Fiorello Henry La Guardia was one of our nation’s most incorruptible politicians, ever a paradigm of honesty and virtue, in American political history.
Early in life, La Guardia developed his principles and ambitions, which went hand in hand, throughout his great career as one of the most creative statesmen the American public has enjoyed in recent time.
As his autobiography “The Making of an Insurgent” reveals, La Guardia began to be concerned about the state of the world, and particularly that of his native United States, as soon as he was able to read the newspapers with any degree of concentration.
He was eager to be a Congressman, and he loved being one. In the course of his Congressional career, La Guardia was on the progressive side of every domestic and foreign controversy in the years between the two world wars.
During the first World War he fought personally as an aviator, and during the second, he worked feverishly as Director of Civilian Defense, as well as Mayor of the largest port of embarkation for troops and supplies in the country, and as American chairman of the Joint Canadian-American Defense Board.
After the war, and after his retirement as New York’s most effective Mayor, he became the most dynamic director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
Prior to becoming New York’s pre-eminent mayor, La Guardia was a rambunctious member of the U.S. Consular Service in Europe , aided immigrants pouring into Ellis Island, became a distinguished U.S. congressman, fought for the civil liberties of striking garment workers before the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union was organized, and even commanded the United States Army Air corps on the Italian-Austrian front, during World War I.
In 1941 during the run-up to American involvement in World War II, President Roosevelt appointed La Guardia first director of the new Office of Civilian Defense (OCD).
The OCD was the national agency responsible for preparing the public for blackouts, air raid wardens, sirens, and shelters, in case of German air raids.
The government knew such air raids were impossible, but the goal was to psychologically mobilize many thousands of middle class volunteers, and make them feel part of the war effort.
Roosevelt was an admirer of La Guardia; after meeting Winston Churchill for the first time, he described him as “an English Mayor La Guardia”.
Despite presiding during a depression and a world war, he still made New York city a model for public works programs.
La Guardia was a domineering leader, who verged on authoritarianism, but his reform politics were carefully tailored to address the sentiments of his diverse constituency.
Early Life
In 1875, La Guardia became the leader of a military band, in the Holland Colony in Batavia, India.The La Guardia’s first American home, was a large red brick apartment building in Greenwich Village, a rather Bohemian setting.
Here, immigrants of many European cultures pocketed together, forming miniature countries, in an effort to calm fears, ease homesickness, and establish roots in their new country.
Achille and Irene were immigrants also, but they differed from the rest in two important ways: one, they arrived with money and two, Achille spoke English (which Irene was rapidly learning).
Also, Achille had contacts in America, as well as employment potential, as a musician.
La Guardia’s associate was Carlo Alberto Cappa, was a trombonist, composer, and band master who performed regularly at Central Park and Brighton Beach, New York.
Cappa was highly regarded for his superb musicianship.
La Guardia performed as cornet soloist with Cappa’s “World Renowned” 7th Regiment Band; therefore, it can be reasonably concluded that he was an outstanding cornet.
Despite Achille’s musicianship, he never was a regular member of any orchestra, thus periods of unemployment were frequent and often lengthy.
He refused to do the menial pick-and-shovel jobs filled by other immigrants, feeling that he was above that sort of labor.
(Rapid City, South Dakota) Fiorella’s mother became friendly with the Indians in the area and they gave her moccasins , blankets and beads
In March on 1885, the family visited the Luzzato’s in Europe.
That June, Achille left his wife and children in Trieste and returned to the United States to find work.
In September of 1885, he enlisted in the Army and sent word for his family to join him at Ft. Sully, South Dakota, where he was stationed as a member to the 11th U.S. Infantry Band.
La Guardia claimed “no special privileges by reason of being married” concerning post assignments and was transferred four times, in seven years, often to remote frontier installations.
War clouds brewed on the horizon and the 11th Infantry was placed on alert. Prescott’s intrepid mayor, William Owen “Buckey” O’Neil, mustered volunteer troops to Ft. Whipple ,with the Infantry, 20 “Rough Riders” , and volunteers shipped out for war.
The trains stopped first in St. Louis at Jefferson Barracks, to settle families prior to moving the volunteers to Mobile, Alabama for further training, and the regular troops to Tampa, Florida.
As events in Tampa unfolded, it was fortunate for the elder La Guardia that his son was with him.
For this impressive list of miseries, he received a pension of $8.00 per month.
Father and son rejoined the family at Jefferson Barracks, a few days after Achille’s discharge.
Poor health prevented him from finding work.
Frustrated, La Guardia moved his family to Trieste to live with his wife’s widowed mother.
