Editing Al Smith (section)

===1924 presidential election===

In 1924, [[Al Smith 1924 presidential campaign|Smith unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination]] for president, advancing the cause of civil liberty by decrying [[lynching]] and racial violence. Roosevelt delivered the nominating speech for Smith at the [[1924 Democratic National Convention]] in which he saluted Smith as "the Happy Warrior of the political battlefield."<ref name="Slayton 2001" /> Smith represented the urban, east coast wing of the party as an anti-prohibition "wet" candidate, while his main rival for the nomination, President [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s son-in-law [[William Gibbs McAdoo]], a former [[Secretary of the Treasury]], stood for the more rural tradition and prohibition "dry" candidacy.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Al Smitator h |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/549669/Al-Smith |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref> The party was hopelessly split between the two. An increasingly chaotic convention balloted 100 times before both men accepted that neither would be able to win the required two-thirds of the votes, and so each withdrew. On the 103rd ballot, the exhausted party nominated the little-known candidate [[John W. Davis]] of [[West Virginia]], a former congressman and [[List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom|United States Ambassador to Great Britain]] who had been a dark horse presidential candidate in 1920. Davis lost the election by a landslide to Republican incumbent [[Calvin Coolidge]], who won in part because of the prosperous times.

Undeterred, Smith returned to fight a determined campaign for the party's nomination in 1928. He was aided by the endorsement of [[Philip La Follette]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Glad|first=Paul W.|title=The History of Wisconsin – Volume V: War, a New Era, and Depression, 1914–1940|page=321|isbn=978-0870206320|year=2013|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society }}</ref> son of 1924 [[Progressive Party (United States, 1924–1934)|Progressive Party]] presidential candidate [[Robert M. La Follette]], who died in 1925 seven months after receiving 16.62 percent of the popular vote—the fifth-highest proportion for any [[List of third party performances in United States presidential elections|third-party presidential candidate]].<ref group="note">The four higher proportions are [[Know Nothing]] former President [[Millard Fillmore]] in [[1856 United States presidential election|1856]] (21.54 percent), Southern Democrat and incumbent Vice-President [[John C. Breckinridge]] in [[1860 United States presidential election|1860]] (18.20 percent), "[[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Bull Moose]]" former President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] in [[1912 United States presidential election|1912]] (27.39 percent), and independent [[Ross Perot]] in [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]] (18.91 percent).</ref>