Rudolph W. Giuliani

by

David Mario Curcio

The 107th Mayor of the City of New York, Rudy Giuliani led the renaissance of the world’s capital by restoring law and order - and more importantly civic pride - to a city which many thought had already seen its best days. In the early 1990s, New York City had deteriorated into a symbol of national decay, where crime was rampant, the economy on the decline, and where most people expressed a clear preference for the surrounding suburbs to the once-great metropolis. But the 1993 mayoral election presented the voters with an opportunity for change, and the resulting election of Rudy Giuliani as Mayor would alter the course of history and leave an indelible mark on a rejuvenated municipality. It would have even broader ramifications on September 11, 2001, when “America’s Mayor” would lead a City under attack and comfort a nation at war.

The grandson of Italian immigrants, Rudolph William Louis Giuliani was born to parents Helen and Harold Giuliani in Brooklyn, New York on May 28, 1944. Giuliani was raised in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, where his parents instilled in him the values of hard work and deep moral conviction. Despite growing up less than a mile from Ebbets Field, home to baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers, Harold Giuliani raised his son to be a fan of the cross-town rival New York Yankees. Young Rudy was often taunted by the neighborhood children for his baseball allegiance to the Yankees, but it was a formative example of his standing up for his beliefs, as well as the beginning of a lifetime passion for America’s pastime and its most successful sports franchise. Giuliani’s father also provided him with inspirational lessons on life, including the importance of remaining calm in a crisis situation.

The Giuliani family was one of the many that began a great migration out of the City in favor of the surrounding suburbs, moving to Long Island in the early 1950s. Giuliani, made the daily commute to Brooklyn, where he attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, graduating in 1961, and being named “class politician."

Giuliani attended Manhattan College in the Bronx, graduating magna cum laude in 1965. He considered a variety of career paths, but chose to pursue law, attending New York University Law School, and graduate magna cum laude in 1968.  He would go on to clerk for federal judge Lloyd MacMahon for two years before joining the office of the U.S. Attorney in 1970, the start of a two-decades long career as a federal prosecutor.

With a remarkable passion for his work, Giuliani achieved significant career success.  In 1973, he was named Chief of the Narcotics Unit, and by 1975 he was named Associate Deputy Attorney General and chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General, where he remained through 1977, when he returned to New York and joined a private-sector law firm.

In 1981, Giuliani returned to the federal government, being named Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the Department of Justice, by newly-elected President Ronald Reagan. It was around this time that Giuliani, a one-time Democrat and later Independent, enrolled in the Republican Party, crediting President Reagan’s leadership as a source of inspiration. In 1983, Giuliani was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he would spend the next six years prosecuting organized crime, drug dealers, white-collar criminals, and government corruption, boasting a record of 4,152 convictions with only 25 reversals.

In 1989, Giuliani left the U.S. Attorney’s Office to wage a gallant campaign for Mayor of New York, only to lose by the closest margin in the City’s history. Over the next four years, Giuliani returned to private law practice, while simultaneously preparing for a second run for mayor. As the candidate of the Republican and Liberal parties, Giuliani resurrected the fusion tradition of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and the result was a victorious election on November 2, 1993.

Under the leadership of Rudy Giuliani, stability and responsible management was returned to local government. The policies of the Giuliani administration with respect to fighting crime and bolstering economic development became a template for similar successes in other major cities.  The Giuliani administration stewarded a 57% reduction in the crime rate, with an even greater reduction in the City’s murder rate. More than forty business improvement districts were established during Giuliani’s eight years in office, highlighted by the impressive revitalization of Times Square. And New York’s welfare-to-workfare social policy became a national model for reform, with a nearly 60% reduction in the City’s welfare rolls. 

Giuliani himself became an iconic figure in the annals of New York history.  His social and fiscal reforms resulted in a renewed sense of prosperity, security, and civic pride. In 1997, he was re-elected by a margin of nearly 20%, becoming only the second Republican to ever be re-elected Mayor of New York. His second term was highlighted by continued decreases in crime and increases in economic growth, along with three consecutive Yankees championships and a spectacular millennium celebration in Times Square. Still, Giuliani will forever be best remembered for his unshakable leadership during the attack on the World Trade Center and its aftermath, coordinating the rescue and recovery effort and consoling the families of countless victims.  His performance during the crisis led to his being named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2001.

Term limits forced the incredibly popular mayor to leave office at the conclusion of 2001, but Giuliani remains an incredibly popular figure in American politics, giving motivational speeches and stumping for candidates throughout the country. After leaving office, he established Giuliani Partners LLC, a high-profile consulting business, where he serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  He is currently one of the leading contenders for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination.

This biography is courtesy of the New York Young Republican Club.