Fiorello La Guardia

Fiorello Henry La Guardia (sometimes LaGuardia) (pronounced /fiəˈrɛloʊ ləˈɡwɑrdiə/; born Fiorello Enrico La Guardia) was Mayor of New York City for three terms from 1934 to 1945. A member of the Republican Party,Elliott, Lawrence 1983. Little Flower: The Life and Times of Fiorello La Guardia. New York: William Morrow. .Garrett, Charles 1961. The La Guardia Years: Machine and Reform Politics in New York City. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Goldstein, Richard 2010. Helluva Town: The Story of New York City During World War II. Online reviewHecksher II, August 1978. When La Guardia Was Mayor: New York's Legendary Years. New York: W.W. Norton. .Jeffers H. Paul 2002 The Napoleon of New York: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. New York: John Wiley. . The%20Napoleon%20of%20New%20York%3a%20Mayor%20Fiorello%20La%20Guardia online edition.Kaufman, Herbert "Fiorello H. La Guardia, Political Maverick". Political Science Quarterly 1990 105(1): 113–122.  in JstorKessner, Thomas. 1993. "Fiorello H. LaGuardia." History Teacher. 26(2): 151–159.   in JstorKessner, Thomas 1989. Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York. New York: McGraw-Hill  La Guardia is acclaimed as one of the greatest mayors in American history.

Career
He was elected to Congress in 1916 and 1918, and again from 1922 through 1930. La Guardia is often touted as one of the greatest mayors in American history. Since he was only five feet tall and his first name was Italian for "Little Flower", he was called "the Little Flower" throughout his life. He moved to Arizona with his family, where his father had a bandmaster position at Fort Whipple in the U.S. Army.

La Guardia, a Republican who was liked across party lines, was very popular in New York during the Great Depression. As a supporter of the New Deal, he supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, and in turn Roosevelt heavily funded the city and cut off patronage from many politicians and establishments who did not support La Guardia. Many people felt that La Guardia improved New York City economically and socially and restored public faith in City Hall.

During his terms, he unified the transit system, directed the building of low-cost public housing, public playgrounds, and parks, constructed airports, reorganized the police force, defeated the powerful political machine Tammany Hall, and improved employment rates in New York City, even during the depression.

In the mid-1940s, there was a newspaper strike in New York City. La Guardia responded to the public clamor by sitting at a radio microphone and describing and reading the Sunday comics to the children of the city. He described the cartoons and portrayed the dialects and accents of the characters. This endeared La Guardia to the electorate and the children of New York and gave him a larger national image.

Personal life
La Guardia’s father was a Roman Catholic-turned-atheist, and his mother was Jewish, albeit a non practising one. La Guardia himself was Episcopalian. 

La Guardia was a Freemason.

 References 

Category:1882 births
Category:1947 deaths
Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Category:United States representatives from New York (state)
Category:Mayors of New York City
Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians
Category:American Jews
Category:Freemasons
Category:Episcopalians