• Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner takes place each year at The Waldorf Astoria on the 3rd Thursday of October.
• The dinner takes place in October as this is the month that Governor Alfred E. Smith died in 1944, the peak of the election season.
• Alfred E. Smith was known as the 1st Roman Catholic presidential candidate.
• The Dinner has taken place at The Waldorf Astoria for the past 60 years.
• The dinner sponsored by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundations and initiated by then – Archbishop (later Cardinal) Francis J. Spellman of the Archdiocese of New York – in 1945.
• Over the years the dinner has attracted speakers and attendees from the who’s who of the current political landscape. Including the current year’s presidential nominees
• Over the years many of the addresses provided took on a lighter tone giving the speaker the opportunity to show quips & slight irreverent humor and to poke fun at the political issues, opponents & themselves.
• The Foundation’s dinner has raised millions of dollars for healthcare causes.
