Al Smith and His America

Library of American Biography

by Oscar Handlin

The legendary image of America as a land of opportunity was challenged in 1928 by Al Smith's race for the presidency. Could the governor from New York, a Catholic from the Lower East Side, really become president? His candidacy began a dark episode in American history as Al Smith found himself a victim of the very society that, ironically, gave him his greatest opportunity.

This sympathetic account of Smith's political career demonstrates that a changing society in the decades after World War I propelled Americans toward isolationism and a reassertion of comfortable verities about religion and ethnicity. Oscar Handlin notes that Americans were fundamentalists in 1928, and their anti-Catholicism affected the outcome of the presidential election. But religion was only one symptom of the American anxiety that prejudiced attitudes toward the city, toward foreigners, toward the League of Nations and Prohibition. Disillusioned and betrayed by an unsuccessful peace, Americans searched for external causes on which to lay blame, and Al Smith seemed to epitomize the alien forces that were undermining the nation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

Reviews

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book written in 1958, the language wasn’t too dated. (Though the use of the word niggardly was a bit jarring in the year of our lord 2026). An interesting quick read. Coming off reading The Powerbroker about Robert Moses, I just had to learn more about Al Smith and this was a good start. This is definitely an abbreviated biography though.

[John Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice to read a history of Al Smith before JFK breaks the religion barrier

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good narrative style, although the focus almost exclusively on the dry facts and developments of Smith's political fortunes keeps Handlin from using the style to its greatest effectiveness.