View source for Fiorello La Guardia

{{Short description|American politician (1882–1947)}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Fiorello H. La Guardia
| image               = La Guardia by NYT Studios circa 1934–1945 Trim Edit.jpg
| caption             = Portrait by ''[[The New York Times]]'' {{circa}} 1934–1945
| alt                 = Head shot of La Guardia
| order               = 2nd Director General of the [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]]
| term_start          = April 1, 1946
| term_end            = December 31, 1946
| predecessor         = [[Herbert H. Lehman]]
| successor           = ''Office abolished''
| order1              = 99th [[Mayor of New York City]]
| term_start1         = January 1, 1934
| term_end1           = January 1,
1946
| predecessor1        = [[John P. O'Brien]]
| successor1          = [[William O'Dwyer]]
| office2             = 5th [[President of the United States Conference of Mayors]]
| term_start2         = 1935
| term_end2           = 1945
| predecessor2        = [[Daniel Hoan]]
| successor2          = [[Edward Joseph Kelly]]
| office3             = Member of the<br>[[U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from New York
| constituency3       = {{ushr|NY|20|20th district}}
| term_start3         = March 4, 1923
| term_end3           = March 3, 1933
| preceded3           = [[Isaac Siegel]]
| succeeded3          = [[James J. Lanzetta]]
| constituency4       = {{ushr|NY|14|14th district}}
| term_start4         = March 4, 1917
| term_end4           = December 31, 1919
| preceded4           = [[Michael F. Farley]]
| succeeded4          = [[Nathan D. Perlman]]
| office5             = 9th President of the <br />[[New York City Board of Aldermen]]
| term_start5         = January 1, 1920
| term_end5           = December 31, 1921
| predecessor5        = [[Robert L. Moran]]
| successor5          = [[Murray Hulbert]]
| birthname           = Fiorello Enrico Raffaelo La Guardia
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1882|12|11}}
| birth_place         = New York City, U.S.<!-- The format is City, State, Country, excluding boroughs or neighborhoods. -->
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1947|09|20|1882|12|11}}
| death_place         = New York City, U.S.<!-- The format is City, State, Country, excluding boroughs or neighborhoods. -->
| constituency        =
| education           = [[Dwight School|Timothy Dwight School]]
| alma_mater          = {{Unbulleted list|[[New York University]]|[[New York University School of Law]]}}
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| otherparty          = [[Bull Moose Party|Bull Moose]] (1916)<br>[[American Party (1914)|American]] (1916)<br>[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (1918)<br>[[Progressive Party (United States, 1924–1934)|LaFollette Progressive]] (1924)<br>[[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] (1924)<br>Progressive Labor (1926)<br>[[Fusion_Party#City_Fusion_Party_in_New_York_City|City Fusion]] (1933–1941)<br>[[American Labor Party|American Labor]] (1937–1941)<br>Ind. Progressive (1937)<br>United City (1941)
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Thea Almerigotti|March 8, 1919|November 29, 1921|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Marie Fisher|1929}}
}}
| children            = 3
| profession          = Politician
| signature           = Fiorello LaGuardia Signature.svg
| allegiance          = {{flag|United States|1919}}
| branch              = [[File:Prop and wings.svg|25px]] [[United States Army Air Service]]
| serviceyears        = 1917–1919
| rank                = [[Major (United States)|Major]]
| battles             = {{tree list}}
*[[World War I]]
**[[Italian front (World War I)|Italian Front]]
{{tree list/end}}
| footnotes           =
| resting_place       = [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]]
}}
'''Fiorello Henry La Guardia'''{{efn|Pronounced {{IPAc-en|f|iː|ə|ˈ|r|ɛ|l|oʊ|_|l|ə|ˈ|ɡ|w|ɑːr|d|i|ə}} {{respell|fee|ə|REL|oh|_|lə|GWAR|dee|ə}}; {{IPA|it|fjoˈrɛllo raf.faˈɛ.le enˈriːko la ˈɡwardja}}}} (born '''Fiorello Raffaele Enrico La Guardia''';{{efn|La Guardia signed his surname as a single word with no space between the ''La'' and the capitalized ''G'' which follows, but also with no space between his initial ''F'' and the surname; in his lifetime his surname was almost always written as two words.}} December 11, 1882{{spaced en dash}}September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] and served as the 99th [[mayor of New York City]] from 1934 to 1946.<ref>[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/features/greenbook_mayors.shtml "The Green Book: Mayors of the City of New York"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514024824/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/features/greenbook_mayors.shtml |date=May 14, 2012 }} on the official NYC website.</ref> He was known for his irascible, energetic, and charismatic personality and diminutive, rotund stature.{{efn|Only five feet, two inches (1.57 m) tall, La Guardia was called "the Little Flower" (''{{lang|it|Fiorello}}'' is Italian for "little flower").}} A member of the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], La Guardia was frequently cross-endorsed by parties other than his own, especially parties on the left under [[New York's electoral fusion laws]]. A panel of 69 scholars in 1993 ranked him as the best big-city mayor in American history.<ref>Melvin G. Holli, ''The American Mayor: The Best and the Worst Big-City Leaders''  (Pennsylvania State UP, 1999), p. 4–11.</ref>

Born to a family of [[Italian Americans|Italian immigrants]] in New York City, La Guardia quickly became interested in politics at a young age. Before [[Mayoralty of Fiorello La Guardia|his mayoralty]], La Guardia represented [[Manhattan]] in the U.S. House of Representatives and later served in the [[New York City Board of Aldermen]]. Amidst the [[Great Depression]], La Guardia campaigned on his support for [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and his [[New Deal]] programs and won the [[1933 New York City mayoral election|1933 election]]. As mayor during the Great Depression and [[World War II]], La Guardia unified the city's transit system; expanded construction of public housing, playgrounds, parks, and airports; reorganized the [[New York City Police Department|New York Police Department]]; and implemented federal New Deal programs within the city. He pursued a long series of political reforms, curbing the power of the powerful Irish-controlled [[Tammany Hall]] political machine that controlled the Democratic Party in Manhattan. He also re-established merit-based employment and promotion within city administration.{{sfn|Kessner|1989}}

La Guardia was a highly visible national political figure. His support for the New Deal and relationship with President Roosevelt crossed party lines, brought federal funds to New York City, and cut off patronage to La Guardia's Tammany enemies. La Guardia's [[WNYC]] radio program "Talk to the People", which aired from December 1941 until December 1945, expanded his public influence beyond the borders of the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Talk to the People {{!}} WNYC |url=https://www.wnyc.org/series/talk-to-the-people |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614194741/https://www.wnyc.org/series/talk-to-the-people |archive-date=June 14, 2018 |website=WNYC |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Fiorello La Guardia Age 13.png|alt=A photograph of 13 year old Fiorello La Guaria|thumb|left|150px|La Guardia at age 13]]

Fiorello Raffaele Enrico La Guardia, with Raffaele later removed and Enrico [[Americanization|Americanized]] to Henry, was born in [[Greenwich Village]], New York City, on December 11, 1882, to Achille Luigi Carlo La Guardia and Irene Luzzatto-Coen. He was named Fiorello in honor of his maternal grandmother Fiorina, Raffaele after his paternal grandfather, and Enrico after his uncle.{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=22}}{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=6}}<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |date=June 29, 2003 |title='The Great Mayor' |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/books/chapters/the-great-mayor.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212111700/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/books/chapters/the-great-mayor.html |archive-date=February 12, 2023}}</ref>

Achille was born in [[Foggia]], [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]], on March 26, 1849, and his father Don Raffaele was a municipal official.<ref name="NYT" /> Later biographies claimed that Raffaele fought as one of [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]]'s [[Redshirts (Italy)|Redshirts]].{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=24}} Achille visited the United States in 1878, while on tour with [[Adelina Patti]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=4}} Irene, a member of the [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic Jewish]] [[Luzzatto]] family, was born in [[Trieste]], [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], on July 18, 1859.<ref name="NYT" /> Her mother Fiorina was a distant relative of Prime Minister [[Luigi Luzzatti]].{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=23}} Achille, a former [[Catholic]], was an atheist and Irene was a non-practicing Jew.<ref name="NYT" /> Achille, age 31, met Irene, age 21, at a dance in Trieste. They knew each other for half a year before they were married by Trieste Mayor Rici Bazzoni on June 3, 1880. The couple moved to the United States in 1880.{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=25}} Achille forbid his children from speaking Italian and Fiorello would not become proficient in Italian until his time as a consular agent.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=7}}

Achille enlisted in the [[United States Army]] in 1885, and served in the [[11th Infantry Regiment (United States)|11th Infantry Regiment]] as a warrant officer and chief musician. His family lived in the [[Dakota Territory]], New York, and the [[Arizona Territory]] during his time at Fort Sully, [[Madison Barracks]], [[Fort Huachuca]], and [[Fort Whipple, Arizona|Whipple Barracks]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=7-9}}<ref name="NYT" /> Fiorello was enrolled in the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] in [[Prescott, Arizona]], and practiced that religion all his life.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=12}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Apmann |first=Sara Bean |date=December 11, 2017 |title=Remembering Fiorello LaGuardia |url=https://www.villagepreservation.org/2017/12/11/remembering-fiorello-laguardia/ |access-date=August 12, 2021 |website=Off the Grid |publisher=Village Preservation}}</ref>

