America’s Mayor
“America’s mayor” is a term that has been applied to an exemplary mayor of an American city. Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell (from 1992-2000) was called “America’s mayor” in 1994 by Vice President Al Gore.
New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was frequently called “America’s mayor” following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. “Somewhere someone called Giuliani, ‘America’s Mayor’” was cited in Google Groups: alt.gossip.celebrities on September 19, 2001. American talk show host Oprah Winfrey was the Master of Ceremonies for a special event at Yankee Stadium on September 23, 2001, when she said, “I know you want to hear from Rudy Giuliani, a man whose extraordinary grace under pressure in the days since this devastating attack has led him to be called America’s Mayor.”
Sam Roberts titled his book America’s Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York (2010), after John Lindsay (1921-2000), who was mayor of New York City from 1965 to 1973.
Wikipedia: Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis “Rudy” Giuliani (/ˈruːdi ˌdʒuːliˈɑːni/; born May 28, 1944) is an American lawyer, businessman, former politician, and public speaker from New York. Politically a Democrat and then an Independent in the 1970s, but a Republican since the 1980s, Giuliani was the federal attorney for New York state’s southern region in the 1980s who prosecuted pivotal cases against the Italian Mafia and against corrupt corporate financiers. Giuliani reputedly tamed organized crime—most famously leading the case that sent boss John Gotti, the “Teflon Don,” to prison for life based on testimony brokered in a deal with Sammy the Bull. That accomplishment, which won Giuliani a reputation for being tough on crime, helped to launch him into politics.
During his first term as Mayor of New York City, Giuliani hired a new police commissioner, William Bratton, who applied the broken windows theory of urban decay, which holds that minor disorders and violations create a permissive atmosphere that leads to further and more serious crimes that can threaten the safety of a city. Within several years, Giuliani was widely credited for major improvements in the city’s quality of life and rates of violent crimes,[2] although later researchers have found the timing largely coincidental. While still mayor, he ran for US Senate in 2000, but withdrew upon diagnosis of prostate cancer.[5] Still, he gained international fame as New York City’s leader in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Giuliani was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2001, and was honorarily knighted in 2002 by the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II.
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Public reaction
In the wake of the attacks, Giuliani gained international attention and was widely hailed for his leadership during the crisis.[129] When polled just six weeks after the attack Giuliani received a 79 percent approval rating among New York City voters, a dramatic increase over the 36 percent rating he had received a year earlier – average at the end of a two-term mayorship. Oprah Winfrey called him “America’s Mayor” at a 9/11 memorial service held at Yankee Stadium on September 23, 2001.
New York (NY) Times
MAYOR ON A ROLL; Ed Rendell
By Ben Yagoda
Published: May 22, 1994
A HUSKY MAN IN A DARK BLUE suit steps up to the podium, fixes his audience with a purposeful stare and says, “My name is Edward G. Rendell, and I am the Mayor of Philadelphia.”
Ed Rendell proceeds to deliver a short version of the speech he has given to mayors’ conferences and neighborhood groups and at black-tie dinners around the country, the speech that, no less than his accomplishments, has made his reputation as (in Al Gore’s words) “America’s mayor.”
23 October 1994, Augusta (GA) Chronicle, “These ‘maverick mayors’ are strong-willed, idealistic, and they seem to be getting the job done” by Bernard Gavzer, Parade Magazine, pg. 4, col. 3:
Vice President Al Gore called Ed Rendell “America’s mayor.”
29 January 1995, The Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA), “Rendell kicks off re-election drive,” pg. A-7, cols. 1-2:
Dubbed “America’s Mayor” by the national media, Rendell has won credit for turning the city’s million deficit into a small surplus in one term and inspiring civic pride with his enthusiasm.
25 January 1998, The Advocate & Greenwich Time (Stamford, CT), “Cities have a prayer thanks to mayors like Ed Rendell” by Frank Davies (Knight-Ridder Newspapers), pg. D5, col. 2:
President and pundits called Rendell “America’s mayor.”
