I Never Did Like Politics
How Fiorello La Guardia Became America's Mayor, and Why He Still Matters
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"In our current dismal passage of American politics, it’s exhilarating to read about a politician who exemplified all the qualities—courage, honesty, vision, energy, disdain for hypocrisy, concern for the downtrodden—that we were taught to revere....Remarkable." —Wall Street Journal
Fiorello LaGuardia was one of the twentieth century’s most colorful politicians—on the New York and national stage. He was also quintessentially American: the son of Italian immigrants, who rose in society through sheer will and chutzpah. Almost one hundred years later, America is once again grappling with issues that would have been familiar to the Little Flower, as he was affectionately known. It’s time to bring back LaGuardia, argues historian and journalist Terry Golway, to remind us all what an effective municipal officer (as he preferred to call himself) can achieve...
Golway examines LaGuardia’s extraordinary career through four essential qualities: As a patriot, a dissenter, a leader, and a statesman. He needed them all when he stood against the nativism, religious and racial bigotry, and reactionary economic policies of the 1920s, and again when he faced the realities of Depression-era New York and the rise of fascism at home and abroad in the 1930s. Just before World War II, the Roosevelt administration formally apologized to the Nazis when LaGuardia referred to Hitler as a “brown-shirted fanatic.”
There was nobody quite like Fiorello LaGuardia. In this immensely readable book, as entertaining as the man himself, Terry Golway captures the enduring appeal of one of America’s greatest leaders.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fiorello Henry La Guardia (1882-1947) was "one of those rare political figures whose reputation and legacy have stood the test of time," according to this admiring biography from historian Golway (Machine Made). Born to Italian immigrants in New York City's Greenwich Village, La Guardia found early work as a clerk at the U.S. consulate in Budapest assisting thousands of Eastern European immigrants leaving for America. After returning to New York, he became a translator on Ellis Island and graduated from law school. Elected the first Italian American representative to Congress in 1918, La Guardia interrupted his first term to enlist as a pilot in WWI. Following the war, he jumped back into New York City politics and eventually won the 1933 mayoral election. Inheriting a "mismanaged city on the verge of bankruptcy," La Guardia utilized federal New Deal funds to get the city back on its feet with public works project such as the New York Housing Authority, which built more than a dozen public housing developments. Throughout, Golway presents La Guardia as a model for today, highlighting his cross-aisle politicking (he was a Republican who supported the New Deal) and his willingness to dissent from prevailing wisdom (he was pro-immigration at a time when it was unpopular). This will intrigue readers concerned with America's current political polarization and government gridlock.