Achille found work in the cartage business in Trieste, but this proved too strenuous for his deteriorating health.
He then worked as a ship’s provisioner for about two years, but this was not to his liking.
In 1900, Achille leased an empty seaside hotel in Capo d’ Istria.
Within a short time he was operating a successful business.
The venture became quite profitable, and in October of 1904, arrangements were being made to purchase the hotel. These plans were abruptly discontinued, however, due to La Guardia’s sudden heart attack and death on October 21, 1904.
At loose ends in Trieste, the 18-year-old Fiorello did not want to work in his father’s hotel.
Following his father’s death La Guardia secured a job in the American consulate in Budapest, Hungary.
An acquaintance of his father, Raymond Willey, who was the U.S. consular agent in Fiume, told him about a clerical opening at the U.S. consulate general in Budapest and gave him a recommendation.
Fiorella La Guardia joined the State Department and served in U.S. consulates in Budapest, Trieste , and Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia).
The job did not pay much, but it afforded young Fiorello a modicum of freedom, and was an interesting learning experience.
From 1907 to 1910, he worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration at the Ellis Island immigration station. 
La Guardia won a seat in Congress from the Italian stronghold of East Harlem in 1922 and served in the House until March 3, 1933.
Foreign policy
Never an isolationist, he supported using American influence abroad on behalf of democracy or for national independence or against autocracy.
Thus he supported the Irish independence movement and the anti-czarist Russian Revolution of 1917, but did not approve of Vladimir Lenin.
Unlike most progressive colleagues, such as Norris, La Guardia consistently backed internationalism, speaking in favor of the League of Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union as well as peace and disarmament conferences.
As a congressman, La Guardia was a tireless and vocal champion of progressive causes, from allowing more immigration and removing U.S. troops from Nicaragua to speaking up for the rights and livelihoods of striking miners, impoverished farmers, oppressed minorities, and struggling families.
A goad to the era’s plutocrats and their enablers in government, he fought for progressive income taxes, greater government oversight of Wall Street, and national employment insurance for workers idled by the Great Depression.
La Guardia was also one of the first Republicans to voice his opinion about prohibition, urging that the Dry cause “would prove disastrous in the long run”.
This was breaking a taboo, given the fact that both parties “avoided taking a stand on prohibition issues” at the time.
La Guardia lost the election for mayor to incumbent Democrat Jimmy Walker by a landslide in 1929.
La Guardia was also defeated for re-election to the House by James J. Lanzetta, the Democratic candidate. 1932 was not a good year for Republican candidates and the 20th Congressional district was shifting from a Jewish and Italian-American population to a Puerto Rican population.
Mayor of New York
Walker and his Irish-run Tammany Hall were forced out of office by scandal and La Guardia was determined to replace him, but first he had to win the nomination of both the Republican party and also the “Fusion” group of independents.
He was not the first choice of either, for they distrusted Italians. On the other hand, La Guardia had enormous determination, high visibility, the support of reformer Samuel Seabury and the ability to ruin the prospects of any rival by a divisive primary contest.
He secured the nominations and expected an easy win against hapless incumbent Mayor John P. O’Brien. However, at the last minute Joseph V. McKee entered the race as the nominee of the new “Recovery party”.
McKee was a formidable opponent because he was sponsored by Bronx Democratic boss Edward J. Flynn and apparently was favored by President Franklin Roosevelt. La Guardia made corruption his main issue.
The campaign saw mud slung three ways, with La Guardia denounced as a far-left “Red”, O’Brien as a pawn of the bosses, and McKee as an anti-Semite. La Guardia’s win was based on a complex coalition of regular Republicans (mostly middle class German Americans in the boroughs outside Manhattan), a minority of reform-minded Democrats, some Socialists, a large proportion of middle-class Jews, and the great majority of Italians. The Italians had been loyal to Tammany; their switch proved decisive.
Fiorello was the city’s first Italian-American mayor, but was not a typical Italian New Yorker.
The Plan : La Guardia came to office in January 1934 with five main goals:
- Restore the financial health and break free from the bankers’ control
- Expand the federally funded work-relief program for the unemployed
- End corruption in government and racketeering in key sectors of the economy
- Replace patronage with a merit-based civil service, with high prestige
- Modernize the infrastructure, especially transportation and parks
He achieved most of the first four goals in his first hundred days, as FDR gave him 20% of the entire national CWA budget for work relief.
La Guardia then collaborated closely with Robert Moses, with support from the governor, Democrat Herbert Lehman, to upgrade the decaying infrastructure.
The city was favored by the New Deal in terms of funding for public works projects.
