Politics
In 1917, Greenfield was elected to a seat on the Philadelphia Common Council and served until 1920. Originally a Republican, he switched parties with the advent of the New Deal and remained a strong Democratic supporter until his death. He enjoyed a close relationship with many Presidents from Herbert Hoover to Lyndon Johnson. Greenfield served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1928 and to the Democratic National Conventions from 1948-1964. He was also a presidential elector in 1956 and 1960. Through his political connections he received appointments to various committees and commissions. These included appointment by Philadelphia Mayor Richardson Dilworth in 1956 as Chairman of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. In order to accept the position, Greenfield had to retire from his real estate business, stepping down on January 1, 1956 after fifty years as head of the Greenfield Co. (which then became Albert M. Greenfield & Co., Inc.). He became a strong advocate of urban renewal. Although on the commission for only a little over a year, his work laid the foundation for the development of Penn Center, Society Hill, the Independence Square area surrounding Independence Hall, and Veterans Stadium. Also because of his political activism, in 1948 Philadelphia hosted both the Republican and the Democratic party conventions.
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“I have come to the conclusion that the closer people are to what may be called the front lines of government ... the easier it is to see the immediate underbrush, the individual tree trunks of the moment, and to forget the nobility the usefulness and the wide extent of the forest itself.... They forget that politics after all is only an instrument through which to achieve Government.”
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