The 78th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, held Thursday night, raised a record amount of funds for its namesake, featured Dr. Henry A. Kissinger as its keynote speaker, and honored Rob Speyer, CEO of Tishman Speyer, with the Happy Warrior Award. Mary Callahan Erdoes, vice chair of the Foundation’s board of directors, served as the evening’s host.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, participating in the Synod on Synodality in Rome this month, made a trip to New York to attend the dinner and returned to Italy shortly after its conclusion.

Known colloquially as the Al Smith Dinner, the event took place at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan and raised $7 million for the Foundation, which supports charitable endeavors throughout the Archdiocese of New York and beyond, including Catholic schools, migrant outreach, substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation, and pediatric care for those in need.

The annual event gives hope to the underprivileged people of the archdiocese. While, traditionally a lighthearted affair that aims to put unity ahead of politics, Thursday night took on a more serious tinge because of the recent violence in Israel.

Catholic-Jewish unity was a recurring theme throughout the dinner, with numerous attendees of both faiths pointing to efforts by the New York community to remain united during the current crisis. During the event, it was announced that $150,000 from the night’s proceeds would directly benefit the UJA Federation of New York.

Rob Speyer, chief executive officer of real estate company Tishman Speyer was honored with the 2023 Happy Warrior Award. The award gets its name from Al Smith’s nickname, given to him by political rival and future president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“The world needs more happy warriors, people who go out and fight for what they believe in with dignity, with love, and with joy,” said Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla introducing Speyer.

“Our people left the job site after the Pyramids; in fact, I can think of only one Jewish carpenter,” said Speyer, who is Jewish, making light of his involvement in real estate.

Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of State of the United States, who turned 100 on May 27, offered the keynote presentation. Born in Germany, Kissinger grew up in the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan after his family emigrated to the United States in 1938.

“[Kissinger has] made it to almost every dinner since 1973, so we wanted to honor him this year, in his 100th anniversary,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan told reporters in remarks before the beginning of the event.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg was slated to introduce Kissinger but was unable to attend after contracting Covid. Instead, E. John Rosenwald Jr., vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase, gave the introduction.

In his remarks, Kissinger recalled his previous speech at the Al Smith Dinner in 1974, while he was still Secretary of State during President Richard Nixon’s term.

“On that occasion, there was a public controversy about Senator Jacob Javits going to Cuba which was under sanction, without State Department permission. I was then Secretary of State and I commented about it at this dinner by saying “People ask me whether I was bothered by Senator Javits going to Cuba without sanction. The fact is, what bothered me was not his going, but that he came back,” a political joke that still evoked laughter almost a half-century later.

Kissinger then focused on more serious topics. Having just returned from China, Kissinger said he hoped the United States would use both diplomacy and military deterrence to prevent conflict between the two nations. “Much therefore depends on whether the leaders of the two countries can find a context in which they prevent such a conflict and I wish [President Biden] every success in the negotiations which he is about to undertake.”

Turning his attention to Russia and Ukraine, he said, “We have to cooperate in finding a solution that affirms the independence and freedom and the resistance to outside intervention of Ukraine. And we also need to build Russia back into the European system.”

After decrying the recent violence in the Middle East and expressing hope that the United States would continue to support Israel, he closed by saying, “The future is one of hope if America has confidence in itself…And on that basis, I hope we can build a peace of strength and reconciliation for the next decade.”

Special guests included New York Senator Chuck Schumer; New York City Mayor Eric Adams; State Attorney General Letitia James; New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban; Fire Department of New York Laura Kavanagh; and Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly.

Members of the clergy included Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia Permanent Observer of the Holy See To The United Nations; Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia; Bishop Robert Brennan of the Diocese of Brooklyn; Bishop Edmund Whalen, vicar for clergy of the Archdiocese of New York; and Monsignor Joseph LaMorte, vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York.

Cardinal Dolan closed the event, thanking all those in attendance and asking, “We render praise to Almighty God, without whom nothing is possible, with whom, nothing is impossible, whose help we ask in guiding us safely home, and in keeping us secure until next year. Amen.”

Alfred E. Smith was born into a Catholic family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1873. A Democrat, Smith served as governor of New York from 1919 to 1920, and again from 1923 to 1928. Smith ran for president in 1924 but failed to gain the Democratic nomination. In 1928 he became the first Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party. He faced Republican Herbert Hoover in the general election and lost by a significant margin, partly due to anti-Catholic prejudice and partly because of his support for repealing Prohibition. He did not hold public elected office again.

Pope Venerable Pius XII appointed Smith a Papal Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape in 1939. Smith died in 1944. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside.

Cardinal Francis Spellman established the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation in 1946 to honor the former governor’s legacy. Learn more about the Foundation here.