Delegates to the 1928 Democratic National Convention nominated New York Governor Alfred E. Smith , who was described by Smith ally Franklin D. Roosevelt as " the Happy Warrior of the political battlefield . " Hoover campaigned for efficiency and the Republican record of prosperity . Smith ran on his record of efficiency earned over four terms as governor . Both candidates were pro-business , and each promised to improve conditions for farmers , reform immigration laws , and maintain America 's isolationist foreign policy . They differed on the Volstead Act which outlawed the sale of liquor and beer . Smith was a " wet " who called for its repeal , whereas Hoover gave limited support for Prohibition , calling it an " experiment noble in purpose . " While Smith won extra support among Catholics in the big cities , he was the target of intense anti-Catholic rhetoric from the Ku Klux Klan , as well as numerous Protestant preachers in rural areas across the South and West
1928 Democratic National Convention
1928 Democratic National Convention
Presidency of Herbert Hoover