Abraham Beame
Abraham Beame | |
---|---|
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. | |
Preceded by | Lawrence E. Gerosa |
Succeeded by | Mario Procaccino |
Personal details | |
Born | Abraham David Birnbaum March 20, 1906 London, England |
Died | February 10, 2001 New York City, U.S. | (aged 94)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Mary Ingerman
(m. 1928; died 1995) |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Marty Ingels (nephew) |
Alma mater | Baruch College (degree originally conferred by the City College of New York) |
Profession | Accountant |
Abraham David Beame (
Early life
Beame was born Abraham David Birnbaum in London.[4] His parents were Esther (née Goldfarb) and Philip Birnbaum, Jewish immigrants from Poland who fled Warsaw.[5][6] Beame and his family left England when he was three months old.[5] He was raised on New York City's Lower East Side.
He graduated from P.S. 160 and the High School of Commerce before enrolling at the City College of New York's School of Business and Civic Administration (spun off as Baruch College in 1968), where he received his undergraduate degree in business with honors in 1928.[4][5][6]
Career
Career before politics
While in college, Beame co-founded an accounting firm, Beame & Greidinger.
From 1952 to 1961, Beame served as New York City's director of the budget, having also served as assistant director from 1946 to 1952.[5] In this capacity, he "negotiated all city labor contracts without a strike and kept books on city spending and borrowing; he also set up management programs that saved the city $40 million."[2]
Early political career
Beame was a "clubhouse" or
Before being elected to two nonconsecutive terms as city comptroller in 1961 and 1969, he was a longstanding member of Crown Heights's influential Madison Democratic Club and served as political boss Irwin Steingut's personal accountant. Members of the Madison Club, including attorney/fundraiser Abraham "Bunny" Lindenbaum and Steingut's son, Stanley, frequently liaised with real estate developer Fred Trump. The club also played a decisive role in the political ascent of Park Slope–based attorney Hugh Carey, whose tenure as governor of New York coincided with Beame's administration, though Carey eventually broke with the organization by endorsing Mario Cuomo's 1977 primary bid to unseat Beame.[7][8]
In 1965, Beame was the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. Edward N. Costikyan was his campaign manager and James Farley his campaign chair.[9] Despite having Senator Robert F. Kennedy's strong support,[9] Beame lost to the Republican nominee, John Lindsay.[10]
Mayor of New York City
Beame won the 1973 Democratic mayoral primary with 34% of the vote, ahead of Herman Badillo (29%), Mario Biaggi (24%), and Albert H. Blumenthal (16%).[11] He defeated State Senator John J. Marchi, Blumenthal, and Biaggi in the 1973 mayoral election, becoming the 104th mayor of New York City.[4][12]
Fiorello La Guardia—mayor from 1934 to 1945—had a Jewish mother, but Beame was the first mayor of New York City who was an observant Jew.[13]
Fiscal crisis of 1975
He entered office facing the
In October 1975, the city of New York was in debt of $453 million. Beame made a statement on October 17 that the city had insufficient cash on hand to meet its debt obligations for that day. He added that New York City citizens needed to take immediate steps to protect the city's essential life support systems and to preserve their well-being. President Gerald Ford at first turned down New York's request for a loan, inspiring the legendary Daily News headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead", but Ford later approved federal support for New York.[14]
Blackout of 1977
On the evening of July 13, 1977, a massive power failure hit the city. With temperatures in the mid-nineties Fahrenheit and the humidity high, New Yorkers sweltered. By the time power was restored at 10:39 p.m. the next night, the city had been without power for 25 hours. Beame set up a Blackout Action Center at the New York City Police Department headquarters. The blackout resulted in raw sewage washing up on beaches and spoiled food in hundreds or thousands of restaurants around the city.[15]
After a chaotic four years as mayor, Beame ran for a second term in 1977, and finished third in the Democratic
When Beame left office on January 1, 1978, the city budget had a surplus of $200 million.[4] There was a $1.5 billion deficit when Beame took office.[5]
A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts by Melvin G. Holli of the
Later career
Beame worked in investment advising after leaving office.[2]
Personal life
Beame was married to his childhood sweetheart, Mary (née Ingerman),[5] for 67 years. They met when Beame was 15, playing checkers at the University Settlement Society of New York.[4] They raised two sons, Edmond and Bernard (Buddy),[2][5] and lived in Brooklyn, first in Crown Heights and later in a "modest" apartment on Plaza Street West in Park Slope.[4][17] Throughout his life, Beame summered in the Rockaway neighborhood of Belle Harbor.[4]
Beame received the Townsend Harris medal in 1957, and awards from numerous charitable, religious and civic organizations.[18]
Beame experienced heart problems in his later years. He had heart attacks in 1991 and 2000. After the second, he was admitted to
See also
References
- ^ "Mayors of the City of New York (The Green Book)". nyc.gov.
- ^ a b c d e McFadden, Robert D. (February 11, 2001). "Abraham Beame Is Dead at 94; Mayor During 70's Fiscal Crisis". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ "Parks Remembers Mayor Beame". Daily Plant. XVI (3304). New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. February 16, 2001. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g Giuliani, Rudolph W. "Remarks at the Funeral Service for Mayor Abraham Beame". nyc.gov.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Marks, Jason. "12 Who Made It Big: Abraham D. Beame '28". History of Baruch College. Baruch College, City University of New York. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
- ^ a b c "New York City's first Jewish mayor". Richmond Hill Historical Society. Archived from the original on August 3, 2001. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
- ^ a b Lichtenstein, Grace (November 8, 1974). "Madison Democratic Club Brings Influence to Brooklyn". New York Times.
- ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard (August 7, 2011). "Hugh Carey, Who Led Fiscal Rescue of New York City, Is Dead at 92 (Published 2011)". New York Times.
- ^ a b "Abraham D. Beame, Oral History Interview – RFK -- 6/27/1978" (PDF). p. 10.
- ^ Witkin, Richard (November 3, 1965). "Lindsay Beats Beame In A Close Race; O'Connor and Procaccino Both Win; State Senate Is G.O.P.; Hughes Victor - Seesaw Contest - Vote Is Tightest Here in Quarter Century - 13% for Buckley". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ "Primary Biaggi Still Holds The Key". The New York Times. June 24, 1973.
- ^ "New York City Mayoral Election 1973". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
- ^ "New York City's first Jewish mayor". Richmond Hill Historical Society. Archived from the original on August 3, 2001. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
- ^ Nussbaum, Jeff (October 16, 2015). "The Night New York Saved Itself From Bankruptcy". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- S2CID 8004028– via JSTOR.
- ISBN 0-271-01876-3.
- ^ "2006 – Historical notes on Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Flatbush, etc". Issuu.
- ^ "Beame, Abraham David former mayor". Salem Press Encyclopedia. January 1, 2016 – via JSTOR.
Further reading
- Shelton, Jon. "Dropping Dead: Teachers, the New York City Fiscal Crisis, and Austerity" in Shelton, Teacher Strike! Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order (U of Illinois Press, 2017) pp 114-142.
External links
- "Abraham D. Beame Collection". La Guardia and Wagner Archives.
- "Oral history Guides: Abraham D. Beame Administration". Columbia University Libraries: Oral History Research Office. Archived from the original on June 25, 2010. (archived)
- Abraham Beame at Find a Grave