Fiorello Henry La Guardia

Mayor

• Born: December 11, 1882
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Died: September 20, 1947
• Place of death: New York, New York

American representative (1917-1919, 1923-1933)

Using boundless energy, La Guardia, the son of immigrants, served the public during a thirty-year career that included several terms as a U.S. congressman and three terms as mayor of New York City. He was the first Italian American elected to these positions.

Area of achievement Government and politics

Early Life

Fiorello Henry La Guardia (fyoh-REHL-loh HEHN-ree le GWAHRD-ee-eh) was born in New York City, the first son and second child of Achille and Irene La Guardia, Italians who had emigrated to the United States in 1880. Although identified with New York City, La Guardia spent most of his youth away from the city. His father, a musician, had difficulty finding work in early 1880’s New York and enlisted in the U.S. Army when Fiorello was three years old. Achille became the chief musician of the Eleventh Infantry Regiment posted on the frontier, first in Dakota Territory and later in Arizona Territory.

The La Guardias spent almost six years at Whipple Barracks, near Prescott, Arizona. Several biographers note that during his political career, La Guardia regarded Prescott as his hometown, regularly wearing Stetson hats to emphasize his Western “roots.” In Prescott, he was introduced to many of life’s truths. For example, he learned that a boundary existed between officers and enlisted men on a military post. Officers and their families received more privileges and better accommodations. The distinction between officers and enlisted men extended down to the children on the post. La Guardia did not choose to follow the rules and regularly engaged in fights with officers’ sons. Economic uncertainty was also on display as miners and laborers in nearby towns went long periods without employment.

La Guardia’s tendency to scuffle with other children can be attributed largely to his short stature, his Italian name, and his swarthy looks. As the son of Italian immigrants, he had to endure many racial slurs. In addition, he had a high-pitched voice, described by some contemporaries as a falsetto and by others as a screech.

In 1898, Achille took his family back to Italy. The bandmaster had been a casualty of the “embalmed beef” sold to the Army by profiteers during the Spanish-American War. He did not recover from the poisoning and was discharged from the Army shortly after the war. Since he could not find work in New York City, Achille decided to return to Trieste, Italy.

La Guardia was a teenager when he arrived in Italy. In 1900, he found work as a clerk in the American consulate in Budapest. Despite his lack of a high school education, he displayed a command for languages. La Guardia used his gift to help the growing number of people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire emigrate to the United States. In 1906, La Guardia decided to return to New York City. He found work as a translator and interpreter, eventually working at Ellis Island, the entry point for most immigrants into the United States in the early twentieth century. While working, he completed a high school equivalency diploma and earned a law degree.

Life’s Work

La Guardia’s main achievement, serving the residents of New York City as a congressman and mayor, culminated a career that started when he completed a law degree at New York University. His clients were primarily immigrants who could not pay large fees. He also developed a specialty in labor law. La Guardia’s goal as a lawyer was not to get rich; rather, he worked to build a base of supporters for future ventures into politics. He also developed an interest in aviation and eventually earned a pilot’s license.

After one unsuccessful congressional campaign, La Guardia was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916. He was a Republican candidate in a district considered a stronghold of the Tammany Hall Democrats. He became the first Italian American elected to Congress. Shortly after he took office, the United States entered World War I. La Guardia, while continuing his service in Congress, joined the Army Air Corps. He was stationed in Italy, where he worked to keep Italy in the war. After the war, La Guardia, now a major, resigned his commission. He was reelected to Congress in 1918.

In an effort to position himself for a mayoral campaign, La Guardia successfully sought the presidency of the city’s Board of Aldermen in 1920. The largely ceremonial position, the second highest post in the city, provided him with a seat on the Board of Estimate, the city’s executive committee. He also served as acting mayor in the absence of the mayor. La Guardia used his position to learn about city government with the expectation that he would be a candidate for mayor in 1921. His candidacy, however, was a victim of backroom deals among the leadership of the New York Republican Party.

In 1922, after the death of his wife from tuberculosis, La Guardia again sought a congressional seat. He ran as a Progressive reformer and was elected. During his tenure, he allied with such Progressives as Senators Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin and George Norris of Nebraska. Working for the “little guy,” La Guardia became known as “America’s most liberal congressman” for supporting social welfare legislation, opposing strike breaking, and calling for the repeal of Prohibition. Ever a showman, La Guardia concocted illicit beer in his congressional office using ingredients purchased at a drugstore.

While he was happy to serve his New York neighbors in Washington, D.C., La Guardia wanted to be mayor. He ran for the post in 1929, challenging the Tammany Democrat James J. Walker. La Guardia described Walker as corrupt and incompetent, but he was defeated handily in a city in which there were two Democrats for every Republican voter. Shortly after the election, the nation was rocked by the stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. Walker also had to endure an ethics investigation that eventually forced him from office before completing his term.

La Guardia’s political career suffered as well. By 1932, the character of his congressional district had changed. New residents, primarily Puerto Ricans, moved in to replace older immigrants who were moving to other parts of the city. Even Italian Americans were changing through the process of “Americanization.” La Guardia did not recognize these changes in time, and he was defeated in his reelection bid. By 1933, he was out of public service for the first time in fifteen years.

