Rudy Giuliani
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Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani III (born May 28 1944) served as the Mayor of New York City from January 1 1994 through December 31 2001. He is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Giuliani Partners LLC, which he founded in January 2002 and a name partner in the Houston based law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP.
He married his second cousin, Regina Peruggi, in 1968. He later divorced her and obtained an annulment from the Catholic Church in 1982. He was married to Donna Hanover from 1984 to 2002. They have two children, Andrew and Caroline. He married Judith Nathan in May 2003.
Giuliani is widely regarded as a potential presidential candidate in 2008. His name has consistently been near the top of early polls of potential Republican Party candidates for the 2008 election.
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Early career
Giuliani was born in Brooklyn, New York to Harold Angelo Giuliani and Helen C. D'Avanzo, the children of Italian immigrants. He was raised in Garden City South on Long Island and attended Manhattan College before graduating from New York University School of Law magna cum laude in 1968. Upon graduation, he clerked for Judge Lloyd MacMahon, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.
The annulment of his first marriage to Regina Peruggi was obtained after his divorce on the basis that at the time of the wedding a dispensation was not obtained from the Catholic Church to allow a marriage between second cousins.[1]
Rudy Giuliani started his political life as a Democrat, before registering as an Independent. Afterward, he finally decided on being a Republican.
In 1970, Giuliani joined the Office of the US Attorney. In 1973, he was named Chief of the Narcotics Unit and rose to serve as executive US Attorney. In 1975, Giuliani was recruited to Washington, D.C., where he was named Associate Deputy Attorney General and chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General. His first high-profile prosecution was Congressman Bert Podell who was convicted of corruption. From 1977 to 1981, Giuliani practiced law at the Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler law firm.
In 1981, Giuliani was named Associate Attorney General, the fourth highest position in the Department of Justice. As Associate Attorney General, Giuliani supervised all of the US Attorney Offices' Federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Corrections, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Marshals Service. During this time, he successfully argued on behalf of the U.S. government, in a high-profile case, that there was "no political repression" in Haiti under President Jean-Claude Duvalier, aka "Baby Doc."
In 1983, Giuliani was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. It was in that position that he first gained national prominence by prosecuting numerous high-profile cases, including indictments of Wall Street figures Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken for insider trading. Giuliani attracted some criticism for arranging very public arrests of people, then dropping charges for lack of evidence instead of going to trial. He also spearheaded the effort to jail drug dealers, fight organized crime, break the web of corruption in government, and prosecute white-collar criminals. He amassed a record of 4,152 convictions with only 25 reversals. Senator Al D'Amato who had been a long-time ally of Giuliani broke with him because of his prosecution of D'Amato contributor Milken.
It was in 1983 that Giuliani prosecuted Marc Rich on charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis. Rich fled the United States for Switzerland to avoid charges and was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2001.
Giuliani first ran as the Republican candidate for mayor in 1989 to succeed Ed Koch. Sponsored by D'Amato, cosmetics heir Ron Lauder first challenged Giuliani in the Republican primary and then in the general election ran on the Conservative Party line. Democrat David Dinkins was elected by a margin of 47,000 votes in 1,900,000 votes cast. 112,000 votes were cast for third party candidates.
Mayoralty
1993 campaign and election
The principal issues of the election of 1993 were crime and taxes. Giuliani also campaigned on the out of control growth of the city's budget and the lack of managerial competence of David Dinkins who was seeking reelection. City Council President Andrew Stein was also critical of Dinkins for increasing the number of city workers assigned to ticketing citizens for parking violations and store owners for litter in front of their stores. But Stein as a Democrat had alienated too many Democratic leaders and dropped out from the primary. Giuliani focused on the quality of life in the city:
- It's the street tax paid to drunk and drug-ridden panhandlers.
- It's the squeegee men shaking down the motorist waiting for at a light.
- It's the trash storms, the swirling mass of garbage left by peddlers and panhandlers and open-air drug bazaars on unclean streets.
Giuliani's message made an emotional connection to a breakdown of the social and political order that Dinkins was unwilling to address: the city had lost 330,000 jobs, faced record rates of crime, and was divided by the 1991 Crown Heights Riot.
President Bill Clinton's campaign appearance on behalf of Dinkins may have backfired by accusing much of the electorate of the city of racism:
- it's not [Dinkins's] record people are against, it's his race, just as in 1989 when he should have won easily. The real question is why were they against Dinkins in '89?
