 The nation's twelve largest cities gave pluralities of 1.6 million to the GOP in 1920, and 1.3 million in 1924; now they went for Smith by a razor-thin 38,000 votes, while everywhere else was for Hoover.The surge proved permanent; Catholics made up a major portion of the New Deal Coalition that Franklin D. Roosevelt assembled and which dominated national elections for decades.President Franklin D. Roosevelt depended heavily in his four elections on the Catholic vote and the enthusiasm of Irish machines in major cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York.