episode 82 - The Honorable Rudolph Giuliani - part 02

Part 1: Rudolph Giuliani served as U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983-1989 and was mayor of New York from 1994-2001. This interview primarily focuses on his career as mayor. Mayor Giuliani observes that his election as a Republican mayor in a Democratic city was a dramatic statement on the part of voters. Targeting street-level, quality-of-life crime--in particular, ticketing jaywalkers and "squeegee people"--proved the turnkey in his program that eventually reduced crime in New York City by 60%, making it a livable city once again. Mayor Giuliani also engages the subject of police brutality, explaining his rationale in dealing with some of the high-profile cases that made headlines during his tenure. He also provides a riveting account of his response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, describing how the catastrophe confounded the many disaster plans the city had in place. He discusses his second-by-second decision- making during the crisis and credits his training as a prosecutor for teaching him to think on his feet.

Part 2: Rudolph Giuliani served as U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983-1989, was mayor of New York from 1994-2001, and was a contender for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in the 2008 elections. In this candid interview, Mayor Giuliani speaks of his transition from Democrat to Independent to Republican, and talks about his run for the Republican Presidential nomination. He describes himself as a social moderate but an economic conservative, and notes that the Republican party should be big enough to allow for different viewpoints. As the conversation turns to more personal aspects of his life, Rudy Giuliani admits he is a romantic and speaks of his affection for his wife, Judith, with whom he shares a loving of books, baseball, and opera. Giuliani says his favorite opera is Otello and that if he couldn't live in New York City, he'd live in Rome. Although his political future is undecided, he admits that he thrives on public life.

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