Rudolph Giuliani: The Man Who Restored New York's Hope

New York native Rudolph Giuliani was born in 1944 into a working-class family. He earned his undergraduate degree from Manhattan College in the Bronx and received his law degree from the New York University School of Law in Manhattan, graduating with honors. Giuliani served as a clerk for Judge Lloyd McMahon, a United States District Judge in New York before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1970.

In the ensuing years, he worked his way up, taking on a variety of positions both in New York and Washington, D.C., before being appointed the Associate Deputy Attorney General in 1975. Giuliani returned to New York City in 1977 and practiced law at Patterson, Belknap, Web and Tyler for five years.

After serving as the Associate Attorney General, Giuliani was appointed the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he was effective in jailing drug dealers and fighting organized crime, as well as fighting the corruption in government and prosecuting white-collar criminals. He was responsible for 4,152 convictions during his term with only 25 reversals, a record that few U.S. Attorneys in history could beat.

Giuliani first ran for mayor of New York City in 1989, but lost to David Dinkins. In 1993, he ran again with a campaign centered on quality of life, reducing crime and improving business and education. He was elected the 107^th mayor of New York City and served two terms.

While Giuliani was mayor, he reduced overall crime by 57 percent and murder by 65 percent. He also reduced taxes by more than $2.5 billion and helped more than 640,000 New Yorkers get off welfare and become financially self-sufficient.

After his two terms as mayor, Giuliani remained politically active. In 2008, he competed in the New Hampshire primary as well as several other primaries, but after poor results, he withdrew from the presidential election and endorsed John McCain. Although there were rumors about Giuliani running for president in 2012, however, Giuliani announced he would not run in October of 2011.