“Like Getting a Huge Caravan Underway”

Al Smith, the Democratic Party’s 1928 presidential nominee, described in an article for the Saturday Evening Post the organizational and other aspects of his campaign train tour.

“If the candidate is to be made known to his countrymen, he must go and meet them. The candidate for the presidency and the candidate for the vice presidency have all but equal claims. Both must make speeches, and both must travel. . . . In my case, it took a whole train to transport the army of newspaper reporters, photographers, newsreel operators, and the necessary Pullman car. 

“But all the necessary organization to give publicity to the candidate’s every word, thought, and deed, and every moment of the trip, had to be accommodated too. 

“We had to carry one car for nothing but baggage and paraphernalia such as typewriters, stationery, and clerical supplies of all kinds, to say nothing of gifts ranging from clocks and fruit to dogs and donkeys acquired on the way.

“One whole car was given up to typewriters and telegraph instruments for the traveling newspapermen so that no time would be lost in reporting the least word that the candidate might utter or any of his daily experiences.

“My own staff of secretaries, who had to take my speeches steno-graphically and transcribe them, had to be accommodated, too, and several tons of literature for distribution were carried along as well.

‘Our arrival everywhere, or departure, was like getting a huge caravan underway. As a matter of fact, someone had to be sent several days in advance to make all the arrangements, so that the train would be met, and proper arrangements had to be made for everyone, all duly numbered and ticketed so that everybody would be sure to ride in the right car.”

Source: Al Smith, “Campaign Business,” Saturday Evening Post, July 30, 1932, 4–5