As the book concludes the reader can see how the two powerful men work together to improve the city. Together, they financed projects such as the FDR drive, La Guardia airport, hospitals, housing and I was even surprised that they had a contribution to our own Brooklyn College. Greatly, the New Deal forced the city into a “new economic system.” Soon, Tammany Hall perished and La Guardia made his way into politics and eventually become the first reform mayor to win reelection in New York City. Even though many times La Guardia was glorified, Roosevelt was the better politician. While Roosevelt put in as much effort as he could La Guardia was planning on remodeling the White House. This makes one question the validity of La Guardia’s campaign and wonder if the city made the right choice with the reelection. However, the real test of his power was during the third and fourth term when World War II broke out. Immediately, citizens showed their nationalism with a willingness to fight for the United States if necessary. The Foreign Policy became the central focus of politics at the time. During this war Italian Americans conflicted in their feelings toward Mussolini and fascism in Italy. They felt neglected and belived the mayor was ethically disloyal. In this way, La Guardia was slowly voted out of office. Therefore, the wartime period proved to be too much for La Guardia to handle. Federal aid for urban projects diminished and the city was plagued by German u-boats.

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.

Reading this last section of the book one of things that I was surprised by, was how much New York’s City economy was negatively affected by the war. My initial thought was that the war would have benefitted the city’s economy, by increasing the demands for products and increasing employment. However, it was quite the opposite, as the book noted. While other major cities were benefiting from the war economically, some didn’t have sufficient workers to fill the positions, New York’s unemployment rate was rising. Ships couldn’t enter the city’s harbor safely and this affected many people that were employed in this field.  Due to the way the city was structured and what was produced in the city, the industry and machinery needed to provide products that could be used in the war was not available. La Guardia went to great efforts to get contracts for small business and to redesign machinery that could be useful to the war, and in return build the city’s economy.  Reading this book you get the idea that the government within the city was always a bit more involve in the local affairs, forming regulations and trying to build the states economy. La Guardia’s action then as set the example or standard for what the city’s people expect from the government.

While reading the third part of City of Ambition, the thing that sparked my interest was La Guardia’s campaign for Roosevelt against Willkie. Until this point, La Guardia has been portrayed as a just and fair politician, that is looking out for his constituents. However, in this campaign he becomes extremely confrontational, as he looks for any opportunity to besmirch the public’s view of Willkie. From depicting him as someone who is an agent of big businesses and only looking out for those with capital, to making it a class struggle between the employers and employees, La Guardia would stop at nothing to taint any positive views of Willkie. This is slightly surprising coming from the man who was all about a decent municipal government, unlike Tammany Hall, earlier in the thirties. This seemingly small campaign for Roosevelt is actually a major factor in La Guardia’s next campaign for mayor, as many reformers who had supported him in the past, lost all faith in him as a decent politician.

As I read the last section of this book, it was shocking to see how much the relationship between FDR and La Guardia had developed through the years. Even though each held their loyalty to different parties, they converged to promote progressive ideals and reform. Yet La Guardia, during WWII, shifted his focus incredibly from reviving NYC after the Great Depression to altering America’s foreign policy. This area of his political involvement demanded so much that he had to compromise the efficiency and reputation of his leadership. Nonetheless, he was able to bring about active responses to an increasing unemployment rate and other issues of the time. However, his achievements still do not hide the corrupt manner in which he pursued these necessary changes. I was saddened to read about how a man with immense potential and integrity was still vulnerable to all the misconduct that is associated with the political arena. But in the end, La Guardia can still claim to have revolutionized NYC through the many bills he proposed, the organizations he supported, and the necessary reform that he pressed for.

As I drew an end to Mason B. Williams City of Ambition, I was surprised to see La Guardia’s sudden shift in interest. He went from controlling every aspect of getting New York out of the Depression, to wanting to be part of the change in America’s foreign policy on a national level. I though being a part of a complex city would prepare him for the duties he wanted to pursue on a national level, but evidently that was untrue. La Guardia struggled to juggle his mayoral duties and his duties as the head of OCD during the war. His inner need to be a part of the war effort mixed with his emotions, got in the way and as a result led him to make poor judgements and decisions and showed a side of La Guardia people had never seen before. I have a small prediction as to why this may have happened. It’s because the attention and care needed for a city like New York and the attention and care needed for America as a whole was very different during this time. La Guardia, when attempting to handle both at once, couldn’t because he simply wasn’t prepared to assess both at the same time. I thought being a representative of a city with massive diversity would’ve helped him attack the issues that he faced on a national level but unfortunately it didn’t. In fact, it actually resulted to the downfall in his popularity in New York. This was reflected when he ran for mayor for a third term and when he couldn’t even run for a fourth term. However, this sudden change in popularity didn’t change his original goals because in the end he did make moves to assess public health insurance and housing post-war. All in all, it was interesting to see the obstacles that faced these native New Yorkers when it came to addressing both the Great Depression and WWII in the making of modern America and New York.

As we delve further into Williams’ book City of Ambition we begin to learn about the many different obstacles that faced FDR and La Guardia during the Great Depression, more specifically, when the New Deal came about during this time in American/New York history. When i learned about the New Deal in high school I got a brief overview about the many different institutions that were established during this time and how they worked to get America out of the Depression. I was surprised to learn, while reading, how much oppression there was to some of the programs enacted, more specifically the WPA. It seemed as though during this vulnerable time in history people should have kept their mouths shut and listened to the government since it was for their best interest, but there always has to be fight over power doesn’t there? I feel that since FDR and La Guardia were working so close together, and the fact that it was not a regular sight to see, (Republicans and Democrats working together) people felt threatened and then felt the need to enforce a strict line that divided the two parties even though they had similar agendas. This need for political parties to enforce these divisions is what, I believe, slowed down the progression of the US to getting out of the Depression.