Giuliani won the election by a margin of 82,000 votes in 1,889,000 votes cast. 53,000 votes were cast for third party candidates.
Crime control
In his first term as mayor, Giuliani, in conjunction with NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, adopted an aggressive public policing strategy based on James Q. Wilson's Broken Windows theory. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as jaywalking, turnstile jumping, and aggressive "squeegeemen", on the principle that this would send a message that order would be maintained. Many residents criticized the policy as curtailing the civil liberties of innocent citizens, particularly minorities, and the Deputy Mayor, Rudy Washington, complained about harassment by NYPD.
The amount of credit Guiliani's policies deserve for the drop in the crime rate is disputed. A nationwide drop in crime preceded Guiliani's election. Critics point out that Guiliani may have been the beneficiary of a trend already in progress. Another factor in the overall decline in crime during the 1990's was the federal government provision of temporary funding for an additional 7,000 police officers and an overall improvement in the national economy.
Giuliani also directed the NYPD to aggressively go after enterprises linked to organized crime, such as the Fulton Fish Market and the Javits Center on the West Side (Gambino crime family), in the breaking up of mob control of solid waste removal, the city was able to save city businesses over $600 million--an amount larger than any tax decrease in the city's history.
Urban reconstruction
Giuliani pursued similarly aggressive real estate policies. The Times Square redevelopment project saw Times Square transformed from a run-down center for businesses ranging from tourist attractions and peep shows to a high-price district filled with family-oriented stores and theaters, including the MTV studios and a massive Disney store and theater. Throughout his term, Giuliani pursued the construction of new sports stadiums in Manhattan, a goal in which he did not succeed, though new minor league baseball stadiums opened in Brooklyn, for the Brooklyn Cyclones, and in Staten Island, for the Staten Island Yankees.
Media management
Giuliani, after being elected, started a weekly call-in program on WABC radio. He avoided one-on-one interviews with the press, preferring to only speak to them at press conferences or on the steps of City Hall. Giuliani made frequent visits to The Late Show with David Letterman television show, sometimes appearing as a guest and sometimes participating in comedy segments. In one highly publicized appearance that took place shortly after his election, Giuliani filled a pothole in the street outside the Ed Sullivan theater.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Giuliani was widely hailed for his leadership in the aftermath. For this, he was named TIME magazine's Person of the Year for 2001 and was given an honorary knighthood by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on February 13, 2002, entitling him to add the post-nominal KBE after his name.
Image:Rumsfeld and Giuliani at Ground Zero.jpg
In April 1999 Giuliani formed an exploratory committee for the U.S. Senate, seeking the Republican nomination to fill the seat vacated by the retiring Daniel Patrick Moynihan. His expected Democratic opponent was Hillary Rodham Clinton who later won the election. On May 19, 2000 before the primary, he withdrew because of prostate cancer and the fallout from his relationship with Judith Nathan.
Opposition to Brooklyn Museum art exhibit
In 1999 Giuliani threatened to cut off city funding for the Brooklyn Museum if the museum did not remove a number of works in an exhibit entitled “Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection.” One work in particular, The Holy Virgin Mary by Turner Prize winning-artist Chris Ofili, was targeted as being offensive to some in the Christian community in New York, leading the artist to comment that "This is all about control."
In its defense, the museum filed a lawsuit, charging Giuliani with violating the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Religious groups such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights supported the mayor's actions, while it was condemned by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, objecting to the mayor's censorship and interference with the first amendment rights of the museum. Template:Ref Template:Ref The museum's lawsuit was successful; the mayor was ordered to resume funding, and the judge, Federal District Judge Nina Gershon, declared that (t)here is no federal constitutional issue more grave than the effort by government officials to censor works of expression and to threaten the vitality of a major cultural institution as punishment for failing to abide by governmental demands for orthodoxy.Template:Ref
Role during 9-11 attack
The defining episode in Giuliani's career was his response as mayor to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. He coordinated the response of the different city departments and communicated to the state and federal authorities the support that the city would need for World Trade Center site, for city-wide anti-terrorist measures, and restoration of the destroyed infrastructure. He made frequent appearances on radio and television to communicate to the public critical information with authority: for example, that the tunnels were being closed as a precaution, and that there was no reason to believe that part of the attack included the dispersion of a chemical or biological weapon into the air. He balanced the need to make hundreds of decisions directly and immediately, to delegate hundreds of others, and to visit the injured and console the families of the dead.
