Governor of New York
What position did Hugh Carey take between Sep 1978 and May 1981?
Hugh Carey Hugh Leo Carey ( April 11 , 1919 – August 7 , 2011 ) was an American politician and attorney . He served as a seven-term United States Representative from 1961 to 1974 as well as the 51st Governor of New York from 1975 to 1982 . Early life . Carey was born in New York , New York , the son of Margaret ( née Collins ) and Dennis Joseph Carey . Among his siblings were brothers Edward M . Carey ( former president of Carey Energy Corporation ) and Martin T . Carey ( an entrepreneur who owned Winfield Hall and Bogheid in Glen Cove and Seaview Terrace in Newport ) . Education and military service . In 1939 , Carey enlisted in the New York National Guard as a private in C Squadron , 101st Cavalry . Later , he served as a major in the 104th Infantry Division , known as the Timberwolves . He served in the 415th Infantry Regiment of the 104th Division as the Regimental S-3 , operations officer . Carey was with the 104th Division throughout its 10-month campaign in the European Theater of Operations , which included the fighting in Northern France , Holland and Germany . His awards include the Combat Infantryman Badge , the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Clusters , and the Croix de Guerre with Silver Star . He was discharged in 1946 at the rank of colonel . He received his B.A . from St . Johns University in 1942 . Following his military service , he enrolled at the institutions law school , where he earned his J.D . in 1951 . He was admitted to the New York state bar that same year . Career . Carey was a partner in the law firm of Finley , Kumble , Wagner , Underberg , Manley , Myerson & Casey . U.S . House of Representatives . In 1960 , Running as a Democrat , Carey was elected to the United States House of Representatives unseating Republican incumbent Francis E . Dorn . Careys seven terms in office coincided with major demographic changes in his district , as exemplified by deindustralization , concomitant gentrification and the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( which spurred migration to the more suburban borough of Staten Island ) in 1964 . Although he has been erroneously characterized as the first congressman to oppose the Vietnam War , he may have been the first member of the Brooklyn congressional delegation to take this stance . In 1966 , he was appointed Chairman of the Adhoc Subcommittee on the Handicapped by Adam Clayton Powell , then Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee . The sub-committee held hearings in Washington and New York City and Carey introduced HR 14 . The Carey Bill provided , for the first time , a program of grants to the states for initiating , expanding or improving education for children with disabilities . It also included other titles mirroring the structure of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act , PL 89-10 , which Carey had assisted Powell in passing as part of the Lyndon Baines Johnson initiative . Three parts of the Bill were picked up by the Senate : the grants to states , a new Bureau of Education for the Handicapped in the U.S . Office of Education and a National Advisory Committee . Careys friend and mentor , John Fogerty of Rhode Island , the powerful Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee which provided funding for all Health , Education and Welfare programs , backed his legislation . The bill became Title VI of the ESEA , as Public Law 89-750 , in 1966 . Carey also sponsored and saw passed that year The Model Secondary School for the Deaf Bill , to be established on the campus of the worlds only liberal arts college for the deaf . In 1965 , he and Fogerty had sponsored The National Technical Institute for the Deaf , which was awarded to the Rochester Institute of Technology . The Carey Bill and its grant program to the states began with a $2.5 million appropriation , to provide each state with $50,000 to plan for its implementation . The second year , the appropriation was $12.25 million , distributed to the states in proportion to their population . In 1975 Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Bill , PL 94-142 which today distributes approximately $11 billion to the states for this purpose . He served on the House Ways and Means Committee and led the effort to pass the first Federal Aid to Education program . He was elected Governor of New York in 1974 and resigned his Congressional seat on December 31 , 1974 . City politics . In 1969 Carey ran briefly for the Democratic nomination for Mayor . He then agreed to run for City Council President on the ticket led by former Mayor Robert F . Wagner Jr . Carey narrowly lost the primary to incumbent City Council President Francis X . Smith . Then he briefly mounted an independent bid for Mayor , from which he withdrew after the death of his two eldest sons in a car accident . Governor of New York . In the state election of 1974 , Carey became New Yorks first Democratic governor in 16 years , defeating Howard Samuels for the Democratic nomination and then unseating incumbent Republican Malcolm Wilson , who had assumed the office after Nelson Rockefeller resigned in December 1973 to serve on the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans . Nationally , the 1974 election was dominated by the Watergate scandal , which had destroyed President Richard Nixons presidency and hurt Republicans nationwide . In 1974 , Democrats also recaptured the New York State Assembly . Carey is best remembered for his successful handling of New York Citys economic crisis in the mid-1970s . Carey came into office with New York City close to bankruptcy and is credited with bringing business and labor together to help save New York City from the fiscal crisis . Carey managed to keep the growth of state spending below the rate of inflation through