XENOPHOBIA & The Papal Ring

There is so much political commentary this election season. One sticks in my mind; it will not go away; it ties together two of my passions, history and politics. Let's call it “The Papal Ring” comment.

So first a question: Who was the Democratic candidate for President in 1928? And what is the common reason given for his loss?

The answer is New York Governor Alfred E. Smith. In Associated Press picture (above) at the National Archives he appears every bit “the happy warrior” that was his nickname. And the reason attributed to his defeat is his Roman Catholic faith. Latter historians have said it was lucky for him, and his faith, that he lost; otherwise they both might have been blamed for the Great Depression. And I will add, it was lucky for his party as well.

But clearly Governor Smith’s lost was due to an irrational distrust of the immigrants, most of whom were Catholic, who arrived in this country at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. When they arrived those newcomers discovered a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant establishment that was Republican, anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.

Those “establishment” attitudes overwhelmingly denied Smith the 1928 election. Perhaps nothing typifies the culture of the time more than a remark by the nationally know Methodist Bishop, Adna Wright Leonard. “No Governor,” he said, “can kiss the papal ring and get within gunshot of the White House.”

It can be said that the implications of that remark remade American political history. It firmly drove immigrant Roman Catholic communities into the Democratic column for the following 70 years.

That same xenophobic political and social phenomenon drove Governor Pete Wilson of California (R) to push a 1994 anti-immigration ballot measure that sought to deny state assistance to undocumented immigrants. In 2002 GOP national Chairman Marc Racicot called the initiative, Proposition 187, a mistake that portrayed Republicans as "not as sensitive" as they should be toward Hispanics.

After listening to this year’s Republican debates, it seems they have learned nothing from long or short term political history. And in fact, I am willing to bet that Republican xenophobia will cause them to lose the bulk of the Hispanic vote not only this election cycle but for the next 70 years.