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Giuliani in his public statements mirrored the emotions of New Yorkers at the time: shock, sadness, anger, resolution to rebuild, and the desire for justice to be done to those responsible. "Tomorrow New York is going to be here," he said. "And we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before...I want the people of New York to be an example to the rest of the country, and the rest of the world, that terrorism can't stop us." Giuliani was widely praised for his strong leadership and close involvement with the rescue and recovery efforts.
Effect on 2001 local elections
The 9/11 attack occurred on the scheduled date of the mayoral primary to select the Democratic and Republican candidates to succeed Giuliani. It was moved to Tuesday September 25. During this two week period Giuliani sought from the legislature and the candidates an unprecedented three month emergency extension of his term expiring on January 1 2002 to April 1 due to the emergency circumstances. He threatened that if candidates did not give their consent he would challenge the law imposing terms limits on elected New York City officials and run for another full four year termTemplate:Ref.
The advocates for the extension argued that Giuliani would be needed to manage the initial requests for funds in Albany and Washington, speed up recovery, and slow down the exodus of jobs from lower Manhattan to outside New York City. The opponents saw the extension a means for Giuliani to profit politically from a continued high profile in the recovery efforts. However, Ferrer did not accept the extension because he said it was delaying the scheduled change in city government. Though a provision for emergency extensions is in the New York State Constitution (Article 3 Section 25) Template:Ref, leaders in the State Assembly and Senate indicated that they did not believe the extension was necessary and the election and inauguration proceeded as scheduled.
Time Person of the Year
In 2001, TIME magazine named him Person of the Year Template:Ref. TIME wrote that prior to 9/11 the public image of Giuliani had been one of a rigid, self-righteous, ambitious politician. After 9/11 and cancer his public image changed to be the man who could be counted on to be able to pull a city together in the middle of its greatest crisis. At the same time however, voices were being raised against the refrain that it was the mayor who had pulled the city together. "You didn't bring us together, our pain brought us together and our decency brought us together. We would have come together if Bozo was the mayor," said civil-rights activist Al Sharpton, in a statement largely supported by Fernando Ferrer, one of the three main candidates for the mayoralty at the end of 2001 Template:Ref.
Post-mayoralty
Image:Rudy Guiliani at a NYFPC briefing.jpg
Consulting
After leaving the mayor's office, Giuliani built a security consulting business and gave speeches. On December 1, 2004 his consulting firm announced it purchased accounting firm Ernst & Young's investment banking unit. The new investment bank will be known as Giuliani Capital Advisors LLC and will advise companies on acquisitions, restructurings and other strategic issues.
Nextel
Giuliani and Giuliani Partners promote Nextel Communications, a large distributor of two-way walkie-talkie telephones. Giuliani's Nextel telephone, now housed in a September 11th exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, continued working on September 11th and is a phone he was rarely without on the days that followed September 11th. [2]
2004
Giuliani, who campaigned on behalf of the re-election of George W. Bush in the 2004 election, was reportedly the top choice for Secretary of Homeland Security after the resignation of Tom Ridge. Giuliani turned down the offer and instead recommended his friend and former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Kerik in his pre-announcement interviews with the White House failed to disclose facts in his past which were certain to disqualify him. After the formal announcement of Kerik's nomination, information known for years to local reporters, but unreported, became widely known. The political fallout was damaging to the perception of competence in the White House vetting process and doubts on the political judgment of Giuliani for recommending Kerik in the first place.
Image:Rudy Giuliani ribbon-cutting ceremony.jpg
2005
On March 31, 2005, it was announced that Giuliani would join the firm of Bracewell & Patterson LLP (renamed Bracewell & Giuliani LLP) as a name partner and symbolic head of the expanding firm's new New York office. Despite a busy schedule the former mayor is known to be highly active in the day to day business of the Texas-based law firm. While there was early speculation that the firm would merge with Giuliani Partners, this is a legal impossibility (As a matter of ethics, lawyers cannot share legal fees with non-lawyers). However, while the firm is completely independent of the consulting business, the two entities maintain a close strategic partnership.
2006
Some have speculated that Giuliani might become a candidate for statewide office in 2006, either for the United States Senate challenging incumbent Hillary Clinton, or for Governor of New York; on July 27, 2005, current Governor George Pataki announced that he would not seek re-election for a fourth term. The consensus of political observers then was that Giuliani would not runTemplate:Ref even though polls show that he would be favored in a matchup against likely Democratic nominee Eliot Spitzer [3]; in any case, a Giuliani spokesman says that he "has no intention" of runningTemplate:Ref, leaving no clear favorite among Republicans. With Giuliani staying out of the Senate race, the Republican nomination has been contested among several lesser-known candidates, with none gaining much traction and several dropping out (see New York U.S. Senate election, 2006).
