Jumping Ship: Al Smith Becomes A Republican

Al Smith was the Democratic nominee in 1928 and an early supporter of Roosevelt. However, he became disenchanted with the New Deal and broke with FDR to join the American Liberty League, a coalition of conservative Democrats opposed to Roosevelt's New Deal policies.

The question here is, how possible would it have been for Smith to change parties and run as a Republican, or as an independent, against FDR in 1936 or 1940, and what would his chances have been?
 

JoeMulk

Banned
Probably the same as Wendell Wilkies (another former Democrat) in 1940. Although it would be interesting to have two candidates from the same state going against eachother.
 
Probably the same as Wendell Wilkies (another former Democrat) in 1940. Although it would be interesting to have two candidates from the same state going against eachother.

Actually, that happened in '44, when it was FDR vs. Dewey. Remember that Dewey was from New York as well as FDR.;)
 

Japhy

Banned
I really don't see this as possible. Smith was basically the leader of Tammany Hall and even in opposition to FDR never bolted from the party. He was in fact so attached to the Democratic Party that when his close ally and friend Robert Moses was running as the GOP candidate for Governor of New York against FDR's handpicked candidate, he refused to take part in the election, even when Moses basically begged.

To Smith there could only be one party, even if he hated the fellows running it.
 
I have to agree with the assertion that with Smith's Tammany ties, the possibility of this is essentially nil. And even had he severed those ties, the chances of him being accepted by the GOP either at the top or among the troops is small: he's too big-city, too associated with machine politics and given the times, not WASP enough. (Today would be a different story, but about 80 years have passed.) Willkie was accepted since he was a successful business executive, and was from the Midwest (Elwood, IN), neither of which Smith could claim.
 
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