VP Candidate Buck Decries Bigotry Among Humans

Oklahoma City, September 20, 1928

Upon reaching Oklahoma City, Al Smith, Democratic candidate for president, spent most of the day rewriting the speech he would give that evening. Years later, in his autobiography, Smith explained, "I felt deep in my heart that I would be a coward and probably unfit for the presidency if I were to permit it [the bigotry] to go further unchallenged."

- From Matthew Josephson and Hannah Josephson, Al Smith (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969), p. 383; Alfred E. Smith, Up to Now (New York: Viking Press, 1929), p. 396; Charles Michaelson, The Ghost Talks (New York: Putnam, 1944), p. 155.


Al Smith's most significant accomplishment was his role as a progressive Governor of New York, where he implemented significant social and labour reforms. His most impactful achievements include passing worker protection laws, improving factory safety after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and modernising the state's infrastructure. Smith championed the causes of the working class and immigrant rights and expanded government responsibility for social welfare. These reforms influenced future policies, including Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal elements.

For more, get ahold of a copy of Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith, Robert A. Slayton, 2001, The Free Press, New York