An Irishman’s Diary: Al Smith, governor of New York and first Catholic to run for US president

Aspects of the latest US presidential campaign bring to mind a giant of the Irish diaspora who stood tall in an age of prejudice. One of the foremost statesmen of his generation, Alfred “Al” Smith (1873-1944) was a four-time governor of New York, and a leading Democratic Party candidate for the US presidency during the 1920s.

Despite his neutral patronym, Smith’s paternal roots were actually Italian. Faced with anti-immigrant hysteria, his grandfather, Alfredo Ferraro, had adopted an English version of his birth-name – ferraro being the Italian for blacksmith.

Al Smith never truly bonded with his father – a workaholic who died when the boy was 13 – and so didn’t develop an interest in his Italian heritage.

He did however identify strongly with Ireland because of his devotion to his imposing mother, Catherine Mulvihill, whose parents had emigrated to America from Moate, Co Westmeath.

Smith’s childhood was far from prosperous. His father’s untimely death compelled Smith to swap school for a humble job at the teeming Fulton Fish Market. Smith also turned his hand to acting.

Both trades stood to his advantage in later life: his time at Fulton made him an excellent people person, while his acting experience taught him the power of phonetics, which he used to good effect as a politician.

Tammany Hall

By the turn of the 20th century, Smith was a rising star at Tammany Hall, the Irish dominated New York headquarters of the Democratic Party. With Tammany backing, Smith built upon his immigrant and working-class origins to become a member of the State Assembly (1904-1915), and state governor (1918-20, 1922-28).

He proved to be an enlightened politician, championing immigrant rights and pioneering labour laws that transformed New York into one of the safest and fairest states in which to work.

He instituted worker-friendly rent controls, subsidised healthcare and access to affordable housing. On a national level, he called for the repeal of Prohibition (the ban on alcohol sales and importation), which he believed fuelled organised crime, while denying vast revenues to the US exchequer.

His stand against Prohibition cost Smith the Democratic nomination for president in 1924. Overcoming this setback, he went on to secure his party’s ticket in 1928, thereby becoming the first Catholic to run for America’s highest office. However, his candidacy prompted an ugly outbreak of xenophobic nativism.

The bigots included large numbers of Smith’s party colleagues in what was called “the Democratic solid south” where the Ku Klux Klan, then at the peak of its pernicious power, mounted a vigorous campaign against him.

The general prosperity of the Roaring Twenties also conspired against Smith. With stock markets and employment levels soaring, he was never likely to beat the Republican contender, Herbert Hoover. In the event, Hoover won the 1928 election by a landslide, thereby securing a third successive presidency for the Grand Old Party.

The subsequent Great Depression marked a revival of Democratic fortunes. Elected president in 1932, Franklin D Roosevelt oversaw a radical domestic programme that achieved financial recovery by enhancing the executive power of the government.

This so-called New Deal offended Smith, who resented Roosevelt on a personal level, and who espied un-American bureaucratic tyranny. Accordingly, Smith campaigned strongly against the New Deal, going so far as to equate Roosevelt with Marx and Lenin. Although Smith’s feud with Roosevelt rendered him a political outcast, he remained an important civic leader in New York.

Smith headed the Empire State Corporation, which developed the Empire State building. Proud Irish-American that he was, he arranged for construction to commence on St Patrick’s Day 1930. When opened by Smith and his grandchildren the following year, this mighty edifice was the world’s largest skyscraper, and a striking symbol of American confidence in the art deco age.

Trump

More recently, Donald Trump attempted to seize control of the building from its longterm leaseholders. Thus it can be said that a shared property interest links Smith to the current Republican candidate.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will emulate Smith by failing to reach the White House, though the prospect appears very real. This potential outcome is pregnant with irony. Smith stood squarely for immigrant rights, social justice and accountable government, but failed to overcome the bigotry that blighted his era. Trump may be unelectable precisely because he poses as the high priest of modern day nativism.

Last week, he was once again remembered at the Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation dinner, a glitzy fundraiser for US Catholic charities, and traditionally the last time the presidential candidates are seen together before polling day.