Editing Al Smith (section)

===1928 presidential election===
{{Main|Al Smith 1928 presidential campaign}}
Reporter Frederick William Wile made the oft-repeated observation that Smith was defeated by "the three P's: Prohibition, Prejudice and Prosperity".<ref>reprinted 1977, John A. Ryan, "Religion in the Election of 1928," ''Current History'', December 1928; reprinted in Ryan, ''Questions of the Day'' (Ayer Publishing, 1977) p.91</ref> The Republican Party was still benefiting from an economic boom, as well as a failure to reapportion Congress and the electoral college following the 1920 census,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Prewitt|first=Kenneth|date=July 13, 2017|title=The 1920 Census Broke Constitutional Norms—Let's Not Repeat That in 2020|url=https://items.ssrc.org/parameters/the-1920-census-broke-constitutional-norms-lets-not-repeat-that-in-2020/|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Social Science Research Council|language=en-US}}</ref> which had registered a 15 percent increase in the urban population. The party was biased toward small-town and rural areas. Its presidential candidate [[Herbert Hoover]], who headed the Census of 1920, did little to alter this state of affairs.

Historians agree that prosperity, along with widespread anti-Catholic sentiment against Smith, made Hoover's election inevitable.<ref>William E. Leuchtenburg, ''The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–32'' (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1958) pp. 225–240.</ref> He defeated Smith by a landslide in the [[1928 United States presidential election]], carrying five Southern states via crossover voting by conservative white Democrats.<ref group="note">Since the [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement of blacks in the South]] at the turn of the century, whites had dominated voting in that region.</ref>

[[File:Goodcitizennovember1926.jpg|thumb|left|Political cartoon suggesting the Pope was the force behind Al Smith. ''[[The Good Citizen]]'', November 1926. Publisher: [[Pillar of Fire Church]], New Jersey.]]

The fact that Smith was Catholic and the descendant of Catholic immigrants was instrumental in his loss of the election of 1928.<ref name="Burner"/> Historical hostilities between Protestants and Catholics had been carried by national groups to the United States by immigrants, and centuries of Protestant domination allowed myths and superstitions about Catholicism to flourish. Long-established Protestants had viewed the waves of Catholic immigrants from [[Ireland]], [[Italy]] and [[Eastern Europe]] since the mid-19th century with suspicion. In addition, many Protestants carried old fears related to extravagant claims of one religion against the other which dated back to the [[European wars of religion]]. They feared that Smith would answer to the Pope rather than the [[United States Constitution]].

Scott Farris notes that the anti-Catholicism of the American society was the sole reason behind Smith's defeat, as even contemporary Prohibition activists would admit that their main problem with the Democratic candidate was his faith and not any political view. [[Bob Jones Sr.]], a prominent Protestant pastor in [[South Carolina]], said:{{cquote|I'll tell you, brother, that the big issue we've got to face ain't the liquor question. I'd rather see a saloon on every corner of the South than see the foreigners elect Al Smith president.<ref name="farris">{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher= Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa}}</ref>}} A Methodist newspaper in Georgia called Catholicism "a degenerate type of Christianity," while Southern Baptist newspapers ordered their readers to vote against Smith, claiming that he would close down Protestant churches, end freedom of worship and prohibit reading the Bible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa |page=137 |quote="A Methodist newspaper in Georgia called Catholicism “a degenerate type of Christianity,” while a Baptist newspaper warned that Smith, if elected, would close down all Protestant churches and end not only freedom of worship but freedom of the press as well."}}</ref> Charles Hillman Fountain, a Protestant writer, insisted that Catholics should be barred from holding any office.<ref>{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa |pages=125–126 |quote="Smith’s campaign, Catholic commentators said, would now demonstrate whether Catholics would continue to be “debarred from any share in the government they support with their blood and money,” or whether they would finally be accepted as equals. The campaign proved that many Protestants believed they should remain debarred. A general in the Army was widely quoted as stating that Catholics were fine as “cannon fodder” but one should never become commander-in-chief. Prominent Protestant minister and author Charles Hillman Fountain went further and wrote that not only was a Catholic unfit to be president, but “no Catholic should be elected to any political office.”"}}</ref> Farris states that "More disturbing than the ridiculous and the dangerous was the respectable anti-Catholicism", as contemporary newspapers and Protestant churches tried to mask their anti-Catholicism as genuine concern. Protestant activists insisted that Catholicism represents an alien culture and medieval mentality, claiming that Catholicism is incompatible with American democracy and institutions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Farris |first=Scott |year=2012 |title=Almost President: The Men Who Lost The Race But Changed The Nation |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=9780762763788 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j1OBwAAQBAJ |location=Ottawa |pages=126–137 |quote="More disturbing than the ridiculous and the dangerous was the respectable anti-Catholicism. [...] Christian Century magazine labelled Catholicism “an alien culture, of a medieval Latin mentality,” and insisted a reasonable voter could oppose Smith “not because he is a religious bigot” but because there is “a real issue between Catholicism and American institutions."}}</ref>

