His run was notable in that he was the first Catholic nominee of a major party, he opposed Prohibition, and he enjoyed broad appeal among women, who had won the right of suffrage in 1920.

[2] Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Protestant, proved to be a significant advocate for Smith, capable of transcending the issue of religion.

In August 1925, a march was held in Washington, D.C., where thousands of hooded klansmen aimed to display both their power and their opposition to new forces in the Democratic Party.

In an implied reference to Smith, imperial wizard Hiram Wesley Evans declared that the Klan was opposed to the granting of "political power to any Roman Catholic".

[6] At the convention anti-Smith forces made a last-ditch attempt to deny him the nomination by trying to promote the pro-prohibition Catholic [7] Thomas J. Walsh as a possible candidate in an effort to siphon off Smith delegates that were wary of his anti-prohibition position.

[8] Roosevelt served as Smith's floor manager and delivered his nominating speech, which received tremendous applause.

[2] At the convention, the party leadership selected Joseph Taylor Robinson as their favored vice-presidential nominee, as he balanced-out the ticket.

[10][11] Reporter Frederick William Wile made the oft-repeated observation that Smith was defeated by "the three P's: Prohibition, Prejudice and Prosperity".

[12] The Republican Party was still benefiting from an economic boom, as well as a failure to reapportion Congress and the electoral college following the 1920 census, which had registered a 15 percent increase in the urban population.

Smith's economic conservatism and anti-prohibition stance likely contributed to his inability to coalesce support amongst rural progressives.

Additionally, Hoover was running on the record of an immensely popular incumbent Republican president, Calvin Coolidge.

[2] Historians agree that prosperity, along with widespread anti-Catholic sentiment against Smith, made Hoover's election inevitable.

[1][16] Smith was still confident that Roosevelt was the only individual capable of defeating Albert Ottinger, the particularly appealing Republican Party nominee for Governor.

[1] Still unwilling to run, Roosevelt attempted to place himself out-of-reach from state leaders seeking to convince him otherwise.

He, however, succeeded in the Deep South in part because of the appeal of his running mate, Senator Joseph Robinson from Arkansas, but he lost five southern states to Hoover.

Smith carried the ten most populous cities in the United States, an indication of the rising power of the urban areas and their new demographics.

His campaign theme song, "The Sidewalks of New York", had little appeal for rural Americans, and they found his 'city' accent slightly foreign when hearing it on the radio.

"[2] University of Maryland historian Robert Chiles argues that the Smith campaign had a substantial impact on the Democratic party's policy platform, and that it contributed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.