The Roosevelts and Fiorello La Guardia

  

As La Guardia looks on, President Roosevelt  

signs proclamation naming December 15 as

‘Bill of Rights  Day’ at the White House, 1941

For more photos click here and here

At rally to fight for enactment of Fair Employment Practices Act, La Guardia speaks with FEP committee co-chairman A. Philip Randolph and Eleanor Roosevelt, 1946

Steven A. Levine

Coordinator for Educational Programs

This past Sunday, PBS began airing “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History,” Ken Burns’s documentary about the lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt.  In 1934 FDR gained a great ally when Fiorello La Guardia became mayor of New York City.  La Guardia defeated Tammany Hall and brought clean and efficient government to NYC, while successfully creating a direct relationship to the White House to fund New Deal projects.  La Guardia, the son of immigrants, came from a humble background, while Eleanor and Franklin descended from one of America’s oldest families.  They nevertheless developed close political friendships, based on shared goals. Under La Guardia’s leadership, New York City used New Deal funds to employ hundreds of thousands to build highways, subways, schools, hospitals, parks, housing and other infrastructure. 

The importance of the relationship between La Guardia and Franklin and Eleanor can be found in the La Guardia and Wagner Archives’ collection, containing 16 photos of Eleanor and 20 photos of Franklin.  If you would like to learn more about La Guardia, the Roosevelts and the New Deal, please feel free to contact me

   

President Roosevelt, Governor Lehman, and Mayor La Guardia campaign together in the 1940 election   campaign.

La Guardia,head of joint U.S.-Canada Defense Board, meets with President Roosevelt and military brass at the White House, 1940          

La Guardia, union leader Sidney Hillman,and Eleanor Roosevelt talking at a dinner honoring Eleanor at the Hotel Commodore, 1941

La Guardia and FDR at the annual Roosevelt Picnic at Hyde Park, NY, 1938 

Ant-Nazi Rally

On January 30th, 1933 Nazi Party leader Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany and the Nazis immediately acted against Germany's Jewish population. In the United States, the American Jewish Congress called for protests and boycotts against Germany and placed a spotlight on the Nazis' human rights violations. One of its earliest actions was a mass rally at Madison Square Garden against the Nazis on March 27, 1933, featuring former Congressman and future mayor of New York Fiorello H. La Guardia, former New York Governor Alfred E. Smith and American Jewish Congress leader Rabbi Stephen Wise.

VIDEO: Fiorello La Guardia Delivers Food Relief as UNRRA Director-General in 1946

Steven A. Levine

Coordinator for Educational Programs

Check out this video of 1946 newsreel footage of Fiorello LaGuardia visiting Italy as director-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), along with beautiful cards drawn by Italian children thanking LaGuardia for the aid they received.  Sixty eight years ago this month, Fiorello La Guardia left Gracie Mansion and become a private citizen.  After twelve years as mayor, he would, in the words of his biographer CUNY Distinguished Professor Thomas Kessner, be able to have “some comfortable earnings and the easy life of a pundit and commentator.”  Three months later he rejected this option, returning to public service as director-general of UNRRA to feed and rebuild the world’s war torn nations.  Sadly, as La Guardia fought for aid to be distributed without political consideration, UNRRA‘s mission became mired in Soviet-U.S. Cold War divisions. La Guardia, who opposed the politicization of relief, resigned his position before UNRRA’s mandate expired in December 1946.  During its existence UNRRA distributed $3.7 billion in aid, funded mostly by the United States.

The Archives has an extensive UNRRA photo collection and the Italian children’s artworkavailable on our website.   If you would like to learn more about La Guardia or UNRRA or use these or other Archives’ materials in your class, please feel free to contact me. 

VIDEO: Professor Emerita Janet Lieberman Remembers Prohibition

         

  Professor Emerita Janet Lieberman

Steven A. Levine 

Coordinator for Educational Programs

Eighty one years ago today, the United States ended Prohibition, its failed experiment in making alcohol, the nation’s  most popular drug, illegal.  From 1920-1933, the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes."  Watch a video of La Guardia Professor Emerita Janet Lieberman describing how easy it was to consume alcohol during Prohibition and a Universal Newspaper Newsreelproduced when Prohibition was repealed.

Fiorello La Guardia was also a leading opponent of Prohibition.  To learn more about his views on Prohibition and their similarities to current arguments in favor of marijuana legalization; you can read “Marijuana Legalization Arguments Similar to La Guardia's Arguments Against Prohibition” on the Archives’ blog. 

If you are so inclined, you can also make a toast to the 21^st Amendment that made your drink possible today.