The onset of the [[Spanish–American War]] led to their transfer to St. Louis, Missouri, in April 1898,{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=32}} and then Achille was sent to [[Mobile, Alabama]]. Fiorello attempted to join the army, but was rejected. He was accepted as a [[war correspondent]] for the ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]''. Achille and Fiorello did not reach Cuba because Achille contracted [[hepatitis]] and [[malaria]], allegedly after consuming [[United States Army beef scandal|embalmed beef]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=16-17}} He was discharged from the military on account of his illness on August 22, and given a pension of $8 per month ({{Inflation|US|8|1898|fmt=eq}}).{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=33}}

The La Guardia family moved to [[Trieste]] in 1898, and lived with Fiorina until her death in 1901. Achille worked as a trucker, a ship provisioner, and managed a hotel and turned down a job from the American Consul of Budapest due to the low pay.{{sfn|Mann|1959|pp=33-34}} He died in [[Koper|Capodistria]] on October 21, 1904,{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=17-18; 21}} due to heart disease.{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=34}}

==Career==
[[File:F.H. LaGuardia LOC 16269554128.jpg|thumb|left|La Guardia at his Interpreter's desk on [[Ellis Island]] {{circa}} 1910]]
Raymond Willey, a friend of Achille and consular agent of Fiume, had La Guardia hired as a clerk in the Budapest consulate with a yearly salary of $100. In 1903, he was placed in charge of the agency in [[Rijeka|Fiume]] due to his knowledge of Italian and was commissioned as a consular agent on February 8, 1904.{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=35}} He resigned on May 31, 1906,{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=41}} and left Europe after failing to gain a promotion to consul-general in Fiume or an appointment as consul-general in [[Belgrade]]. He worked as an interpreter for the immigration services at [[Ellis Island]] from November 6, 1907, to 1910. He was a Croatian, Italian, and German interpreter and [[Felix Frankfurter]], who met La Guardia during his time at Ellis Island, described him as "a gifted interpreter".{{sfn|Kessner|1989|pp=22; 24-25}}

Upon returning to the United States, La Guardia worked as a fireproof brick manufacturer in [[Portsmouth, Ohio]]. He returned to New York City and worked a series of odd jobs such as a translator for the [[New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children]], a steamship company clerk, stenographer at [[Pratt Institute]], and a clerk for [[Abercrombie & Fitch]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=23-24}} In 1912, around 60,000 garment workers went on strike and La Guardia, who was friends with [[August Bellanca]], gave speeches in Italian and Yiddish in support of the strike.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=23-24}}

La Guardia graduated from the [[Dwight School]], a private school on the Upper West Side of New York City.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Backes|first=Aaron D.|date=January 3, 2021|title=Fiorello La Guardia – History of New York City Mayors|url=https://classicnewyorkhistory.com/fiorello-la-guardia-history-of-new-york-city-mayors/|access-date=October 22, 2021|website=ClassicNewYorkHistory.com|language=en-us}}</ref> He graduated from the [[New York University School of Law]] and was admitted to the bar in 1910.<ref name="congressional biography">{{Cite news |title=LA GUARDIA, Fiorello Henry |work=[[United States House of Representatives]] |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/L/LA-GUARDIA,-Fiorello-Henry-(L000007)/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212120908/https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/L/LA-GUARDIA,-Fiorello-Henry-%28L000007%29/ |archive-date=February 12, 2023}}</ref> He became a member of the Garibaldi Lodge No. 542  of the [[Freemasonry|Masonic Order]] in 1913.{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=56}} [[Frederick C. Tanner]] recommended La Guardia for a job working for the [[Attorney General of New York]] on September 15, 1911, and he served as the deputy attorney general from January 1, 1915, to 1917.<ref name="congressional biography" />{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=32; 36}} He left the [[American Bar Association]] in the 1930s stating that it devoted "its efforts to special interests rather than to the uplift and welfare of the profession".{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=344}}

In 1925, La Guardia formed the La Guardia Publishing Company using his savings and a second mortgage to publish ''L'Americolo'', an Italian-language magazine. He competed against [[Generoso Pope|Generoso Pope's]] ''[[Il Progresso Italo-Americano]]'' and ''Corriere d'America''. The magazine failed, with La Guardia losing $15,000 and his mortgage.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=135-137}}

==Early political career==
===Local politics===
La Guardia joined the Republican club while attending NYU School of Law.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=24}} He supported [[William Howard Taft]] during the [[1912 United States presidential election|1912 presidential election]] and replaced William Chadbourne as [[Precinct captain|district captain]] due to Chadbourne's support for [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Third party (U.S. politics)|third-party]] campaign. La Guardia refused to support [[John Purroy Mitchel]]'s Fusion campaign during the [[1913 New York City mayoral election|1913 mayoral election]] despite Mitchel's support among Republicans.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=32-33}}

Republican political boss [[Samuel S. Koenig]] convinced La Guardia to run in the 1919 special election for President of the [[New York City Board of Aldermen]] created by [[Al Smith]]'s resignation to become [[Governor of New York|governor]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=67}} La Guardia defeated [[William M. Bennett]] for the Republican nomination and [[Paul Windels]] worked as his campaign manager. During the campaign he was endorsed by ''[[The New York Times]]'' and [[Citizens Union]]. He defeated Democratic nominee [[Robert L. Moran]]. Moran suffered from a [[Vote splitting|spoiler effect]] caused by Michael Kelly, a former Democrat, running as the Liberty Party candidate.

La Guardia supported Republican presidential and gubernatorial candidates [[Warren G. Harding]] and [[Nathan L. Miller]] during the [[1920 New York state election|1920 election]]. However, he later attacked Miller for his public transit policies and getting rid of welfare programs.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=74-75}} His opposition to Miller ruined his chances in the [[1921 New York City mayoral election|1921 mayoral election]] and the Republican nomination was given to Henry Curran. He attempted to defeat Curran in the primary, despite warnings from Koenig and Windels and was defeated.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=77-78}}

La Guardia considered running in the [[1922 New York state election|1922 gubernatorial election]] and published his ideas for the Republican state platform in the column in the ''[[New York Journal-American|New York Evening Journal]]'' given to him by [[William Randolph Hearst]]. Koenig was able to compromise with La Guardia to avoid a primary with Miller. La Guardia favored Smith, the Democratic nominee, during the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=McGoldrick |first=Joseph |title=The New York City Election of 1929 |journal=The American Political Science Review |volume=24 |number=3 |date=August 1930 |jstor=1946937 |pages=688–690 |doi=10.2307/1946937 |s2cid=146912519 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1946937 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109064955/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1946937 |archive-date=November 9, 2017|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===U.S. House of Representatives===
====Elections====
[[File:Fiorello La Guardia by Underwood & Underwood 1918 Trim.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait by [[Underwood & Underwood]], 1918]]

La Guardia ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from [[New York's 14th congressional district]] during the [[1914 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1914 election]]. He chose to run as he noticed during a [[New York's 25th State Assembly district|25th Assembly district]] Republican club meeting that nobody was nominated for it as Frederick Marshall unexpectedly withdrew. The district was a strongly [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] and [[Tammany Hall]]. He lost to Democratic nominee [[Michael F. Farley]], whom he accused of being illiterate.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=33-35}}{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=883}} Louis Espresso and Harry Andrews managed his campaign.{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=62}}

Clarence Fay, the Republican district leader in the 25th Assembly district, sought to have [[Hamilton Fish III]] nominated for the seat in the [[1916 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1916 election]]. Tanner unsuccessfully attempted to convince La Guardia to not run. Fish withdrew before the primary and La Guardia won the Republican nomination. He appealed to the different ethnic groups in the district and was endorsed by ''[[New Yorker Staats-Zeitung]]'' which traditionally supported Democratic candidates.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=38-39}} He defeated Farley by 357 votes.{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=888}}

Tammany Hall and the Democrats supported La Guardia in the [[1918 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1918 election]] in order to prevent an anti-war [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] victory. He defeated Socialist nominee [[Scott Nearing]] in the election.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=57}}{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=894}} La Guardia resigned from the [[United States House of Representatives]] on December 31, 1919.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=69-70}} He was given the Republican nomination for [[New York's 20th congressional district]] to succeed retiring Representative [[Isaac Siegel]] in the [[1922 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1922 election]]. He defeated Democratic nominee Henry Frank and Socialist nominee [[William Karlin]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=86-87}}{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=90-91}}{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=904}}

[[File:Opposition to Prohibition, 1930 Edit.png|thumb|left|Congressmen Fiorello La Guardia and [[William Sirovich]] sample a foul-smelling industrial alcohol additive to replace poisonous deterrents, 1930]]

La Guardia attended the [[Conference for Progressive Political Action]] in 1922.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=95}} Koenig told La Guardia that his renomination was dependent on him supporting the Republicans in the [[1924 United States presidential election|1924 presidential election]]. La Guardia considered supporting the Democrats but declined to do so after the nomination of [[John W. Davis]]. He gave his support to [[Robert M. La Follette]] and the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1924–1934)|Progressive Party]]. La Guardia announced his departure from the Republican Party on the front page of ''The New York Times''. He and Gilbert Roe managed La Follette's presidential campaign in the eastern United States. La Guardia, running with the Socialist nomination, raised $3,764.25 ({{Inflation|US|3764.25|1924|fmt=eq}}) and defeated Frank and Siegel in the [[1924 United States House of Representatives elections|election]]. La Guardia's campaign manager, [[Vito Marcantonio]], was elected to Congress in his own right a decade later.<ref>{{cite journal| first = Bruce| last = Minton| title = That Man Marcantonio| journal = New Masses| url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1936/v21n06-nov-03-1936-NM.pdf| pages = 3–5| date = November 1936| access-date = May 13, 2020| archive-date = August 17, 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210817120652/https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1936/v21n06-nov-03-1936-NM.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> La Guardia's partisan affiliation in Congress was labeled as Socialist and [[Victor L. Berger]], the only other Socialist in Congress, described him as "my whip".{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=100-106}}{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=146}}{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=909}}

