Talk:Al Smith

message: I removed the addition claiming he was born as "Alfred Emanuele Ferrara"; only one website claims so. Others say he had a grandfather named "Emanuele Ferrara"; that may be a mangling of that, so he may have had one Italian grandparent, not all four. More precice doccumented info on his ancestry would be welcome, but the version I reverted from seems contradicted by most biographies. -- Infrogmation 03:15, 9 Jun 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: yes--in early 2007 some vandal added a  whole fraudulent section on Smith being Italian, based on the 195 New York Census (there was no New York census in 1915). I removed it. Rjensen 12:07, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: According to the 1855 NY state census (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-25847-12175-45?cc=1937366&wc=M99Q-NSQ:723368583), Emanuel Smith, wife Magdalena, and children Teresa, Alfred, and Mary, along with an orphan girl, were living in New York City, 4th Ward. It plainly lists Emanuel Smith as having been born in Genoa, and that he was a mariner; Magdalena is listed as being born in Germany. So Governor Alfred Emanuel Smith was never born "Alfredo Emanuele Ferraro," as his father and Genoese grandfather had already changed the name. But this is documented proof that he was paternally Italian and German. Lordmarmont (talk) 15:15, 1 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: I think the account of the fictional Al Smith is rather long and only minimally relevent to the article on the real Al Smith. Perhaps we could merge it into the American Empire (Harry Turtledove) with a link to it here? Any comments, objections? -- Infrogmation 22:47, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Al Smith in ficition

message: No mention of the annual Al Smith Dinner.--Gkklein 18:29, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Al Smith Dinner

message: I've added an original research tag, since most of the article is unsourced, and there seems to be a lot of observation or POV claims. It's obvious from the cite list that there is a lot of scholarly information out there, but I think it would help if individual claims came with footnotes.
I've converted the citations into the cite template, so they should be easy to integrate inline. Mosmof 07:28, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I've added the requested cites. I spotted no OR in the article--everything seems based on excellent secondary sources, esp Slayton bio. Rjensen 12:08, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Original research tag

message: I consider this gentleman one of the most forgotten and important politicians in US History and would like us to work to get this nominated as an Article of the Day - make it perfect.  Any suggestions, if we're not there yet?  It looks great the way it is. Melia Nymph (talk) 03:12, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Article of the Day

message: I'm not sure whether this merits inclusion in the article, since reporting on the topic is so varied.  However Smith was instrumental in forming the ALL, which was associated with the idea of that Plot for most of its 6 years of existence.  I added a sentence about it next to the introduction of the ALL in the section of opposition to FDR, which seems appropriate enough; but perhaps it could be condensed into a clause and ref in the preceding sentence. +sj+ 19:05, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Business Plot mention?

message: Why is there no mention of Al Smith being connected to the mafia?  In Richard Hammer's book The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, among others, makes this abundently clear. Smith is shown to be in tears at the news that the mob was backing Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 campaign for the Democratic nomination, saying "I'd have killed that (S.O.B.) for you" meaning Roosevelt. Gus Russo's book The Outfit also tells the tale of the 1932 nomination fight, where both FDR's and Al Smith's people were going to mobsters for the support of NY delegates. Mafia figures at the convention included Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Long Zwillman, Moe Dalitz, Phil Kastel, Frank Costello, and KC machine boss and mobster Tom Pendergast--Harry Truman's patron. FDR, as governor of New York, said he'd get New York judge Samuel Seabury to call off, taper off, a civic investigation into mafia corruption. That got him the mobster's support, and the New York delegates whom both parties, Roosevelt and Smith, knew they controlled. You should mention this instead of trying to make this creep look like some kind of saint.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.18.9.50 (talk) 08:57, 12 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Organized Crime connections

message: I have removed the statment in the opening that AES was the first Irish-American to seek the Presidency on a major-party ticket becase according to wikipedia, there were 13 Irish-American presidents prior to Smith's campaign.  I am not married to this, however, so if someone has an argument against this change please feel free to reverse it.  See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish-American#Presidents_of_Irish_descent  Remclaecsec (talk) 12:42, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: First Irish-American

message: How is that Smith during political career had an irreparable break with Hearst in 1919, but then later worked with him against Roosevelt/New Deal? Refs are not digital. What's up?Djflem (talk) 18:00, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: by 1933 both Hearst and Smith hated FDR. Rjensen (talk) 18:06, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Relations with Hearst

message: I notice there are zero references to his 1936 departure from the Democratic party, which he explained in his speech "Betrayal of the Democratic Party" where he accused the party leaders of becoming socialists, Marxists. Etc.
::User: 75.144.181.105  07:23, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Betrayal of the Democratic Party

message: http://www.ebay.com/itm/162353445165
00:21, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: ALFRED-E-SMITH-Autograph-ca-1930

message: Shouldn't we add his tenures as New York County sherrif and as speaker and minority leader in the state legislure to his infobox? SecretName101 (talk) 19:41, 17 May 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Offices in infobox 

message: In the article it says "As a committed "wet," or anti-Prohibition, candidate, Smith attracted not only drinkers but also voters angered by the corruption and lawlessness that developed alongside prohibition." This sentence is confusing. I assume the writer meant that Smith attracted non drinkers aswell as those anger by the lawlessness of prohibition however the sentence is worded in such a way that it sounds like he attracted drinkers and those anger by the lawlessness of prohibition. These two kinds of people are on opposite sides of the scale and so the sentence needed to reworded to make it sound not as confusing. I would do it myself yet I am not a expect on Smith and so would not know how to word it.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheScottishElephant (talk • contribs) 22:10, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: voters who wanted the repeal of Prohibition supported Smith.  There were two subgroups. One with people who miss their beer and wine and hard liquor. Second = voters who  thought that prohibition closed public saloons but opened illegals alone and opened up large and midsize cities to extremely dangerous criminal gangs. Rjensen (talk) 23:21, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusing Sentence