Alfred E. Smith Biography Quotes 5 Report mistakes

Early Life and Background
Alfred Emanuel Smith was born on December 30, 1873, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a crowded immigrant neighborhood that shaped his sensibilities and his politics. Raised in modest circumstances, he left school as a teenager to support his family after his father died. He worked at the Fulton Fish Market and absorbed the rhythms of street life, parishes, and political clubs that formed the foundation of New York City politics in the late nineteenth century. A devout Catholic and proud New Yorker, he identified strongly with working-class urban communities whose needs and aspirations would become the core of his public agenda. He married Catherine (Katie) Dunn, and together they raised a family that remained central to his identity; their son Alfred E. Smith Jr. would later become a figure in New York civic and business life.

Entry into Politics and Tammany Hall
Smith's path into public life ran through the ward-based network of Tammany Hall, the city's dominant Democratic organization. Mentored by leaders such as Charles F. Murphy and, earlier, Big Tim Sullivan, he learned how social services, constituent attention, and political organization could be combined to move legislation as well as to win elections. He won a seat in the New York State Assembly in 1904 and quickly distinguished himself as a diligent legislator with a command of detail and a gift for negotiation. During his years in Albany he rose to positions of influence, including majority leader and Speaker in 1913, demonstrating that an urban, working-class politician could master statewide issues.

Reform Impulse After the Triangle Fire
The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed 146 workers, galvanized Smith. Along with state senator Robert F. Wagner, he co-led the Factory Investigating Commission, holding hearings that drew testimony from workers, owners, and experts. With the help of reformers such as Frances Perkins, the commission produced some of the most comprehensive workplace safety laws in the nation, including regulations on fire escapes, building occupancy, child labor, and inspection regimes. These efforts aligned Smith with a progressive coalition that could work both within and beyond Tammany Hall, marrying urban machine politics to social reform.

Citywide and County Offices
Between legislative terms, Smith also served in municipal roles that broadened his administrative experience. He was elected Sheriff of New York County, a post that gave him oversight of a complex patronage apparatus, and later became president of the New York City Board of Aldermen. Those responsibilities deepened his understanding of budgets, public safety, and the legal framework of city government. While he remained rooted in the Tammany organization, he also benefited from the counsel of reform-minded allies, notably his trusted adviser Belle Moskowitz and the jurist Joseph Proskauer, who helped shape the legal and policy outlines of his agenda.

Governor of New York
Elected governor in 1918, and then again in 1922, 1924, and 1926 after a defeat in 1920, Smith became one of the most consequential governors in New York history. He reorganized state government into a modern, cabinet-style system, championed an executive budget to streamline accountability, and pressed for improved public infrastructure, including roads and public health facilities. On labor policy, he advanced the reforms born from the Factory Investigating Commission, supported collective bargaining protections, and strengthened the state's social welfare apparatus. His team in Albany included Wagner, Moskowitz, and Perkins, who served as industrial commissioner and coordinated enforcement of safety and labor standards. His relationship with the press and cultural figures was complex; publishers like William Randolph Hearst could alternately support or oppose him, but Smith's personal charm and direct manner won him broad attention well beyond New York.

National Ambitions and the 1924 Convention
Smith sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1924 as the champion of urban, ethnic, and anti-Prohibition Democrats. Although the convention eventually nominated John W. Davis after a marathon struggle, Smith left a mark on national politics. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then recovering from illness and inching back onto the public stage, delivered the nominating speech for Smith, hailing him as the Happy Warrior. The phrase captured Smith's cheerful resilience, his relish for the political fray, and his rootedness in everyday concerns.

The 1928 Presidential Campaign
In 1928 the Democratic Party nominated Smith for president, making him the first Catholic to lead a major party ticket. Backed by Democratic National Committee chair John J. Raskob and allied business leaders such as Pierre S. du Pont, he ran on economic modernization, good government, and repeal or moderation of Prohibition. He drew intense support from urban voters, immigrants, and industrial workers, yet faced severe headwinds from nativism, anti-Catholic prejudice, and rural dry sentiment. He also confronted a strong Republican opponent in Herbert Hoover, who campaigned amid apparent prosperity. Smith lost decisively in November, but his campaign permanently transformed the Democratic coalition, highlighting the growing power of cities, ethnic communities, and a policy agenda centered on social welfare and regulatory reform.

