Al Smith, former governor of New York and the 1928 Democratic presidential nominee, ran an unsuccessful campaign for the party's 1932 presidential nomination. He ultimately lost to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his one-time political ally (and gubernatorial successor), who would go on to win the general election.
Background
Al Smith's 1932 presidential campaign was his fourth consecutive bid for the presidency. Smith had unsuccessfully campaigned for the Democratic nomination in both 1920 and 1924. Smith secured the nomination in 1928, however he lost the general election to Republican-nominee Herbert Hoover.
After receiving the Democratic nomination in 1928, Smith was prohibited by New York law from running for reelection in the 1928 gubernatorial election. Smith persuaded his then-political ally Franklin D. Roosevelt to run for governor in his place. Consequentially, his loss in the 1928 presidential election left Smith out of office.
Smith's initial disinterest
Smith had originally run in 1928, a year heavily expected to be a Democratic loss, in order to keep himself in the conscious of Democrats, in order to remain a viable candidate for the following election (in 1932). However, by the end of the 1928 election, Smith had changed his mind and had decided against running in 1932. In fact, after losing the 1928 election, Smith indicated that he held no interest in again running for any political office.
By all signs, Smith's initial disinterest in against running for the presidency was genuine. Smith had relinquished his positions of power within the Democratic Party (which would have been important for him to retain if he was planning to run again for the party's presidential nomination). In 1929, Smith had stepped-down as leader of the Democratic National Committee. In 1929, Smith neglected to intervene in the ousting of his ally Judge George Alvany as the head of Tammany Hall. This consequentially lost Smith his control of the Tammany machine, whose delegate votes had formed a base of support for all his previous campaigns for the Democratic nomination. Anticipating his own plans to run, Roosevelt had asked Ed Flynn to inquire with Smith about his true ambitions. Flynn was convinced by Smith's assertion that he was indeed finished with politics.
There was more than one reason for Smith's disinterest. A major reason was the vile prejudice that Smith had endured in his 1928 campaign. Smith was bitter about the anti-Catholic prejudice that he had faced in the 1928 election, and had little interest in subjecting himself to it again.
Another element of Smith's disinterest was his desire to accumulate personal wealth so that he could both comfortably retire in his old age and leave behind an inheritance for his sons. The office of Governor of New York had paid only $10,000, which was less than even the Governor's cabinet officers earned. Thus, Smith held very little in the way of personal wealth. After leaving the office of governor in early 1929, Smith found high-paying opportunities, such as a $50,000 per-year position as the president of the Empire State Building Corporation. Smith had personal debt he wanted to pay-off. Additionally, family members of his had lost money in the stock-market crash.
Additionally, Smith saw himself as part of a proud tradition of Tammany Hall politicians that retired honorably from public office when their time came. Smith originally felt no personal animosity towards his gubernatorial successor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Smith trusted that Roosevelt would continue his programs as governor. Roosevelt had long been a supporter of Smith's, participating in all three of Smith's presidential campaigns. In addition, Roosevelt had written an open letter which launched Smith's 1922 gubernatorial campaign and sent his wife Eleanor to campaign for Smith (since Roosevelt himself was physically unable to do so himself) when Smith was being challenged in 1924 by Franklin's own relative Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
Smith's change of heart
Animosity towards Roosevelt
In the time since the conclusion of his Governorship in 1929, Smith had become resentful towards his successor (and one-time political ally) Franklin Roosevelt.
Roosevelt, who had begun planning a 1932 run for the presidency immediately after the 1928 election, recognized that, should he change his mind and decide to run, Al Smith was going to be the man to beat for the nomination. Ironically, Roosevelt's treatment of Smith was largely what drove Smith to challenge him for the nomination.