La Guardia returned to the Republican Party in the [[1926 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1926 election]] and won by 55 votes against Democratic nominee H. Warren Hubbard and Socialist nominee George Dobsevage. He was the only Republican elected to the U.S. House from New York City.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=147}}{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=914}} He defeated Democratic nominee Saul J. Dickheiser in the [[1928 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1928 election]].{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=919}} He defeated Democratic nominee [[Vincent H. Auleta]] in the [[1930 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1930 election]].{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=924}}

La Guardia considered running for reelection to Congress as a Democrat in the [[1932 United States House of Representatives elections in New York|1932 election]] and the option received support from [[William Green (U.S. labor leader)|William Green]], [[John L. Lewis]], and [[Robert F. Wagner]]. Political boss [[John H. McCooey]] supported him running as a Democrat, but Tammany Hall leader [[James Joseph Hines]] opposed him and had the nomination given to [[James J. Lanzetta]]. Lanzetta defeated La Guardia in the election due to the [[coattail effect]] of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s victory in the [[1932 United States presidential election|presidential election]]. [[Robert M. La Follette Jr.]] stated that "the people have temporarily lost one of their most faithful servants".{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=193-196}}{{sfn|Congressional Quarterly|1985|p=929}}

====Tenure====
[[File:La Guardia airforce.png|alt=A photograph of Fiorello La Guaria wearing an aviator uniform, 1917|thumb|upright|La Guardia wearing his aviator uniform, 1917]]

La Guardia was interested in airplanes and served as a director and attorney for [[Giuseppe Mario Bellanca]]'s company. He enlisted to fight in [[World War I]] and was promoted to captain by October 1917. He and Major General William Ord Ryan trained Italian pilots in [[Foggia]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=48}} La Guardia became [[Pilot licensing and certification|certified to fly]] on December 12, 1917. King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]] gave him the Flying Cross.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=55-56}}

La Guardia rose to the rank of major in command of a unit of [[Caproni Ca.44]] bombers on the [[Italian Campaign (World War I)|Italian-Austrian front]]. While he was away at war his office was managed by Andrews and Marie Fisher while constituent services were handled by Representative [[Isaac Siegel]]. A petition with over 3,000 signatures was given to Speaker [[Champ Clark]] on January 8, 1918, asking for La Guardia's seat to be vacated, but Clark refused to allow a motion to vacate La Guardia's seat.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=56-57}}

During La Guardia's tenure in the U.S. House, he served on the [[United States House Committee on the Judiciary|Judiciary]] committee.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=148}} [[Oswald Garrison Villard]], editor of ''[[The Nation]]'', stated that he was "the most valuable member of Congress today".{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=151}} La Guardia supported impeaching Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew Mellon]] on the grounds of him serving as a director of a private company, the [[Alcoa|Aluminum Company of America]], while serving in the [[Cabinet of the United States|presidential cabinet]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=180}}

La Guardia requested the pardon of [[Thomas Mooney]]. In 1931, James Smith, a black railroad porter, was put on trial for assault but was unable to pay for a lawyer. La Guardia took the case ''[[pro bono]]'' after being requested by [[A. Philip Randolph]] and Smith was acquitted on September 26.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=192}}

===1929 mayoral election===
{{Main|1929 New York City mayoral election}}
La Guardia's supporters wanted him to run for mayor in the [[1925 New York City mayoral election|1925 election]], but he declined as he would be unlikely to defeat [[Jimmy Walker]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=147}} He received the Republican nomination on August 1, 1929.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=160}} In 1929, La Guardia ran for Mayor once again. This time, he received the Republican nomination, once again defeating William Bennett.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=141650|access-date=March 13, 2021|title=NYC Mayor – R Primary}}</ref> However, he lost the general election to Walker in a landslide.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=79429|access-date=March 13, 2021|title=New York City Mayor}}</ref>

==Mayor of New York==
{{progressivism US}}
[[File:Fiorello LaGuardia.jpg|thumb|right|Mayor La Guardia speaks over [[WNYC]] on Grade A milk from Budget Room, March 23, 1940]]
{{Main|Mayoralty of Fiorello La Guardia}}

===1933 mayoral election===
{{Main|1933 New York City mayoral election}}
Mayor [[Jimmy Walker]] and his Irish-run [[Tammany Hall]] were forced out of office by scandal and La Guardia was determined to replace him. La Guardia ran on the Fusion Party platform, which was supported by Republicans, reform-minded Democrats, and independents.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Katz|first=Elizabeth D.|date=June 30, 2020|title="Racial and Religious Democracy": Identity and Equality in Midcentury Courts|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3441367|language=en|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=3441367}}</ref> La Guardia had enormous determination, high visibility, the support of reformer [[Samuel Seabury (judge)|Samuel Seabury]] and a divisive primary contest. He also represented previously underrepresented communities, appealing to a wide range of cultural backgrounds with his lineage.<ref name=":3" /> He secured the nomination and expected an easy win against incumbent Mayor [[John P. O'Brien]]; however, [[Joseph V. McKee]] entered the race as the nominee of the new "Recovery Party" at the last minute. McKee was a formidable opponent, sponsored by Bronx Democratic boss [[Edward J. Flynn]]. La Guardia promised a more honest government, championing greater efficiency and inclusiveness.<ref name=":3" />

La Guardia's win was based on a complex coalition of Republicans (mostly middle-class [[German Americans]] in the boroughs outside Manhattan), a minority of reform-minded Democrats, Socialists, a large proportion of middle-class Jews, and the great majority of Italians, whose votes had previously been overwhelmingly loyal to Tammany.<ref name=":3" /> During his mayoralty, La Guardia served as president of the [[United States Conference of Mayors]] from 1935 until 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usmayors.org/the-conference/leadership/ |title=Leadership |date=November 23, 2016 |access-date=July 24, 2020 |publisher=The United States Conference of Mayors}}</ref>

===Agenda===
[[File:Franklin D. Roosevelt and Fiorello LaGuardia in Hyde Park - NARA - 196764.tif|thumb|right|300px|La Guardia and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], 1938]]

La Guardia came to office in January 1934 with five main goals:{{sfn|Kessner|1989}}
* Restore the financial health of the city and break free from the bankers' control
* Expand the federally funded work-relief program for the unemployed
* End corruption in government and racketeering in key sectors of the economy
* Replace patronage with a merit-based civil service, with high prestige
* Modernize the infrastructure, especially transportation and parks

La Guardia achieved most of the first four goals in his first hundred days, as FDR gave him 20% of the entire national [[Civil Works Administration|CWA]] budget for work relief. La Guardia then collaborated closely with [[Robert Moses]], with support from the governor, Democrat [[Herbert H. Lehman|Herbert Lehman]], to upgrade the decaying infrastructure. The city was favored by the [[New Deal]] in terms of funding for public works projects. La Guardia's modernization efforts were publicized in the 1936 book ''New York Advancing: A Scientific Approach to Municipal Government,'' edited by [[Rebecca B. Rankin]].

===African-American politics===
In 1935, a riot took place in Harlem. Termed the [[Harlem riot of 1935]], it has been described as the first modern race riot because it was committed primarily against property rather than persons. During the riots, La Guardia and [[Hubert Thomas Delany|Hubert Delany]] walked through the streets in an effort to calm the situation.<ref name=":3" /> After the riots, La Guardia convened the Mayor's Commission on Conditions of Harlem to determine the causes of the riot and a detailed report was prepared.<ref name=":3" /> The report identified "injustices of discrimination in employment, the aggressions of the police, and the racial segregation" as conditions which led to the outbreak of rioting;<ref name=":3" /> however, the mayor shelved the committee's report, and did not make it public. The report would be unknown, except that a black New York newspaper, the ''[[Amsterdam News]]'', subsequently published it in serial form.<ref>{{cite web|author-last1=North|author-first1=Anna|url=https://www.vox.com/2020/6/6/21280643/police-brutality-violence-protests-racism-khalil-muhammad|title=How racist policing took over American cities, explained by a historian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607091259/https://www.vox.com/2020/6/6/21280643/police-brutality-violence-protests-racism-khalil-muhammad|archive-date=June 7, 2020|website=Vox|date=June 6, 2020}}</ref>

