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Article: Smith, Alfred E. 1873-1944
- Article from:
- American Decades
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SMITH, ALFRED E. 1873-1944
New york governor, 1919-1921, 1923-1929
Democratic nominee for president, 1928
Smith's Early Career
With only an eighth-grade education, Alfred E. Smith, an Irish Catholic New Yorker raised in the Fourth Ward of the city's Lower East Side, entered the rough-and-tumble world of New York City politics as a Tammany Hall loyalist. He began his political career in 1903 as a representative in New York's state assembly. During his legislative career Smith earned a reputation as a hardworking, progressive legislator. In 1918 New York elected the aggressive politician as its governor. In 1920 Smith lost his reelection bid when the rising conservative, xenophobic tide ...