OCLC WorldCat record
A prayer for the city
Author: H G Bissinger
Publisher: New York : Vintage Books, 1999, ©1997.
Edition/Format: Print book : English : 1st Vintage Books ed
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist offers the epic and fascinating story Philadelphia’s Mayor Rendell, who will do anything to save a city on the brink of collapse. 21 photos
Contents:
America’s mayor—.
Google Groups: alt.gossip.celebrities
Giuliani’s popularity soars with NYers
KC
9/19/01
Somewhere someone called Giuliani, “America’s Mayor.”
CNN.com—Transcripts
CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL
Prayer Service at Yankee Stadium
Aired September 23, 2001 - 14:30 ET
(...)
OPRAH WINFREY, MASTER OF CEREMONIES: God bless New York. We each come here as one, but we stand as thousands. At the Trade Center, the Pentagon, in a field in Pennsylvania they came to kill Americans.
(...)
WINFREY: I know you want to hear from Rudy Giuliani, a man whose extraordinary grace under pressure in the days since this devastating attack has led him to be called America’s Mayor. He’s the mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani.
(APPLAUSE)
MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI, NEW YORK CITY: Thank you, Oprah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
OCLC WorldCat record
Rudy Giuliani : America’s mayor
Author: Peter Kiesewalter; Lisa Zeff; Harry Smith; Rudolph W Giuliani; ABC News Productions.; All authors
Publisher: [New York, N.Y.] : A & E Home Video : Distributed in the U.S. [by] New Video, ©2001.
Series: Biography (A & E Home Video (Firm))
Edition/Format: DVD video : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
Biographical footage of Rudy Giuliani and New York City featuring a Harry Smith interview with Rudy Giuliani.
OCLC WorldCat record
Rudolph W. Giuliani : America’s mayor
Author: Eleanor Fremont
Publisher: New York : Aladdin Paperbacks, 2002.
Edition/Format: Print book : Biography : Juvenile audience : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
Traces the life and career of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the two-term mayor of New York City, and describes how all the influences that made him controversial during most of his career helped him respond when the city was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001.
OCLC WorldCat record
America’s mayor : the hidden history of Rudy Giuliani’s New York
Author: Rob Polner
Publisher: Brooklyn, N.Y. : Soft Skull Press : Distributed by Publishers Group West, ©2005.
Edition/Format: Print book : Biography : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
“Rudy Giuliani’s admirably flinty response to the horrifying events of 9/11 has made him a national hero, positioning him for big things to come in the nation’s political life, as governor of New York, in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s coveted US Senate seat or, his ultimate quest, the White House. But the outpouring of praise for his performance after September 11,2001, has obscured many uncomfortable facts about
OCLC WorldCat record
Rudy Giuliani: From America’s mayor to America’s president?
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: ECONOMIST -LONDON- ECONOMIST NEWSPAPER LIMITED- no. 8527, (May 5, 2007): 45-46
Database: British Library Serials
OCLC WorldCat record
America’s mayor : John V. Lindsay and the reinvention of New York
Author: Sam Roberts
Publisher: New York : Museum of the city of New York : Columbia University Press, ©2010.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
“In a stunning repudiation of the Democratic machine, John V. Lindsay (1921-2000) captured the New York mayoralty in 1965 by promising to rid the city of apathy and corruption and make New York governable again. Over the next eight years, Lindsay presided over a city at the vortex of the civil rights, antiwar, women’s, and gay rights movements, a turbulent global economy, demographic upheaval defined by an influx of blacks and Puerto Ricans and an exodus of whites, and volatile local labor politics further fractured by race. He would revolutionize urban planning, hoping to make New York not just inhabitable but enjoyable—a celebration of itself-and he would attempt to overhaul the government’s services and priorities. Some reforms succeeded. Others failed. While few have evaluated Lindsay’s controversial legacy with the benefit of hindsight and within the context of national cultural upheaval, this book does just that.”—Page 4 of cover.