Al Smith

Alfred E. "Al" Smith (1873-1942) was the thirty-second President of the United States, serving from 1937 until his death in 1942. He was the US's first Catholic President. Smith brokered the Richmond Agreement with Confederate President Jake Featherston in the hopes of appeasing the belligerent Feathston. He returned states rights to Utah, but did little to get the country out of the depression. Smith was able to steer the country through the early dark days of the Second Great War, and was killed in the bombing of Powel House.

Early Political Career and First Term as President
Smith rose to prominence as Governor of New York in the early 1930s. While the Socialist Party had lost some of its credibility when President Hosea Blackford was unable to deal with the economic depression that crippled the country beginning in 1929, the Democratic Party and Blackford's successor Herber Hoover also proved unequal to the task. Further, the Hoover administration also seemd incapable of dealing with Jake Featherston and the Confederate Freedom Party. Finally, the American public had grown weary of the ongoing and costly conflict in the former Confederate state of Houston as well as the perpetual military occupation of Utah. The Socialists were given another chance, gaining a majority in Congress in 1934. Smith received the party nomination in 1936, and campaigned on a promise for change, including self-determination for Houston, Utah, and Kentucky, another former C.S. state that had grown restive under Freedom Party influence. Although Hoover attacked Smith's more relaxed stance on foreign policy, Hoover's own track record, including the costly conflict in Houston and the inconclusive Pacific War with Japan did not help his standing. Hoover's lax handling of the depression further strengthened Smith's position. Smith won in 1936, and took the oath of office in 1937.

Smith's first act was to normalize the situation in Utah, putting an end to military rule and returning control to civilians. Next, Smith removed the military garrison in Houston, and disbanded the Kentucky State Police. However, he did nothing overt to deal with the country's economy, although he did permit the country's continued rebuilding of its military, albeit at a relatively slow pace.

The Richmond Agreement
Throughout Smith's first term, his counter-part in the Confederacy, President Jake Featherston, had demanded the return of territories the C.S. had lost to the U.S. during the Great War, implying that the C.S. was prepared to retake those territories by force. Smith, wanting to avoid another war, while realizing that the American people were tired of the troublesome former Confederate states, finally agreed to meet with Featherston in Richmond. The result was the Richmond Agreement. Featherston obtained a promise from Smith for plebiscites the three former states in Houston, Kentucky, and Sequoyah-- provided Smith won the election of November, 1940. In turn, Smith extracted from Featherston a promise that the plebiscites would be held in a fair atmosphere, that blacks would be allowed to vote for self-determination, that Featherston would not to ask for any more territory, and that any state that changed hands would be demilitarized for 25 years. While Featherston paid the Agreement lip service, in truth he had intended to break its terms immediately.

Second Term, Operation Blackbeard, and Death
Based on his success in concluding the Richmond Agreement, Smith was re-elected in 1940. The terms of the agreement, including plebicites, were carried out early in January of 1941. Instead of allowing 25 years to pass before sending Confederate troops and barrels into Kentucky and Houston (now once again western Texas), Featherston broke his promise in 25 days. Freedom Party Stalwarts blew up a police station and blamed it on pro-USA terrorists, inventing an incident for Featherston to use as an excuse to place the Confederate Army on the banks of the Ohio River. He also demanded the remaining territory that the U.S. possessed. With the Richmond Agreement shredded, Smith refused to negotiate with his Confederate counterpart and mobilized the U.S. Army.

Featherston continued to issue ultimata until June of 1941. When Smith refused to cave in to Featherston, Featherston initiated Operation Blackbeard, the CSA's war plan for a quick overwhelming victory. By throwing all the offensive units into one army, the Confederacy pushed through Ohio cutting the USA in half. C.S. forces reached Sandusky, a town on the shore Lake Erie, in the first week of August 1941.

After the USA was cut in two, Featherston demanded the USA surrender, offering terms such as a C.S. occupation of the U.S. frontier and a reduced U.S. military. Smith angrily refused, much to Featherston's surprise, and ordered U.S. counterattacks against the Confederate salient while preparing for an offensive in Virginia that autumn. While the Virginia attack was not wholly successful, the continued fighting in the salient robbed Featherston of the short war he needed in the face of superior U.S. resources.

While Smith had appeared naive in dealing with Featherston, he nonetheless ordered his War Department to begin building a uranium bomb early in 1941. The project was managed by Assistant Secretary of War Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The war took its toll on Smith. While he was able to keep the country unified and fighting, many questioned his policy in dealing with the Confederacy prior to the war. Smith was killed in Powel House, the Presidential Residence, in 1942, during a Confederate bombing raid. Smith was mourned. United States bombers targeted the Gray House, the Confederate Presidential Residence.

Smith was succeeded by his Vice President, Charles La Follette, who eventuall led the United State to victory over the Confederacy in 1944.

Legacy
Smith's legacy is viewed in mixed terms. Some have argued that his decision to deal with Featherston diplomatically rather than militarily from the outset very nearly proved to be the country's undoing. Others might argue that in the situation Smith inherited (a weak economy, a weak military, restive populations who didn't want to be citizens), Smith probably made the best choices available to him. Regardless, there can be no doubt Smith paid the ultimate price, regardless of the wisdom of his decisions.