SUMMER ONE 2015 BROOKLYN COLLEGE

1. HISTORY 3480: HISTORY OF NYC BRENDAN O’MALLEY INSTRUCTOR BOMALLEY@BROOKLYN.CUNY.EDU The Koch & Dinkins Years SUMMER ONE 2015 BROOKLYN COLLEGE

2. The Koch & Dinkins Years • Edward Irving “Ed” Koch • (1924 - 2013) • Bronx in the Bronx to parents who were Jewish • immigrants from Galicia in Eastern Europe; his • family moved to Newark, New Jersey, where he • attended high school. • He was drafted into the army during 1943 and • fought in the European theater; his knowledge of • German enabled him to be involved in the efforts to • “de-Nazify” German government office holders. He was honorably discharged in 1946. • Koch studied at City College and then earned a law degree from NYU in 1948. • From 1949 to 1964, Koch had his own law practice, but then formed a partnership in • 1965. During this period, he became involved in Democratic reform politics in his • West Village neighborhood against the Tammany machine under Carmine DeSapio. • He defeats DeSapio in 1963 for party leader for the district that included the West • Village, and then does so again in a rematch in 1965. • Koch then was elected and served as a member of the City Council from 1967 to 1969.

3. The Koch & Dinkins Years • Koch’s Political Ascendance • Koch was elected to Congress as a Democrat • to represent Manhattan’s 17th District from 1969 to 1973, and then after • redistricting, the 18th District from 1973 to 1973. • Koch developed into a centrist liberal, or what he called “liberal with • with sanity.” A more conservative streak became evident in 1973 when • he sided with residents of Forest Hills, Queens, in opposing the Lindsay • administration’s plan to put a lower-income housing project in the heart • of the middle-class neighborhood. • Koch ran for mayor briefly in 1973, but lacking support, dropped out • before the Democratic primary.

4. The Koch & Dinkins Years • Koch and the 1977 Mayoral Campaign • Koch ran again in 1977 against a crowded Democratic field, including • incumbent Abe Beame, feminist Bella Abzug, and New York Secretary of State • and Hugh Carey protégé, Mario Cuomo. Koch won the September Democratic • primary with 19.81 percent of the vote to Cuomo’s 18.74. The margin of victory • was too small to proclaim a victor, so a run-off election was held. • Koch wins the run-off with 54.94 percent to Cuomo’s 45.06, but Cuomo • stays on the November ballot as the Liberal Party candidate. • During fall campaign, placards that read “Vote for Cuomo, Not the • Homo” appeared, greatly angering Koch and creating a life-long grudge. • Cuomo ran as the anti-death penalty candidate, while Koch supported it. • The citywide blackout of July 1977 and ensuing riots and looting helped to • strengthen Koch’s hand with his emphasis on law and order. • Koch won the general election with 49.99 percent of the vote compared to • Cuomo’s 40.97.

5. The Koch & Dinkins Years • David Berkowitz • (1953 - ) • “Son of Sam” serial killer who terrorized NYC in from the summer of 1976 to the summer of 1977. • Arrested in August 1977 after eight shootings. • Claimed he was told to kill by a demon that had possessed his neighbor’s dog.

6. The Koch & Dinkins Years

7. The Koch & Dinkins Years • Koch’s First Term (1977-1981) • Koch’s focus was putting the city’s financial house in order, and he was able to • do so with surprising alacrity. With Democrat Jimmy Carter in the White • House, he was able to extend the federal loan program to 1981. • Koch slashed city civil service jobs from 332,298 in 1975 to 245,618 in June • 1978, pared down CUNY registration, and closed the Sydenham Hospital in • 1980—a traditionally African American hospital in Harlem—which caused his • black and Latino deputies to resign. • Koch instituted a “merit system” for judicial appointments to avoid the jobs • being filled by political appointees. • By 1981, city bonds were once again a respected by investors and Koch’s • budget was able to restore at least some of the city services cut during the • austerity following the fiscal crisis.