===Ethnic politics===
[[File:LaGuardia Vladeck Poster 1937 Trim.jpg|thumb|right|[[American Labor Party]] campaign poster featuring La Guardia and Jewish labor leader [[Baruch Charney Vladeck]], 1937]]
La Guardia governed in an uneasy alliance with New York's Jews and liberal [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant|WASPs]], together with ethnic Italians and Germans.{{sfn|Bayor|1993}} An unorthodox Republican, he also ran as the nominee of the [[American Labor Party]], a union-dominated anti-[[Tammany Hall|Tammany]] left wing group that supported Roosevelt for president beginning in 1936. La Guardia supported Roosevelt, chairing the Committee of Independent Voters for Roosevelt and his running mate, [[Henry A. Wallace]], with Senator [[George W. Norris]] during the [[1940 U.S. presidential election|1940 presidential election]]. La Guardia was the city's first Italian-American mayor, but was not a typical Italian New Yorker. He was a Republican [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopalian]] who had grown up in Arizona and had a Triestine Jewish mother<ref name="IlPiccolo">{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Daniela |title=Le radici triestine di Fiorello LaGuardia leggendario sindaco di New York City |url=https://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/cronaca/2007/05/31/news/le-radici-triestine-di-fiorello-laguardialeggendario-sindaco-di-new-york-city-1.3610 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818093913/http://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/cronaca/2007/05/31/news/le-radici-triestine-di-fiorello-laguardialeggendario-sindaco-di-new-york-city-1.3610 |archive-date=August 18, 2011 |website=Newspaper article |date=May 31, 2007 |publisher=Il Piccolo |page=1 |language=it}}</ref> and a lapsed Catholic father. He spoke several languages; when working at Ellis Island, he was certified as an interpreter for [[Italian language|Italian]], [[German language|German]], [[Yiddish]], and [[Croatian language|Croatian]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interpreter |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/people_interpreter.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812181340/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/people_interpreter.htm |archive-date=August 12, 2018 |website=National Park Service – Ellis Island}}</ref> It served him well during a contentious congressional campaign in 1922. When Henry Frank, a Jewish opponent, accused him of antisemitism, La Guardia rejected the suggestion that he publicly disclose that his mother was Jewish as "self-serving". Instead, La Guardia dictated an open letter in Yiddish that was also printed in Yiddish. In it, he challenged Frank to publicly and openly debate the issues of the campaign entirely in the Yiddish language. Frank, although he was Jewish, could not speak the language and was forced to decline—and lost the election.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Sam |date=July 20, 2009 |title=Yiddish Resurfaces as City's 2nd Political Language |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/nyregion/21yiddish.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510152447/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/nyregion/21yiddish.html |archive-date=May 10, 2019 |issn=0362-4331 |via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>

La Guardia's 1933 campaign coincided with the rise of racial and religious hostilities in Germany, and he supported a more anti-Nazi response while in office.<ref name=":3" /> He publicly supported groups that engaged in boycotts of German goods and spoke alongside Rabbi [[Stephen Samuel Wise|Stephen S. Wise]], leader of the [[American Jewish Congress]].<ref name=":3" /> In 1935, La Guardia caused an international stir when he denied a masseur license to a German immigrant, stating that Germany had violated a treaty guaranteeing equal treatment of American professionals by discriminating against American Jews.<ref name=":3" /> Despite threats from Germany (including a bomb threat against New York City's German Consulate), La Guardia continued to use his position as mayor to denounce Nazism.<ref name=":3" /> During his reelection campaign in 1937, speaking before the Women's Division of the [[American Jewish Congress]], he called for the creation of a special pavilion at the upcoming [[1939 New York World's Fair|New York World's Fair]], "a chamber of horrors" for "that brown-shirted fanatic," referring to Hitler.<ref>David M. Esposito, and Jackie R. Esposito, "La Guardia and the Nazis, 1933–1938." ''American Jewish History'' 1988 78(1): 38–53. {{ISSN|0164-0178}}; quote from H. Paul Jeffers, ''The Napoleon of New York'' (2002) p. 233.</ref><ref name=":3" /> He also led anti-Nazi rallies and promoted legislation to facilitate the U.S. rescue of the Jewish refugees.<ref>{{Cite web|title=They Spoke Out: American Voices Against The Holocaust|url=http://dep.disney.go.com/theyspokeout/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313095331/http://dep.disney.go.com/theyspokeout/|archive-date=March 13, 2016|website=dep.disney.go.com}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> He also appointed more racially and religiously diverse judges, including [[Rosalie Loew Whitney]], Herbert O'Brien, [[Jane Bolin]], and [[Hubert Thomas Delany]].<ref name=":3" /> La Guardia would soon regret appointing O'Brien, who used his position as Domestic Relations judge to oppose some New Deal policies, leading to La Guardia's condemnation of him with the famous line, "Senator, I have made a lot of good appointments and I think I am good ... but when I make a mistake, it's a beaut."<ref name="O'Brien">{{cite journal|url=https://review.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/06/Katz-72-Stan.-L.-Rev.-1467.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717022157/https://review.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/06/Katz-72-Stan.-L.-Rev.-1467.pdf |archive-date=2020-07-17 |url-status=live|title="Racial and Religious Democracy":Identity and Equality in Midcentury Courts|author=Elizabeth D. Katz|journal=Stanford Law Review|volume=72|date=June 2020|access-date=June 24, 2022|pages=1498–1500, 1518–1523, ''passim''}}</ref>

===Crime===
La Guardia criticized the [[gangster]]s who brought a negative stereotype and shame to the [[Italian American|Italian community]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|pp=350–68}} His first action as mayor was to order the chief of police to arrest mob boss [[Lucky Luciano]] on whatever charges could be found. La Guardia then went after the gangsters with a vengeance, stating in a radio address to the people of New York in his distinct voice, "Let's drive the bums out of town." In 1934 he went on a search-and-destroy mission looking for mob boss [[Frank Costello]]'s [[slot machine]]s, rounding up thousands of the "one armed bandits," swinging a sledgehammer and dumping them off a barge into the water for the newspapers and media. In 1935 La Guardia appeared at the [[Bronx Terminal Market]] to institute a citywide ban on the sale, display, and possession of [[artichoke]]s, whose prices were inflated by mobsters. When prices went down, the ban was lifted.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Gray (architectural historian) |date=May 8, 1994 |title=Streetscapes/Bronx Terminal Market; Trying to Duplicate the Little Flower's Success |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/08/realestate/streetscapes-bronx-terminal-market-trying-duplicate-little-flower-s-success.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221030617/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/08/realestate/streetscapes-bronx-terminal-market-trying-duplicate-little-flower-s-success.html |archive-date=February 21, 2011}}</ref> In 1936, La Guardia had special prosecutor [[Thomas E. Dewey]], a future Republican presidential candidate, single out Lucky Luciano for prosecution. Dewey led a successful investigation into Luciano's lucrative prostitution operation, eventually sending Luciano to jail with a 30–50 year sentence. The case was made into the 1937 movie ''[[Marked Woman]]'', starring [[Bette Davis]].

La Guardia proved successful in shutting down the [[burlesque]] theaters, whose shows offended his sensibilities.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Andrea |author-link=Andrea Friedman (historian) |date=October 1996 |title=The Habitats of Sex-Crazed Perverts': Campaigns against Burlesque in Depression-Era New York City |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3704140 |journal=[[Journal of the History of Sexuality]] |volume=7 |pages=203–238 |jstor=3704140 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109064950/http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704140 |archive-date=November 9, 2017 |number=2}}</ref> He also came to the assistance of [[comic book]] creators [[Joe Simon]] and [[Jack Kirby]], when they were openly threatened by sympathizers of [[Nazi Germany]] with their new [[superhero]] character, [[Captain America]], when he arranged police protection.<ref>{{cite book|last = Cronin|first = Brian|title = Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed|publisher = [[Plume (publisher)|Plume]]|year = 2009|location= New York, New York|pages = 135–136|isbn = 978-0-452-29532-2}}</ref> As part of his campaign against organized crime in the early 1940s, La Guardia banned [[pinball]] games, calling them gambling machines. The ban held until 1976, when avid player [[Roger Sharpe (pinball)|Roger Sharpe]] proved the actual skill involved in the game.<ref name="PopularMecg1">{{cite web |author-first1=Seth|author-last1=Porges| title=11 Things You Didn't Know About Pinball History | work=Toys | date=September 2009 | publisher=[[Popular Mechanics]] | url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/toys/4328211-new#fbIndex1 | access-date=September 1, 2011}}</ref><ref name="PopularMecg2">{{cite web | title=NYPD Held Prohibition-Style Raids on Pinball | work=11 Things You Didn't Know About Pinball History | date=September 2009 | publisher=[[Popular Mechanics]] | url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/toys/4328211-new#fbIndex2 | access-date=September 1, 2011}}</ref> La Guardia spearheaded major raids throughout the city, collecting thousands of machines. The mayor participated with police in destroying machines with [[sledgehammer]]s before dumping the remnants into the city's rivers.<ref name="PopularMecg2" />

===Public works===
La Guardia's admirers credit him, among other things, with restoring the economy of New York City during and after the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]. He is given credit for many massive public works programs administered by his powerful Parks Commissioner [[Robert Moses]], which employed thousands of voters. The mayor's relentless lobbying for federal funds allowed New York to develop its economic infrastructure.<ref name="Martin Shefter 1992 30">{{Cite book |last=Shefter |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-4tdn4sINgC&pg=PA30 |title=Political Crisis/fiscal Crisis: The Collapse and Revival of New York City |publisher=Columbia UP |year=1992 |isbn=978-0231079433 |page=30}}</ref>

To obtain large-scale federal money the mayor became a close ally of Roosevelt and New Deal agencies such as the [[Civil Works Administration|CWA]], [[Public Works Administration|PWA]], and [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]], which poured $1.1&nbsp;billion into the city from 1934 to 1939. In return, he gave FDR a showcase for [[New Deal]] achievements and helped to defeat FDR's political enemies in Tammany Hall (the Democratic party machine based in Manhattan). La Guardia and Moses built highways, bridges and tunnels, transforming the physical landscape of New York City. The [[West Side Highway]], [[East River Drive]], [[Brooklyn Battery Tunnel]], [[Triborough Bridge]], and two airports ([[LaGuardia Airport]], and, later, [[JFK Airport|Idlewild, now JFK Airport]]) were all built during his mayoralty.{{sfn|Williams|2013|pp=197, 256–68, 318}}

