Abstract

Smith in 1928?

It is generally predicted that the Democratic Party in the U.S. is headed in 1928 for another convention battle that will make that of 1924 look like a tea party. There is not a single clear-headed Democrat in Congress or in the country who sees anything save another contest between irreconcilable factions. The one thing that keeps interest and discussion of the Democratic situation from being purely academic on the outside and extremely comic on the inside of that party is the candidacy of Governor Alfred E. Smith. Should he, a, Catholic and a Wet, four times Governor of New York, and concededly the outstanding Democrat in the country, should he be nominated, then all the basis for political prophecy and calculation disappears. It would be an utterly new sort of campaign. On the other hand, the remarkable personality, character, and record of this man, the saltiness of his language, his gift for trenchant expression, his knowledge of the way to the hearts of the people, plus the growing sentiment against the Volstead Act might conceivably upset all the political dope, confound the bigots, and sweep him and his party into power.