He ultimately lost to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his one-time political ally (and gubernatorial successor), who would go on to win the general election.

This consequentially lost Smith his control of the Tammany machine, whose delegate votes had formed a base of support for all his previous campaigns for the Democratic nomination.

[1][3][4] Another element of Smith's disinterest was his desire to accumulate personal wealth so that he could both comfortably retire in his old age and leave behind an inheritance for his sons.

[1] After leaving the office of governor in early 1929, Smith found high-paying opportunities, such as a $50,000 per-year position as the president of the Empire State Building Corporation.

[3] Additionally, Smith saw himself as part of a proud tradition of Tammany Hall politicians that retired honorably from public office when their time came.

Smith was deeply upset that Roosevelt and Walker, two younger men to whom he had previously been a mentor, had begun to display an immense ingratitude towards him.

[1][6] Smith was heavily motivated by the fact that the Depression under Hoover's leadership had made the successful election of a Democratic ticket in 1932 seem to be a relatively foregone conclusion.

Therefore, Smith was interested in the idea of running in a year where his religion, a contributing factor to his 1928 defeat, would not be able to stifle his odds of a general election victory.

[6] In February 1932, the New York Times wrote that Smith had commented that, “he would place his cause in the hands of the people and risk his chances without making an active campaign for the nomination.”[5] While this was not a clear declaration of candidacy, political observers saw this as an indication that Smith was making himself available as a “Stop Roosevelt” candidate ahead of the first primary contest, which would be held in New Hampshire.

Additionally, in 1931, before he definitively changed his mind about running, Smith had been approached by New York Democratic Party figures such as James Farley and Edward J. Flynn.

[11] A red-faced Smith furiously responded to Roosevelt's address during his speech to the New York Democratic Party's annual Jefferson Day Dinner declaring, “This is no time for demagogues…I will take off my coat and vest and fight to the end against any candidate to persists in any demagogic appeal to the masses…to destroy themselves by setting class against class and rich against poor”[10][11][6] Reporters dubbed this the ‘’Angry Warrior Speech’’, a deliberate reference to a line from Roosevelt’s speech nominating Smith at the 1924 convention which declared Smith to be, “the happy warrior of the political battlefield”.

[6][12] To Smith's benefit, Roosevelt's campaign managers Howe and Farley were overconfident and committed miscalculations early in the primary race.

Among them were John R. Collins (the chairman Democratic Party of Pennsylvania), Sedgwick Kistler (a member of the DNC), Roland S. Morris (a former ambassador to Japan) and Judge Henry Clay Niles.

In the Pennsylvania primary Smith performed significantly stronger than he was expected to, coming a very-close second to Roosevelt (only losing by less than 2,000 votes).

The results of this second poll were as follows:[18] A challenge to Smith's candidacy was that, in his earlier period of disinterest, he had relinquished his influence in the Democratic Party.

Consequentially, party leaders sought to prevent Roosevelt's nomination, with many viewing Smith as the strongest candidate to block him.

[1] However, with Tammany no longer having the level of complete control it once enjoyed over state politics, the New York delegation's support was split between Roosevelt and Smith.

[11] Upon his arrival in Chicago, Smith was greeted by sizable crowds and boisterous cheers along his route from the LaSalle Street Station to the Congress Hotel.

[10] Chicago's anti-prohibition mayor Anton Cermak had arranged for the hall to be packed with people that would cheer for Smith's speech.

[10] The enthusiastic reaction to Smith's speech was discouraging to Roosevelt, who in his campaign had made a conscious effort to downplay the issue of prohibition.

During the first-three ballots, Moses successfully fought to hold an alliance of dark horse candidates together in order to prevent Roosevelt from amassing enough delegates to secure the nomination.

[1] At least eight dark horses arose during the convention, (including Newton D. Baker, Harry F. Byrd and George White), each hoping to block Roosevelt and emerge the nominee.

[6] After three rounds of balloting, there appeared to be a genuine glimmer of hope that the party might be unable to secure enough votes for Roosevelt and be forced to select Smith as a compromise candidate.

[10][20][19] This led them to conclude that California and Texas presented their greatest opportunities at persuading delegates to abandon the candidates that they had been loyal to on the first three ballots.

[1] Smith was gathered with a small group of friends, including Moses, at the Congress Hotel listening to the radio when McAdoo delivered his speech declaring California's support for Roosevelt.

The reporters, which had incidentally been gathered in anticipation of Roosevelt's arrival at the hotel, asked Smith whether he intended to support the party's nominee.

[20] However, his silence was partially due to an agreement between Smith, Raskob and John W. Davis to convene with each other in New York before declaring their attitudes about the Democratic ticket.

[21] On July 2, H. L. Mencken declared that, by his observation, the party lacked confidence in both Roosevelt's ability to deliver a general election victory and his physical fitness for the office of president.

[10] Indeed, had Smith and McAdoo been able to agree on an alternate candidate for their fractions of the Democratic Party to support, they could have succeeded in blocking Roosevelt's nomination.

In 1972 John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver served as the Democratic Party's vice-presidential nominee (after Thomas Eagleton, also Catholic, was dropped from the ticket).