In 1943, La Guardia saved the [[Mecca Temple]] on 55th Street from demolition. Together with New York City Council President [[Newbold Morris]], La Guardia converted the building to the [[New York City Center]] of Music and Dance. On December 11, 1943, City Center opened its doors with a concert from the [[New York Philharmonic]]—La Guardia even conducted a rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."<ref>{{Cite web|title=About {{!}} New York City Center|url=https://www.nycitycenter.org/About/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811103529/https://www.nycitycenter.org/About/|archive-date=August 11, 2020|website=www.nycitycenter.org}}</ref>

===1939===
1939 was a busy year, as he opened the [[1939 New York World's Fair]] at [[Flushing Meadows–Corona Park]], Queens, opened New York Municipal Airport No.&nbsp;2 in Queens (later renamed Fiorello H. La Guardia Field), and had the city buy out the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]] and the [[Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation]], thus completing the [[History of the New York City Subway#Unification|public takeover]] of the [[New York City Subway]] system. The U.S. arrival of [[Georg von Trapp|Georg]] and [[Maria Von Trapp]] and their children from [[Austria]] that fall at [[Ellis Island]] who would eventually become the Trapp Family Singers was another significant decade-ending event that year in La Guardia's mayoralty.

===Reform===
Responding to popular disdain for the sometimes corrupt City Council, La Guardia successfully proposed a reformed 1938 City Charter that created a powerful new [[New York City Board of Estimate]], similar to a corporate board of directors.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} La Guardia was also a supporter of the [[Ives-Quinn Act]], "a law that would ban discrimination in employment on the bases of 'race, creed, color or national origin' and task a new agency, the New York State Commission Against Discrimination (SCAD), with education and enforcement."<ref name=":3" /> The bill passed in 1945, making New York the first state in the country to create an agency tasked with handling employment discrimination complaints.<ref name=":3" />

===World War II===
In 1941 during the run-up to American involvement in [[World War&nbsp;II]], President Roosevelt appointed La Guardia first director of the new [[Office of Civilian Defense]] (OCD). Roosevelt was an admirer of La Guardia; after meeting [[Winston Churchill]] for the first time he described him as "an English Mayor La Guardia".<ref name="Thompson1996">{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Kenneth W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbxWAAAAYAAJ&q=%22English+Mayor+LaGuardia.%22 |title=Virginia Papers on the Presidency |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-7618-0545-8 |location=Lanham |page=114}}</ref> The OCD was the national agency responsible for preparing for blackouts, air raid wardens, sirens, and shelters in case of German [[Airstrike|air raids]]. The goal was to psychologically mobilize many thousands of middle-class volunteers to make them feel part of the war effort. At the urging of aviation advocate [[Gill Robb Wilson]], La Guardia, in his capacity as Director of the OCD, created the [[Civil Air Patrol]] with [[s:Administrative Order 9|Administrative Order 9]], signed by him on December 1, 1941, and published December 8, 1941.<ref name="CAPP50-5">{{Cite book |url=http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/u_082503081737.pdf |title=Introduction to Civil Air Patrol |date=August 1, 2002 |publisher=National Headquarters Civil Air Patrol |location=[[Maxwell Air Force Base|Maxwell AFB]] |id=CAP Pamphlet 50-5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090824165333/http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/u_082503081737.pdf |archive-date=August 24, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> La Guardia remained Mayor of New York, shuttling back and forth with three days in Washington and four in the city in an effort to do justice to two herculean jobs. La Guardia focused on setting up air raid systems and training volunteer wardens; however, Roosevelt appointed his wife [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] as his assistant. She issued calls for actors to lead a volunteer talent program, and dancers to start a physical fitness program. That led to widespread ridicule and the president replaced both of them in December 1941 with a full-time director [[James M. Landis]].<ref>Allan M. Winkler,  "A 40-year history of civil defense." ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' 40.6 (1984): 16-22.</ref>

The war ended the Great Depression in the city. Unemployment ended, and the city was a gateway for military supplies and soldiers sent to Europe, with the [[Brooklyn Navy Yard]] providing many of the warships and the garment trade providing uniforms. The city's great financiers, however, were less important in decision-making than the policymakers in Washington, and very high wartime taxes were not offset by heavy war spending. New York was not a center of heavy industry and did not see a wartime boom, as defense plants were built elsewhere.<ref>Karl Drew Hartzell, ''The Empire State At War, World War II'' (1949)</ref> Roosevelt refused to make La Guardia a general and was unable to provide fresh money for the city. By 1944, the city was short of funds to pay for La Guardia's new programs. La Guardia was frustrated and his popularity slipped away and he ran so poorly in straw polls in 1945 that he did not run for a fourth term.<ref>Erwin Hargrove, "The Dramas of Reform," in James D. Barber, ed. ''Political Leadership in American Government'' (1964), p. 94.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Kessner|first=Thomas|title=Fiorello H. LaGuardia|journal=[[History Teacher]]|date=1993|volume=26|issue=2|jstor=494812|pages=151–59|doi=10.2307/494812|issn=0018-2745|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/494812|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In July 1945, when the city's newspapers were closed by a strike, La Guardia famously read the [[daily strip|comics]] on the radio.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jeffers|first=H. Paul|title=The Napoleon of New York|date=2002|pages=275–90}}</ref><ref>[https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/LaGuardiaComics.pdf Fiorello LaGuardia Reading the Comics (July 8, 1945)] Library of Congress.</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90347769/laguardia-reads-the-funnies-for-the-chil/ LaGuardia Reads The Funnies For The Children] Tampa Tribune. July 2, 1945.</ref>

==Political positions==
{{socialism US}}
La Guardia opposed the [[Espionage Act of 1917]] and stated that "if you pass this bill and if it is enacted into law you change all that our flag ever stood for and stands for".{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=45}} He supported the [[League of Women Voters]] in the 1920s.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=85}} He voted in favor of the [[Child Labor Amendment]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=129}} He proposed legislation to create a [[Columbus Day|holiday]] in honor of [[Christopher Columbus]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=192}}

As a congressman, La Guardia was a tireless and vocal champion of [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] causes, including relaxed restriction on immigration, removal of [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|U.S. troops from Nicaragua]] to speaking up for the rights and livelihoods of striking miners, impoverished farmers, oppressed minorities, and struggling families. He supported [[progressive income taxes]], greater government oversight of [[Wall Street]], and national employment insurance for workers idled by the Great Depression.{{sfn|Zinn|1969}} He supported allowing the direct election of the [[Governor of Puerto Rico]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=192}}

In domestic policies, La Guardia tended toward [[socialism]] and wanted to [[nationalize]] and regulate; however, he was never close to the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]] and never bothered to read [[Karl Marx]].{{sfn|Zinn|1969|pp=267–70}} When [[Benito Mussolini]]'s [[Fascist Italy]] invaded [[Ethiopia]] on October 3, 1935, a Black protest of Italian vendors at the King Julius General Market on [[Lenox Avenue]] and 118th Street turned into a riot and 1,200 extra New York City policemen were deployed on "war duty" to quell the riot.<ref name="RBG">{{cite news |last1=Ben-Ghiat |first1=Ruth |title=Perspective: When fascist aggression in Ethiopia sparked a movement of Black solidarity |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/03/when-fascist-aggression-ethiopia-sparked-movement-black-solidarity/ |access-date=January 12, 2022 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804115630/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/03/when-fascist-aggression-ethiopia-sparked-movement-black-solidarity/ |archive-date=August 4, 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In December 1935, at an Italian-American rally, attended by 20,000, in [[Madison Square Garden]], La Guardia presented a $100,000 check to the Italian Consul General,{{efn|Probably G. Vecchietto, who was the consul on 24 October 1935.<ref>{{citation |title=1935 Press Photo Group with the Italian Consul General G Vecchietto |work=Historic Images |date=24 October 1935 |access-date=26 January 2025 |url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/396062225931 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250126212208/https://www.ebay.com/itm/396062225931 |archive-date=26 January 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} part of a total $700,000 raised from Italian-Americans to help fund the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|invasion]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ben-Ghiat |first1=Ruth |author1-link=Ruth Ben-Ghiat |title=When Harlem and Little Italy Clashed over Ethiopia |url=https://lucid.substack.com/p/when-harlem-and-little-italy-clashed |website=Lucid |publisher=[[substack]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612110554/https://lucid.substack.com/p/when-harlem-and-little-italy-clashed |archive-date=June 12, 2021 |date=June 8, 2021}}</ref><ref name="RBG" /><ref name="LaGumina-1999-Wop">{{cite book |last1=LaGumina |first1=Salvatore John |title=Wop!: A Documentary History of Anti-Italian Discrimination in the United States |date=1999 |publisher=Guernica Editions |isbn=978-1-55071-047-2 |page=250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFtgLMQnL68C&dq=King+Julius+General+Market&pg=PA250}}</ref> During a new riot that began on May 18, 1936, in Lenox Avenue, Harlem, following reports of Italian atrocities and the fall of [[Addis Ababa]], La Guardia rejected demands from the African-American community to withdraw additional police squads sent to contain the street fighting. This added to the perception within the Black community of Harlem that La Guardia represented Fascist Italy in New York.<ref>{{citation |last=Scott |first=William R. |title=The Sons of Sheba's Race: African-Americans and the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935–1941 |location=Bloomington |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1993 |pages=145–146 |isbn=0-253-35126-X |url=https://archive.org/details/sonsofshebasrace0000scot}}</ref><ref name="Pearce-Ethiopia-978-1-5107-1874-6">{{cite book |last1=Pearce |first1=Jeff |title=Prevail: The Inspiring Story of Ethiopia's Victory over Mussolini's Invasion, 1935–1941 |year=2017 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-5107-1874-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R2WCDwAAQBAJ&dq=King+Julius+General+Market&pg=PT272 |page=272}}</ref>

