Editing Al Smith (section)

===Governor (1919–1920, 1923–1928)===
[[File:Al Smith, governor of New York (portrait by Douglas Volk).png|thumb|left|Gubernatorial portrait of Al Smith by [[Douglas Volk]]]]

After serving in the patronage-rich job of sheriff of [[New York County, New York|New York County]] beginning in 1916, Smith was elected governor of New York in 1918 with the help of Tammany Boss [[Charles F. Murphy]] and [[James A. Farley]], who brought Smith the upstate vote.<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2015-03-17 |title=Saint Patrick and the Wearing of the Green {{!}} richardjgarfunkel.com |url=https://www.richardjgarfunkel.com/2015/03/17/saint-patrick-and-the-wearing-of-the-green/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1919, Smith gave the famous speech "A man as low and mean as I can picture",<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Penguin (Non-Classics) |isbn=0-14-028500-8 |last=MacArthur |first=Brian |title=The Penguin Book of 20th-Century Speeches |date=May 1, 2000}}</ref> making a drastic break with publisher [[William Randolph Hearst]]. Hearst, known for his notoriously sensationalist and largely left-wing position in the state Democratic Party, was the leader of its populist wing in the city. He had combined with Tammany Hall in electing the local administration, and had attacked Smith for starving children by not reducing the cost of milk.<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-532534-8 |last=Procter |first=Ben H. |title=William Randolph Hearst |page=[https://archive.org/details/williamrandolphh00benp/page/85 85] |year=2007 |url=https://archive.org/details/williamrandolphh00benp/page/85 }}</ref>

Smith lost his bid for re-election in the [[1920 New York gubernatorial election]], but was again elected governor in [[1922 New York state election|1922]], [[1924 New York state election|1924]] and [[1926 New York state election|1926]], with Farley managing his campaign. In his 1922 re-election, he embraced his position as an anti-prohibitionist. Smith offered alcohol to guests at the Executive Mansion in Albany, and repealed the state's [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] enforcement statute, the Mullan-Gage law.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lerner |first=Michael |title=Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City |url=https://archive.org/details/drymanhattanproh00lern |url-access=registration |year=2007 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-03057-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/drymanhattanproh00lern/page/239 239–240]}}</ref>

As governor, Smith became known nationally as a progressive who sought to make government more efficient and more effective in meeting social needs. Smith's young assistant [[Robert Moses]] built the nation's first state park system and reformed the civil service, later gaining appointment as [[Secretary of State of New York]]. During Smith's time in office, New York strengthened laws governing workers' compensation, women's pensions and children and women's labor with the help of [[Frances Perkins]], soon to be President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[United States Secretary of Labor|Labor Secretary]].

[[File:TIMEMagazine13Jul1925.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' cover, July 13, 1925]]