1928

Party

Democratic

Republican

Candidate

Alfred E. Smith

Herbert C. Hoover

Electoral Count

87

444

Popular Vote

40.9%

58.2%

Key Terms: 1928 Election

  1. "The Great Engineer"

  2. the Catholic issue
  3. "A chicken in every pot . . ."
  4. Wets and Drys
  5. Tammany Hall
  6. tariff

Key Terms: Hoover Administration

  1. Stock Market Crash/Black Tuesday

  2. Smooth-Hawley Tariff
  3. RFC/AMA
  4. local relief/private charities
  5. Bonus Marchers

A post-election joke had it, that after the election [Smith] wired the Pope: "Unpack!"

At a party in Savannah, Georgia, after his defeat, Smith got to talking with a lady who said she admired him but hadn't voted for him because of his religion. "But," said Smith amiably, "surely you voted for our host, the Mayor of Savannah, and he is Catholic." "O! yes," said the lady, "I voted for him, but he is Irish Catholic while you are Roman Catholic."

Presidential Campaigns, Paul F. Boller, Jr., Oxford University Press, New York, 1984.