phobia. some came back to anti religion, his accent. it was almost a kind of way for them to say you re foreign, you re not like us. we ll 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 i ve ever heard of. he starts by leaving early and he goes and sells newspapers. he goes to start after school i m going to sell newspapers. he makes a few dollars that way. it s not enough. his mother incidentally had to go and get a job the day that they buried his father. she comes back from the funeral, goes back to the fore lady who lived in the neighborhood in the umbrella factory where she worked prior to marrying al smith sr. and gets her job back. it s not enough. she takes piece work home. not enough. smith selling papers, it s not enough. eventually he goes through a rapid series of jobs, working in a small candy store his mother was the proprietor of. he goes and works
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 who s 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 it s really something that begins with al smith bringing this urban core into the democratic party. yale university history professor beverly gage and john evers, former new york state assembly historian, thank you so much for being on the contenders. and we also want to make sure to thank speaker sheldon silver and the people here at the new york state assembly for allowing us to broadcast live. we want to thank our studio audience and our cable partner up here in albany, time warner. we re going to leave you with a few of al smith s own words on his career and life.
i was elected 20 times and defeated twice. i ve worked for the county, i ve 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! i stand before you without a single pledge or promise or understanding of any kind except for the advancement of your cause and the preservation of american democracy. [applause] as your nominee, i will have an aggressive fighting campaign. [applause] we want willkie! wendell willkie ran for president in 1940. these are some images of him on the campaign trail. we are here with david willkie, his grandson. i want you to introduce the audience to some of the fervor. as we re seeing from these ic
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. [laughter] of course i am delighted, but not surprised, by the final repeal of the 18th amendment. i have said all along that when it was properly submitted to the rank and file of our people, they would readily see that it had no place in our constitution. it would be very difficult if not impossible to explain to those who come to this country from the lesson taught to the coming generation, to make it their business to see that no such matter as this is ever again made the subject of federal co
when blacks will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get a head man, when whites will be more right. [laughter] [applause] ladies and gentlemen, award winning american poet, writer, commentator, a civil-rights activist, and educators ,nicky giovanni. the university distinguished professor at virginia tech and one of our nation s most widely read poets. [applause] in the spirit of martin, this is a sacred pole. poem blood has been spilled to sacramento it. that was a magical time. height of silver away. here i come to save the day. i want the world to see what they did to my. no, no, no, i am not going to move. if we are wrong, than the constitution of the united states is wrong. montgomery, birmingham, selma, four little girls, constant threats, constant harassment, constant fear f,clc, father knows best, leave it to be there, ed sullivan, how long? not long. th mr.oreau said to mr. emerson, are you goin