his frequent use of line-item vetoes and fights with the New York State Legislature , which was at the time divided between a Republican-controlled Senate and a Democratic-controlled Assembly . Upon taking office , Carey cut taxes significantly , reducing corporate taxes from 14% to 10% , and capping personal income tax at 9% , and reducing capital gains taxes as well . His administration also offered tax credits to encourage new investment . As governor , he was responsible for building the Jacob K . Javits Convention Center ; Battery Park City ; the South Street Seaport and the economic development of New York Citys outer boroughs . He also helped provide state funding for the construction of the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University . He is also remembered for preventing conservative legislators from reinstating the death penalty and preventing such legislators from taking away state abortion laws . Carey signed the Willowbrook Consent Decree , which ended the warehousing of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled . His vision and leadership led to the community placement of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled . He also made major strides in community programs for the mentally ill . Carey also pardoned Cleveland Jomo Davis , one of the leaders of the Attica prison riots . Careys tenure in office was marked by a growing awareness of the environmental consequences of New Yorks strong industrial base , including the designation by the federal government of the Love Canal disaster area . Carey made environmental issues a priority of his administration . Along with Senators Edward Kennedy and Daniel Patrick Moynihan and U.S . House Speaker Tip ONeill , Carey led efforts to end the violence in Northern Ireland and support peace in the region . The four Irish-American politicians called themselves The Four Horsemen . Carey considered running for president in 1976 and 1980 . Careys first wife had died in 1974 , and Carey later attributed his decision not to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 1976 to her death . In 1978 , he was challenged for re-election by State Assembly Minority Leader and former Assembly Speaker Perry Duryea . After a competitive , sometimes negative campaign , Carey was the first Democrat re-elected in 40 years . Carey decided against seeking a third term as governor in 1982 and returned to private law practice . On January 1 , 1983 , he was succeeded by his lieutenant governor , Mario Cuomo . Later career . In 1989 , Carey announced that he was no longer pro-choice and regretted his support for legalized abortion and public financing of abortion as governor . In 1992 , he joined other anti-abortion leaders in signing the anti-choice document A New American Compact : Caring About Women , Caring for the Unborn . Later in his life , he was of counsel at the law firm of Shea & Gould . He continued to practice law as a member of the Harris Beach law firm and sat on the board of Triarc Cos. , the Nelson Peltz controlled holding company . Personal life . In 1947 , Carey married Helen Owen ( 1924–1974 ) . The two had a very happy marriage , and they became the parents of Alexandria , Christopher , Susan , Peter , Hugh , Jr. , Michael , Donald , Marianne , Nancy , Helen , Bryan , Paul , Kevin , and Thomas . Beginning in 1961 , the family resided at 61 Prospect Park West , a 1910 Park Slope mansion built for the daughter of Bon Ami Company chairman and Progressive Era philanthropist William H . Childs ; a decade later , Carey sold the home to journalist Pete Hamill . His wife , Helen , died of breast cancer in 1974 . Peter and Hugh , Jr . died in an automobile accident in 1969 . Carey was devastated by the death of his wife and laid to rest any plans for the White House . Paul , who served as White House Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton as well as 77th Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission , died of cancer in 2001 . In 1981 , Carey married Evangeline Gouletas , a Chicago-based real estate mogul , just three months after meeting her . This marriage proved controversial and a political liability . The marriage generated controversy due to false statements Gouletas made about her marital history . Initially , Gouletas claimed that she was a widow of a single marriage but later affirmed on the marriage license that she had two ex-husbands . Gouletas also said that her first husband , with whom she had a daughter , was dead , but he was still alive at the time . In reality , she actually had three previous marriages , and all three of her former husbands were still living at the time . The marriage also caused trouble for Carey with the Catholic Church , since he married a thrice-divorced woman in a Greek Orthodox Church ; the church , which does not recognize civil no-fault divorce , refused to perform communion . To an extent , the marriage also hurt his public reputation . Carey and Gouletas divorced in 1989 . Carey later described this marriage as his greatest failure.Carey died surrounded by his family on August 7 , 2011 . He was at his summer home on Shelter Island , New York . Legacy . On October 22 , 2009 , he was named as the recipient of University at Albany Foundations Citizen Laureate Award . On October 22 , 2012 , the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel was officially renamed the Hugh L . Carey Tunnel . Building 14 at the Rochester Institute of Technology was named for Carey in 1984 . Bibliography . - Paterson , David .Skyhorse Publishing . New York , New York , 2020 Primary sources . - Almeida , Linda Dowling , Peter Quinn , and Hugh Carey . Oral History : Governor Hugh Carey Interviewed by Peter Quinn . American Journal of Irish Studies ( 2012 ) : 179–190 . in JSTOR External links . - New Yorks Forgotten Governor through the University at Albany , SUNY .