Frank and Al: FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance that Created the Modern Democratic Party

Golway, a senior editor at Politico and a former member of the editorial board of the New York Times, explores the relationship and political alliance between future president Franklin Roosevelt, the upper-class patrician, and powerful New York politician Al Smith, child of the Tammany Hall machine, which he credits with providing the political base that enabled the New Deal. The two men met in 1911, when Roosevelt joined Smith in the New York legislature, and continued crossing paths for the next 30 years, most often as allies but sometimes as bitter competitors—both vied for the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination. Golway highlights Roosevelt’s support of Smith’s first run for governor and 1928 campaign for president (likely lost because of widespread prejudice against Smith’s Catholicism). Smith’s career is more interesting—he served three terms as governor of New York, during which he engineered numerous progressive policies around such issues as worker protections—and it provides the opportunity to delve into New York machine politics. Smith is portrayed as rough around the edges, with an eighth-grade education, “workingman’s bellow,” and loud suits, but also as a likable, admirable politician. The Roosevelt-Smith relationship is a well-chosen prism through which to view the foundational political alliance of the Democratic Party. Agent: John Wright, John W. Wright Literary. (Sept.)