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Page Turners: 'The Great Mayor'

Aired July 31, 2003 - 15:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for our regular feature when we take a look at some interesting new books, today, "The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York."
Author Alyn Brodsky joins us now from our Miami bureau.

Alyn Brodsky, most of us who travel in and out of New York know La Guardia is the name of the airport. And that's about all we know about him.

ALYN BRODSKY, AUTHOR, "THE GREAT MAYOR": Actually, he built it.

WOODRUFF: Why does he deserve a book?

BRODSKY: Well, first of all, he was not only the greatest mayor that New York City ever had -- And I can explain that -- he was the greatest mayor the country ever had.

First of all, he brought together five disparate, usually antagonistic, usually counties of New York into one great city, the city of New York as we know it, as a result of which, he was able to get the city -- the people of New York through the Depression, because he managed to get the federal government to give more money to the city than to any other state. And in that sense, it was the 49th state and, in terms of money, it was the first state.

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: I was just going to say, where did all this greatness come from? Here is a man who was born in New York, but his father was in the Army. He moved out West. He lived in Arizona for a number of years. And his father took the family to Italy. He worked, what, in Budapest for a number of years.

(CROSSTALK)

BRODSKY: Yes, right. He was the consul...

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: So where did all this drive come from?

BRODSKY: It was inherent, because he was born with an absolute hatred of the oligarchs. He called them the interest. His only concern was with the people.

And when he was -- for instance, when he was in the House of Representatives for 14 years, which a lot of people don't even realize, that, before he became a mayor, he was a congressman -- he represented not only his district. He represented the entire country. And he fought for all of the people. He fought for the so-called hyphenates. He fought for the economically and socially disenfranchised.

He fought to get child labor laws. He was a great labor lawyer. He was a great labor lover. As a matter of fact, his greatest piece of legislation is the Norris-La Guardia Act, which enjoined the courts from enjoining unions against striking and picket lines. He went after the big interests, like the meat interests, like the Armour company. He said, look, these people are paying the ranchers nothing and they're selling the finished product at the highest prices. And everybody is starving.

WOODRUFF: He was particularly fearless. He was also a man of short stature. How did that affect him?

BRODSKY: Well, I guess we can get into the psychobabble of the Napoleonic complex, but I'm not going to get that route, because he was short in stature, but, boy, he was pugnacious. He took business from nobody. He didn't care who he took on, either physically or on the floor of the Congress. He even took on Herbert Hoover.

WOODRUFF: That certainly comes across in the book, once again, the book, "The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York."

Alyn Brodsky, it's wonderful to talk to you. Thank you very much.

BRODSKY: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 31, 2003 - 15:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for our regular feature when we take a look at some interesting new books, today, "The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York."
Author Alyn Brodsky joins us now from our Miami bureau.

Alyn Brodsky, most of us who travel in and out of New York know La Guardia is the name of the airport. And that's about all we know about him.

ALYN BRODSKY, AUTHOR, "THE GREAT MAYOR": Actually, he built it.

WOODRUFF: Why does he deserve a book?

BRODSKY: Well, first of all, he was not only the greatest mayor that New York City ever had -- And I can explain that -- he was the greatest mayor the country ever had.

First of all, he brought together five disparate, usually antagonistic, usually counties of New York into one great city, the city of New York as we know it, as a result of which, he was able to get the city -- the people of New York through the Depression, because he managed to get the federal government to give more money to the city than to any other state. And in that sense, it was the 49th state and, in terms of money, it was the first state.

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: I was just going to say, where did all this greatness come from? Here is a man who was born in New York, but his father was in the Army. He moved out West. He lived in Arizona for a number of years. And his father took the family to Italy. He worked, what, in Budapest for a number of years.

(CROSSTALK)

BRODSKY: Yes, right. He was the consul...

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: So where did all this drive come from?

BRODSKY: It was inherent, because he was born with an absolute hatred of the oligarchs. He called them the interest. His only concern was with the people.

And when he was -- for instance, when he was in the House of Representatives for 14 years, which a lot of people don't even realize, that, before he became a mayor, he was a congressman -- he represented not only his district. He represented the entire country. And he fought for all of the people. He fought for the so-called hyphenates. He fought for the economically and socially disenfranchised.

He fought to get child labor laws. He was a great labor lawyer. He was a great labor lover. As a matter of fact, his greatest piece of legislation is the Norris-La Guardia Act, which enjoined the courts from enjoining unions against striking and picket lines. He went after the big interests, like the meat interests, like the Armour company. He said, look, these people are paying the ranchers nothing and they're selling the finished product at the highest prices. And everybody is starving.

WOODRUFF: He was particularly fearless. He was also a man of short stature. How did that affect him?

BRODSKY: Well, I guess we can get into the psychobabble of the Napoleonic complex, but I'm not going to get that route, because he was short in stature, but, boy, he was pugnacious. He took business from nobody. He didn't care who he took on, either physically or on the floor of the Congress. He even took on Herbert Hoover.

WOODRUFF: That certainly comes across in the book, once again, the book, "The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York."

Alyn Brodsky, it's wonderful to talk to you. Thank you very much.

BRODSKY: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com