What is Al Smith?
{{Other uses}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Alfred Emanuel Smith |image = AlfredSmith.png |order = 42nd |office = Governor of New York |term_start = January 1, 1923 |term_end = December 31, 1928 |lieutenant =[[George R. Lunn]] (1923–1924)<br />[[Seymour Lowman]] (1925–1926)<br />[[Edwin Corning]] (1926–1928) |predecessor = [[Nathan Lewis Miller|Nathan L. Miller]] |successor = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] |term_start2 = January 1, 1919 |term_end2 = December 31, 1920 |lieutenant2 = [[Harry C. Walker]] |predecessor2 = [[Charles S. Whitman]] |successor2 = [[Nathan Lewis Miller|Nathan L. Miller]] |birth_date = {{Birth date|1873|12|30|mf=y}} |birth_place = [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1944|10|4|1873|12|30|mf=y}} |death_place = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] |party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] |spouse = Catherine Ann Dunn |profession = |residence = [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] }} '''Alfred Emanuel Smith, Jr.''' (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944), known in private and public life as '''Al Smith''', was an American statesman who was elected the [[List of Governors of New York|42nd Governor of New York]] four times, and was the [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[United States presidential election, 1928|US presidential candidate in 1928]]. He was a leader of the [[Progressive Movement]], and was noted for making a wide range of reforms as governor in the 1920s. He was also linked to the [[Tammany Hall]] machine that controlled Manhattan politics; he was a strong opponent of [[prohibition]]. Smith was the first [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] to run for President, and attracted many thousands of ethnic voters. However he was especially unpopular among Southern Baptists and German Lutherans, who feared the pope would dictate his policies. It was a time of national prosperity, and Smith lost in a landslide to Republican [[Herbert Hoover]]. Smith tried f