The Napoleon of New York: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia

by H. Paul Jeffers

Praise for H. Paul Jeffers

Diamond Jim Prince of the Gilded Age

"One of the most entertaining historical business narratives in recent memory. The story of this symbol of America's Gilded Age is filled with such gusto and vigor that even hardcore business readers will be swept away."
-Publishers Weekly

"Superb historical biography of one of the more colorful characters in American history . . . spirited. . . . Jeffers deftly weaves together intriguing stage-setting explanations of the age of robber barons, the crash of 1893, and that unforgettable era of unbridled wealth for the few in 1890s New York. As this marvelous story reveals, Brady's lavish lifestyle embodies America's Gilded Age. Highly recommended for all libraries."
-Library Journal

An Honest The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland

"A well-written and timely book that reminds us of Grover Cleveland's courage, commitment, and honesty at a time when these qualities are so lacking in so much of American politics."
-James MacGregor Burns, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt Goes to War, 1897--1898

"A handsome narrative of a crucial period in the career of one of our country's most colorful politicians."
-Publishers Weekly

Genres: Biography, New York, History, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

H. Paul Jeffers was an established military historian and author of seventy books. He worked as an editor and producer at ABC, CBS and NBC, and is the only person to have been news director of both of New York City's all-news radio stations. He taught journalism at New York University, Syracuse University, and Boston University.

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of us have flown into New York's LaGuardia Airport, heard the marvelous stories about the mayor reading the funny papers over the radio during the strike, and had a vague notion of how he had reformed New York City after the Tammany Hall political machine had nearly ruined it. For me, there was a vague notion about LaGuardia succeeding Beau James, the legendary Jimmy Walker (probably best-known for the Bob Hope cinematic portrayal) and an image of the short Italian (who should have been played in a movie by Lou Costello) with top hat, tails, and a big cigar.

What I didn't know until I read this book was how active LaGuardia was in reforming the NYPD, how instrumental he was in milking FDR's New Deal for federal money to create affordable housing, how popular and well-known he was throughout the country--even though his presidential ambitions took a back seat to FDR and the war, and how vital his administration was in creating the original New York World's Fair (atop a former dump) and building what major thoroughfares exist to this day. New York was wealthier and healthier when LaGuardia finished his mayoral terms.

Recently, when I was reading this book while visiting New York City, a resident of Manhattan saw that I was reading the book and asked me about the title. "Just because he was short?" he asked. I answered that Jeffries' inspiration for the title came from the fact that LaGuardia had a bust of Napoleon on his desk even when he was just a congressman (having been elected from two different districts).

The portion of the mayor's life that I found most interesting was when he left the US Congress to serve in the air force during World War I. As you might guess from the airport's honorific, he was a pilot. And he was a pilot who was amazingly efficient at cutting through red tape and making things happen to support the war effort. Just as he had in battles against the machine politics of the big city, he managed to root out the favoritism and corruption in his little portion of the theater of war.

I was also fascinated by how he clearly denounced Hitler and the Nazis in the build-up to WWII, not buying the isolationist line financed by people like Henry Ford and advocated by heroes like Lindberg and the privileged like Kennedy. Yet, he never overtly attacked Il Duce and the Italian fascists, apparently either believing Mussolini to have been duped by the fuhrer or not wanting to risk losing his Italian-American voter base. The latter seems difficult to reconcile with his candidness in other areas, even as it seems the most likely.

This was a terrific book to read when visiting New York City. It made places come to life and allowed one's imagination to time-travel even more than usual in the environs of Manhattan.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably 3.5 to me.

The story of LaGuardia's life was pretty interesting. But I may have read this too close to my reading Beau James by Gene Fowler. Jimmy Walker was kind of belittled in this. He was a Tammany Democrat and LaGuardia was a reform minded Republican/Fusion/Labor (he swung with the wind). The Republicans really didn't like him much more than the Democrats did. But the Democrats were tied with Tammany at the time. Although I was interested to note that both he and Walker were originally from Greenwich Village. Both were sons of immigrants, one from Ireland and the other from Italy. Fiorello's father came as a musician. When work became difficult to obtain he joined the army and was assigned duty in Arizona, which was where Fiorello grew up. When the Spanish-American War came along his father was set to go to Cuba. Fiorello wanted to go along but in Florida it was noted that he was too short. Such disappointment. Apparently a fire broke out in his hotel and he was able to alert everyone with his cornet.

Elected to office and yet insisted that he was not a politician. Elected to Congress from more than one district (luckily not at the same time). While sitting in Congress he went off to serve in the army air corps during WWI. Multiple times we see his bossiness come out. Omen for things to come. He did come in very useful in Italy, since he was fluent.

After Walker was ousted (malfeasance vs. Nonfeasance) LaGuardia saw room for a reformer to run for mayor. His problem was getting the Party to back him. He learned Yiddish and German so that he could talk to the citizenry in their own languages.

And he was reform minded and got things done. I didn't really understand why he was going to all these fires and things. He seemed to be one of those that thinks they know everything. But I was really astounded when he started directing actors.

But he was also narrow minded. If he didn't approve of something, he did his best to shut it down. In one case, he had a play shut down because it implied lesbianism. The play had received bad reviews and it would have closed shortly without his interference. But because he did he received a lot of flack from theatrical groups and civil liberties organisations. So the play reopened and shortly closed. But this is indicative of how bossy he had become in his third term as mayor.

It was an interesting book but, as others have noted, the sources seem to be limited.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serviceable, sometimes clumsily written, biography of one of New York City’s most colorful characters.

[RJ Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biography of the “Little Flower” was an interesting read. Yes LaGuardia was a short loudmouth with a Napoleon complex but he sure accomplished a lot during his times.
What I most learned was how instrumental he was in shaping the overall landscape of Manhattan. I especially loved the fact that he “moved” City Hall to each borough so that the other boroughs wouldn’t feel like they weren’t a part of the city. After reading this biography, I sort of want to find out more about the dealings at Tammany Hall.

[Sue Ann Painter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating political figure. This not an exceptional work-- too few original sources or positions-- but Jeffers gets the story told with good background and context.

[Andrew Brozyna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging biography of the colorful La Guardia, full of amusing anecdotes. The author did a good job of explaining the political and historic context for those unfamiliar with 1930s–40s New York City.