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WHERE WAS HE FROM?
NEW YORK STATE.
HE WAS A GOVERNOR, YOU KNOW,
RAISED IN THE SHADOWS OF
BROOKLYN BRIDGE.
AND TAMMANY HALL.
AND TAMMANY HALL.
A CLASSIC TAMMANY HALL
POLITICIAN WHO OUTGREW HIS
ORIGINS.
DO YOU KNOW THE LAST REPUBLICAN
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE TO CARRY
NEW YORK CITY WAS CALVIN
COOLIDGE IN 1924?
FOUR YEARS LATER, AL SMITH IS
THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE AGAINST
HERBERT HOOVER.
HE BEGINS THE PROCESS OF
FORGING AN URBAN-WORLD, BUT
MOSTLY URBAN-IMMIGRANT --
HE ALSO STARTS AND
UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATION.
-- CONVERSATICOALITION.
PRESIDENT.
WHICH IS CAN THE CATHOLIC BE
THERE IS OPENLY ANTI-CATHOLIC
INNUENDO USED AGAINST SMITH.
IT IS NOT USED AGAINST KENNEDY.
KENNEDY DEALT WITH THIS ISSUE,
BUT SMITH IS THE PIONEER.
GHOST OF AL SMITH.
WITH KENNEDY, WE GET THE
THE OTHER REASON AL SMITH --
BESIDES THE CATHOLICISM CHARGE
-- THESE ARE GOOD TIMES.
WE TALK ABOUT THE BIOGRAPHY OF
PERSONALITIES, BUT IT IS REALLY
IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE CONTEXT OF
PROSPERITY.
YOU KNOW, THEY WERE GOOD TIMES.
ALTHOUGH, THERE WERE THESE
AREAS WHERE FOLKS IN AMERICA'S
WERE NOT DOING SO WELL.
WE KNOW THINGS ABOUT HER
HOOVER WE DID NOT KNOW THEN, BUT
AL SMITH WAS RUNNING AGAINST A
GUY WHO WAS PERSONALLY CREDITED
WITH SAVING MILLIONS OF LIVES IN
WORLD WAR I.
HE WAS A HEROIC FIGURE.
AL SMITH, IN ADDITION TO HIS
FAITH, WAS SEEN AND HEARD AS AN
ALIEN FIGURE.
IF YOU LISTEN TO HIM ON THE
RADIO, THIS WONDERFUL ACCENT
FROM THE LOWER EAST SIDE OF
MANHATTAN, THIS WAS A CHANCE FOR
PEOPLE IN AMERICA TO VOTE
AGAINST A NEW YORK.
THIS WAS A CHANCE TO VOTE
AGAINST ALL THAT THEY THOUGHT
WAS ALIEN AND AN AMERICAN, AND
SOMEHOW VAGUELY -- HE WAS BEATEN
VERY BADLY.
HE GOT 87 ELECTORAL VOTES.
AND HOOVER BROKE OPEN THE SOUTH.
NOT EISENHOWER, NOT BARRY
GOLDWATER, BUT HERBERT HOOVER
WHO BREAKS OPEN THE SOUTH.
CHARLES EVERETT HUGHES.
WELL, I THINK OF HIM IN THE