{"id":81989,"date":"2015-01-23T16:22:18","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T21:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=81989"},"modified":"2015-01-23T16:22:18","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T21:22:18","slug":"politics-as-usual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics as Usual"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"AlESmithBainStrawBoater1913\"<\/a>

Al Smith in 1913.<\/p><\/div>\n

At a certain point in the late nineties, my family\u2019s living room needed to be rewired. It seemed the wiring had not been replaced since the house was first built. The hardware store sent up a very old man to tackle the job. I know because I was hanging around; it was summer vacation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember this house,\u201d he said. It seemed he had worked on it as an apprentice electrician.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1919?\u201d my dad asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYup,\u201d said the man, getting to work. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo Al Smith had just started his first term as the governor of New York,\u201d remarked my dad, who takes an interest in such things<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At this, the old man\u2019s face darkened. He glowered, really.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoddamn Al Smith,\u201d he muttered, furiously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take it you didn\u2019t vote for him,\u201d said my dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoddamn Murphy. Goddamn Farley.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWere you a Charles S. Whitman man?\u201d said my dad. \u201cDid you vote Republican?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019ll vote for Whitman,\u201d said the old man. \u201cHell, I\u2019ll vote for anyone before I\u2019ll vote for a Catholic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you feel about Prohibition?\u201d my dad asked casually.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m for it. That Goddman Smith is in Tammany\u2019s pocket, though. And they\u2019re the ones making money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHm. But surely there\u2019s a pretty big Catholic population here in town,\u201d remarked my dad. \u201cAll the Slovakians and Croatians who \u2026 work in the copper factory.\u201d The copper factory had been closed, at this time, for more than thirty years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, they can work in the factories,\u201d said the electrician, \u201cbut I don\u2019t want them in Albany!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was like being in a time machine!\u201d my dad said later. \u201cThat guy really didn\u2019t like Al Smith! I should have told him I was Jewish, just to see how he reacted. He\u2019d probably never met a Jew in 1919.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a certain point, my Dad placed an AL SMITH FOR PRESIDENT<\/small> sign in the window of our house. Sometimes he did this; he liked to rotate pieces of his political memorabilia collection. But I couldn\u2019t help but wonder if it was for the benefit of that old electrician, and whether he saw it.<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a certain point in the late nineties, my family\u2019s living room needed to be rewired. It seemed the wiring had not been replaced since the house was first built. The hardware store sent up a very old man to tackle the job. I know because I was hanging around; it was summer vacation. \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[16745,16747,16746,16749,2143,124,16744,16748,2426,6662],"class_list":["post-81989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-al-smith","tag-anti-catholicism","tag-anti-semitism","tag-electricians","tag-long-island","tag-new-york","tag-old-new-york","tag-old-people","tag-politics","tag-prejudice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Carry a Political Grudge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein meets an old electrician who still detests Al Smith, the governor of New York who died in 1944.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Politics as Usual by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 23, 2015 \u2013 At a certain point in the late nineties, my family\u2019s living room needed to be rewired. It seemed the wiring had not been replaced since the house was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-23T21:22:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913-1024x782.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"782\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"Politics as Usual\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-23T21:22:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/\"},\"wordCount\":391,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Al Smith\",\"anti-Catholicism\",\"anti-Semitism\",\"electricians\",\"Long Island\",\"New York\",\"old New York\",\"old people\",\"politics\",\"prejudice\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/\",\"name\":\"How to Carry a Political Grudge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-23T21:22:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sadie Stein meets an old electrician who still detests Al Smith, the governor of New York who died in 1944.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politics as Usual\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Carry a Political Grudge","description":"Sadie Stein meets an old electrician who still detests Al Smith, the governor of New York who died in 1944.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Politics as Usual by Sadie Stein","og_description":"January 23, 2015 \u2013 At a certain point in the late nineties, my family\u2019s living room needed to be rewired. It seemed the wiring had not been replaced since the house was","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-01-23T21:22:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":782,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913-1024x782.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"Politics as Usual","datePublished":"2015-01-23T21:22:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/"},"wordCount":391,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg","keywords":["Al Smith","anti-Catholicism","anti-Semitism","electricians","Long Island","New York","old New York","old people","politics","prejudice"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/","name":"How to Carry a Political Grudge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg","datePublished":"2015-01-23T21:22:18+00:00","description":"Sadie Stein meets an old electrician who still detests Al Smith, the governor of New York who died in 1944.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/alesmithbainstrawboater1913.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/politics-as-usual\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politics as Usual"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81989"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82000,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81989\/revisions\/82000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}