Reminiscences of William O'Dwyer : oral history, 1962.

Biographical Note

Mayor, politician.

Scope and Contents

Early experiences and education in Ireland and Spain; Brooklyn, informal education, 1910; Brooklyn policeman, lawyer, magistrate; district attorney, 1940-1942; Prohibition and organized crime; Murder, Inc.; World War II, investigating government contracts for Air Force; War Refugee Board, Italy, 1944; Mayor of New York, N.Y., 1945-1950; establishment of United Nations headquarters; Idlewild, transportation, housing, schools, gambling; illness, appointment as Ambassador to Mexico, 1950-1952; reflections on New York, N.Y. power structure, politics, the office of the mayor, judicial appointments, court reform, charter revisions, Tammany Hall, the American dream and opportunity, attitudes toward the law and democracy, metropolitan press; impressions of John B. Johnson, Edward Flynn, Fiorello LaGuardia, Robert Moses, William Reed, Michael Quill, Newbold Morris, Maximilian Moss.

Subjects

• Ambassadors--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Kelly, John K., interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Lawyers--Interviews.
• Mexico--Foreign relations--United States.
• New York (N.Y.)--Politics and government--1898-1951.
• New York (N.Y.)--Politics and government--1951-
• O'Dwyer, William, 1890-1964.
• Oral histories.
• Politicians--Interviews.
• Practice of law.
• United States--Foreign relations--Mexico.
• World War, 1939-1945.

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