Smith, Al(fred Emanuel) (1873–1944)

US political leader who served four terms as governor of New York. The first Roman Catholic to receive a presidential nomination, he unsuccessfully fought for the 1924 presidency as a Democrat, on a platform of liberalizing Prohibition. In his lively, yet unsuccessful, campaign against Herbert Hoover he was called the ‘Happy Warrior’. His defeat nonetheless forged a breakthrough for the Democrats, re-establishing support in the larger cities and attracting support from the farm states of the West.

Born in New York of Irish Catholic extraction, Smith left school in his teens and became involved in local Democratic politics. After serving in the New York state assembly 1905–15, he became New York County sheriff 1915–17.

In 1918 he was elected governor of New York. He was defeated for re-election in 1920 but was victorious in 1922, 1924, and 1926.