the record, I tend to think of myself as relatively well-read in American history, but every time I stumble upon a book like this one about New York politician Al Smith, I realize (again) how little I know.) If you’ve not heard of Tammany Hall, it was a New York Democratic political machine that wielded considerable clout from the mid-19th century through the early 1930s, with additional but sporadic success into the 1950s. It was known not just for power, but for corruption that is an inevitable handmaiden of political power. Al Smith was a product of Tammany Hall, serving four terms as the governor of New York before running for President in 1928 when he was soundly defeated by Herbert Hoover. What I was surprised to learn was that Mr. Smith, despite his political roots (and arguably trunk, branches, and leaves) was a Progressive in the mold of F.D.R., another New York Governor (1929 to 1932) who actually made it to the White House. Among the many things I learned, was that Smith was the first Catholic to win the Presidential nomination. Like JFK later, he faced heated and bigoted religious opposition. A sizable portion of his political base were urban working class immigrants, including many Catholics and newly enfranchised women voters. As Governor he instituted numerous social welfare programs, many of which were substantive progenitors of New Deal programs, though Chiles takes pains to deny a direct link between Smith’s programs and those enacted by F.D.R. He does not adhere to the popular belief FDRs New Deal was the direct result Smith’s work. Rather, he argues his programs and the people they served were influential but not determinative of what followed. His view of the evolution of Democratic progressives was more nuanced than what other historians have posited. What I found interesting, bordering on fascinating, was Smith’s compassionate interest in the welfare of the working poor, many of whom became the backbone of the modern Democratic Party, notwithstanding some seismic shifts in the electorate along the way. My greatest takeaway was how this remarkable politician pursued social programs that exist in one form or another to this day. Smith eventually lost a second run at the Presidency in 1932, losing to Roosevelt. Moving into the private sector, Smith evolved into a conservative who abandoned much of his earlier progressive beliefs and disassociated himself from the monumental successes of the New Deal. In doing so, he put himself on the backbench of history, at least for most of us with only a superficial understanding of Progressive politics. Bottom line: great book about an important character in American politics.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting something different when I picked up this book. I was expecting an account of the election of 1928. In this I was only half correct. This book, though it tends to ignore Hoover (even depicting him as the power behind the Harding and Coolidge administrations), it provides a good overview of the Democratic contender of 1928, Al Smith. While I was disappointed not to have a more complete picture of this contest, eventually I was able to find many excellent pieces of insight.

As governor of New York, Smith had a great record as a progressive governor, promoting enhanced conditions for industrial workers, to include banning child labor, promoting public power plants that harnessed water power, conservation, hospital and school construction. This was dismissed as SOCIALISM. This was not the first time that this word was used by Republicans without understanding its meaning, in 1896, it was bi-metalism. In 1936, it meant social security. In 1964, it was Medicare. In 2012, it was access to health care.

Smith’s economic proposals are frequently ignored in favor of the anti Catholic whispering campaign that characterized Hoover’s run for the presidency. However, despite loosing the 1928 election, Smith managed to play a hand in the political realignment that would characterize the 20th century Democratic Party.

This was Smith’s appeal to immigrant voters. It was in no small part due to Smith’s efforts that groups that had previously been reliable Republicans, switched to the Democrats for the next 50 years.

This book’s strongest chapters are 5-6 in which Professor Chiles looks at voting trends throughout New England that reveal a huge lose of faith in the declining mill towns in the GOP. Previously the Party’s stance on protection had been sufficient to keep Poles, Lithuanians, and Portuguese workers to vote Republican. However, an increasingly hardscrabble existence along with Smith’s status as a fellow Catholic served to move these groups into the Democratic Party.

While this book has many strong points, I would have liked to see more on the Republican side of this story. However, that point aside, this is a remarkable account of America’s least best understood elections.

[Andy Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's thesis is that the role of religion and culture in the 1928 election is exaggerated at the expense of the contrast of Al Smith's progressivism and Herbert Hoover's campaign of continuing the Republican laissez faire economic policies. The author, Robert Chiles does not deny that Smith's Catholic religion and cultural issues such as prohibition were factors in the campaign. However he goes back to the campaign speeches, the political ads, and newspapers at the time to show the emphasis on progressive issues, including the Republican's repeated attacks that Smith's policies were socialism. Chiles also documents Al Smith's progressive record as Governor of New York noting that he embraced that record as a blueprint for his plans for the country instead of shying away from his record. Smith's progressive accomplishments included health insurance, governmental intervention to protect worker's health and safety, increased funding for public hospitals and preventive medical care programs, conservation programs and governmental re-organization. Also documented is Al Smith's strong attacks on the KKK contrasted with Republican avoidance of the issue. That and other civil rights issues caused two electoral trends that began in 1928, the shifting of Black votes from the Republicans to Democrats and the converse cracks in the Solid South for the Democrats.
Chiles is a college professor and his book is supported by things such as statistical analysis of local elections, a result is that his book sometimes comes off as a college textbook. But this is still a great snapshot of an election the foreshadowed a lasting realignment in American politics

[Austin Lugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read quite a few books about politicians, from Caesar to LBJ, yet none are quite like this.

The revolution of 28 is concerned with one thing and one thing only: policy.

This is a rather unique take on the exploration of one of history's most interesting politicians, but at the end of the day, misses the point.

The true fascination of Al Smith isn't his policies, but rather his humble beginnings which lead to the most socialistic campaign in American history. Its the American Dream, with all its cracks and faults revealed.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

The path from the Progressive Era to the New Deal runs through Al Smith and his 1928 campaign. Herbert Hoover clobbered him the 1928 election, but Smith's campaign played a critical role in re-shaping the Democratic Party in what would become know as the New Deal or Roosevelt coalition. And Chiles totally debunks the idea that progressivism was dormant in the 1920s.

[John Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The transition from progressive era to new deal through a study of Al Smith and the 1928 election.

[Regina Gifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slim volume on Al Smith and his progressive reforms from his time as State Assemblyman (1911) through the presidential race of ’28. As a biography, it is adequate: it provides the contours of Smith’s life and rise through the Tammany machine, the social issues and events that formed his progressive agenda, and the famous advisors he surrounded himself with (Belle Moskowitz, Frances Perkins, Robert Moses, and Joseph Proskauer). The sections on Smith’s personal history and the whirlwind of progressive reforms he put in place as governor of New York are both well-researched and presented.

I thought the book lost its strength on the discussion of the 1928 campaign and its aftermath. The author’s thesis is that the presidential race redefined the electorate, changing the industrial northeast to a solid Democratic voting bloc. The data to support this thesis is presented in the final third of the book but the narrative changes from a biographical work to statistical analyses. The tone of the book changes; I found myself losing interest and skimming over the information in this section. The final section (on Smith’s later career and split from Roosevelt) returns to a biographical summary.

This book is a good (albeit brief) introduction to a fascinating period in American politics. The rise of urban politics, the political machines, the progressive reforms that Al Smith played an important historical role are all covered in this book but not to the depth I was looking for. The argument that the ‘revolution of 1928’ was the beginning (or even the biggest catalyst) of the rise in Democratic urban politics was not convincingly made – most historians can start tracing these changes to other shifts in thought and events, some of which predated Al Smith’s career. Therefore, I would recommend this book as a starting point for someone who is generally interested in subject matter but not as a definitive biography of Smith or history or urban politics in early 20th century.