The Fiorello H. LaGuardia reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Fiorello H. LaGuardia

Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (December 11, 1882 - September 20, 1947) was the Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945.

LaGuardia worked as a translator at Ellis Island, and attended law school at NYU. In 1916 he was elected to the New York State House of Representatives where he developed a reputation as a fiery and devoted reformer. In Congress, LaGuardia represented then-Italian East Harlem. Extending his record as a reformer, LaGuardia sponsored labor legislation and railed against immigration quotas.

LaGuardia was elected mayor of New York City on an anti-corruption "fusion" ticket during the Great Depression. LaGuardia was the City's first Italian mayor, but LaGuardia was far from being a typical Italian New Yorker. He was Republican, Episcopalian, had grown up in Arizona, and had a Jewish mother.

LaGuardia is famous for, among other things, reading the comics on the radio during a newspaper strike, and pushing to have a commercial airport (Floyd Bennett Field, and later LaGuardia Airport) within city limits. LaGuardia Performing Arts High School and LaGuardia Community College are also named for him.

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