PAST PRESENT

WINTER 2018–2019

AL SMITH'S CATHOLIC LEGACY

CHANCES ARE YOU'VE HEARD OF THE ALFRED E. SMITH MEMORIAL FOUNDATION DINNER, where political, media and business leaders gather once a year to share a meal and raise funds to help needy New Yorkers. Every fourth year, the event makes headlines in a particularly big way as one of the last pre-election meetings of the two major-party presidential candidates, who exchange good-natured jibes for an evening in support of a worthy cause. At this year’s dinner – on the 90^th anniversary of Smith’s historic run for the presidency – guests were treated to a celebration of his life of faith and service to the people of New York.

Al Smith was born and lived most of his life on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When his father died, Al dropped out of St. James School and went to work at the Fulton Fish Market for $12 a week to help support his family. He never graduated from high school, yet he went on to become one of the most important political leaders in New York history. He served four terms as governor and in 1928 became the first Catholic to run for president as the nominee of a major party.

Smith was known throughout his life as a champion of the poor, the immigrant and the working class. He came to prominence as a young state legislator in the aftermath of the tragic 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, spearheading the enactment of 38 new state labor laws that became the model for national labor regulations. In 1928, his presidential campaign unwillingly cast a spotlight on virulent anti-Catholic prejudice throughout the country, as Smith battled the Ku Klux Klan and many others who challenged his ability to lead the United States as a Catholic. Though he lost the race, his proud stance against religious bigotry inspired many and blazed a trail for later Catholic leaders.

Smith’s most lasting legacy may be his impact on the culture of charitable giving. “The voluntary act of giving charity,” he said in 1933, “has a spiritual value … that this country cannot afford to lose.” Together with his lifelong friend Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Smith helped build Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York into the powerhouse of compassionate action that it remains today, and the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, in large part through that famous annual dinner, continues to raise millions of dollars annually for needy children and families.