Fiorello Henry La Guardia

An American municipal leader and mayor of New York City, Fiorello Henry La Guardia (1882-1947) was one of the most important and dynamic political reformers during the 1930s.

Fiorello La Guardia was born in New York City on Dec. 11, 1882, of Italian parents. La Guardia spent most of his boyhood in the West and attended high school in Prescott, Ariz. Later, in 1904, the family lived in Trieste. Following his father's death La Guardia secured a job in the American consulate in Budapest, Hungary. He returned to New York in 1906 and became an interpreter at Ellis Island. At the same time he attended New York University Law School at night, receiving his degree in 1910.

La Guardia's attention shifted to politics, and he joined the Republican party. Although defeated for election to Congress in 1914, he made an impressive showing and received an appointment the next year as deputy attorney general of New York State. In 1916 he was elected to Congress, and his political career was launched.

La Guardia's congressional career was briefly interrupted by World War I, when he enlisted in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. In 1919 he was elected president of New York City's Board of Aldermen. He suffered a major setback in 1921, when he was defeated in a primary race for mayor, but the next year he again secured election to Congress, this time as a candidate of the Socialist and Progressive parties. In 1929 he ran for mayor but was beaten by James J. Walker.

The mayoralty did not remain out of La Guardia's reach for long; he was elected in 1933, running on the Fusion ticket. He went on to serve three consecutive terms, during which he gained a nationwide reputation as a fiery and effective leader. Establishing his independence from the major parties, he attempted to rid the city of graft while improving municipal services and furthering social reform. He introduced slum-clearance projects and secured a new city charter. Fighting bossism, aiding the fire department in putting out fires, and reading comic strips on the radio, he became one of New York City's most popular and colorful mayors; because of his first name, he was sometimes called the "Little Flower." After he retired in 1945, he helped fight world famine as director general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. On Sept. 20, 1947, he died of cancer.

Further Reading

La Guardia's own account of his early years is The Making of an Insurgent: An Autobiography, 1882-1919 (1948). There are several excellent studies of him, including two well-received works by Arthur Mann: La Guardia: A Fighter against His Time, 1882-1932 (1959) and La Guardia Comes to Power, 1933 (1965). Two other valuable works are Howard Zinn, La Guardia in Congress (1959), and Charles Garrett, The La Guardia Years: Machine and Reform Politics in New York City (1961). See also John Franklin Carter, La Guardia (1937), and Ernest Cuneo, Life with Fiorello: A Memoir (1955).

Additional Sources

Bayor, Ronald H., Fiorello La Guardia: ethnicity and reform, Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1993.

Heckscher, August, When LaGuardia was mayor: New York's legendary years, New York: Norton, 1978.

Kessner, Thomas, Fiorello H. La Guardia and the making of modern New York, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1991.

La Guardia, Fiorello H. (Fiorello Henry), 1882-1947., The making of an insurgent: an autobiography, 1882-1919, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985, 1948.

Mann, Arthur, La Guardia comes to power, 1933, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981, 1965.

Manners, William, Patience and fortitude: Fiorello La Guardia: a biography, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. □

Fiorello Henry LaGuardia , 1882–1947, U.S. public official, congressman, and mayor of New York City (1934–45), b. New York City. He spent his early years in Arizona with his father, an army bandmaster who had come from Italy to the United States. LaGuardia went to Europe while still a youth, and was employed by the U.S. consulates in Hungary, Trieste, and Fiume. Returning to New York City, he studied law while working (1907–10) in the U.S. immigration service, and was admitted (1910) to the bar. He ran for Congress on the Republican ticket unsuccessfully in 1914, but won in 1916 after a vigorous campaign against the Tammany machine. In Congress he joined in the successful fight for the liberalization of the House rules. He commanded (1917) U.S. air forces on the Italian-Austrian front in World War I. LaGuardia was president (1920–21) of the New York City board of aldermen and returned (1923–33) to the House of Representatives, where he fought for numerous labor reforms and sponsored the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which prohibited injunctions in labor disputes.

With the backing of Samuel Seabury , LaGuardia successfully ran (1933) for mayor of New York City on the Fusion ticket. As mayor he executed a vast program of reform. He reduced political corruption, forwarded the modernization and beautification of the city, brought about the adoption (1938) of a new city charter, introduced slum clearance projects, and improved health and sanitary conditions. "The Little Flower" (from his first name), a shrewd, nonpartisan, and uncorruptable spokesman for urban America, was reelected mayor of New York City for three consecutive four-year terms, but chose not to run again in 1945. LaGuardia served (1946) as director of the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. His courage, enthusiasm, and energy made him a nationally known figure.

Bibliography: See his autobiography (ed. by M. L. Werner, 1948, repr. 1961); biography by A. Mann (2 vol., 1959–65, repr. 1969); E. Cuneo, Life with Fiorello (1955); H. Zinn, LaGuardia in Congress (1959, repr. 1969); T. Kessner, Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York (1989); A. Brodsky, The Great Mayor (2003).

La Guardia, Fiorello Henry (b. 11 Dec. 1882, d. 20 Sept. 1947). Mayor of New York 1933–45 Born in New York City of Italian-Jewish extraction, he qualified in law from New York University in 1910 and began public life as a lawyer. He was Deputy Attorney-General of New York (1915–17), and a Republican member of Congress (1916–19, 1923–33). Elected Mayor of New York in 1933, he worked closely with F. D. Roosevelt, despite his Republican party convictions, to generate urban policy during the Great Depression. In 1941–2 he also worked in Roosevelt's administration as Director of the US Office of Civilian Defense. He was an immensely popular defender of the public against vested interests and developed the city's infrastructure. He was also popular for his integrity and his resistance to organized crime. In a radio show of 1945 he offended so many special-interest groups that he was taken off the air. After retirement, he became Director of the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration from April to December 1946.