Alfred Emanuel "Al" Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. He was the foremost urban leader of the efficiency-oriented Progressive Movement, and was noted for achieving a wide range of reforms as governor in the 1920s. He was also linked to the notorious Tammany Hall machine that controlled Manhattan politics; he was a strong opponent of prohibition.
As a committed "wet" (anti-Prohibition candidate), he attracted millions of voters of all backgrounds, particularly those concerned about the corruption and lawlessness brought about by the Eighteenth Amendment. However he was unpopular among certain segments, including Southern Baptists and German Lutherans, who believed the Catholic Church and the Pope would dictate his policies. Most importantly, this was a time of national prosperity under a Republican Presidency, and Smith lost in a landslide to Republican Herbert Hoover. Smith attempted the 1932 nomination, but was defeated by his former ally and successor as New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. Smith entered business in New York City, and became an increasingly vocal opponent of Roosevelt's New Deal.
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 United States election.
McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations.
He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, where he entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily four times, most recently in 2010. While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a "maverick" for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002. He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion. McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, opposed spending that he considered to be pork barrel, and played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations.
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2012 election. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts (2003–07).
The son of Lenore and George W. Romney (Governor of Michigan, 1963–69), he was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 1966, after one year at Stanford University, he left the United States to spend thirty months in France as a Mormon missionary. In 1969, he married Ann Davies, and the couple had five children together. In 1971, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brigham Young University and, in 1975, a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He entered the management consulting industry, which in 1977, led to a position at Bain & Company. Later serving as Chief Executive Officer, he helped bring the company out of financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded the spin-off Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. His net worth is estimated at $190–250 million, wealth that has helped fund his political campaigns. Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as Ward Bishop and later Stake President in his area near Boston. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, losing to long-time incumbent Ted Kennedy. In 1999, he was hired as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics; and he helped turn the fiscally troubled games into a success.
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Charting the history of Irish-American politicians from the 1800's up to John F. Kennedy's election as the first, and only, Catholic president of the United States. The series, filmed in both Ireland and America, follows the rise of Irish-American political machines in cities like New York, Boston, Kansas City and Chicago. The six-part series uses dramatic reconstructions combined with contributions from award winning authors such as Robert Caro and Jack Beatty to tell the story of six unique and powerful Irish-American Politicians whose ancestors all came to America as impoverished Irish immigrants. The Irish were the first immigrant group in the US who seized upon politics as a means of making a living and they left an indelible mark on the American political landscape which stills resonates today.
Keywords: irish-american, john-f-kennedy, politics
How the Irish changed the face of American politics...
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A look at Franklin D. Roosevelt's pre-presidency days, from his being diagnosed with polio one year after his unsuccessful bid for the White House as presidential nominee James Cox's running mate, through his rehabilitation in Warm Springs, Ga., to his nomination of Al Smith for Democratic Presidential candidate in 1928.
Keywords: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, adultery, ambition, automobile-hand-controls, ballet-dancer, bicycle, boat, boll-weevil
The greatest challenge FDR faced was the one we never saw.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: [FDR is in the swimming pool] But I don't know how to stand.::Aunt Sally: Not yet, you don't.::Tom Loyless: But you will.
Eleanor Roosevelt: [beginning to cry] I think we've lost him, Louis!::Louis Howe: He's down there to be alone. Let's give him what he wants. Meantime we'll change our focus.::Eleanor Roosevelt: To what?::Louis Howe: To you.
Al Smith: [listening to Roosevelt on the radio] Mark my words; he'll be dead in less than a year.
Eleanor Roosevelt: [Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor are headed toward the pool in Warm Springs] Tell me again why we came here?::Franklin Delano Roosevelt: [somewhat impatiently] For the waters. Are you coming?
Louis Howe: [FDR is supposed to make a speech] What's the matter?::Franklin Delano Roosevelt: What if I fall?::Louis Howe: If you fall, you just get up again.::Franklin Delano Roosevelt: If I fall in front of thousands of people, I'll lose everything - except their pity. They'll never see past my legs.::Eleanor Roosevelt: My darling, they'll never see past your legs - until you do.
Eleanor Roosevelt: [a medical convention is to be held in Atlanta] I'm suggesting we crash the party.
Helena Mahoney: Why should this place cater to a few able-bodied folk, when it could be open the year round for polios?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: [on first arriving at Warm Springs] This place should be condemned!::Tom Loyless: We have seen better times. But then, I imagine, so have you.
Tom Loyless: You're gonna do great things, Franklin. This place has identity now, a purpose.
Helena Mahoney: I feel like I've been brought here under false pretenses.::Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Join the club.
They're coming and you may be the next!
Plot
In 1904, Uncle Latsie comes to New York from Hungary with two little nieces, who immediately take to cafe dancing. In 1912 they're still at it, but to pay Uncle's card debts they decide to go into vaudeville. Singer Harry Fox, whom they meet en route, schemes to get them an audition with the great Hammerstein; but their resulting success takes them far out of Harry's league. Lots of songs with a little story.
Keywords: actress, automobile-accident, benefit, break-up, broadway-manhattan-new-york-city, car-crash, career, character-name-in-title, city, composer
Plot
A marathon bridge tournament, which started three months ago, is being held at the home of Mrs. Smith, one of the competitors. As it finally nears its completion, Mr. Smith is becoming increasingly desperate and agitated over the situation. When the score ends in a tie, the tournament is extended for three more months. Mr. Smith is beside himself with rage - he ejects everyone from his home, and refuses to let his wife play any further. Later on, even when she tries to turn on the radio to listen to the broadcast of the game, Mr. Smith is thrown into a frenzy, and he starts to take out his accumulated frustration on the radio.
Keywords: actor-shares-first-name-with-character, bridge, burial, competition, marital-discord, playing-card, plumbing, policeman, radio, radio-announcer