Smith for President

Photograph of smith, circled by blue and white text on red, white, and blue tri-color background.

Alfred Emanuel Smith spent his life serving the state of New York and New York City in the political arena. Smith was born in New York in 1873 and died there in 1944. Smith was a four-time governor of the state. He got his first taste of politics in 1895, being assigned by political organization, "Tammany Hall," as an investigator of jurors. He would eventually gain the governorship, before briefly losing it in 1920 and gaining it back in 1923. He fought to expand housing, improve labor relations, improve child welfare, and create state parks.

Smith became the Democratic nominee and ran for President against Herbert Hoover in the 1928 election. He was the first Catholic nominee, paving the way for John F. Kennedy in the future. Smith would ultimately lose, with anti-Catholic sentiment playing a large role in his defeat. His stance against prohibition and association with the corruption of Tammany Hall did not do him any favors. He lost in a massive landslide, only securing 87 electoral votes.