8. The Koch & Dinkins Years • Koch’s Second Term (1982-1985) • In 1981, Koch ran for re-election with the rare distinction of running on both • the Democratic and Republican party lines, crushing his Unity Party • opponent, Frank J. Barbaro, with 75 percent of the vote. • In 1982, Koch runs for Governor of New York, but he loses in the Democratic • primary to the then Lieutenant Governor, Mario Cuomo. Koch was not • successful in appealing to upstate voters, calling upstate a “sterile” • environment. • The gay community was greatly angered by Koch for his seeming • unwillingness to take decisive action on the AIDS epidemic. • Koch’s concern with “quality of life” issues of policing often angered civil • libertarians and alienated poorer communities.

9. The Koch & Dinkins Years • Koch’s Second Term (1982-1985) • In 1981, Koch ran for re-election with the rare distinction of running on both • the Democratic and Republican party lines, crushing his Unity Party • opponent, Frank J. Barbaro, with 75 percent of the vote. • In 1982, Koch runs for Governor of New York, but he loses in the Democratic • primary to the then Lieutenant Governor, Mario Cuomo. Koch was not • successful in appealing to upstate voters, calling upstate a “sterile” • environment. • The gay community was greatly angered by Koch for his seeming • unwillingness to take decisive action on the AIDS epidemic. • Koch’s concern with “quality of life” issues of policing often angered civil • libertarians and alienated poorer communities.

10. The Koch & Dinkins Years • From Koch to Dinkins • Koch elected first in 1977, re-elected in 1981, and finally in 1985. • Koch elected first with a cross-racial coalition in 1977 as a “law-and- • order” liberal after the black out and riots. • In 1981, Koch loses some of the minority vote as a fiscal conservative and • cutter of city social services, but gets middle-class and business vote as • both Democratic and Republican nominee. His failed run for governor in • 1982 temporarily weakens him. • In Jan. 1984, Jesse Jackson refers to New York as “Hymie Town” in an • interview with a newspaper reporter; this infuriates Koch and aggravates • the divide between blacks and Jews in the city. • Koch manages to retire the city’s federal loans ahead of time in 1985, but • city’s poverty rate increases to 23.9 percent.

11. The Koch & Dinkins Years • From Koch to Dinkins • Koch angered many gay men because of his near-silence on the AIDS • epidemic; activists create Gay Men’s Health Crisis (founded 1982), and later, • ACT UP (founded 1987) partly because of the lack of help from the city, state, • and federal agencies. • Leading cause of death in 1985 for New Yorkers between 20-24 years of age • was homicide; between 25-44, it was AIDS. • From 1984 through the early 1990s, was hit hard by the wave of epidemic • crack use, especially in “disinvested” poor neighborhoods. • Racial tensions in the city seemed to be boiling over by the later 1980s during • Koch’s third term.

12. The Koch & Dinkins Years From Koch to Dinkins FILM CLIPS Excerpts from Spike Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING (1989) 1) “Racial Slurs” Montage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLYTObRhcSY 2) “Your Jordans Are Fucked Up” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc6_XgtOQgI

13. The Koch & Dinkins Years • From Koch to Dinkins • Koch wins re-election in 1985, but the 1986 suicide of Queen borough • president Donald Manes soon triggers investigations into corruption, • revealing payoff rings in multiple city agencies: Parking Violations • Bureau, Housing Authority, Department of Environment Protection, the • Department of Education, Taxi Commission, etc. • Howard Beach Incident: After midnight on Dec. 20, 1986, four black • men are attacked by a mob of young Italian American men outside a • pizzeria in Howard Beach, Queens. Their car had stalled there. One • man, Michael Griffith, was killed fleeing the mob when he was struck • by a car while running across the Belt Parkway. • October 16. 1987: “Black Monday” – stock market crashes 508 points, • and 9,000 Wall Street jobs are lost; the great bull market driven by a • new era of private equity and venture capital investing collapses. • Koch harshly criticizes Jesse Jackson during his 1988 presidential bid, further • alienating blacks who used to support the mayor. Donald Maines (1934-1986