On March 15, 2006, Congress announced the formation of the Iraq Study Group (ISG), of which Giuliani is a member. The ISG is a bi-partisan task force charged to assess the ground situation in Iraq and is organized by U.S. Institute of Peace.
On May 12, 2006, Cinema Libre Studio [4] is scheduled to theatrically release GIULIANI TIME [5] (directed by Kevin Keating [6]), the first full-length feature documentary film about Giuliani's personal and political history, at Landmark Theatres Sunshine Cinema [7] in New York City, followed by additional releases in select cinemas across the United States.
Anticipated 2008 presidential campaign
Image:Rudy Giuliani New York After 9-11.jpg
Giuliani is widely reported to be considering a run for the Presidency in 2008. Supporters point to his leadership of New York City during the 9/11 attacks and the coordination of the emergency response in the immediate aftermath, as well as his track record of success in reducing crime and improving the economy in New York City, as qualities voters will seek in a president and his record of attracting both Republican and Democratic voters. One obstacle to such a national campaign could be his pro-choice stand on abortion. Pro-life groups such including the Republican National Coalition for Life for have already announced their intention to oppose Giuliani or any other pro-choice candidate Template:Ref, though anecdotal evidence suggests that even among these voters, he enjoys some support. Template:Ref NBC host Chris Matthews and syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker believe that in South Carolina, an early Southern state on the Republican primary calendar, abortion will not be a deciding political issue.[8] Indeed, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll indicates that Giuliani is viewed favorably among Republicans by a 63% to 17% margin. Template:Ref Early 2008 Presidential polls show him with one of the highest levels of name recognition and support.
In Copenhagen, Denmark on October 2, 2005, starting speculation on the possibility of his campaign for President of the United States in 2008 Giuliani said "I will be considering it next year." Template:Ref In the latest 2008-related poll, taken by the American Polling Research Institute (March 26-28, 2006), among registered Republicans, Giuliani ties with John McCain for second place with 20% of the vote, while Condoleezza Rice leads with 29%. Trailing, are Newt Gingrich (8%), George Allen (6%), Mitt Romney (4%), Bill Frist (3%), and Mike Huckabee (1%). Eight percent were listed as "Unsure". Template:Ref
Draft Rudy Giuliani for President, Inc., [9] registered with Federal Election Commission in October 2005 to become the first federal committee formed with the sole purpose of encouraging former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to run for President of the United States in 2008. As of January 2006, it remains the only committee formed for this reason. By law, Draft Rudy Giuliani for President cannot coordinate its activities with the former mayor.
Electoral history
- 1997 Race for Mayor (New York City)
- Rudy Giuliani (R), 59%
- Ruth Messinger (D), 41%
- 1993 Race for Mayor (New York City)
- Rudy Giuliani (R), 49%
- David Dinkins (D) (inc.), 46%
- 1989 Race for Mayor (New York City)
- David Dinkins (D), 51%
- Rudy Giuliani (R), 49%
Further reading
See also
Template:Wikiquote Template:Commonscat
- September 11, 2001 attacks
- New York City
- William J. Bratton (former Police Commissioner of New York City)
- Bernard Kerik (former Police Commissioner of New York City)
- Anthony Rosario
- Howard Safir (former Police Commissioner of New York City)
- Peter Vallone (former Speaker of New York City Council)
- Thomas Von Essen (former Fire Commissioner of New York City)
External links
- Giuliani Partners - Rudolph W. Giuliani official profile
- Bracewell & Giuliani LLP his law firm's website
- Draft Rudy Giuliani for President a federal committee organized to "Draft Rudy Giuliani" in 2008
- Rudy Giuliani - 2008 Presidential Wire
- Summary Biography from Global Leaders
- GIULIANI TIME the official Web site for the Kevin Keating documentary
Notes
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Categories: 1944 births | District attorneys | Italian-Americans | Sicilian-Americans | Knights Commander of the British Empire | Living people | Mayors of New York City | Mayors | New York politicians | Notable baseball fans | Pro-choice politicians | Prostate cancer survivors | Roman Catholic politicians | September 11, 2001 attacks | Time Magazine Person of the Year | Trilateral Commission member