#I guess Lew's grandpa took Smith's side in his feud with FDR

[winnix85]

I just noticed that Alfred E. Smith was the pallbearer of Lew's grandfather.

Alfred E. Smith was a big name in the Democratic party. He was the first Roman Catholic to be nominated for president of the United States but he lost to Herbert Hoover in the 1928 election, largely due to anti-Catholic sentiment.

Smith sought the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination but was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was his close ally and protégé. After that, his relationship with FDR went sour. Smith became highly critical of Roosevelt's New Deal policies.

However, he reconciled with FDR during ww2. Smith was an early and vocal critic of the Nazi regime in Germany (i.e. as early as 1933) Smith enthusiastically supported American military involvement in World War II. Although he was not asked by Roosevelt to play any role in the war effort, Smith was an active and vocal proponent of FDR's attempts to amend the Neutrality Act in order to allow "Cash and Carry" sales of war equipment to be made to the British.