Rudy Giuliani - the Former Mayor of New York City

Rudy Giuliani was born Rudolph William Giuliani; he is a United States lawyer, politician and former mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party and in recent months he has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trumps presidential bid. He has worked both in the legal profession and in politics. Giuliani is best known for his no-nonsense, ruthless and tough approach in dealing with crime and other deviant social behaviors when he was mayor of New York City. Throughout his life in his legal career and in politics, Giuliani has demonstrated leadership qualities that are worthy being emulated. The paper examines Rudy Giuliani early life, legal career, political career and leadership qualities.

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Leaders biographical information

Rudy Giuliani was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 28, 1944. Giuliani was born to Italian immigrants. While growing up, most of his family members worked as police officers and firefighters. His father used to work in a loan sharking business for a mob in New York. In later years, Giulianis father became a bartender. As a young man, his father was arrested for taking part in illegal activities. His father made a lot of mistakes during his youthful days that made him get caught up in the wrong side of the law (Bankston, 2004).

When Giuliani was seven years old, his family relocated from Brooklyn borough to Long Island. His father wanted to distance his family from crime ridden Brooklyn borough and ensure that his son does not repeat his past mistakes. Giuliani father also wanted to reduce chances of his son involvement in mob related activities that were prevalent in Brooklyn. Giulianis father inculcated in his son a deep respect for authority, law and order. The respect for law and order that was inculcated in Giuliani by his father is one of the major factors that compelled him to venture into a law career (Kirtzman, 2000).

Schools that Giuliani attended are Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School where his former teachers said he was an average student. However, Giuliani was very active in student politics. His active participation in student politics played a major role into shaping his future political career. Giuliani graduated from high school in 1961. After his graduation, Giuliani joined Manhattan College. Giuliani graduated from Manhattan College in 1965. After graduating from college, Giuliani decided to join New York University of Law, a move towards achieving his childhood dream of being a lawyer and impacting lives. Giulianis academic achievements in New York University of Law were different from his academic performance during his high school days. In the University, he became an excellent student. Giuliani graduated with a first class honors in law; as a result of his exceptional performance, he was able to land a prestigious clerkship position at one of the judges affiliated to the United States government who was based in New York City. After working for Judge McMahon and courtesy of the judges encouragement, he relocated to Washington D.C where he worked in the United States Attorney Generals office. His major break in the law profession came when he was appointed as a lawyer in charge of corruption cases involving law enforcement authorities that came to public attention courtesy of Knapp Commission report. His appointment to handle the corruption cases came in 1973 when he was 29 years old. Giuliani ventured into private law practice in 1977 after leaving his work at the United States Attorney Generals office. The first private law firm that Giuliani worked with was called Patterson, Belnap, Webb and Tyler Advocates in New York City (Sharp, 2007).

Giuliani worked as Ronald Reagans associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983 when he was appointed the attorney for New York Citys Southern district. During his tenure as associate Attorney General, Giuliani was in charge of supervising several law enforcement agencies. Some of the enforcement agencies that Giuliani was in charge of supervising include the United States marshal, Bureau of Corrections and the Drug Enforcement Authority. The Southern District had for a very long time had the reputation of being prevalent with crime and other deviant social behaviors. Giulianis efforts working with crime in the Southern district later endeared him to New Yorkers when he sought the mayoral position. Giuliani worked for six years as the attorney for the southern district. During those six years, Giuliani worked with zeal, enthusiasm, passion and toughness to ensure that crime was eradicated from the Southern district. Giuliani worked had to crush corruption syndicates, organized crime, drug dealing and white collar crimes that had for a long time thrived before his arrival. Giulianis efforts to fight deviant social behaviors and crime have earned him a reputation as one of United States most effective attorneys in the United States history (Siegel & Siegel, 2005).

In 1989, Giuliani unsuccessfully ran for New York Citys mayoral position. He lost the mayoral race to, David Dinkins, a soft spoken, mild mannered Democrat who became the first African- American mayor of New York City. However in 1993, he successfully ran for the mayoral position and he was appointed mayor of New York in January 1994. His term as the Mayor of New York City lasted for two terms. Giuliani unsuccessfully contested for the Republican Partys Presidential nomination in 2008.Giulliani has been involved in three marital unions. His first wife was Regina Perugi who they separated with in the middle 1970s. Donna Hannover, a media personality was Giulianis second wife. Judith Nathan is the third and current wife of Giuliani; they married in 2003. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline (Strober & Strober, 2007).