14. The Koch & Dinkins Years Yusuf Hawkins (1973-1989) • From Koch to Dinkins • March 22, 1989: The U.S. Supreme Court hands down the Board of Estimates vs. • Morris decision, declaring the Board of Estimate structure unconstitutional. The • Board of Estimate system treated each borough/county in the city equally, thus • violating the “one “person/one vote” standard. Brooklyn plaintiffs bring the case • because more populous than Staten Island or Queens, but received the same • representation. A new city charter is approved in 1990 that eliminated the Board of • Estimate and strips away the borough presidents of most of their powers. • On Aug. 23, 1989, Yusuf Hawkins, an African American teen, was killed in • Bensonhurst by a group of Italian American youth thinking Hawkins was meeting • a white girl. He was chased by a large group of whites carrying baseball bats; one • of the group shot Hawkins. • On Sep. 12, David Dinkins beats Koch in the Democratic primary, carrying • Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. White liberals support him as a racial healer.

15. The Koch & Dinkins Years • From Koch to Dinkins • After beating Koch in the Democratic primary, Dinkins beats Republican Rudolph • Giuliani by less than 50,000 votes; Giuliani carried Staten Island and Queens. • Dinkins served in the Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, and then went Howard • University and obtained a law degree at Brooklyn Law. Became involved with the • Harlem black Democratic machine alongside politicians like Percy Sutton and • Charles Rangel. Served as City Clerk from 1975 to 1985, and then was elected as • Manhattan Borough President on his third try in 1985. • In the 1989 election, Dinkins won 90 percent of the black vote, 73 of the Latino, • and 27 percent of the white. • The “Glorious Mosaic”: The 1990 census indicates for the first time that NYC is • less than 50 percent white. • “Great Bear Market”: City economy goes into a downturn in 1990; in Dinkins’s • term, the city lost over 400,000 jobs. • Dinkins’s reputation as a racial healer is hurt by his failure to act in a 1990 black • boycott of two Korean markets in Flatbush; things get even worse for him in • August 1991

16. The Koch & Dinkins Years • DINKINS AND THE CROWNS HEIGHT RIOT • This three-day riot took place from Aug. 19 to 21, 1991, in the • Central Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights in an area • where the Lubavitcher Hasidic community abutted a mostly • Afro-Caribbean community. • The riots were triggered when a speeding car in the motorcade • of the Lubavitcher Rebbe struck and killed a seven-year-old boy, • Gavin Cato, a child of Guyanese immigrants. • About three hours after the riots started, an Australian • Orthodox Jew, Yankel Rosenbaum, was stabbed by a group of • black youth; he dies of his wounds. • The Dinkins administration was strongly criticized for doing • little and not allowing the police to take control. • In the end, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 • vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned, • and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed. The Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)

17. CROWN HEIGHTS • RIOT • AUGUST 19-21, • 1991 The Koch & Dinkins Years

18. The Koch & Dinkins Years • RUDY GIULIANI (1944 - ) • Giuliani was born in an Italian American enclave in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. His • parents, Harold Angelo and Helen Giuliani, were children of Italian immigrants. • His father could not hold a job, and served time in Sing Sing prison for felony • robbery and assault while working as a mob enforcer. • Giuliani graduated from Manhattan College in the Bronx in 1965, and then went • to NYU Law School, graduating cum laude in 1968. • After clerking, In 1970, Giuliani joined the United States Attorney's Office for the • Southern District of New York. • In 1981, Giuliani was named Associate Attorney General in the Reagan • administration. • In 1983, Giuliani was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New • York. He made a name convicting Wall Street figures Ivan Boesky and Michael • Milken, as well as heads of the New York mafia’s “Five Families.” • He also focused on prosecuting drug dealers and corrupt government officials.

19. The Koch & Dinkins Years • RUDY GIULIANI (1944 - ) • He loses the 1989 mayoral general election to David Dinkins. • Giuliani runs for mayor again in 1993, and this time beats the incumbent David • Dinkins. • Dinkins “law and order” approach seemed to appeal to the middle class in a city • that had experienced the crack epidemic. He wins with 50.7 percent of the vote • compared to 48.3 for Dinkins.