VOA《走遍美国》慢速英语2011-2-10

American History: Hoover Wins in 1928

The presidential election of nineteen twenty-eight gave American voters a clear political choice.

The Democratic Party nominated Al Smith. He was the popular governor of the state of New York.

The Republican Party chose Herbert Hoover. He was an engineer and businessman who served as

secretary of commerce for presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

This week in our series, Rich Kleinfeldt and Harry Monroe tell us about the presidential election

of nineteen twenty-eight.

RICH KLEINFELDT: Governor Alfred Smith of New York had campaigned for the Democratic

presidential nomination in nineteen twenty-four. But he was defeated at the party convention by

a compromise candidate, John Davis.

Four years later, however, Smith could not be stopped. He had a strong record as governor of the

nation's most heavily-populated state. He campaigned for the presidency on a policy of building

new electric power stations under public control.

Smith knew that many conservative Americans might be worried by his new ideas and his belief

in strong government. So he chose as his campaign manager a Republican industrial leader who

had worked with General Motors, DuPont and other major companies.

Smith hoped this would prove his faith in the American private business system.

HARRY MONROE: Al Smith was a strong political leader and an effective governor. But he

frightened many Americans, especially conservative citizens living in rural areas.

They lived on farms or in small towns. Al Smith was from the city. And not just from any city, but

New York City, a place that seemed big and dirty and filled with foreign people and strange

traditions. Al Smith's parents came from Ireland. He grew up in New York and worked as a

salesman at the Fulton Fish Market.

Smith was an honest man. But many rural Americans simply did not trust people from big cities.

Al Smith seemed to them to represent everything that was new, different, and dangerous about

American life.

But being from New York City was not Al Smith's only problem. He also opposed the new national

laws that made it illegal to buy or produce alcoholic drinks. And he had political ties to the New

York political machine. But worst of all, in the eyes of many Americans, Al Smith was a Roman

Catholic.

RICH KLEINFELDT: From George Washington through Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and up

to Calvin Coolidge, every American president had been male, white, and a Protestant Christian. Of course, there was no law requiring a candidate to be Protestant. But millions of traditional

Americans just were not ready to give their vote to a Roman Catholic.

Opponents of the Smith campaign generally did not speak openly about his religion. But many of

them were afraid that Smith would take his orders from the Vatican in Rome, instead of working

with the Congress in Washington.

Al Smith fought back. He told the country, "I am unable to understand how anything I was taught

to believe as a Catholic could possibly be in conflict with what is good citizenship. My faith," he

said, "is built upon the laws of God. There can be no conflict between them. "

HARRY MONROE: But many Protestant Americans thought there was a conflict. And they looked

to the Republican Party to supply a strong candidate to oppose Smith and the Democrats.

The Republicans did just that. They nominated former secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover,

one of the country's most popular men. Hoover was well-known to Americans. People trusted

him. And they liked the way he had gained great personal success from poor beginnings.

In fact, Hoover's life story would have pleased Abraham Lincoln, another American who rose from

a poor family to fame.

Hoover was born in the farm state of Iowa in eighteen seventy-four. His father was a poor metal

worker who kept moving his family from state to state.

Herbert Hoover's father died when the boy was just six years old. His mother died four years later.

Young Herbert had to move to the western state of Oregon to live with his mother's brother.

Herbert's uncle was luckier in life than Herbert's parents. He had made money in the land

business. And he helped the boy gain admission to Stanford University in California. At the

university, Herbert showed great skill in mathematics. And he decided to go into business as a

geologist studying the science of the earth.

RICH KLEINFELDT: After college, Herbert Hoover got a job as a mine worker. During the next

several years, Hoover spent most of his time working as an engineer in foreign countries. And he

succeeded beyond his greatest dreams. By the time he was forty years old, he had earned more

than one million dollars.

After World War One, he organized the effort to provide food for starving people in Europe. He

did an excellent job, winning praise from people in Europe and the United States alike. Next,

Hoover joined the administration of President Warren Harding, serving as the secretary of

commerce. Again, he did a very good job.

Hoover left the cabinet in nineteen twenty-five. But two years later, he organized efforts to

provide relief for victims of a flood in the southern state of Mississippi. And again, Americans all