Former Democratic Presidential Candidate Al Smith Delivers Vitriolic Anti-Roosevelt Speech at Liberty League Dinner

On January 25, 1936, former New York Governor and 1928 Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith delivers the keynote address at the American Liberty League dinner at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel, launching a scathing attack on President Roosevelt that accuses the New Deal of fomenting class warfare, betraying the 1932 Democratic platform, and embracing dangerous un-American ideology. Smith, once a progressive champion of urban working-class voters, tells the assembled corporate executives and wealthy donors that Roosevelt’s administration has abandoned Democratic Party founders’ principles, declaring “there can be only one capital, Washington or Moscow” and suggesting Democrats now follow “the ideology of Marx and Lenin over that of Jefferson.” Smith condemns New Deal supporters who “disguise themselves as Norman Thomas or Karl Marx, or Lenin, or any of the rest of that bunch” while falsely marching “under the banner of Jefferson, Jackson or Cleveland.”

The speech represents the Liberty League’s highest-profile propaganda effort, leveraging Smith’s Democratic credentials to legitimize corporate opposition to economic reforms. Smith claims he seeks no political office and has “no axe to grind,” presenting his attack as principled rather than self-interested, yet the event is orchestrated and funded by the Du Pont family and corporate interests who bankroll the League’s anti-New Deal crusade. The Roosevelt administration immediately turns Smith’s rhetoric against the League, highlighting how the organization serves as a front for “big business and their selfish interests” rather than constitutional principles. The speech backfires politically, as the transparent corporate backing and extreme red-baiting alienate moderate voters and expose the Liberty League’s plutocratic agenda.

Smith’s transformation from progressive reformer to corporate spokesman illustrates how wealthy interests coopt former Democratic leaders to provide political cover for attacks on economic democracy. His inflammatory suggestion that the New Deal represents communist infiltration establishes rhetorical templates for subsequent corporate-funded red-baiting campaigns, from the National Association of Manufacturers’ 1930s propaganda to Cold War anti-labor crusades to modern accusations that modest social programs constitute “socialism.” The speech’s failure to prevent Roosevelt’s 1936 landslide re-election demonstrates the limits of corporate propaganda when divorced from popular support, contributing to the Liberty League’s sharp decline and eventual dissolution in 1940. Smith’s apostasy marks a crucial moment in American political realignment, as conservative Democrats allied with corporate interests begin their eventual migration to the Republican Party.