Rudy Giuliani

Mayor of New York City
Date Of Birth:
28 May 1944
Place Of Birth:
Brooklyn, New York
Best Known As:
Mayor of New York City, 1994-2001
Rudolph W. "Rudy" Giuliani was the New York City mayor who went from being honored for his response to attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 to being famous for loud and animated appearances on TV in support of Donald Trump after 2016. Giuliani, a 1968 graduate of New York University School of Law, began his political career in 1970 as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney. After a period in private practice in Washington, D.C. and a stint with Ronald Reagan's Department of Justice, Giuliani was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1993. Aggressive and ambitious, he made headlines by prosecuting Wall Street wheeler-dealers such as Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken and Marc Rich. He ran for mayor in 1989 and lost, ran again in 1993 and won. In spite of a successful run as a tough-on-crime mayor who improved city government, Giuliani's troubled personal life and long history of political squabbles dominated the headlines in his second term. Tabloids exploited public feuds between Giuliani, his wife, Donna Hanover, and his girlfriend, Judith Nathan; a series of police brutality cases were public relations disasters; and a potential run at the U.S. Senate against Hillary Clinton was aborted when Giuliani was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Center, Rudy rose to the occasion, and in the absence of President George W. Bush, whose whereabouts were unknown for several hours, it was Giuliani who was the voice of authority on American television. The response was hailed internationally and earned him the nickname of "America's Mayor," a term he exploited as he pursued the Republican nomination for president in 2008. He left the race after finishing behind Mitt Romney and John McCain in early primaries. Giuliani then drifted away from government and into business, popping back up on TV screens as Donald Trump's personal lawyer in 2018. In the shadow of too many controversies to count, and known for making wild, sometimes nonsensical statements on TV, Giuliani himself was implicated in the events that led to the impeachment of President Trump in 2019.
Extra Credit:

Giuliani married Judith Nathan in 2003. She is his third wife; he was previously married to Regina Peruggi (1968-82) and to Donna Hanover (1984-2002). He has two children with Hanover: Andrew (b. 1986) and Caroline (b. 1989)… Marc Rich, a billionaire prosecuted by Giuliani in 1983, fled to Switzerland rather than stand trial. Before leaving office in 2001, Bill Clinton issued a presidential pardon to Rich. Among Rich’s lawyers over the years was Lewis “Scooter” Libby, later the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney and the subject of an indictment in the Valerie Plame investigation.

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