===Economics===
[[File:N.Y. Mayor visits Veteran Nebraska Senator. Washington, D.C., Dec. 30. Following a call on Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska today, New York's Mayor Fiorello La Guardia predicted that the LCCN2016874648 Trim.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|[[United States Senate|Senator]] [[George W. Norris]] of [[Nebraska]] (left) and [[mayor of New York City|mayor]] La Guardia in 1938]]
La Guardia sponsored labor legislation and railed against immigration quotas. His major legislation was the [[Norris–La Guardia Act]], cosponsored with Nebraska senator George W. Norris in 1932. It circumvented Supreme Court limitations on the activities of labor unions, especially as those limitations were imposed between the enactment of the [[Clayton Antitrust Act]] in 1914 and the end of the 1920s. Based on the theory that the lower courts are creations not of the Constitution but of Congress, and that Congress, therefore, has wide power in defining and restricting their jurisdiction, the act forbids issuance of injunctions to sustain anti-union contracts of employment, to prevent ceasing or refusing to perform any work or remain in any relation of employment, or to restrain acts generally constituting component parts of strikes, boycotts, and picketing. It also said courts could no longer enforce [[yellow-dog contract]]s, which are labor contracts prohibiting a worker from joining a union.{{sfn|Zinn|1969|pp=226–30}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Bernstein |first=Irving |date=1966 |title=The Lean Years: A History of the American Worker, 1920–1933 |pages=406–9}}</ref> La Guardia opposed an attempt to raise the sales tax during the Great Depression and instead supported taxes on luxury items and a graduated income tax for people earning more than $100,000.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=180-181}}

===Foreign policy===
La Guardia supported the [[League of Nations]]. He called for Fiume to be given to Italy despite it being promised to [[Yugoslavia]] by the [[Treaty of London (1915)|Treaty of London]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=61}} He supported the [[February Revolution]], but criticized Ambassador [[David R. Francis]] for supporting [[Alexander Kerensky]] rather than [[Lavr Kornilov]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=65}} La Guardia had a reputation for his disdain of [[isolationism]]; instead he supported using American influence abroad on behalf of democracy or for national independence or against autocracy. He used his influence to speak in favor of the League of Nations and the [[Inter-Parliamentary Union]] as well as peace and disarmament conferences.<ref>Daniel Marrone, "Fiorello H. La Guardia: Mayor, Statesman, and Humanitarian." ''International Journal of the Humanities'' 8.3 (2010).</ref>

In 1946, President [[Harry S. Truman]] sent the ex-mayor as an envoy to Brazil but diplomacy was not his forte. Truman then gave him a major job as head of the [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]] (UNRRA), with responsibility for helping millions of desperate refugees in Europe. La Guardia was exhausted and after seeing the horrors of war in Europe called for a massive aid program. Critics ridiculed that as worldwide WPA and the biggest boondoggle ever. He sided with [[Henry A. Wallace]] in calling for peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union, and attacked the new breed of Cold Warriors.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1946-12-25 |title=Wallace, La Guardia to Talk |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/12/25/archives/wallace-la-guardia-to-talk.html |access-date=2024-06-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He provided UNRRA funds to the Soviets despite warnings that the Kremlin was funneling the money towards its military. UNRRA shut down at the end of 1946. Despite his declining health, La Guardia attacked the emerging "[[Truman Doctrine]]" that promised American financial and military intervention to stop the spread of Communism.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|pp=579-588}}

===Prohibition===
La Guardia opposed [[Prohibition in the United States]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=110}} He was one of the first Republicans in Congress to voice their opinions against prohibition.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lerner |first=Michael A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GyQqk-hxaO4C&pg=PA234234 |title=Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0674040090 |page=234}}</ref> He testified to that effect before the first session of Congress in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fiorella LaGuardia on Prohibition {{!}} Temperance & Prohibition |url=https://prohibition.osu.edu/american-prohibition-1920/fiorella-laguardia-prohibition |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302115351/https://prohibition.osu.edu/american-prohibition-1920/fiorella-laguardia-prohibition |archive-date=March 2, 2017 |website=prohibition.osu.edu}}</ref> On June 19, 1926, La Guardia mixed near beer and malt extract, which were legal, to create [[Low-alcohol beer|2% beer]] in order to protest prohibition. He was immune from prosecution as a member of Congress.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=112-113}}

==Personal life==
[[File:Fiorello La Guardia and family in 1890s.png|alt=A photograph of Fiorello La Guardia and his family during their time at Fort Whipple|thumb|right|300px|La Guardia and his family during their time at [[Fort Whipple, Arizona]], in the 1890s]]
[[File:Fiorello and Thea La Guardia.png|alt=A photograph of Fiorello La Guardia and Thea Almerigotti|thumb|upright|La Guardia and his wife Thea Almerigotti]]

La Guardia met Thea Almerigotti, an immigrant from Trieste, while marching in a union picket line in 1913.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=37}} They married on March 8, 1919, in a Catholic ceremony at [[St. Patrick's Cathedral (Midtown Manhattan)|St. Patrick's Cathedral]].{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=60}} Their daughter, Fioretta Thea La Guardia, was born in June 1920 but died on May 8, 1921, and Thea died on November 29. The death of his wife was described as "the greatest tragedy of La Guardia's life" by M.R. Werner, who aided La Guardia when he wrote his autobiography.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=76-79}}

Marie Fisher, La Guardia's second wife, had volunteered for La Guardia's 1916 congressional campaign and became his secretary after his election. They were married by Rev. [[Ole J. Kvale]], a Lutheran like Fisher, on February 28, 1929.{{sfn|Kessner|1989|p=152-154}} They adopted two children:
* Eric Henry (1930-2024), a [[Hobart College, Geneva|Hobart College]] graduate who became a professor at the [[University of Washington]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eric LaGuardia {{!}} Department of English {{!}} University of Washington|url=https://english.washington.edu/people/eric-laguardia|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720052503/https://english.washington.edu/people/eric-laguardia|archive-date=July 20, 2020|website=english.washington.edu}}</ref>
* Jean Marie (1928–1962), La Guardia's niece from his first marriage, the biological daughter of Thea's sister, a [[Barnard College]] graduate who later became an editor of [[Mademoiselle (magazine)|''Mademoiselle'']].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Letter form Jean Marie LaGuardia, jobs and futures editor at Mademoiselle magazine, to Margery A. Thackwray, dated July 24, 1953, asking if any updates are necessary for the information Mademoiselle has on the LCU.|url=https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16124coll1/id/15016/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720055444/https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16124coll1/id/15016/|archive-date=July 20, 2020|website=cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Fiorello H. LaGuardia Foundation – promoting global sustainable development|url=http://www.laguardiafoundation.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118065007/http://www.laguardiafoundation.org/|archive-date=November 18, 2020|website=www.laguardiafoundation.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lerner|first=Michael A.|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu|title=Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=2007|isbn=978-0-674-03057-2|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=235, 236|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204152827/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/|archive-date=December 4, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Barnard Alumnae Magazine, July 1955 {{!}} Barnard Digital Collections|url=https://digitalcollections.barnard.edu/object/5107/barnard-alumnae-magazine-july-1955#page/18/mode/2up|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720074759/https://digitalcollections.barnard.edu/object/5107/barnard-alumnae-magazine-july-1955#page/18/mode/2up|archive-date=July 20, 2020|website=digitalcollections.barnard.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Barnard Bulletin, June 4, 1947, page 1 {{!}} Barnard Digital Collections|url=https://digitalcollections.barnard.edu/object/bulletin-19470604-1/barnard-bulletin-june-4-1947-page-1?solr%5Bquery%5D=%22Jean%20La%20Guardia%22&solr%5Bparams%5D%5BdefType%5D=dismax&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bsort%5D=mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort%20asc&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet%5D=true&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.mincount%5D=1&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.limit%5D=30&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.field%5D%5B1%5D=mods_subject_topic_ms&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.field%5D%5B2%5D=mods_genre_ms&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.field%5D%5B3%5D=mods_relatedItem_host_titleInfo_title_ms&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date%5D%5B0%5D=mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.date.start%5D=1888-01-01T00:00:01Z&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.date.end%5D=NOW&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.date.gap%5D=+10YEAR&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date.start%5D=NOW/YEAR-20YEARS&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date.end%5D=NOW&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date.gap%5D=+1YEAR&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.mincount%5D=0&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfq%5D%5B0%5D=RELS_EXT_isViewableByUser_literal_ms:%22anonymous%22%20OR%20RELS_EXT_isViewableByRole_literal_ms:%22anonymous%20user%22%20OR%20((*:*%20-RELS_EXT_isViewableByUser_literal_ms:%5B*%20TO%20*%5D)%20AND%20(*:*%20-RELS_EXT_isViewableByRole_literal_ms:%5B*%20TO%20*%5D))|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213052101/https://digitalcollections.barnard.edu/object/bulletin-19470604-1/barnard-bulletin-june-4-1947-page-1?solr%5Bquery%5D=%22Jean+La+Guardia%22&solr%5Bparams%5D%5BdefType%5D=dismax&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bsort%5D=mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort+asc&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet%5D=true&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.mincount%5D=1&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.limit%5D=30&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.field%5D%5B1%5D=mods_subject_topic_ms&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.field%5D%5B2%5D=mods_genre_ms&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.field%5D%5B3%5D=mods_relatedItem_host_titleInfo_title_ms&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date%5D%5B0%5D=mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.date.start%5D=1888-01-01T00%3A00%3A01Z&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.date.end%5D=NOW&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.date.gap%5D=+10YEAR&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date.start%5D=NOW%2FYEAR-20YEARS&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date.end%5D=NOW&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfacet.date.gap%5D=+1YEAR&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bf.mods_originInfo_dateCreated_sort.facet.mincount%5D=0&solr%5Bparams%5D%5Bfq%5D%5B0%5D=RELS_EXT_isViewableByUser_literal_ms%3A%22anonymous%22+OR+RELS_EXT_isViewableByRole_literal_ms%3A%22anonymous+user%22+OR+%28%28%2A%3A%2A+-RELS_EXT_isViewableByUser_literal_ms%3A%5B%2A+TO+%2A%5D%29+AND+%28%2A%3A%2A+-RELS_EXT_isViewableByRole_literal_ms%3A%5B%2A+TO+%2A%5D%29%29|archive-date=December 13, 2020|website=digitalcollections.barnard.edu}}</ref>

