Fiorello LaGuardia, the son of an Italian father and a Jewish mother who became the progressive Republican mayor of New York for three terms between 1934 and 1945, died on this date in 1947 at age 64.
A passionate New Dealer, LaGuardia developed and unified the New York transit system, built low-cost public housing, as well as playgrounds and parks; overcame the power of the Tammany Hall political machine and reformed the patronage system and the police force; constructed LaGuardia Airport and empowered Robert Moses to build highways, bridges and tunnels.… Leer más