An Al Smith Birthday Card and Token

[BillJones]

This is part of my political items collection, but its venue is unusual. Here is a birthday card with an Al Smith token mounted in it. The sender was hoping that Smith would be elected president in 1928. Smith lost that race to Herbert Hoover by a wide margin.

 

 

Here are detailed pictures of the token:

 

 

Al Smith had been a very popular New York politician. He had held numerous state offices, most recently Governor of New York. He thought that his popularity would carry over to the national stage, but he was wrong. Smith was the first Roman Catholic to be nominated for president. That became a major undercurrent in the campaign.

 

Although Herbert Hoover and the leadership of the RepXublican Party (The "X" is there to avoid "Spoon" Party) did not support it, there was an extensive anti Catholic, anti Smith movement during the election. Wild claims were made that if Smith were elected, he would be a tool of the pope. Pamphlets and cards were issued to pushed this charge. The KKK, which was very strong in the 1920s, sponsored much of this campaign.

 

Smith's candidacy was also hurt by his push to end Prohibition. Although he would later be proved correct on this issue, his efforts in that direction were premature given the mood of the country.

 

Smith lost the election is a landslide, with Hoover winning 58% of the popular vote to Smith's 41%. In the Electoral College the vote was Hoover 444, Smith 87. Smith even lost his home state, New York, after he had twice been elected governor there.

 

Here are a couple of anti-Smith pieces. This first one is a card with a nasty little limerick.

 

 

The second is a button. I guess the people who issued this piece missed the memo that Catholics are Christians.

 

 

[rockhobby]

Very nice write-up Bill. I believe the first time I remember reading about Al Smith was in 7th grade American History (1963).

 

 

Doug

[BillJones]

Al Smith preceded Franklin D. Roosevelt as Governor of New York, and Smith considered FDR to be his protégé. After FDR was elected president in 1932, Smith became more conservative and broke with him on a number of issues.

 

Some think that there was some jealously involved. Smith had lost the presidential race partly because of the Catholic issue, and he had been one election too late to take advantage of The Great Depression as a campaign issue.

 

The symbol of Smith's 1928 presidential campaign was the brown derby he wore. It appeared on a number of his campaign items.

 

Campaign button with a derby hanger.

 

 

Enamel pin with a donkey wearing a derby.

 

[Nutmeg Coin]

Thanks for that; surprising that a gold coin was struck of a presidential candidate, unthinkable today. But I hear that some of the first Presidential campaigns were as bad as the ones these days.

[BillJones]

It's not a gold piece. It is a bronze piece that has been coated with something. I seems like a gold plating, but when the surfaces on these pieces are disturbed it does not all come off of the piece.

 

As for nasty campaigns, check out the 1828 race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. The Adams campaign called Jackson's wife a bigamist, and the Jackson campaign said that Adams had acted a pimp when he was the ambassador to Russia.

[Conder101]

Are you sure it's bronze and not yellow brass?

[BillJones]

Are you sure it's bronze and not yellow brass?

 

Some are bronze; some are yellow brass. I don't know that you can tell until they tarnish or there is a hole in the coating.

[bsshog40]

Cool stuff Bill!!

[Walkerfan]

Interesting write up with some unique items.

[johnny9434]

its good to see something different like that here

[RWB]

Al Smith was probably fortunate not to have won the 1928 election. The Great Depression would have happened regardless of who was in the White House. With a RepubXlican Congress, Smith could have done little - maybe less than the awful Hoover - to improve the lot of ordinary people.

 

The two anti-Smith items could have come out of the same places in today's RepubXlican primaries.