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How can one write history so that it seems like a thriller? How does one write a biography without making the subject the centerpiece of the narrative? I have no idea if David Pietrusza asked himself these questions — or this one: How can history be written as a newspaper headline? Call this a biography by indirection. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defined by competing individuals and movements: Huey Long, Father Coughlan, Al Smith, the Liberty League, Earl Browder and the Communist Party, Dr. Francis Townsend and the Townsend Plan, Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party. They threatened FDR’s majority in...

President Trump has agreed to speak remotely Thursday at the New York Archdiocese’s first ever virtual Al Smith fundraising event amid the coronavirus pandemic, church officials said Monday evening. The Archdiocese has also extended an invitation to former Vice President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, and is hopeful he will also agree to speak at the 75th annual fundraiser, the first being held remotely and not taking place at a location with speakers and hundreds of guests.

At least until the first week of August, it appeared to have been a pretty good year for Joseph Force Crater. He was 41 years old, a good Tammany Hall Democrat, widely regarded as a comer. Gov. Franklin Roosevelt had recently named him to the state Supreme Court bench. Some felt he was on the fast track to big things, perhaps even the Supreme Court of the United States. Then he stepped into a New York City taxicab and vanished from the face of the Earth. Maybe he ended up in the tropics with a sackful of cash and a...

House Speaker Paul Ryan lampooned President Trump at a charity dinner Thursday night, mocking his Twitter habits, his former top advisor Steve Bannon and his Big Apple roots.

The common view is that there were three debates this year between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But what about the bonus debate last night at the Al Smith Dinner in New York? It was probably Trump’s greatest performance. Funny, self-deprecating (within reason), and devilishly biting (in the best Johnny Carson roast tradition, which apparently is lost on all the usual suspects who afterward shrieked that Trump had gone too far again; but what else can you expect from a holy man like David Gergen?). And Donald brought the best out of Hillary, if such a thing is possible. One...

While each candidate delivered some biting comments while taking a turn behind the dais at the Al Smith Dinner, "there were some very touching moments" in private, Dolan said, describing one right after he asked both of them to pray with him. "After the little prayer, Mr. Trump turned to Secretary Clinton and said, 'You are one tough and talented woman,'" Dolan said. "He said, 'This has been a good experience, this whole campaign, as tough as it's been.'" Clinton then returned the compliment. "She said to him, 'Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterward,'" Dolan said.

Last night there was somewhat of a ritualistic dinner held. It was the Al Smith dinner, a white-tie affair, and a ritual that Presidential candidates, very late in the game, have usually taken part in. This year was no different, with both Hillary and Trump sporting their white-tie best. But this is not your usual sort of passe' thing. No, it's a benefit, and as are many benefits in New York it was stuffed with priestly types and an extraordinary price tag -- but, as is frequently the case when there are so many with a priestly bent headlining the...

Donald Trump was booed by diners during a Catholic fundraising event last night.The Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, an annual white-tie gala in New York, is often the last time the two presidential nominees share a stage before Election Day and is traditionally a time when campaign hostilities are set aside. The event raises money for impoverished children throughout New YorkThe speakers usually poke fun at themselves and each other. But the audience seemed to think Trump had crossed a line with his caustic language about Clinton.Trump referred to his opponent as “corrupt” during a lengthy riff on the FBI’s investigation into her use of...

Trump called out Hillary for her lies and corruption during his speech. He also dropped a few references about the Wikileaks documents Donald Trump: Hillary is so corrupt. She got kicked off the Watergate Commission. How corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the Watergate Commission. Pretty corrupt. Hillary is and has been in politics since the 70s. What’s her pitch? The economy is busted. Washington is failing. Vote for me. I’ve been working on these problems for 30 years… We’ve learned so much from Wikileaks. For instance, Hillary believes it’s vital to deceive the people by...

Fox Business. Some dinner.. Trump roasting Hillary pretty good.

In his inaugural address Wednesday, incoming New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to establish an intellectual pedigree for his focus on economic inequality. He invoked Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Al Smith, Frances Perkins, Fiorello La Guardia, Jacob Riis, David Dinkins, Mario Cuomo, and Harry Belafonte. It reminded me of when Democrats, eager to prove their national-security bona fides, tell audiences they hail from the party of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy. As if there wasn’t some other Democrat after Kennedy who dabbled at war and peace, some guy from Texas. De Blasio’s speech was a bit...

BETRAYAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY By Alfred E. (Al) Smith [Alfred E. Smith, Democratic governor of New York during four terms, became the Democratic candidate for President in 1928 but lost to Herbert Hoover. In 1932 he supported Franklin D. Roosevelt for President, but by 1936 he was so shocked and alarmed by what he saw happening that he decided to warn his Party. Because of the popularity of President Roosevelt this step was considered by some to be virtual treason. Nevertheless, on January 25, 1936, Alfred F. Smith gave the following speech in Washington, D.C., to warn the American ...

Yikes! V’s graphic at V’s sanctepater.com. Now, just to say…The Al Smith Dinner was the un-Last Supper, in which the littlest ones, the un-born, were made all so un-important, you know, those un-born, who were ideologized as those who were mere differences in political platforms to be set aside for the evening’s jocular tyranny of relativism…Sure, those littlest ones among us were given a wink and a nod of solidarity, but that only played into the hands of the number one enemy of the Church in the world today. The cameras never panned to the floor. Had they done so, you would have seen that...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Yeah, we got the Al Smith stuff here, and it's very important that we'll get to the Al Smith dinner sound bites, because once again, ladies and gentlemen, the regime is out there portraying Mitt Romney as some fire breathing anti-this, anti-that, mean-spirited rich guy that doesn't like anybody, eats everybody's kids that kind of stuff. Once again he just nailed it last night. He was just spot on. It was fun. I hate to have to say this, it irritates when it's said about me, but for people who have this wrong impression of Romney, people...

President Obama with Cardinal Dolan and Mitt Romney at Thursday's Al Smith dinner. October 19, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Obama and Mitt Romney traded barbs and shared a meal with Cardinal Timothy Dolan last night at the lavish Al Smith Dinner – an annual Catholic charities fundraiser that this year was dogged by controversy over the question of whether the president should have been invited. Many pro-life activists opposed Obama’s presence, citing fears that the light-hearted tone of the evening as well as the inevitable photo-op of the president yucking it up with the cardinal risked leaving the confusing impression...

President Barack Obama, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney laugh at the Oct. 18, 2012 Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images News/ New York City, N.Y., Oct 19, 2012 / 12:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An annual Catholic fundraising dinner with both major presidential candidates provided a night of laughter, as well as reminders of the Church’s battle to defend its religious freedom against the federal contraception mandate. Al Smith, former New York governor and the namesake of the charity dinner, believed that government should aid those in need by “partnering with family, church,...

Just yesterday, the Al Smith Dinner, which has been the focus of many efforts at American Life League in our quest to encourage Cardinal Timothy Dolan to disinvite President Barack Obama, took place with the totally pro-abortion president attending and in excellent humor—as was the cardinal. In his defense of the invitation, the cardinal wrote in his blog, “In the end, I’m encouraged by the example of Jesus, who was blistered by his critics for dining with those some considered sinners; and by the recognition that, if I only sat down with people who agreed with me, and I with...

From National Review's Jim Geraghty's "Morning Jolt".. 'But the single biggest metaphorical crotch-kick came from great-grandson Al Smith IV, who told President Obama...'"We recognize that you have some challenges this year. But it's never good when your opponent has produced more jobs than you have sons.."

The Al Smith dinner: the cardinal and the tax collector By Phil Lawler (bio - articles - send a comment) | August 09, 2012 9:36 AM Jesus ate with tax collectors. And Cardinal Dolan plans to eat with President Obama—who, Chief Justice Roberts tells us, has imposed a “tax” on employers who refuse to subsidize contraception. But there’s a difference.When Jesus sat with tax collectors, the dinners were private. They were not “photo ops” for political candidates. The Lord could speak directly to the hearts of his dining companions, and convert them. Remember, St. Matthew left the tax-collecting business to...

NEW YORK — New York Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan is suing the Obama administration, but he's inviting President Barack Obama to dinner anyway. Dolan has asked both Obama and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to attend the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation charity dinner on Oct. 18, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York said Tuesday. Romney has accepted. The Obama campaign hasn't said publicly whether the president will attend, but Dolan's spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said Obama has accepted, too. The Archdiocese of New York is among more than 40 Catholic organizations, charities and schools that...