Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo (2007)

Mario Matthew Cuomo (born June 15, 1932 in Queens , New York City , † January 1, 2015 in Manhattan , New York City) was an American politician of the Democratic Party . He was governor of the state of New York from January 1, 1983 to December 31, 1994 .

Life

Mario Cuomo, son of Italian immigrants, studied in his hometown of New York at the Catholic St. John's University , where he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1953 and a law degree in 1956. He then worked as a lawyer. He gave up his ambitions for a career as a professional baseball player after an injury. Cuomo and his wife Matilda had five children (three daughters and two sons). The eldest son Andrew also embarked on a political career; he was Secretary of Housing under President Bill Clinton and Attorney General of New York State. In November 2010, Andrew Cuomo was also elected Governor of New York. The younger son Chris is a journalist and is known as the presenter of the ABC program Good Morning America and the CNN news program Cuomo Prime Time .

Mario Cuomo was a member of the Roman Catholic Church . He died of heart failure on January 1, 2015 at his Manhattan home in New York, aged 82, just hours after his son Andrew began his second term as New York State Governor.

Political career

Governor Mario Cuomo at a rally against the closure of an air force base (1991)

Cuomo first ran for political office in 1974 when he ran for the post of lieutenant governor of New York State, but was already defeated in the Democratic primary. In 1975, Governor Hugh Carey made him Secretary of State of New York. 1977 Cuomo ran for the office of mayor of New York City, but lost twice to Ed Koch ; first in the Democratic area code, then in the actual mayoral election, in which he ran as a candidate for the Liberal Party . In 1978 he was elected Deputy Governor of New York State, and in 1982 Governor, this time after defeating his old rival Koch in the Democratic primary. In 1986 and 1990 he was re-elected as governor. In 1994 Cuomo was defeated by the then relatively unknown Republican George Pataki , although he was even supported by New York's Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani .

Gained national attention Cuomo 1984, when he at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco the keynote address (keynote address) held. In it he contrasted Ronald Reagan's optimistic vision of America as a shining city upon a hill, which goes back to the Bible, with the negative sides of reality and referred to it as A Tale of Two Cities with an allusion to Charles Dickens . Since then he has been considered one of the greatest oratorical talents in US politics. Before the 1988 and 1992 elections, Cuomo was seen as a promising candidate for the Democratic presidential candidacy, but both times decided against running. At the Democratic National Convention 1992 in New York, he gave the nomination speech for the presidential candidate Bill Clinton.

Political positions

Mario Cuomo was considered “liberal” (roughly: left-wing liberal) in the sense of the American use of the term ; he described himself as a progressive pragmatist. He was a staunch opponent of the death penalty and prevented its reintroduction in New York several times during his time as governor through vetoes. On the question of abortions , Cuomo advocated women's freedom of choice ( Pro-Choice ), although he personally opposed abortions on religious grounds.

Web links

Commons : Mario Cuomo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Mario Cuomo in the nndb (English)
• Mario Cuomo in the National Governors Association (English)
• Obituary by Bill de Blasio , Focus 3/15, January 10, 2015

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cuomo Prime Time - CNN. Retrieved October 25, 2018 . 
2. ^ Adam Nagourney: Mario Cuomo, Former New York Governor, Governor's Father and an Eloquent Liberal Beacon, Dies at 82. In: The New York Times, January 1, 2015 (accessed January 2, 2015).
3. ↑ Elaine Woo, Matt Pearce: Mario Cuomo, former New York governor and fiery liberal, dies at 82. In: Los Angeles Times, January 1, 2015 (accessed January 2, 2015).
4. ↑ Mario Matthew Cuomo: 1984 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address of July 16, 1984 (accessed October 16, 2008).
5. ↑ Jeff Shesol: Mario Cuomo's Finest Moment. In: The New Yorker , January 2, 2015; Jesse McKinley: A Torrent of Praise for Mario Cuomo's 1984 Democratic Convention Speech. In: The New York Times , July 27, 2016.
6. ↑ Mario Matthew Cuomo: Religious Belief and Public Morality ( Memento of October 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) speech at the University of Notre Dame on September 13, 1984.