Major influences

Giuliani is known for having played a major role in helping New York City get rid of organized crime, drug dealing and other forms of deviant social behaviors. During his tenure as the Attorney of New York Citys Southern district and during his tenure as New York City mayor, he played a commendable job in fighting crime. Giuliani was very effective in fighting crime to an extent that his efforts earned him praise all over the world. During Giulianis tenure as the mayor of New York City, New York was a model city with regard to fighting crime. Giulianis approach of dealing with crime was characterized by ruthlessness, toughness and vigor never seen before in any New York Citys mayor. During Giulianis tenure, crime rates were reduced by fifty seven percent. During Giulianis tenure, murder rates were reduced by sixty five percent. A city that had once been known as the most unsafe and dangerous city became known as the safest largest city in the United States courtesy of Giulianis efforts (Bankston, 2004).

Giuliani has been very influential in exhibiting solidarity among people during moments of crisis. In 2001 after the September 11 attacks, as the New York City mayor, he affirmed to the world that terrorism will not break the spirit of New Yorkers and that they will soldier on with their lives despite challenges that may come their way. Giuliani was one of the first people who rushed to the scene of the terrorist attacks immediately it happened (Kirtzman, 2000).

Giuliani was very influential in enhancing self- sufficiency of New Yorkers. During his tenure as the mayor of New York City he improved his subjects confidence by urging them to embrace self- sufficiency rather than being dependant on government welfare. When Giuliani took office, about a seventh of New Yorkers were dependent on the United States welfare program for people living below poverty line and those who are unable to fend for themselves. Giuliani inculcated the importance of self- reliance among his subjects. He also ensured that people saw importance of good work ethic. Giuliani initiated a program dubbed welfare to work initiative that saw the number of people dependant on welfare halved. The program also saw about six hundred and fifty thousand New Yorkers get jobs, ceasing to be dependent on government aid support from that point henceforth (Kirtzman, 2000).

In 2016, Giuliani has been active in rallying Americans behind Donald Trumps presidential candidacy. He has influential in urging his supporters to vote for Donald Trump so that he may ascend to the highest leadership position in America.

Notable leadership position

Rudy Giuliani was President Ronald Reagan associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983.

Giuliani was the United States Attorney for New York Citys southern district from 1983 to 1989.

Giuliani was the one hundred and seventh mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.

Crisis/event/accomplishment within an organization

Giuliani is best known for his non- nonsense approach on crime when he was the mayor of New York City. He reduced crime levels in New York City to levels never seen before. Incidents of violence in New York City jails were resolved during his first term as the mayor of New York. New Yorks murder rate was halved; serious crime was reduced by a third, incidents of civilians shootings involving the police were also reduced by forty percent.

Giuliani played a major role in assisting New Yorkers achieve self- sufficiency. He initiated a program known as welfare to work that saw more than six hundred and fifty thousand New Yorkers get employment, a step towards their self-sufficiency (Sharp, 2007).

Giuliani was adept in handling the September 11, 2001 attacks. Al- Qaeda terrorists had flown hijacked planes in two towers of the World Trade Center. Giuliani acted in haste to ensure that individuals who were trapped in the rubbles were evacuated. He also championed recovery efforts after the terrorist attacks. Giuliani displayed his leadership abilities when he successfully calmed the city of New York residents who were profoundly disturbed by the act of terrorism. Giuliani received praise from all corners of the world due to the brave manner he handled the terrorist attacks. Time magazine named him 2001s Person of the Year. He also received recognition from Queen Elizabeth the second who awarded him honorary knighthood (Siegel & Siegel, 2005).

Giuliani made major reforms in New York Citys business environment. His reforms include tax reforms and fighting organized crime dominance. Giulianis reforms in New York City are palpable to this very day. He championed for tax deductions among them commercial rent tax, sales tax and personal income tax. This made it easy for small scale business to operate in a friendly environment. He ensured that organized crime was fought in the Fulton Fish market, wholesale food markets and the garbage industry. As a result, a lot of money was returned in private hands making New York City a more prosperous city (Strober & Strober, 2007).

Giuliani created New York Citys Administration for Children services. The program ensured that New York Citys vulnerable children were empowered. The Administration for Children services continues to ensure that vulnerable children of New York City are empowered. Courtesy of the Administration for Children services, many New Yorks vulnerable children have been adopted. The number of adoptions has increased by sixty five percent courtesy of the program (Kirtzman, 2000).

HealthStat initiative was launched by Rudy Giuliani when he was the mayor of New York City and its advantages can still be felt. The initiative is meant to ensure that children all over New York are enrolled in a health insurance program, a step towards ensuring that they receive appropriate healthcare. To date, about a hundred thousand children have accessed health insurance courtesy of the HealthStat initiative. As a result, the morale and hope for New York Citys children that a better future is in the offing have been...