In 1928 the Democratic Party, which had split bitterly four years earlier over his nomination, seemed ready to give its presidential nomination to Gov. Alfred E. Smith of New York, making him the first Roman Catholic to be nominated for nominated for that office by a major party. In 1927,Smith published Jan. article in the Atlantic Monthly to quiet fears that his religion would conflict with his responsibilities as president. He refuted an open letter to him in the April 1927 Atlantic Monthly, imputing to American Catholics "views which if held by them, would , leave open to question the loyalty and devotion to . this country and its Constitution of more than 20 million American Catholic citizens." Its author, he « said, implies that "there is conflict between religious loyalty to the Catholic faith and patriotic loyalty to the United States," which Smith-also dismissed...