Franklin Roosevelt transformed his public image at the otherwise disastrous Democratic National Convention in 1924. He was seen once again as a politician with a bright future ahead of him, no longer a tragic victim of a terrible disease that took away the use of his legs. But just as he depended on others to help move from place to place, he knew his political ambitions were dependent on the continued success of Al Smith, the man he supported for president at the 1924 convention.
After Smith lost his bid to become the party’s nominee, he ran for re-election for a third term as governor of New York. His opponent was none other than Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt’s first cousin and a distant cousin of her husband, Franklin. Eleanor seized the opportunity to campaign for Smith and against her cousin, linking him — unfairly — to the still-developing Teapot Dome scandal. Franklin continued to rehabilitate his body and remained off the campaign trail, but he did release a statement full of disdain for his distant relation, urging New Yorkers to choose Smith because of his experience and his progressive record. Smith won a smashing victory.
It was a bold claim, because the issue of Smith’s religion wasn’t simply lurking in the background: It was in the very forefront of the nation’s political conversation.
Roosevelt was not part of Smith’s inner circle. In fact, two key Smith advisors, Belle Moskowitz and Robert Moses, considered Roosevelt to be nothing more than a political lightweight, especially when compared with the self-taught Al Smith. But even as he sought to rebuild his body during long visits to a spa in Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt remained in constant touch with the governor in Albany. He served on a state park commission, advised Smith on how to strengthen the Democratic Party in the very Republican Hudson Valley, and kept up a steady correspondence about politics, job-seekers … and Smith’s prospects for the 1928 presidential campaign. “You will be a candidate in 1928 whether you like it or not,” Roosevelt told Smith. But there was no need for the stern lecture: Smith liked the idea very much.
Roosevelt and his devoted assistant, Louis Howe, were in touch with scores of Democratic power brokers throughout the country, assuring them that Smith would be the party’s best chance for victory in 1928. It was a bold claim, because the issue of Smith’s religion wasn’t simply lurking in the background: It was in the very forefront of the nation’s political conversation.
Smith was a Roman Catholic, and no Catholic had ever won a major party’s presidential nomination. But Roosevelt, a blue-blood Episcopalian, assured his many friends...
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