Alfred Emmanuel Smith (1873-1944), American politician, was governor of New York. His race as presidential candidate in 1928 was important as a test of urban influence in American politics.

Alfred E. Smith was born on Dec. 30, 1873, in a tenement on New York City's Lower East Side. He attended St. James's Parochial School until, at the age of 15, he began supporting his widowed mother and sister by working in a fish market. Like other ambitious Irish-Catholic youths of the day, Smith gravitated toward the Tammany Hall political organization, working initially as a subpoena server. As a reward for faithful service, he was picked to run for the New York State Assembly in 1903.

Legislative Career and Governorship

Smith's career in the Assembly represented the politics of the ghetto, combining pragmatic reform with service to the machine. In 1911 he was appointed chairman of the important Ways and Means Committee as well as...