The Rise and Fall of Rudolph Giuliani Gerry OShea
“I have no
spur to prick the sides of my intent only Vaulting ambition.” Act 1, Scene 7,
Macbeth.
During the
70’s and 80’s New York City was seen by many people as experiencing some form
of a nervous breakdown. The statistics for neighborhood crime seemed to follow
a cascading downward slide, especially in parts of Manhattan and the Bronx.
Rudy
Giuliani was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York
from 1983 to 1989. He had a reputation for being very tough on crime, whether
of the organized variety or just street robberies and muggings. His sterling
reputation in this area won him the mayor’s job for two four-year terms ending
in 2001.
He can
justifiably boast about his fine record in emphatically repulsing the crime
surge in all five boroughs. The numbers show that it came down nearly 60%
during his eight years - 1250 fewer New Yorkers were killed in 2001 than in
1993 and car thievery was cut in half during that time period.
City streets were not just safer, they were
cleaner. Seventy-five per cent of streets were deemed tidy and well-kept when
he was first elected, but when he left Gracie Mansion that figure had boomed to
85%.
The city’s
tax burden was the lowest in thirty years. Eleven million more annual tourists
were enjoying the museums and theatres than before his time in office. New
skyscrapers and apartment towers were springing up across the city.
New York was
booming and the accolades were all directed towards the man in charge in City
Hall. After 9/11 he rose to fill the part of unifier. He became the take-charge
guy, followed by the TV cameras, as he pushed through the rubble and dust of
Ground Zero.
People
didn’t want to hear about his mistakes in the catastrophic foul-up of the radio
communications system that hurt the rescue efforts on 9/11 and enraged many
firefighters. Andrew Kirtzman, author of “Giuliani: The Rise and
Tragic Fall of America’s Mayor” says about this phase of his subject’s
life: “He became a living legend, America’s Mayor, and it was inconceivable
that the legend would have an expiration date.”
After
finishing his second term as mayor, still wearing his 9/11 robes, he was, as
the Irish expression goes, on the pig’s back, with limitless possibilities. He
opened his own law firm, signed a $2.7 million advance on a book deal and
delivered dozens of $100,000 speeches on leadership themes and related matters.
His haul from speaking fees alone was estimated to exceed eight million in
2002.
Feeling that
he should focus his schmoozing on the moneyed class, he joined more than a
dozen country clubs, bought a lavish co-op in Manhattan and a palatial retreat
in the Hamptons. Mr. Giuliani, puffing the most expensive cigars, was living an
esoteric version of the American Dream.
He had major
problems with two important groups. First, he failed to develop a constituency
among African-Americans. He was not seen as a friend in black neighborhoods. He
mocked the Black Lives Matter movement and joined Donald Trump in his
disgraceful promotion of birtherism.
Trump used
this as a wedge issue clearly conveying his racist attitude to a wide and
receptive audience all over America. Giuliani’s baseless accusations that Obama
did not love his country heightened and prolonged this despicable calumny.
Second, he
offended women by the way he demeaned his wives. He cheated on his first wife,
Regina Peruggi, from the beginning. He convinced the Vatican that she was a
close cousin which, amazingly, he didn’t
know when they tied the knot. Rome gave him an annulment with the right to
re-marry. One wag wondered how the Henry V111 story would have worked out if the
king had been treated with the same kid gloves.
Wife number
two was a household name and face to most New Yorkers, a local TV news anchor
called Donna Hanover. We are used to celebrity marriages collapsing, but when
Giuliani announced the dissolution of his marriage at a press conference before
he had even informed Ms. Hanover, women especially viewed this crass act of
humiliating his wife as the behavior of a lowlife, lacking class and
unconnected to ethical principles.
There was
talk for a few months of a New York showdown with Hilary Clinton for a Senate
seat but, in addition to the deterrence of a worrying bout of prostate cancer
the message from women all over the state came through that they would not row
in behind an out-of-control philanderer.
Eight years
later he tried unsuccessfully to make a go of it in the presidential race. Joe
Biden memorably described his parroted script as noun-verb-9/11. He came in
third in the Florida primary and walked away with no further plans for elective
office. He is now 78 years old.
Today, Rudy Giuliani is reportedly broke,
suspended from practicing law in Washington and New York and on the verge of
indictment for election tampering. He was stiffed by his boss, Donald Trump,
who refused to pay his substantial legal fees, leaving him on the verge of
bankruptcy.
He is now considered so much of a has-been
that in perhaps “the unkindest cut of all” the major networks declined to even
interview him in their programming for the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
In becoming
the courtier and roving fixer for Donald Trump, he led the charge for reversing
the official results in multiple state courts. He knew that Joe Biden won but
he was the man using belligerent language fomenting the mob on January 6th.
It was Giuliani who disgracefully urged the angry gathering on the ellipse “to
have trial by combat” before they left for the Capitol.
His
appearance, seemingly inebriated, in front of the Four Seasons Landscaping in
northeast Philadelphia, talking about his jaundiced view of the presidential
election while black shoe polish ran down the side of his face, remains a
talking point about a pitiful and broken man.
King David’s
powerful lament recorded in the Book of Samuel when he heard of the deaths in
battle of Saul and Jonathan seems appropriate here: How the mighty have fallen!
Gerry OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
Comments
Post a Comment