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would whisper to you about how terrible it was to have a Catholic, how we were going to overcome it by working very hard. They told us that people were opposed to Smith on those grounds. We didn't open up the religious question at Danville. We were warned not to.

I did open up the religious question again the same way I did in Baltimore in Greenville, North Carolina, We had a good response there, although I was told to be awfully careful because there was a very bigoted outfit up there. I was told that the people who came to the meeting would probably not be Ku Klux Klanners, at least not active ones. It would be worthwhile for us to try to relieve the minds of these people of the idea that Al Smith was going to be controlled by the Roman Church and that the Pope was going to take over and tell him just what to do. I dwelt upon the independence of action which he had shown. I believe I told the story about how he had told the Bishop who came to see him, “Father, I respect your rights to counsel me on spiritual matters, but these other things are my business. I know more about this than you do.” He had a perfectly simple, clear division in his own mind between the secular duties and rights of a good Catholic and the religious duties and privileges of a good Catholic.