Rudy Giuliani

Rudolph William "Rudy" Giuliani (born May 28, 1944 in Brooklyn, NY) is a former two-term Mayor of New York City, popular former dancer at the 'Boots And Saddle' striptease establishment in the downtown Bronx, former United States Attorney and Deputy U.S. Attorney General. As mayor of New York City he became a media favorite based on his liberal positions on abortion and homosexuality and his devotion to the press. As mayor he would hold almost daily press conferences, willingness to perform sexual favors for press executives, and his personal indiscretions became favorite topics for the media. Despite his shortcomings in preparation and immediate response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the media hailed him as "America's Mayor" for his disregard for human life and frequent media appearances afterwards.

Originally a Democrat who supported George McGovern, Giuliani is currently a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election.

Early Life

According to his official biography

In 1944, Rudolph W. Giuliani was born to a working class family in Brooklyn, New York. As the grandson of Italian immigrants, Mayor Giuliani learned a strong work ethic and a deep respect for America's ideal of equal opportunity. He attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School (Class of '61) in Brooklyn, Manhattan College (Class of '65) in the Bronx and New York University Law School in Manhattan, graduating magna cum laude in 1968.

Personal Life

Giuliani has been married three times. First to his second cousin Regina Peruggi, on October 26, 1968. In 1976 the couple split. They did not have any children.His second marriage was to Donna Hanover. Giuliani filed for legal separation from Peruggi on August 12, 1982. Giuliani and Hanover started living together later that year in Washington, D.C. A Roman Catholic Church annulment (of the Giuliani-Peruggi marriage) was granted at the end of 1983[93], according to Giuliani, because they did not have the Church dispensation needed.

Giuliani and Hanover then married on April 15, 1984. They had two children, Andrew and Caroline. In May 2000, Giuliani admitted to an extramarital relationship with Judith Nathan. Giuliani called a press conference to reveal he intended to separate from Hanover. Giuliani then married Judith Nathan in 2003, his third marriage.

Legal Career

According to his official biography

Upon graduation, Rudy Giuliani clerked for Judge Lloyd MacMahon, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. In 1970, Giuliani joined the office of the U.S. Attorney. At age 29, he was named Chief of the Narcotics Unit and rose to serve as executive US Attorney. In 1975, Giuliani was recruited to Washington, D.C., where he was named Associate Deputy Attorney General and chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General. From 1977 to 1981, Giuliani returned to New York to practice law at Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler.

In 1981, Giuliani was named Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the U.S. Department of Justice. As Associate Attorney General, Giuliani supervised all of the US Attorney Offices' Federal law enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Corrections, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the US Marshals.

In 1983, Giuliani was appointed US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he spearheaded the effort to jail drug dealers, fight organized crime, break the web of corruption in government, and prosecute white-collar criminals. Few US Attorneys in history can match his record of 4,152 convictions with only 25 reversals.

Mayoral Campaigns and Service

According to his official biography

In 1989, Giuliani entered the race for mayor of New York City as a candidate of the Republican and Liberal parties, losing by the closest margin in City history. However in 1993, his campaign focusing on quality of life, crime, business and education made him the 107th Mayor of the City of New York. In 1997 he was re-elected by a wide margin, carrying four out of New York City's five boroughs.

As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani has returned accountability to City government and improved the quality of life for all New Yorkers. Under his leadership, overall crime is down 57%, murder has been reduced 65%, and New York City - once infamous around the world for its dangerous streets - has been recognized by the F.B.I. as the safest large city in America for the past five years.

In 2002 he published Leadership, recounting his terms as mayor.

Among Giuliani's most notable accomplishments during his mayoralty was his successful assault on pornography businesses in Times Square. The neighborhood had long been a mecca for "sexually oriented businesses", but through a prolonged campaign which included maintaining an alliance of local businesses, conservative and feminist groups and the general public, Giuliani managed to clean up the sex mart which was Times Square and replace it with legitmate theaters, restaurants and shops.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks

On Sept. 10, 2001, Giuliani was known as a crime fighter from his days as a United States attorney and as the mayor who had overseen New York's revival. But at home his approval rating hovered around 50 percent. In any case, he was a lame duck, barred by term limits from seeking re-election, in a city that in any case felt increasingly worn out by eight years of combativeness and racial tension. The year before, after a surprisingly rocky re-election campaign, a diagnosis of prostate cancer had led him to reject a run for the Senate seat eventually won by Hillary Rodham Clinton. And while his supporters talked of a presidential bid, the prospect seemed a long shot for a Republican who supported abortion rights and restrictions on gun sales.

A week after the 9/11 attacks and has been on almost every short list of Republican contenders ever since. In his talks, Giuliani uses Sept. 11 to make two points. The first is that he has proven himself to be a leader, and having a proven leader in these troubled times, he tells audiences, is more important than whether you agree with everything he stands for. The other is that his handling of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks proved his competencey.

The International Association of Fire Fighters, America's largest union of firefighters, posted a grievence against Giuliani's November 2001 decision to reduce the number of firefighters searching the rubble of Ground Zero for the remains of some 300 fallen comrades. Their argument is that Giuliani's decisions meant that firefighters and citizens who died would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever or be removed like other rubble and garbage and deposited in landfills.

According to one news report, "Giuliani's backers also released an open letter to firefighters from retired New York firefighter Lee Ielpi that calls the union's accusations 'offensive and inaccurate.' Ielpi lost his oldest son, 29-year-old New York City firefighter Jonathan Lee Ielpi, on Sept. 11.

'I was deeply disappointed and disheartened to learn of the recent partisan political activities' by the IAFF, he wrote. 'Firefighters have no greater friend and supporter than Rudy Giuliani,' Ielpi said." Giuliani's camapign staff noted that the IAFF endorsed Senator John Kerry's presidential bid in 2003 when the Massachusetts Democrat was still considered a long shot.

2008 Presidential Campaign

He is running for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2008. The National Catholic Register is advising Catholics not to vote for Giuliani in 2008 because he is pro-choice.

Giuliani is leading in most polling for the 2008 Republican nomination.

In an apparent attempt to appease (or mislead) conservatives, Giuliani picked libertarians (Ted Olson and Miguel Estrada) and an executive (Larry Thompson), all likely to be pro-choice, to head his panel for nominating judges. Olson opposed conservative John Roberts in 1982 on limiting jurisdiction, and Estrada applied RICO against abortion protesters and forced open the airwaves to profanity. The neoconservative (socially liberal) Power Line blog declared without basis, "It would be hard to come up with a group of lawyers and judges that would be more reassuring to conservatives in this regard."

Further Reading

• About: Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11, 2006
• Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, Wayne Barrett, 2005
• The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life, by Fred Siegel, 2005
• Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City, by Andrew Kirtzman, 2000