Franklin Roosevelt Struggles to Sustain Al Smith’s Faltering Candidacy in the South

After an electrifying nominating speech by Roosevelt, New York Governor Al Smith finally secured the Democratic presidential nomination in June 1928. He had faced determined opposition, in part because he was a Roman Catholic and as such would find it hard to get elected in a country that had never seen a Catholic nominated by a major party. Smith, vacating the governorship of New York, then urged Roosevelt to run for that office, believing that having FDR on the ticket would help him carry the state. He was in the process of trying to convince the reluctant FDR when the following letter was written.

Typed Letter Signed on his business letterhead, New York, July 16, 1928, to Walter Murphy, a North Carolina state legislator, assessing Smith’s chances in the south and in essence trying to secure support for him there. “I am grateful to you for your letter and am taking up the matter of that old campaign document with Mr. Raskob. It seems to me that it might be well worth while to publish it. I hope that the situation is continuing to improve in your state. I had a long talk with Mr. Daniels and have corresponded with him since, and I am hopeful that in the long run Senator Simmons will fall in line. In most of the southern states it will not do to hurry matters too much, but in the long run 98% of the Party will stick to its allegiance.”

John J. Raskob, a wealthy New York businessman who built the Empire State Building, was a Democratic Party leader and served as its National Committee Chairman. He was also a Roman Catholic and Smith’s campaign manager, helping finance the 1928 campaign with his own funds. The document referred to was likely from one of Smith’s earlier campaigns that would reflect well on his 1928 effort. North Carolinian Josephus Daniels had been Woodrow Wilson’s Navy Secretary during World War I; FDR was his undersecretary.

From his seat in the U.S. Senate, Furnifold McLendel Simmons led the North Carolina Democratic Party. He was not happy with a Democratic presidential nominee who was Catholic, but here Roosevelt postulates (overoptimistically) that Simmons and his state would in the end support Smith. Simmons actually bolted the party he led and declared for Herbert Hoover, and Hoover in fact broke the Solid South and carried the state. Smith lost his bid for the presidency, but FDR would win, launching his meteoric rise to the White House.