Background
Fiorello Henry La Guardia was born on December 11, 1882, in Greenwich Village in New York City, to Achille La Guardia and Irene Coen.
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Fiorello Henry La Guardia was born on December 11, 1882, in Greenwich Village in New York City, to Achille La Guardia and Irene Coen.
La Guardia attended public schools and high school in Prescott, Arizona. 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. After he retired in 1945, he helped fight world famine as director general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
Fiorello Henry La Guardia died of cancer on September 20, 1947, and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.
An American municipal leader and mayor of New York City, Fiorello Henry La Guardia was one of the most important and dynamic political reformers during the 1930s.
In 1972 the United States Postal Service honored La Guardia with a 14-cent postage stamp.
In 1940 Fiorello H. La Guardia was awarded Richard A. Cook Gold Medal Award. In 1945 he received the George Foster Peabody Award.
New York's LaGuardia Airport, LaGuardia Community College, and other parks and buildings around New York City are named for him.
LaGuardia Street and LaGuardia interchange both in Tel Aviv, Israel, were named in his honor.
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From 1917 to 1924, Fiorello H. La Guardia was a Republican. Later from 1924 to 1934, he was a member of the Progressive Party. From 1934 to 1947, La Guardia became a Republican.
Quotations:
"Only a well-fed, well-housed, well-schooled people can enjoy the blessings of liberty. "
"It makes no difference if I burn my bridges behind me — I never retreat. "
"There is no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the streets. "
"You cannot preach self-government and liberty to people in a starving land. "
Fiorello H. La Guardia was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from New York's 20th district.
Also he was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives
from New York's 14th district.
On March 8, 1919, Fiorello H. La Guardia married Thea Almerigotti. In June 1920 they had a daughter, Fioretta Thea, who died May 9, 1921, of spinal meningitis. His first wife died of tuberculosis on November 29, 1921, at the age of 26. In 1929 he married Marie Fisher, they adopted two children, Eric Henry and Jean Marie.
Achille La Guardia was a lapsed Catholic from Cerignola, Italy.
Irene Coen was a Jewish woman from Trieste, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Marie Fisher was La Guardia's secretary while in Congress.
Thea Almerigotti was an Istrian immigrant.
