La Guardia, Fiorello H

La Guardia, Fiorello H(enry)

(born Dec. 11, 1882, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Sept. 20, 1947, New York City) U.S. politician, mayor of New York City (1933–45). He practiced law in New York City from 1910 before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1917, 1918–21, 1923–33). A progressive Republican, he cosponsored a bill that restricted the courts' power to ban strikes, boycotts, and picketing by organized labour; opposed Prohibition; and supported woman suffrage and child-labour laws. As New York's mayor, he fought Tammany Hall corruption and introduced reform programs for civic improvement through low-cost housing, social-welfare services, and new roads and bridges. A colourful figure with a flair for the dramatic, he enjoyed enormous popularity for his fearlessness and his lack of pretension. In 1945 he declined to run for a fourth term as mayor.