Page 4 - John Evers News Today

would talk to a chamber of commerce. like you would anybody else in a campaign. smith starts to realize that women suffrage is a good idea. i can enlighten these people. i can get them to vote democratic. thats where he gets the brain trust and many of the people who work for him for governor, for president, a lot of reformers that become sturdy supporters of the democratic party. smith capitalizes on that. >> just a few blocks south of here is the new york governors mansion. al smith ...

weekend on c-span3. for more information, follow us on twitter @c-spanhistory. now, the contenders, our 14-week series on key political figures who ran for president and lost but nevertheless changed political history. we feature former governor of new york al smith who was the democratic presidential candidate in 1928. this two-hour program was recorded at the new york state assembly chamber in albany, new york. each sunday at this time through labor day weekend, you can watch "the ...

1936, in 1940 and i think in this way that is incredibly outspoken. i mean, he makes this speech in 1936 where hes accusing the new deal and fdr themselves as i mentioned earlier of being communists, socialists. he picks up really the most vitriolic langlanguage. he calls roosevelt a tyrant and hes abusing the constitution and becomes one of the standard bearers of the liberty league which is basically a business-funded -- its really funded by the dupont family, but a group that begins...

blaming? >> yes, the more stayed papers. by that time the hurs is it papers were ultra sensationistic and there were other sober papers like "the new york times." and it basically discredits. its one of the things that seriously discredits old style super partisan journalism when the president got killed because they -- of the way they whipped up the people. now, the contenders, our 14-week series on key political figures who ran for president and lost but nevertheless changed politi...

most people is the mckinley assassination, right? >> that year was what year. >> i was afraid you would ask me that. out of my period. 19 10i -- 1901, i think. please edit that. the mckinley is assassinated and its blamed on -- in a lot of the media, its blamed on the hu are rst press. because william randolph hurst papers tended to be democratic and rabble roused about rich or poor. >> the other papers were blaming? >> yes, the more stayed papers. by that time the hearst papers were u...

ill never vote. theres no need for me to vote. and she does. she casts her first ballot, i believe, for her son for governor. but smiths hook on womens suffrage is, he gets bill mos cowits and a lot of these people involved and he starts to realize, these are new voters. and they said, how do i talk to these people? they said, talk to them like you would talk to a chamber of commerce. like you would anybody else in a campaign. smith starts to realize that women suffrage is a good idea....

phobia. some came back to anti religion, his accent. it was almost a kind of way for them to say youre foreign, youre not like us. >> well get to calls going to in just a minute. he went to work in about 1886 at 13 years old. where did he go to work? >> he had probably one of the toughest careers ive ever heard of. he starts by leaving early and he goes and sells newspapers. he goes to start -- after school im going to sell newspapers. he makes a few dollars that way. its not enough. h...

talking about. immigration, nativism, all of these sorts of issues. and he really calls the question -- he takes a very sort of powerful stand about whos going to be an american. who ought to be included as an american. and becomes a great symbol for that. i think within the democratic party, he is also a very powerful figure and sort of consolidating what we now talk about as the roosevelt coalition, but its really something that begins with al smith bringing this urban core into the ...

i was elected 20 times and defeated twice. ive worked for the county, ive worked for the city. i have worked for the state. and you will probably remember that i tried to get a job down in washington but something happened to me at that time. [laughter] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> "the contenders" continues with wendall wilkie. [cheering] >> we want willkie! we want willkie! we want willkie! ♪ >> ...

some people here are pulling for me. [applause] i am delighted to see you here tonight, hillary. [laughter] >> i was thrilled to get this invitation. i feel right at home here because it is often said i share the politics of alfred e. smith and the ears of alfred e. newman. [laughter] it is an honor to be here with al smith iv. obviously, i never knew your great-grandfather. but from everything senator mccain told me - [laughter] the two of them had a great time before prohibition. [la...