Saturday, April 07, 2007

Decision 2008: Rudolph Giuliani


Here is another "candidate of the week" biography. Today is "America's Mayor" Rudolph (Rudy) Giuliani.

Giuliani was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Middle class family on May 28th, 1944. He attended a Local Catholic school in Long Island, New York whe n he was 7. He attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School and graduated in 1961. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1965 and graduated form NYU's school of Law in 1968 with a Juris Doctorite degree.
He became a law clerk and many saw him becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court one day. In 1970 he joined the office of U.S. Attorney. He became a full executive U.S. Attorney in 1973. After he was appointed Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General. Giuliani left Washington and returned to New York and from 1977-1981, Giuliani joined Patterson, Belknap, Webb, and Tyler law firm. In 1981 he was appointed Associate Attorney General of the United States making him the 3rd highest Ranking official in the Justice Department. He oversaw federal law cases around the country. In 1983 He became a U.S. Attorney for Southern District of New York. That psotion gave him prominence in the world of Law and in the State of New York. There he became one of the biggest fedral prosectutors indicted the biggest criminals on the East Coast. In 1989 he resigned as a U.S. Attorney and joined the White & Case Law Firm. In 1990 he joined Anderson Kill Olick & Oschinsky. Giuliani became more and more interested in politics and started as a Democrat before switching to a register Independent. He then decided to become a full Republican. In 1989 he decided to run for Mayor of New York City. He recieved the party nominations of both the Republican and Liberal parties, but he lost to Democrat Dave Dinkins; losing in the city's closest election up till that time 50,000 out of 1,900,000. This didn't keep Giuliani from running again in 1993 for Mayor. Giuliani attacked Dinkins poor mayorship and it became a very bitter race. His efforts though narrowly got him elected Mayor. he became the first Republican Mayor since 1965. Mayor Giuliani decided first to combat crime control in his first days in office. He wanted to make the un manageable city of New York to become a city clean of crime. He came up with a pan with Police Commissioner Bill Braton to decrease crime and he hired a top of the knotch team to help him. Bratton was probably more successful in making New York City one of the safest metropolitan areas in America, and many say when Bratton was featured on Time Magazine's cover that Giuliani removed him from office, but this is unlikely. Mayor Giuliani was known for his real estate business dealings and urban construction of the city. In 1997 he was re-elected Mayor 59%-41%. Mayor Giuliani became a big New York politician. He had his eyes set on Capitol Hill. In April of 1999 he filed an exploratory committe for running for the U.S. Senate. Democrats drafted then U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton to run against him. Giuliani and Clinton were expected to make the race very close, however because of his prostate cancer and the terrible divorce with his wife Donna Hanover and may affairs before that, Giuliani dropped out and Congressman Rick Lazio. On 9/11 Mayor Giuliani delivered one of the best responses to the disaster. He put up departments for terror security and put together plans for reconstruction. He really met what New York needed at the time and was hailed as a hero for his excellent response. After the attacks Giuliani's approval rating among NY voters went from 36% to 79%! The name "America's Mayor" was given to Giuliani after a memorial service and he was now one of the most popular politicians in America. Also after the attacks Giuliani was named Time Magazine's "person of the year" for 2001. He was even noted to maybe even ebing able to run for a 3rd term as Mayor, but law forbidded it. He endorsed his elected successor Mike Bloomberg. The highest honor he recieved was an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. After he left the mayorship he was more popular then ever! He founded Giuliani partners LLC after he left office and made more business success. Giuliani made more success in politics, becoming a key-note speaker at the GOP Presidential Convention in 2004. When Homelnad Security Secretary Tom Ridge resigned Giuliani was at the top of the list to succed him , but because of past scandals Giuliani decided not to seek the postion. He was expected to seek statewide office like either Governor or Senator in 2006. Polls showed Giuliani ahead in both races, but he chose not to run for either, probably to prepare for a 2008 run for the White House. In early 2006 a Draft Rudy in 2008 group formed and in November he formed an exploratory committee. Last Month he filed a statement of candidacy with the FEC to run for president. Early polling shows him as the frontrunner, and he may become the liberal candidate nominated from the Republicans.

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