===Nazi detention of sister, brother-in-law, and niece===
La Guardia's sister, [[Gemma La Guardia Gluck]], married Herman Gluck, a Hungarian Jew, in 1906. The couple later moved to Budapest.{{sfn|Mann|1959|p=29}} They were living in Hungary and were arrested by the [[Gestapo]] on June 7, 1944,<ref name="Nanda Herbermann, Hester Baer, Elizabeth Roberts Baer">{{Cite book|last1=Herbermann|first1=Nanda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3JM3AdnmE18C&q=1961+gemma+gluck+my+story&pg=PA257|title=The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp for Women|last2=Hester Baer|last3=Elizabeth Roberts Baer|via=googlebooks|year=2000|publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0814329207}}</ref> [[Adolf Eichmann]] and [[Heinrich Himmler]] knew that Gemma was La Guardia's sister and ordered her to be held as a political prisoner. She and Herman were deported to [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp|Mauthausen concentration camp]] in Austria.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Jon Kalish|date=June 26, 2007|title=Ravensbruck's Famous Survivor: Memoir|work=[[The Jewish Daily Forward]]|url=http://forward.com/articles/11031/ravensbruck-s-famous-survivor-/#|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802103035/http://forward.com/articles/11031/ravensbruck-s-famous-survivor-/|archive-date=August 2, 2012}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Reid|first=Donald|date=May–August 2008|title=America so far from Ravensbrück|work=Histoire@Politique: Politique, Culture, Société, N°5|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:lFM8YhJcEswJ:www.histoire-politique.fr/documents/05/dossier/pdf/HP5-Donald-Reid-pdf.pdf+download+gemma+gluck+1961+ravensbruck&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShdg2sxeS_NSFLLSRhpisYVWrQRyVzTmgjQkU5oSwQJk95m-4rPlP-iR7g38eTt6fvznYiwLCED7la0zbDlCGh1Bo5HQd2Eclg-tEq9a40QTVJSlmniS2DQ5OqdhTym_197F4C5&sig=AHIEtbS_Uw7gUKHQ3iCa8qUQ1tPCTYxNrg}}</ref> Gemma did not learn until her release that Herman had died at Mauthausen.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Gemma was transferred from Mauthausen to the notorious women's [[Ravensbrück concentration camp|concentration camp at Ravensbrück]], fifty miles from [[Berlin, Germany|Berlin]], where—unbeknownst to Gemma at the time—her daughter Yolanda (whose husband also died in the camps) and baby grandson were also held for a year in a separate barracks.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mulligan|first=Katherine|title=New book Reveals Holocaust Plight of La Guardia's Sister|publisher=Jewish Federation of Rockland County|url=http://www.jewishrockland.org/page.aspx?id=162219|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105185419/http://www.jewishrockland.org/page.aspx?id=162219|archive-date=November 5, 2013}}</ref> Gemma Gluck, who was held in Block II of the camp and assigned prisoner #44139,<ref name="Nanda Herbermann, Hester Baer, Elizabeth Roberts Baer" /> was one of the few survivors of Ravensbrück,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Adolf Eichmann's List|work=Times Online|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3537593.ece|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513083044/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3537593.ece|archive-date=May 13, 2008}}</ref> one of the few American-born women interned by the Nazis along with [[Virginia d'Albert-Lake]], and wrote about her time there.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brawarsky|first=Sandee|date=April 13, 2007|title=Mayor LaGuardia's Sister|url=http://www.rememberwomen.org/Library/BkReviews/main.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614181815/http://www.rememberwomen.org/Library/BkReviews/main.html|archive-date=June 14, 2012|website=The Jewish Week|publisher=Rememberwomen.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Gluck|first=Gemma La Guardia|title=Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story (Religion, Theology, and the Holocaust)|date=2007|publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]]|editor-last=Saidel|editor-first=Rochelle G.|orig-year=originally published as ''My Story'' in 1961}}</ref>

The Germans abandoned Gluck, her daughter, and her grandson for a possible hostage exchange in April 1945 as the Soviets advanced on Berlin. After the liberation of the camps, Gemma later wrote that the Soviets were "[[Rape during the occupation of Germany|violating girls and women]] of all ages", and the three struggled as [[displaced person]]s in postwar Berlin because they did not speak German and had no identity papers, money, or means of documenting where they had been.<ref name="Robert Leiter, Jewish Exponent Staff">{{Cite journal|last=Leiter|first=Robert|date=January 31, 2008|title=Pain & Triumph: The journey of a New York mayor's family|journal=[[The Jewish Exponent]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Gluck|first=Gemma La Guardia|title=''My Life''|year=1961}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Book reviews at Rememberwomen.org of ''Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story'', New Expanded Edition (2007) edited by Rochelle G. Saidel of ''My Story by Gemma La Guardia Gluck'' (1961), edited by S. L. Shneiderman|url=http://www.rememberwomen.org/Library/BkReviews/main.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614181815/http://www.rememberwomen.org/Library/BkReviews/main.html|archive-date=June 14, 2012}}</ref> Gemma finally managed to get word to the Americans, who contacted Fiorello, who was then director of the [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]] (UNRRA) and had been unable to locate his sister and brother-in-law since their disappearance. He worked to get them on the immigration lists but asserted in a letter, included in the appendix of Gemma's memoir, that her "case was the same as that of hundreds of thousands of displaced people" and "no exceptions can be made". It took two years for her to be cleared and sent to the United States. She returned to New York in May 1947, where she was reunited with her brother only four months before his death. As he had made no provision for her, she lived the remainder of her life in very reduced circumstances in a public housing project in Queens until her death in 1962.<ref name="Robert Leiter, Jewish Exponent Staff" /><ref name=":2" />

==Death and legacy==
[[Image:Fiorello LaGuardia Grave 1024.jpg|thumb|left|La Guardia's grave]]

La Guardia was a man of short stature; his height is sometimes given as {{convert|5|ft|0|in|m}}, but an article in ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 2006 gave his height as {{convert|5|ft|2|in|m}}.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Chan|first= Sewell|author-link=Sewell Chan |date=December 4, 2006 |title=The Empire Zone: The Mayor's Tall Tales |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/the-mayors-tall-tales/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905185703/http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/the-mayors-tall-tales/ |archive-date=September 5, 2008}}</ref> La Guardia died of [[pancreatic cancer]] in his home at 5020 Goodridge Avenue, in the [[Fieldston, Bronx|Fieldston]] neighborhood of [[Riverdale, Bronx]], on September 20, 1947, aged 64.<ref>Jackson, Nancy Beth. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE7D91E3CF934A25751C0A9649C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22richard+simon%22+riverdale&st=nyt "If You're Thinking of Living In/Fieldston; A Leafy Enclave in the Hills of the Bronx"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611085058/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE7D91E3CF934A25751C0A9649C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22richard+simon%22+riverdale&st=nyt |date=June 11, 2008 }} on September 20, 1947. ''[[The New York Times]]''. February 17, 2002. Retrieved May 3, 2008. "Fiorello H. La Guardia, a three-time mayor of New York, lived and died at 5020 Goodridge Avenue."</ref> La Guardia is interred at [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]] in the Bronx.<ref>{{Cite news |title=La Guardia Is Dead; City Pays Homage To 3-Time Mayor |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1211.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204194656/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1211.html |archive-date=February 4, 2017}}</ref>

