Mayor La Guardia Speaks About Slum Clearance
# Radio Episode Summary After a dramatic scene about slum conditions, Mayor La Guardia discusses clearing run-down neighborhoods. He talks about a fire that happened in an old apartment building area and pushes hard for the state to build new housing for people. His speech wraps up completely. Later on, Mayor La Guardia's talks on the city's radio station became a weekly show every Sunday at 1:00 P.M. Each episode had different lengths and covered many subjects, especially during wartime. People started calling these broadcasts "Talk To The People." During World War II, the shows would start with a recording of the New York City Police Band playing "The Marine Corps Hymn." Then Mayor La Guardia would greet his listeners by saying, "Patience and Fortitude."
Fiorello Henry La Guardia was an American attorney and politician who served as the 100th mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1946. He previously represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1917 to 1919 and again from 1923 to 1933. He was known for his irascible, energetic, and charismatic personality and diminutive, rotund stature. A member of the Republican Party, La Guardia was frequently cross-endorsed by parties other than his own, especially parties on the left under New York's electoral fusion laws. A panel of 69 scholars in 1993 ranked him as the best big city mayor in American history.
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“Mayor La Guardia Speaks About Slum Clearance.” Fiorello La Guardia. Radio broadcast, October 3, 1938.