Raising a toast to one of New York's most famous sons

The Al Smith Dinner is not just a white-tie charity event, it’s also a traditional staging post in the run-up to the presidential election

American Democratic politician and governor of New York, Al Smith (1873 to 1944), his bid for the presidency was marred by anti-catholic and anti-immigrant feeling. Picture: MPI/Getty Images

Last Thursday night the Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, more commonly known as the Al Smith Dinner, was held in the Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York.

It’s a big deal not just a white-tie charity event (“tails are warmly encouraged, but a tuxedo coat is acceptable”) which has raised millions for Catholic charities over the years, hosted by Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York. 

It’s also a traditional staging post in the run-up to the presidential election, coming as it does just a few weeks before polling day.

Donald Trump was there, though Democratic nominee Kamala Harris skipped the event.

Democratic presidential nominee vice president Kamala Harris speaks on a prerecorded video message during the annual Alfred E Smith Foundation Dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. Picture: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images)

The dinner commemorates the first Catholic to run for the presidency: Al Smith, someone whose life models the ascent and assimilation of Irish emigrants into the mainstream of American life.

Republican presidential nominee, former US president Donald Trump speaks as senate majority leader Chuck Schumer looks on during the annual Alfred E Smith Foundation Dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. Picture: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images

In fact, a brisk stroll around the places associated with Smith in New York show that ascent in geographical terms: As he zig-zagged northwards through Manhattan he was on the rise through American society.

Al Smith was just 13 when his father, a civil war veteran, died in 1886. On the way home from the funeral his mother, a Mulvihill whose parents came from Westmeath, wondered aloud about their prospects, and Smith answered. 

He said he’d look after the family, and he soon left school to work in the nearby Fulton Fish Market.

The Smiths lived on South St near the very bottom of Manhattan. Now home to a host of shops and restaurants, in Smith’s youth its importance as a port had already begun to decline. 

A five-minute stroll north of Smith’s birthplace was the old Five Points, in its nineteenth-century pomp a byword for debauchery and violence.

Readers who have seen the movie Gangs of New York may remember the on-screen rendition of the area, if Leonardo DiCaprio’s effort at an Irish accent has not scarred them forever.

Heaving with brothels and bars, the Five Points was a place Irish immigrants were keen to leave behind, and they often relied on the support of Tammany Hall, the local political machine, to do so.

Synonymous with corruption, Tammany was nevertheless the dominant political power in Manhattan, and when Smith was still a young man — personable, eloquent, tactful — Tammany saw his potential. 

Tammany Hall on East 14th St, New York City. Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

To be specific, its Irish-American kingmakers, men such as “Honest” John Kelly and later, “Silent” Charlie Murphy, took notice of Smith, and smoothed his way to electoral success as a state assemblyman by the age of 30.

By then Smith had moved up in the world, literally. For 20 years he lived on Oliver St, a 10-minute walk uptown from South St; over the years he lived at three addresses on Oliver St and No 25, his home for two decades, still stands.

Ten doors away was another political mentor: “Big Tom” Foley, a neighbourhood bar owner and Tammany operative described once by Smith as the best friend he ever had, lived at number 15. 

Around the corner on Madison St was the downtown Tammany Hall clubhouse. Little wonder the area was seen as Smith’s heartland.

With the backing of the machine, Smith became governor of New York in 1918. It was a towering achievement, but his success wasn’t all down to Tammany.

Smith was a good orator and a self-taught legislator. He was seen as a friend of the working man — and the working woman; he had been a key member of the commission set up to reform working conditions in New York after 146 garment workers, 123 of them women, died in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

This resonated with the version of Tammany Hall Smith was associated with. 

Its previous leaders, such as “Boss” Tweed, had been proverbially corrupt but “Silent” Charlie Murphy pushed a reform agenda.

As a result Smith enjoyed a progressive image as governor, thanks in no small part to his capable assistant, a young Robert Moses. 

