In 1928, Al Smith, “the happy warrior,” finally got to run for president. It had not been an easy road. He had been a candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1924. That year Smith and William Gibbs McAdoo, who was Woodrow Wilson’s son-in-law and a coin collector, fought it out for 100 ballots to get the nomination. After ballot 100, both of them withdrew. On the 103rd ballot, John W. Davis won the nomination. Given that the party was split so badly, it was a foregone conclusion that Davis would lose to Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, Smith won the nomination. He got a big boost from Franklin D. Roosevelt who was now crippled by polio. FDR managed to make his way to the podium, dragging his paralyzed legs, supported by braces, on a pair of crutches, to give Smith’s nominating speech. Smith had been the Governor of New York and Roosevelt would succeed him. Smith was the first Roman Catholic to be nominated for President, and it was a major issue. Many false statements were whispered about Smith’s religion, and it hurt him badly at the polls. Smith lost the popular vote to Herbert Hoover by a 58% to 41% margin and received only 87 Electoral College votes to Hoover’s 444. Here are few campaign items, starting with a birthday card that a lady named "Lillian" sent to her friend in October 1928. It included a Smith for President token. Here are both sides of the token. This token is fairly common and has a nominal value. The card makes it special. And here are two of the anti-Smith, anti-Catholic items that circulated during the 1928 presidential campaign. I guess the people who made this button ignored the fact that Catholics are Christians. And this little ditty sums up the case for the anti-Catholic bigots. In 1960, John F. Kennedy was greatly concerned about how his Catholic faith would be accepted. Many of the fears were put aside when he won the West Virginia primary against Humbert Humphrey. When I have posted pictures of this piece in the past, people have told me that it was issued as a joke. I have yet to understand the humor.
Kennedy did have some sense of humor about the religion issue, too. When the Vatican scolded him a bit for supporting separation of church and state during his 1960 campaign, he wryly commented, "Now I understand why Henry VIII started his own church."
Ya ever listen to recordings of Al? He always sounded like he was half in a bag........my kind of politician.
Al was a "wet" while his Republican and most of his Democratic opponents were "dry." And there is the cliche about Irish people.
