LA GUARDIA, FIORELLO 1882-1947

MAYOR OF NEW YORK (1934-1945)

A Popular Politician

Fiorello La Guardia was a leading progressive in New York politics from the 1920s until his death in 1947. During the 1930s his flamboyant political style and his hardworking nature made him one of the most popular political figures in the United States.

Background

La Guardia was born in New York City to an Italian father and Jewish mother. Because his father was in the U.S. Army, La Guardia spent much of his youth living on army posts in Arizona, South Dakota, and other western states. La Guardia also spent time with his mother's family in Trieste, then part of Austria. From 1901 to 1906 La Guardia, who knew six European languages in addition to English, worked at American consulates in Hungary and Austria. He entered New York University Law School in 1906, and while he was a student there he worked part-time as an interpreter on Ellis Island and with labor and immigrant groups on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. After graduating in 1910 he began practicing law in New York City. While serving as deputy attorney general of New York (1915—1917), he fought vigorously against the corruption of Tammany Hall, the Democratic political machine that controlled city politics. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916, but in 1917 he stepped down from his congressional seat to serve as a pilot in World War I. After the war he was president of the New York City Board of Aldermen (1920-1921) before he was reelected to Congress in 1922. In Congress he fought for labor reforms, including the Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932, which restricted the use of federal court injunctions against striking workers.

Mayor of New York

Having run for mayor of New York in 1929 and lost, La Guardia ran again in autumn 1933 on a Fusion ticket and was elected. Often called "The Little Flower" (a translation of his first name as well as a reference to his diminutive stature), La Guardia was well known for his charm and charisma. He read the comics to children over the radio during a newspaper-delivery strike; riding in the sidecar of a motorcycle, he went to burning buildings and once helped rescue a fireman from under a fallen beam; he also distributed presents to the sick during the holiday season. For three consecutive terms of office his leadership of New York was bipartisan and honest. The Roosevelt administration worked closely with La Guardia and helped the city develop parks, schools, highways, and an airport (subsequently named after La Guardia). A vigorous supporter of Roosevelt in the 1936 election, he hoped to be rewarded by being appointed Roosevelt's secretary of war during World War II, but it was not to be. In 1945 he chose not to seek a fourth term as mayor, and in 1946 he served as director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. His autobiography was posthumously published in 1948.