The energetic politician would not be out of office for long. As a lame duck during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first one hundred days, La Guardia spearheaded many of the reform measures proposed by the new president. He attracted the attention of influential members of Roosevelt’s “brain trust,” many of whom were New Yorkers. Working with local political leaders, the brain trusters were able to enter La Guardia’s name on the 1934 mayoral ballot as the Fusion candidate. His platform included various proposals to end corruption in city government and institute a more rational, nonpartisan administration. La Guardia was elected with 40 percent of the vote, becoming the city’s first Italian American mayor. On taking office, La Guardia attacked the problems faced by New York City with characteristic energy. He was an activist mayor at a time when the city needed active leadership. As he had done during his earlier career, La Guardia saw the mayoralty as a tool to help people in his city. He was not in office for the money.

La Guardia, while a popular politician, was not without his faults. Thomas Kessner, in Fiorello H. La Guardia and the Making of Modern New York (1989), argues that the mayor ran the city’s administrative establishment personally and autocratically. For example, city residents would not be surprised to see Mayor La Guardia dashing to a fire with the city fire department. He even utilized an obscure provision in the city charter to occasionally sit as a judge. Many of his commissioners cringed when informed that the mayor wanted to see them.

La Guardia was successful in pulling New York City out of the Depression with some assistance from the federal government. By the end of his second term, the mayor was seeking greater challenges. He wanted a national office. Unfortunately, President Roosevelt sought a third term in 1940, and La Guardia could not run against an ally. La Guardia’s requests for an appointive office were rebuffed by Roosevelt’s aides, who believed that La Guardia lacked the temperament to serve in the cabinet. The mayor’s request for a military post also was rejected.

While focusing on national offices during his third term, his administration began to deteriorate. Petty corruption crept into government. He was challenged by civil libertarians who did not like his treatment of people he considered racketeers. Sensing that his era was over, La Guardia did not seek reelection in 1945. After leaving office in January of 1946, La Guardia had one last chance in public service. He was appointed director general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. La Guardia resigned from the position after the United States withdrew support of the agency at the end of 1946. By 1947, few people were listening to La Guardia, an old man who was seen as being out of touch with modern times. In September, 1947, the reforming mayor and longtime public servant died.

Significance

Unlike his predecessors as mayor, La Guardia wanted to help people. Reforming municipal government in New York City involved getting city services to as many residents as possible. Sometimes the reforms required that Mayor La Guardia take unilateral action without consulting other elected city leaders or state officials in Albany. On occasion, he had to seek those leaders’ approval for his actions.

His motives were clearly different than those of his predecessors. At his death, La Guardia’s second wife inherited an estate of $8,000 in war bonds and a house. Like his early career as a lawyer, public service did not make La Guardia rich. His goal was to serve the people of New York. The measure of his success in reaching this goal comes every election year when New Yorkers hope for “another La Guardia.”

Bibliography

Brodsky, Alyn. The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003. Well-researched and comprehensive biography, tracing La Guardia’s life from his earliest years, to his military service in World War I and his tenure as a congressman, and then focusing on his three terms as mayor.

Elliott, Lawrence. Little Flower: The Life and Times of Fiorello La Guardia. New York: William Morrow, 1983. This biography, written for a popular audience, is a complete examination of La Guardia’s youth and career before becoming mayor, with a brief discussion of his tenure in office. Includes bibliography and illustrations.

Heckscher, August. When La Guardia Was Mayor. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978. This strong narrative account of La Guardia’s career as mayor of New York City provides some criticism of his abilities to manage the city.

Jeffers, H. Paul. The Napoleon of New York: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2002. Focuses on La Guardia’s personality and public image during his years as mayor of New York City.

Kessner, Thomas. Fiorello H. La Guardia and the Making of Modern New York. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989. Kessner’s definitive and lengthy biography of La Guardia from birth through death draws on a wealth of evidence to identify La Guardia’s impact on the government of New York City. Includes illustrations and footnotes but no bibliography.

Mann, Arthur. La Guardia: A Fighter Against His Times. 1959. Reprint. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. The first of two volumes, this work is a scholarly examination of La Guardia’s life before running for mayor of New York. Includes bibliography.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. La Guardia Comes to Power: 1933. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981. The second of two volumes, this book analyzes the mayoral campaign of 1933, La Guardia’s first successful campaign for the office.

Sayre, Wallace S., and Herbert Kaufman. Governing New York City: Politics in the Metropolis. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1960. This classic scholarly examination of New York City government evaluates all aspects of municipal government and assesses the performance of mayors including La Guardia. Includes diagrams, maps, tables, and chapter bibliographies.

Zinn, Howard. La Guardia in Congress. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1959. This book is a detailed evaluation of La Guardia as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Includes a bibliography.

Related Articles in Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century

1901-1940: March 23, 1932: Norris-La Guardia Act Strengthens Labor Organizations; March, 1937: Delaware River Project Begins.

1941-1970: June 25, 1941: Roosevelt Bans Discrimination in Defense-Industry Employment; June 20-21, 1943, and August 1, 1943: Race Riots Erupt in Detroit and Harlem; December 11, 1946: UNICEF Is Established.