Catholics were portrayed as [[reactionary]] despite being more left-wing than mainstream American Protestant congregations at the time.<ref name="farris" /> [[William Allen White]], a renowned newspaper editor, warned that Catholicism would erode the moral standards of America, saying that "the whole Puritan civilization which has built a sturdy, orderly nation is threatened by Smith." While [[Herbert Hoover]] avoided raising the issue of Catholicism on the campaign trail, he defended the Protestant actions in a private letter:

{{blockquote|text=There are many people of intense Protestant faith to whom Catholicism is a grievous sin, and they have as much right to vote against a man for public office because of that belief. That is not persecution.<ref name="farris" />}}

White rural conservatives in the [[Southern United States|South]] also believed that Smith's close association with [[Tammany Hall]], the Democratic machine in Manhattan, showed that he tolerated corruption in government, while they overlooked their own brands of it. Another major controversial issue was the continuation of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], the enforcement of which was widely considered problematic. Smith personally favored the relaxation or repeal of Prohibition laws because they had given rise to more criminality. The Democratic Party split North and South on the issue, with the more rural South continuing to favor Prohibition. During the campaign, Smith tried to duck the issue with non-committal statements.<ref>Lichtman (1979);Slayton 2001</ref>

Smith was an articulate proponent of good government and efficiency, as was Hoover. Smith swept the entire Catholic vote, which in 1920 and 1924 had been split between the parties; he attracted millions of Catholics, generally ethnic whites, to the polls for the first time, especially women, who were first allowed to vote in 1920. He lost important Democratic constituencies in the rural North as well as in Southern cities and suburbs. Smith did retain the loyalty of the Deep South, thanks in part to the appeal of his running mate, Senator [[Joseph Taylor Robinson|Joseph Robinson]] from [[Arkansas]], but lost five states of the Rim South to Hoover. Smith carried the popular vote in each of America's ten most populous cities, an indication of the rising power of the urban areas and their new demographics.

Smith was not a very good campaigner. His campaign theme song, "[[The Sidewalks of New York]]", had little appeal among rural Americans, who also found his 'city' accent slightly foreign when heard on radio. Smith narrowly lost his home state; New York's electors were biased in favor of rural upstate and largely Protestant districts. However, in 1928 his fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt (a Protestant of Dutch old-line stock) was elected to replace him as governor of New York.<ref>Slayton 2001; Lichtman (1979)</ref> Farley left Smith's camp to run Roosevelt's successful campaign for governor in 1928, and then Roosevelt's successful campaigns for the Presidency in 1932 and 1936.

====Voter realignment====
[[File:Al Smith - Bain News Service.jpg|thumb|right|Al Smith giving a speech]]

Some political scientists believe that the 1928 election started a voter realignment that helped develop Roosevelt's [[New Deal coalition]].<ref>Degler (1964)</ref> One political scientist said, "...not until 1928, with the nomination of Al Smith, a northeastern reformer, did Democrats make gains among the urban, blue-collar and Catholic voters who were later to become core components of the New Deal coalition and break the pattern of minimal class polarization that had characterized the [[Fourth Party System]]."<ref>Lawrence (1996) p 34.</ref> However, historian [[Allan Lichtman]]'s quantitative analysis suggests that the 1928 results were based largely on religion and are not a useful barometer of the voting patterns of the New Deal era.<ref>Lichtman (1976)</ref>

Lichtman notes that the sole defining issue of the election was anti-Catholicism, which radically realigned states' voting patterns. States that had never voted Republican after Reconstruction such as Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia voted for Hoover, while Smith carried Massachusetts and Rhode Island—states that had never voted Democratic before save for 1912. Lichtman further proves this by pointing out that Smith and Hoover had very similar political views save for religion and Prohibition, and yet the 1928 election had a turnout of 57%, despite previous 1920s American elections having their turnouts below 50%.<ref name="farris" />

Christopher M. Finan (2003) says Smith is an underestimated symbol of the changing nature of American politics in the first half of the last century. He represented the rising ambitions of urban, industrial America at a time when the hegemony of rural, agrarian America was in decline, although many states had legislatures and congressional delegations biased toward rural areas because of lack of redistricting after censuses. Smith was connected to the hopes and aspirations of immigrants, especially Catholics and Jews from eastern and southern Europe. Smith was a devout Catholic, but his struggles against religious bigotry were often misinterpreted when he fought the religiously inspired Protestant morality imposed by prohibitionists.

