Roosevelt and LaGuardia’s relationship in The City of Ambition was a bit surprising to me–that two powerful men, a Democrat and a Republican, were able to work so closely towards Progressive goals is an idea so in contrast to our current political climate. Of course, there are modern exceptions to the “rule” of two warring parties which never accomplish anything, but I think that political parties have come to mean too much. That is, Democrats and Republicans have polarized most issues in order to form the largest support bases, and neither party is willing to compromise on an issue for fear of weakness and loss. However this leads to the sort of gridlock we see in government today where very little is able to be accomplished.

FDR’s New Deal is often looked at as a great political success and turning point in American political culture and society. Yet it was also a tremendous (and unprecedented) presidential grab for power. The New Deal, for both Roosevelt and the US and LaGuardia and NYC, was so successful in restoring prosperity to the country because political leaders were willing to compromise for the good of their constituents. We saw in City of Ambition that Roosevelt and LaGuardia came from drastically different backgrounds and had different sets of values guiding their decisions, yet both men had values which led them to making similar sorts of choices and to compromise with other parties. They enjoyed one of the closest political relationships between a major Mayor and President, in part because both men had strong values that culminated in actions for the good of their city/nation. Perhaps if politicians today expressed greater interest in the good of the people rather than in keeping up appearances, our nation would enjoy a government that was able to get things done.