>> About the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner
64th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner
October 15, 2009
The Waldorf=Astoria
Keynote Speakers: To Be Determined
For ticket information please contact
Meghan McGuinness, Director
Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation
1011 First Avenue, Suite 1400
New York, NY 10022
212.371.1011x 3270
meghan.mcguinness@archny.org
Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner Speakers 1946-2006
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.
| 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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