Partnership and Rivalry with Franklin D. Roosevelt
Smith and Roosevelt had a complicated relationship. As governor, Smith backed Roosevelt to succeed him in 1928, and many of the methods of governance that defined Albany in the 1920s influenced Roosevelt's own approach. With allies like Frances Perkins moving from Smith's circle to Roosevelt's administration, there was clear continuity in personnel and policy themes. Yet after the crash of 1929 and the New Deal's expansion in the mid-1930s, Smith grew skeptical of what he saw as an overreach of federal power. Their political paths diverged sharply when Smith, alongside Raskob and prominent industrialists, became associated with the American Liberty League, a conservative Democratic organization opposed to parts of the New Deal. Although he opposed Roosevelt's 1936 reelection, Smith supported the national war effort in the early 1940s, and their personal estrangement softened in the face of global crisis, even as they remained different in outlook.

Business Leadership and the Empire State Building
After 1928, Smith moved into business leadership while staying engaged in public life. He became president of Empire State, Inc., the company that built and operated the Empire State Building, a project championed by Raskob and backed by du Pont interests. Opening in 1931, the skyscraper was a statement of confidence in hard times. Smith served as its public face, guiding its operations and using the platform to advocate for New York's resilience during the Great Depression. He remained active in civic charities and Catholic institutions, working with clerical leaders such as Archbishop Patrick Hayes to support hospitals and orphanages.

Allies, Adversaries, and Urban Culture
Smith's political world included allies like Wagner, Perkins, Moskowitz, and Proskauer; city figures such as Mayor Jimmy Walker, whose flamboyant administration would later face scrutiny by Judge Samuel Seabury's investigations; and adversaries from within and outside Tammany Hall. He navigated the ambitions of newspaper magnates, reformers, and party bosses, while keeping close to neighborhood networks that had launched his career. He was a convivial presence at civic events and remembered for his unmistakable voice, humor, and the brown derby that became his informal trademark.

Faith, Family, and Personal Character
Smith's Catholic faith anchored his worldview, informing his sympathy for the poor, his suspicion of moralistic legislation like Prohibition, and his belief in practical compassion. Catherine Dunn Smith was his partner through political triumphs and setbacks, and their home life provided a steady counterpoint to public battles. Friends and foes alike credited him with an unusual combination of political acumen and human warmth; he listened carefully, learned the details, and spoke plainly.

Final Years and Death
In the early 1940s, as the United States mobilized for World War II, Smith devoted himself to charitable work and remained a symbolic leader for many older Democrats who remembered his campaigns and his record in Albany. He died on October 4, 1944, in New York City, mourned by constituents who had known him not only as a public figure but as a neighbor and advocate. His passing was marked by tributes from across the political spectrum, including from Roosevelt's circle and from business leaders who had partnered with him in the Empire State Building venture.

Legacy
Alfred E. Smith helped redefine what a modern, urban governor could accomplish. His administration professionalized state government, expanded protections for workers, and set standards for public budgeting that influenced reformers nationwide. His 1928 presidential campaign made visible an emerging Democratic coalition that would come to power in the 1930s, even though he himself would later dissent from elements of the New Deal. Through his collaboration with figures like Robert F. Wagner, Frances Perkins, Belle Moskowitz, Joseph Proskauer, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, he left a durable imprint on labor policy, social welfare, and administrative reform. As a civic businessman associated with the Empire State Building, he embodied New York's energy and optimism. Above all, he stood as a bridge between the world of immigrant neighborhoods and the highest levels of American politics, a Happy Warrior whose career traced the rise of urban America in the twentieth century.

Our collection contains 5 quotes who is written by Alfred, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Freedom - Christmas - Teaching.

Other people realated to Alfred: Walter Lippmann (Journalist), Rose Schneiderman (Activist)