Actually, there were those who thought Smith lacked "gravitas" and was an "uneducated buffoon." He dropped out of public school at 15 to work in the Fulton Fish Market; so his subsequent education was self-taught.
A Chinese proverb says -"he who studies ten years in obscurity, will , once preferred, be known universally.."
To be nominated as a presidential candidate , Al Smith fits that category...How many others who pride themselves with 'gravitas' or feel so highly qualified as to ascribe or deny that judgement of another....