Al Smith, 1928

Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944) was a Catholic and a three-term governor of New York (from 1919-1921, and 1923-1929) who ran for U.S. president on the Democratic ticket in 1928. His candidacy inspired vehement anti-Catholic reactions from some factions of the American populace which in turn spurred the the Catholic hierarchy to establish the National Conference on Apologetics. (View the Anti-catholic Literature Collection to see more information about the anti-Catholic response to Smith's presidential campaign.) Smith joined other Catholic leaders in delivering an anti-Nazi broadcast in 1938 that denounced German violence against Jewish people and property during Kristallnacht.


This item is part of the background to the American Catholics and Nazi Antisemitism section.

Chicago Daily News

Library of Congress American Memory Digital Exhibit

1928

Courtesy of the Library of Congress Public Domain Photographs [DN-0086890]