The 1928 election initiated a complete voter realignment of African-Americans, who overwhelmingly supported the Republican Party prior to 1928.<ref>{{cite book|last=Topping|first=Simon|title= Lincoln's Lost Legacy: The Republican Party and the African American Vote, 1928–1952|pages=11, 14–16|publisher=[[University Press of Florida]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0813032283}}</ref> Hoover sought "Southern Strategy" for the election, and sided with the segregationist [[lily-white movement|lily-white]] Republicans at the expense of the pro-civil rights [[black-and-tan faction|black and tans]].<ref name="dell">{{cite journal |last=O'Dell |first=Samuel |year=1987 |title=Blacks, the Democratic Party, and the Presidential Election of 1928: A Mild Rejoinder |publisher=Clark Atlanta University |doi=10.2307/274997 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/274997 |journal=Phylon |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=1–11|jstor=274997 }}</ref> Prominent African Americans were removed from positions of leadership in the Republican Party and replaced with lily-white Republicans in order to appeal to the segregationist South, and Hoover's spokesmen in the South spoke of his commitment to white supremacy.<ref name="mccarthy">{{cite journal |last=McCarthy |first=G. Michael |year=1978 |title=Smith vs. Hoover: The Politics of Race in West Tennessee|publisher=Clark Atlanta University |doi=10.2307/274510 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/274510 |journal=Phylon |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=154–168|jstor=274510 }}</ref> Allan Lichtman wrote that Hoover "sought a permanent reorganization of southern Republicanism under the leadership of white racists."<ref name="dell"/> This action was taken to exploit the unpopularity of Smith in the South, as Hoover and his cabinet were "convinced that white Southern votes were more essential to a Hoover win than black ones".<ref name="mccarthy"/> Hoover assured Southern voters that he "had no intention of appointing colored men" and pledged that he had "no intention—party platform notwithstanding—of foisting off an anti-lynch law on the white South";<ref name="mccarthy"/> at the same time, Hoover heavily emphasized "his rural-Protestant roots" and appealed to the white voters' anti-urban and [[anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] sentiments, while also portraying Smith as a pro-civil rights candidate.<ref name="mccarthy"/> According to ''[[Phylon]]'', apart from the Catholics' perceived allegiance to the Pope over the United States, American anti-Catholicism was also racially motivated, as Southern Protestants "strongly opposed the church's liberal policies—particularly its uncompromising position against social and political segregation."<ref name="mccarthy"/>

Al Smith was supportive of racial equality and appointed African Americans to the New York City school system and civil service commission.<ref name="mccarthy"/> Major black newspapers throughout the United States such as ''[[The Chicago Defender]]'', ''[[Baltimore Afro-American]]'' and ''[[New Journal and Guide|Norfolk Journal and Guide]]'' endorsed Smith for president,<ref name="dell"/> and prominent members of the [[NAACP]] supported Smith, with [[Walter White (NAACP)|Walter Francis White]] writing that "Governor Smith is by far the best man available for the Presidency" and arguing that Smith's "nomination and election would be the greatest blow at bigotry that has ever been struck."<ref name="dell"/> Smith attracted the attention of disheartened African-American voters, as he was unpopular in the South, faced prejudice as a Roman Catholic, and had a reputation of a "spokesman for ethnic minorities in Northern cities".<ref name="dell"/> As such, Smith's candidacy, coupled with Hoover's Southern concession, initiated abandonment of loyalty to the Republicans and embrace of the Democratic Party by African-American voters. Samuel O'Dell wrote in ''[[Phylon]]'' that 1928 black voters "bolted to the Democratic party in unprecedented numbers."<ref name="dell"/>

Smith was also known as an economic progressive, and championed progressive reforms such as a shorter workweek, [[workers' compensation]] laws, as well as health and workplace safety reforms. Many of his reforms later inspired the New Deal, even though Smith himself came to oppose the New Deal legislation.<ref name="Alter 2006 34">{{cite book |title=The defining moment: FDR's hundred days and the triumph of hope |year=2006 |publisher=Simon & Schuster, Inc. |page=34 |isbn=978-0-7432-4600-2 |first=Jonathan |last=Alter |author-link=Jonathan Alter}}</ref> A hallmark of Smith's progressivism was his support for and extensive ties to New York labor unions; Smith believed that workers need to be protected from economic exploitation, and became known for legislation that expanded the power of labor unions, enhanced safety regulations, and provided essential services such as healthcare and education to impoverished neighbourhoods and working-class communities.<ref name="far226"/> However, Smith said little about his economic progressivism on the 1928 campaign trail, as the public was largely supportive of the conservative economic vision that the incumbent Republican administration pursued, crediting it with the economic prosperity at the time.<ref>{{cite book |title=Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist |first=David |last=Farber |author-link=David Farber (historian) |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973457-3 |page=252}}</ref>