In time Moses’s legacy as the ‘master builder’ of New York would be seen as mixed as best, with the billions he spent over decades of municipal works which didn’t always benefit all the citizens all the time, to be polite. 

Smith’s patronage was central to Moses’s ultimate rise to power. 

The parkways, roads, beaches, sports stadia, and bridges Moses built all over New York would never have seen the light of day if it had not been for Smith. 

Moses shaped New York in the 20th century for good or ill, and Smith takes some of the credit, or blame, for that.

As governor of New York, Smith lived a long way from South St, occupying the governor’s executive mansion in Albany, but he was back in New York for his presidential run in the 1928 election.

Governor Alfred E Smith throws out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium prior to the game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on April 19, 1923, in the Bronx, New York. Picture: Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images

Being identified as a Manhattan machine politician didn’t help in those parts of the US where suspicion of the big cities ran deep, while his strong New York accent didn’t play well on the new medium of radio either.

However, his faith was the big obstacle. As the first Catholic to run for the highest office in America, Smith encountered naked bigotry; at times he was met on the campaign trail by burning crosses — the Ku Klux Klan was strong across America at the time and wasn’t shy about flexing its muscles.

The smears against him during the campaign bordered on the fantastic. Leaflets circulated alleging that Protestant marriages would be annulled under a Smith presidency, and Protestant children rendered illegitimate on the spot. Cartoons were posted to voters depicting Smith and his ‘cabinet’, made up of the Pope and various bishops. 

Unsurprisingly, Herbert Hoover won the election with ease.

Smith’s later years weren’t made easier by a long-running feud with Franklin D Roosevelt. He challenged FDR for the Democratic nomination for president in 1932 and lost, and afterwards felt frozen out by Roosevelt.

One man stayed loyal to Smith, however, and made his long retirement somewhat more palatable. 

Robert Moses, aware of Smith’s love of animals, appointed him honorary night zookeeper of the Central Park Zoo in 1934. 

Smith was given his own set of keys to the zoo and enjoyed showing friends the various animals at night, when the zoo had closed to the public.

By then Smith was a long way from South St. He was president of Empire State Inc, the corporation that built and operated the Empire State Building, and his move to an address not far from Central Park was a news item in the New York Times.

Former presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr and his wife Cheryl Hines attend the annual Alfred E Smith Foundation Dinner. Picture: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images)

Smith’s new digs, on Fifth Avenue, were decidedly upmarket (the area remains exclusive — a recent listing for a seven-bedroom apartment a few doors up from Smith’s old place was priced at $58m (€53m). It’s almost six miles from South St, a walk of two hours, but in many ways the journey was even longer than that.

Of the period in the 30swhen Smith lived in midtown Manhattan, Robert Caro wrote in The Power Broker: “The old Governor knew he was still an immensely popular figure among New Yorkers. The drivers of the Fifth Avenue buses he took to get home every day recognized him, and on rainy days they would make a special stop in front of the awning at No. 820 so that he could get out without getting wet — and often other riders on the bus would stand and applaud the figure in the brown derby as he walked, somewhat stooped and stiff now, down the steps.” 

Late in the 30s, Smith became a vocal critic of Nazi Germany, and he advocated strongly for American involvement in the Second World War before he passed away in 1944.

John F Kennedy, of course, became the first Catholic to become president and he paid a handsome tribute to Smith on the campaign trail in 1960.

John F Kennedy became the first Catholic to become president and he paid a handsome tribute to Smith on the campaign trail in 1960.

Kennedy said that that year’s election would be decided on substantive issues, adding: “When this happens then the bitter memory of 1928 will begin to fade, and all that will remain will be the figure of Al Smith, large against the horizon, true, courageous, and honest.” 

Kennedy was speaking at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on October 19, 1960. 

At that year’s Al Smith Memorial Dinner.

Many thanks to the folks at the Bowery Boys podcast, boweryboyswalks.com and top guide Krikor Daglian in particular. For more see @BoweryBoys and @KrikorDaglian