===Legacy===
[[File:United States American Labor Party undated Slide 9 Marcantonio Fights For You.png|thumb|right|[[American Labor Party]] campaign poster featuring [[Vito Marcantonio]] as a candidate for reelection to Congress, 1948. Above him the faces of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], La Guardia, and [[Henry A. Wallace]] look on.]]
A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists, and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] ranked La Guardia as the best American big-city mayor to serve between the years 1820 and 1993.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Holli | first = Melvin G. | title = The American Mayor | publisher = PSU Press | year = 1999 | location = University Park | url = https://archive.org/details/americanmayorbes0000holl | isbn = 0-271-01876-3 }}</ref> According to a biographer, Mason B. Williams, his close collaboration with Roosevelt's New Deal proved a striking success in linking national money and local needs.{{sfn|Williams|2013}} La Guardia enabled the political recognition of new groups that had been largely excluded from the political system, such as Jews and Italians.{{sfn|Bayor|1993}} His administration (in cooperation with Robert Moses) gave New York its modern infrastructure.<ref name="Martin Shefter 1992 30" /> His far-sighted goals raised ambitions for new levels of urban possibility. According to [[Thomas Kessner]], trends since his tenure mean that "people would be afraid of allowing anybody to take that kind of power".{{sfn|Kessner|1989}}

===Namesakes===
[[File:Fiorello LaGuardia footstone 800.jpg|thumb|left|upright|La Guardia's [[footstone]]]]

New York's [[LaGuardia Airport]], [[LaGuardia Community College]], [[LaGuardia Place]], and various parks and buildings around New York City are named for him. Known for his love of music, La Guardia was noted for spontaneously conducting professional and student orchestras and was instrumental in the creation of the High School of Music & Art in 1936, now renamed the [[Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts]].<ref>Steigman, Benjamin. ''Accent on Talent – New York's High School of Music & Art''. Detroit: [[Wayne State University Press]], 1964. {{LCCN|64-13873}}</ref> During his mayoralty, in May 1935, the city's 258-acre shelter for its homeless and unemployed men in [[Chester, Orange County, New York]] was renamed Camp La Guardia. It operated under that name for 72 years before closing in 2006.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Abdulrahim |first1=Raja |title=Camp La Guardia: First a farm, now a shelter, soon … ? |url=https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2006/11/19/camp-la-guardia-first-farm/53015616007/ |access-date=14 November 2024 |work=[[Times Herald-Record]] |date=November 19, 2006}}</ref>

[[File:Fiorello La Guardia Stamp.jpg|right|thumb|upright|14¢ La Guardia U.S. postage stamp issued 1972<ref name="Lidman">{{Cite news |last=Lidman |first=David |date=1972-04-02 |title=Stamps |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/02/archives/laguardia-14c-due-here-april-24.html |access-date=2024-06-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>]]

In 1972, the [[United States Postal Service]] honored La Guardia with a 14-cent postage stamp.<ref name="Lidman" /> In [[Tel Aviv]], LaGuardia Street and LaGuardia interchange are named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alpher |first=Yossi |date=2010-07-08 |title=The Spy Who Knew LaGuardia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/opinion/09iht-edalpher.html |access-date=2024-06-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A street in [[Rijeka]], Croatia, is named after Fiorello La Guardia. La Guardia worked in Rijeka as a U.S. Consular Agent from 1903 to 1906, when the city was known as Fiume and was under Hungarian administration. It was during this time that Rijeka's port played a vital role in connecting the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the United States, featuring direct passenger service between Rijeka and New York.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mangiafico |first=Luciano |title=Our Man in Fiume: Fiorello LaGuardia's Short Diplomatic Career |url=https://afsa.org/our-man-fiume-fiorello-laguardia%E2%80%99s-short-diplomatic-career |website=American Foreign Service Association}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Statue of Fiorello H. La Guardia]], Manhattan
* [[La Guardia and Wagner Archives]]
* [[1938 NYC Teamsters Truckers Strike]]
* [[La Guardia Commission]], a study on [[marijuana]] in U.S. society
* [[Timeline of New York City#1900s–1940s|Timeline of New York City]], 1930s–1940s
* ''[[Fiorello!]]'' (1959 Broadway musical)
* [https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2025/10/31/mayor-laguardia-reads-the-comics La Guardia Reads the Comics]

==Publications==
* La Guardia, Fiorello H. (1948). ''The Making of an Insurgent: An Autobiography''. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Works cited==
* {{cite book |title=Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]] |edition=2 |date=1985 |url=https://archive.org/details/congressionalqua0000unse |isbn=9780871873392 |ref={{harvid|Congressional Quarterly|1985}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Bayor|first=Ronald H.|date=1993|title=Fiorello La Guardia: Ethnicity and Reform|publisher=Harlan Davidson|isbn=0-88295-894-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Jeffers|first=H. Paul|title=The Napoleon of New York|date=2002|pages=275–90}}
* {{cite book |last=Kessner |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Kessner |title=Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York |publisher=[[McGraw Hill Education]] |date=1989 |url=https://archive.org/details/fiorellohlaguard00kess |isbn=0-07-034244-X}}
* {{cite book |last=La Guardia Gluck |first=Gemma |orig-date=1961 |title=Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story |date=2007 |editor-first=Rochelle |editor-last=Saidel |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-0861-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Mann |first=Arthur |title=La Guardia: A Fighter Against His Times, 1882-1933 |publisher=[[J. B. Lippincott & Co.]] |date=1959 |url=https://archive.org/details/laguardiafighter0000mann}}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Mason B. |date=2013 |title=City of Ambition: FDR, La Guardia, and the Making of Modern New York |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton. |isbn=978-0-393-06691-3}}. [https://archive.org/details/cityofambitionfd0000will online]
* {{Cite book |last=Zinn |first=Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hNdePcjrdUC&pg=PA7 |title=LaGuardia in Congress |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |year=1969 |isbn=978-0-8014-7617-4}}

==Further reading==
* Brooks, Emily (2023). ''[https://uncpress.org/book/9781469676593/gothams-war-within-a-war/ Gotham's War within a War: Policing and the Birth of Law-and-Order Liberalism in World War II–Era New York City]''. University of North Carolina Press.
* Brodsky, Alyn. (2003). ''The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York.'' New York: Truman Talley Books.
* Capeci, Dominic J. "From Different Liberal Perspectives: Fiorello H. La Guardia, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and Civil Rights in New York City, 1941-1943." ''Journal of Negro History'' 62#2 1977, pp.&nbsp;160–73. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2717176 online] and [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2717176 in JSTOR]
* {{Cite Power Broker}}
* Elliott, Lawrence. (1983). ''Little Flower: The Life and Times of Fiorello La Guardia''. New York: William Morrow. {{ISBN|0-688-02057-7}}. [https://archive.org/details/littleflowerlife00elli online]
* Garrett, Charles. (1961). ''The La Guardia Years: Machine and Reform Politics in New York City''. New Brunswick, NJ: [[Rutgers University Press]].
* [[Richard Goldstein (writer born 1942)|Goldstein, Richard]]. ''Helluva Town: The Story of New York City During World War II'' (2010) [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042302259.html Online review]
* {{Cite book |last=Gunther |first=John |title=Inside U.S.A. |title-link=Inside U.S.A. (book) |publisher=[[Harper & Brothers]] |year=1947 |location=New York City, London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/insideusa00guntrich/page/578 578–588] |chapter=The Not-So-Little Flower |author-link=John Gunther}}
* [[August Heckscher II|Heckscher II, August]]. (1978). ''When La Guardia Was Mayor: New York's Legendary Years''. New York: W.W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-393-07534-6}}.
* Jeffers, H. Paul. (2002). ''The Napoleon of New York: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia''. New York: John Wiley & Sons. {{ISBN|0-471-02465-1}}. [https://archive.org/details/napoleonofnewyor0000jeff online].
* Kaufman, Herbert. "Fiorello H. La Guardia, Political Maverick" ''[[Political Science Quarterly]]'' 1990 105(1): 113–122. {{ISSN|0032-3195}} [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2151228 in Jstor]

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or|Fiorello Henry LaGuardia}}
* [https://metroairportnews.com/fiorello-la-guardia/, ,''Metropolitan Airport News,'' May 14, 2025 ''Fiorello La Guardia: Bold, Courageous, Larger Than Life'']
* [https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1211.html Obituary, ''New York Times,'' September 21, 1947 ''La Guardia Is Dead; City Pays Homage To 3-Time Mayor'']
* [http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/COLLECTIONS.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=1 La Guardia and Wagner Archives/Fiorello H. La Guardia Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501155808/http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/COLLECTIONS.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=1 |date=May 1, 2020 }}
** [https://archive.today/20121210063910/http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/Advanced_Search.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=1 oral interviews from the La Guardia and Wagner Archives/Fiorello H. La Guardia Oral History database]
* [http://www.dossena.org/tiziano/laguardia.html Tiziano Thomas Dossena, "Fiorello La Guardia" in ''Bridge Apulia USA'', No.3 (Italy, 1998)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610082537/http://www.dossena.org/tiziano/laguardia.html |date=June 10, 2008 }}
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/puzzlemaster/5429338693/in/photostream 1919 passport photo of Fiorello La Guardia]
* [http://www.wnyc.org/tags/mayor_laguardia/  WNYC Archives blogs featuring Mayor La Guardia]
* [https://www.suddenlysenior.com/the-compassion-of-mayor-laguardia/ Fiorello LaGuardia (The Compassion of New York's Famous Mayor)]
* [https://www.wnyc.org/series/talk-to-the-people Mayor LaGuardia "Talk to the people" series on WNYC]
* [https://www.suddenlysenior.com/the-compassion-of-mayor-laguardia/ Fiorello LaGuardia (The Compassion of New York's Famous Mayor)]

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