Last night’s Al Smith Dinner was a special thrill for me. I remember so clearly 1960 when I was a 10 year old boy in Missouri, and seeing John Kennedy and Richard Nixon on the Huntley-Brinkley Report joining my predecessor, Francis Cardinal Spellman, at that year’s Smith Dinner. I never dreamed that one day I’d be hosting the Smith Dinner, and that I would have the privilege of being with our honored guest speaker Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his lovely wife Deborah, and so many other notable guests including New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson and other civic, community, and business leaders.