Fiorello La Guardia, American Politician

Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (December 11, 1882 - September 20, 1947) was the 99th Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945 as a Republican.... more

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Fiorello La Guardia, American Politician

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Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (December 11, 1882 - September 20, 1947) was the 99th Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945 as a Republican. Previously he had been elected to Congress in 1916 and 1918, and again from 1922 through 1930. Irascible, energetic, and charismatic, he craved publicity and is acclaimed as one of the three or four greatest mayors in American history. Only five feet tall, he was called "the Little Flower". As a New Dealer, he supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, and in turn Roosevelt heavily funded the city and cut off patronage from LaGuardia's foes. La Guardia revitalized New York City and restored public faith in City Hall. He unified the transit system, directed the building of low-cost public housing, public playgrounds, and parks, constructed airports, reorganized the police force, defeated the powerful Tammany Hall political machine, and reestablished merit employment in place of patronage jobs. He defeated a corrupt Democratic machine, presided during a depression and a world war, made the city the model for New Deal welfare and public works programs, and championed immigrants and ethnic minorities. He lost his intuitive touch during the war years, when the federal money stopped flowing in, and never realized that he had created far more infrastructure than the city could afford. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1947 at the age of 64. Photographed by Harris & Ewing, March 1936.

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January 19th, 2015