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New York. They just liked Al Smith as soon as they saw him. Witness the crowds that went into the cathedral when his body was lying in state not too many years ago. They couldn't stop the crowds. They had to keep the church open all night. Practically everybody in the city of New York went in to pay his respects to Al. All kinds of people who had no political relationship to him or religious relationship to him went to see him.

So many people had liked him in New York and liked him on sight the first time they had ever talked to him - “That's the kind of a man I like” - that it wasn't at all surprising to me to see the immediate response of the crowds to this man, whom they saw was so nice, so human and so totally likable and trustworthy. The behavior of the crowds was a surprise. I recognized their liking him, but they cried. Tears rolled down the cheeks of many people. I saw people rush out, so that the Secret Service men who were supposed to be guiding him couldn't cope with the crowds. Men and women would rush up and try to touch the automobile. I remember saying to somebody - Eppes Hawes, I guess - “My God, they're trying to touch the hem of his garment.” You felt that way about it. There was the sense that if they could touch his coat some virtue would come. There was that sense of wanting to touch him.