SMITH, ALFRED EMANUEL ), American politician, was born in New York city on Dec. 3o, 1873, in the so called Old Fourth ward under the Brooklyn Bridge. He was the elder of two children, a boy and a girl, of poor but respectable parents belonging to the city's Irish colony. The father, who had been a rather unsuccessful truckman, died in 1886, and his son's education at St. James's parochial school, near his home, was interrupted when he was in the 8th grade. Leaving school, however, did not depress him, as he had been little interested in his books.
Forced to help support his mother and sister, the boy attempted for a time to continue his father's trucking business. This did not pay and he abandoned it for employment with an oil supply house. Then he became a checker at the Fulton fish market, where he remained for seven years. Even as a small boy Smith had given indications of talent in elocution and amateur dramatics, and, despite long hours at work, he continued his interest in theatricals and at one time considered a stage career. He was a sociable youth with a gift for telling stories, for clog dancing and singing, and was exceedingly popular in the Fourth ward.
Smith's political career began in 1895 when the Tammany dis trict leader made him an investigator in the city commissioner of jurors' office. This meant a salary of $800 a year. In the au tumn of 1903 he was elected to the New York State Assembly on the Democratic ticket.
He went to Albany, the capital of New York State, with little or no formal education but with an alert mind and an intimate knowledge of the city district he represented. After a year or so of discouragement he began to make a name for himself and by 1911 was the Democratic leader. In 1913 he was speaker of the Assembly, an office secondary only to that of governor in power. He served continuously from 1904 to 1915. During the first ten years Smith gave small indication of the political independence he was to show as governor of New York. Industrious and intelli gent, he was nevertheless a routine politician who obeyed the or ders of Charles F. Murphy, the Tammany Hall "boss." Smith's defeat was constantly demanded by reform movements. By 1911, however, his viewpoint had been broadened through his appoint ment to a commission which investigated factory conditions. In 1915 he was sent as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention held at Albany to revise the State's fundamental law.
Tammany Hall rewarded Smith in 1915 for his long service as a poorly paid assemblyman by making him sheriff of New York county, a lucrative post because of the fee system, abolished after his term. In 1917 he was elected president of the board of alder men in New York on the ticket with John F. Hylan. He resigned to run for governor in 1918. He was governor for four terms, the first man in the history of the State to have this honour. He
showed extraordinary ability as a vote-getter. In 1918 he de feated Charles S. Whitman by 14,00o votes, when it was generally believed that he did not have a chance of winning. In 1920 he ran against Nathan L. Miller and was defeated in the Republican Presidential landslide, but polled 1,000,000 more votes in his State than did the Democratic presidential nominee. He became head of the United States Trucking Corporation, but in 1922 was drafted to run again. This time he defeated Miller, seeking re election, by 1,397,633 to 1,011,725—the largest majority ever given a gubernatorial candidate in New York. In 1924 he defeated Theodore Roosevelt by 1,627,111 to 1,518,552. In 1926 he de feated Ogden L. Mills by 1,523,717 to 1,276,239. As governor, Smith fought for adequate housing, improved factory laws, proper care of the insane, child welfare and State parks. He effected a reorganization of the State Government on a consolidated and business-like basis. One of his first acts as governor was to call a special session of the legislature to ratify the Federal suffrage amendment. He repeatedly demonstrated his leadership by forcing Republican legislatures to accept his recommendations.
Smith was the first Roman Catholic to have received serious consideration as a presidential candidate. His religion, combined with his long record as an opponent of Prohibition, resulted in the deadlock at the Democratic National Convention of 1924. His nomination was opposed by the Protestant dry faction led by William G. McAdoo. On the 103rd ballot John W. Davis was nominated. Despite this defeat and despite criticism that he was unacquainted with national problems, Smith was the leading Democratic candidate for the nomination for president in 1928.
At the Houston Convention of the party on June 28th he was placed in nomination by Franklin D. Roosevelt (q.v.). The first ballot taken gave him the necessary two-thirds vote of the dele gates. The victory was due to Smith's personal influence, his perfected organization and the determination of the Democrats to forget party differences and unite behind their strongest can didate as the only hope of challenging the Republican hold on the government. Though the western and southern Democratic delegates managed to bury the hatchet at the convention they could not persuade the people to do so in the election, and the opposition to Smith in the rural districts of closely contested States in the West and South doubtless defeated him in the election. Smith carried on an aggressive campaign, making several extended speaking tours into the South and West, but when the electoral votes were counted it was found he had lost 444 to 87. The popular vote was much closer, 21,943,328 to