Al Smith

[zachman]

How did Al Smith win Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1928? He even lost NY. Why did Massachusetts start aligning with the Southern democrats? Would Al Smith have won if he had run in 1932?

Also, was Charles Bryan, the Democratic VP in 1924 related to William Jennings Bryan.

[nclib]

Al Smith's biggest burden was that he was Catholic. The Deep South voted for him anyway since those states voted solid Democratic.

As for Mass. and R.I., those voted for Smith because they are majority Catholic.

[dunn]

Also, was Charles Bryan, the Democratic VP in 1924 related to William Jennings Bryan.

he was his brother

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The GOP campaign in '28 was based on blatent catholic bashing...

[minionofmidas]

Yeah, 1928 was an election in the middle of a realignment process.
The Republicans made inroads (on Anti-Catholicism and Prohibition, mostly, and on Hoover's personal popularity) in the Upper South, where they'd been very much out of it for quite a while.
Inner Cities saw large Democratic gains - they'd been majority Republican for the thirty years before, partly but not only on Catholicism and Prohibition. Basically, Al Smith was a big city politician in a mostly rural country.
The Dems made gains throughout the Northeast, but only in Mass. and RI was it enough to take the state. They won in each of the 12 largest cities, a fact that much was made of then.