OPINION: Comparing de Blasio and LaGuardia
It is tempting to make a comparison between 1930s and ‘40s-era Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and new Mayor Bill de Blasio. Both are considered “outsiders” who were not part of the political machine, both are Italian-American, and both were considered left of center, although a hard-core leftist would certainly contest that. LaGuardia was called a “Red’ during the campaign, although he wasn’t one, while de Blasio was called a socialist.
Both espoused pro-labor policies. LaGuardia, as a congressman in the 1920s,was one of the authors of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which forbid federal courts from issuing injunctions against non-violent labor actions. De Blasio’s advocacy of the “living wage bill,” which mandates “prevailing wages” for businesses that have contracts with the city, and of paid sick days for all but the smallest of small businesses is well-known.
Both have been critical of U.S. interventions overseas—interestingly, they both protested U.S. intervention in Nicaragua, but in instances that were 70 years apart. La Guardia reorganized the city’s police force. Similarly, de Blasio changed city policy on “stop-and-frisk.” And both are seen as advocates of multiculturalism. De Blasio made his biracial family a centerpiece of his campaign. In LaGuardia’s time, the population of the city was radically different – it was a city of European immigrants – but LaGuardia spoke German, Italian and Yiddish, as well as being a big supporter of Irish independence.
