66th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial
Foundation Dinner

Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Waldorf=Astoria
Keynote Speaker:
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder
The Blackstone Group

For ticket information please contact
Meghan McGuinness Myers, Executive Director
Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation
1011 First Avenue, Suite 1400
New York, NY 10022
646.794.3315
meghanm@archny.org

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Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner Speakers 1946-2009



For over sixty years, luminous guest speakers have stepped from the world stage to honor and entertain Annual Dinner audiences with their light humor and political savvy.

2010   Mr. James Carville Ms. Mary Matalin	2009  Admiral Michael G. Mullen	2008   Honorable John McCain Honorable Barack Obama
2007  Honorable Tony Blair	2006  Mr. Brian Williams	2005  Honorable John McCain
2004   Honorable Hugh L. Carey Honorable George H. W. Bush	2003  General Tommy R. Franks	2002  Honorable Colin L. Powell
2001  Honorable Richard B. Cheney	2000   Honorable George W. Bush Honorable Albert Gore	1999  Mr. Bob Newhart
1998  Mr. Tom Brokaw	1997  Mr. Timothy Russert	1996   Honorable Albert Gore Honorable Jack Kemp
1995  His Eminence, John Cardinal O'Connor	1994  Honorable Louis J. Freeh	1993  Honorable Robert Dole
1992  Honorable Robert P. Casey	1991  Honorable John H. Sununu	1990  Miss Beverly Sills
1989  Mrs. George H. W. Bush	1988   Honorable George H. W. Bush Honorable Michael Dukakis	1987  Honorable William J. Bennett
1986  General Vernon A. Walters	1985  Honorable William Hughes Mulligan	1984  Honorable Ronald W. Reagan
1983  Mr. Lee A. Iacocca	1982  Honorable George H. W. Bush	1981   Mr. J. Peter Grace Mrs. Ronald W. Reagan
1980   Honorable Jimmy Carter Honorable Ronald W. Reagan Honorable William Hughes Mulligan	1979  Honorable Walter F. Mondale	1978  Mr. Danny Thomas
1977  Honorable Hugh L. Carey	1976   Honorable Gerald R. Ford Honorable Jimmy Carter Dr. Howard T. Rusk	1975  Honorable Ella T. Grasso
1974  Honorable Henry A. Kissinger	1973  Honorable William Hughes Mulligan	1972   Honorable Kurt Waldheim Honorable Spiro T. Agnew
1971  Honorable Henry Cabot Lodge	1970  Mr. Bob Hope	1969   Honorable Spiro T. Agnew Dr. Thomas O. Paine
1968   Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson Honorable Hubert H. Humphrey	1967  Honorable Arthur J. Goldberg	1966  Honorable Richard M. Nixon
1965  Honorable Hubert H. Humphrey	1964  Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson	1963  His Majesty, King Humpert of Savoy
1962  Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson	1961  General Dwight D. Eisenhower	1960   Honorable John F. Kennedy Honorable Richard M. Nixon
1959  Honorable John F. Kennedy	1958  General Mark W. Clark	1957  Honorable Clare Boothe Luce
1956  Honorable Richard M. Nixon	1955  General Maxwell D. Taylor	1954  General Dwight D. Eisenhower
1953  General Alfred M. Gruenther	1952  General Dwight D. Eisenhower	1951  Admiral Alan G. Kirk
1950  Honorable Alben W. Barkley	1949  Honorable Dean Acheson	1948  General Lucius D. Clay
1947   Honorable Winston S. Churchill (via transatlantic telephone) Honorable James V. Forrestal	1946  Honorable James F. Byrnes

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About the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

Although both his state and his country generously honored Alfred E. Smith after his death in 1944, the most unusual and notable memorial to him has been an ongoing series of black-tie dinners. Sponsored by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, these annual fêtes were initiated by then-Archbishop (later Cardinal) Francis J. Spellman of the Archdiocese of New York in 1945. Since that time the Foundation has raised millions of dollars for healthcare causes.

Cardinal Spellman, capitalizing on the fact that Governor Smith died in the month of October (the peak of election season), used the dinner to remind later generations of Smith's extraordinary public career and unique role in political history by securing the participation of the leading political figures of those later generations. Over the years, the dinner has attracted the cream of modern American politics: the list of speakers and attendees reads like a who's who of the political landscape.

In the early years of the dinner's existence, this event might have been the only time some of these candidates would share a dais during the entire campaign. By 1960 the Al Smith dinner had truly reached its zenith as "a ritual of American politics," in the words of Theodore H. White.Many of past dinners have generated front-page news items as a result of the program, i.e. joint appearances of opposing presidential nominees.

While commendatory references to Smith and his actions were once common, by chance or by design, many of the addresses at later dinners have taken on a lighter tone. Indeed, the occasion has evolved into something of an opportunity for speakers - particularly ones whose mien is typically quite serious - to show, through quips and slightly irreverent humor, that they can poke fun at a political issue, an opponent, or themselves. In 1988, Michael S. Dukakis solemnly declared, "I've... been told that I lack passion. But that doesn't affect me one way or the other. Some people say I am arrogant, but I know better than that." In the days before Saturday Night Live, the Al Smith dinner served as a kind of "proving ground for the candidate as entertainer," as one reporter described it.

Today the dinner remains a true phenomenon - a living memorial to an uncommon public figure, best known as the first Roman Catholic presidential candidate, who died more than six decades ago. Doubtless the dinner's honoree would be deeply gratified that he is being remembered each year in this fashion. He would be even more gratified to know that the dinner commemorating him and his unique role in American politics has contributed millions of dollars for charitable endeavors in the city he loved so much.

— Donn Neal


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