La Guardia was not an orthodox Republican.
He also ran as the nominee of the American Labor Party, a union-dominated anti-Tammany left wing group that supported Franklin D. Roosevelt for president beginning in 1936.
To obtain large-scale federal money the mayor became a close partner of Roosevelt and New Deal agencies such as CWA, PWA and WPA, which poured $1.1 billion into the city from 1934–39 .
In turn he gave FDR a showcase for New Deal achievement, helped defeat FDR’s political enemies in Tammany Hall (the Democratic party machine in Manhattan).
He and Robert Moses built highways, bridges and tunnels, transforming the physical landscape of New York City.
The West Side Highway, East River Drive, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Triborough Bridge, and two airports (LaGuardia Airport, and, later, Idlewild, now JFK Airport) were built during his time mayor.
Responding to popular disdain for the sometimes corrupt City Council, La Guardia successfully proposed a reformed 1938 City Charter that created a powerful new New York City Board of Estimate, similar to a corporate board of directors.
Race Riots
Two major race riots (1935,1943)took place while La Guardia was mayor.
The Harlem riot of 1935 took place on March 19, 1935 during the Great Depression, in New York City, New York, in the United States.
It has been described as the first “modern” race riot in Harlem, because it was committed primarily against property rather than persons.
After the riot, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who had been in office for slightly more than a year, appointed a biracial commission to investigate the “disturbance”.
La Guardia remained popular with black leaders and voters because he had championed black causes and had included a small number of blacks in city government.
After the riot, the mayor worked to further expand the opportunities for blacks in city government as well as integrate city hospitals and improve sanitation, health care, and fire and police protection.
Despite such attempts to improve conditions, La Guardia could do little to alleviate the long-term problems facing Harlem’s residents.
Harlem race riot of 1943, riot that occurred in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem on August 1–2, 1943.
In the aftermath of the riot, the federal Office of Price Administration (OPA) agreed to open an office on 135th Street in Harlem to investigate complaints about price gouging.
The office was soon flooded with complaints.
Mayor La Guardia was warned that when lease renewals came due, the landlords would violate voluntary price restraints.
The mayor thus increased pressure on the city agencies involved, which forced the landlords to comply with price controls, a circumstance that may have prevented another riot.
The event was recalled by several African American writers, including James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Claude Brown, and Malcolm X (then Malcolm Little).
Organized Crime
La Guardia loathed the gangsters who brought a negative stereotype and shame to the Italian community.
His first action as mayor was to order the chief of police to arrest mob boss Lucky Luciano on whatever charges could be found.
La Guardia then went after the gangsters with a vengeance, stating in a radio address to the people of New York , “Let’s drive the bums out of town”.
In 1934 he went on a search-and-destroy mission looking for mob boss Frank Costello’s slot machines, which La Guardia executed with gusto, rounding up thousands of the “one armed bandits”, swinging a sledgehammer and dumping them off a barge into the water for the newspapers and media.
In 1935 La Guardia appeared at The Bronx Terminal Market to institute a city-wide ban on the sale, display, and possession of artichokes, whose prices were inflated by mobs. When prices went down, the ban was lifted.
In 1936, La Guardia had special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, a future Republican presidential candidate, single out Lucky Luciano for prosecution. Dewey led a successful investigation into Luciano’s lucrative prostitution operation, eventually sending Luciano to jail with a 30–50 year sentence.
When the city’s newspapers were closed by a strike he famously read the comics on the radio.
In the immediately ensuing years, in speeches in the House, in press interviews, on radio station WRNY, and in his own column entitled, “I’m Telling You Confidentially” in the New York Daily Graphic, LaGuardia was busy fighting Prohibition, fighting for a more equitable tax structure, standing up against the beef and bread trusts that he saw relentlessly overcharging the public, demanding the improvement of working conditions for coal miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, and fighting for the rights of Native Americans.
Fiorello had remembered from his youth the story of Col. Richard Dodge, regimental commander at Ft. Sully, was impressed with La Guardia and assigned him and his family to a hillside house separated from the company area.
Achille was concerned that, due to the distance from the other buildings, his wife would feel isolated and that she and the children might be in danger from the Sioux Indians.
Legacy
La Guardua was a hard working and tough-minded reform mayor . He helped clean out systemic and criminal corruption, support innovative experts, and fix upon the city a broad sense of responsibility for its own citizens. La Guardia’s administration engaged new groups that had been kept out of the political system gave them opportunity and allowed them utilized their talents which gave New York its modern infrastructure which raised expectations urban life and of possibility which is still his legacy today.
