New York Governor Al Smith had no formal schooling beyond the fish market

Evidence

Smith was the very antithesis of Moses’ ideal of a politician. Whether it was really true that he had never read a book all the way through, the story was plausible; not only had Smith never been to a university, he had never been to a high school—and he boasted about that fact. His remark on the floor of the State Assembly that his only degree was “FFM”—for the Fulton Fish Market, where he had worked as a boy—was already a legend. There seemed as little likelihood of a place for Bob Moses—for his dreams or for himself—on the state level as on the city. There seemed, in fact, to be no place anywhere for him to turn. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 386

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the recurring theme in this book and prior chapters of Moses’ contempt for machine politicians and his idealized notion of credentialed expertise as the only basis for governance. — connects to: Al Smith’s lack of schooling contradicted Moses’ ideal of the educated public man — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 386
• QUESTION: Caro sets up Smith as antithetical to Moses’ ideal, and the irony that Smith later became Moses’ crucial patron. Worth remembering the seeds of that relationship.

Broader Connections

• Al Smith’s lack of schooling contradicted Moses’ ideal of the educated public man #corroborates (0.90) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 386