A Preview of 'Patience and Fortitude: A History of Mayor La Guardia on WNYC'

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Heads up, people. This year is WNYC Centennial, and tomorrow at noon, we're debuting a special we spent a year working on. It's about the life of a New York City mayor who spent a whole lot of time of his tenure talking on WNYC, Fiorello LaGuardia. The special is called Patience and Fortitude: A History of Mayor LaGuardia on WNYC. It will include lots of great highlights from the New York City municipal archives. It's airing tomorrow on our show in the noon hour. I promise you, it is appointment listening. I have our producer, Luke Green here now to tell us more about LaGuardia and what you'll hear tomorrow. He's been one of the team members working on this project. Hi, Luke.

Luke Green: Hi, Alison.

Alison Stewart: LaGuardia was the mayor in the '30s and the '40s. Why is he such a consequential mayor for New York's history?

Luke Green: Well, think about what you just said. The '30s and the '40s, a very important time in New York City, a very difficult time for a lot of people in the city. Think about when Mayor LaGuardia took over the leadership of the city. It was right after the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression. He had to deal with the aftermath of this crisis where a lot of New Yorkers were hurting. Then fast forward a decade later, you're into World War II, and now he has to become the leader of America's most important city and also deal with potential air raid attacks.

They didn't what was going to happen. It's really an important time. The other reason why I would say his legacy is so important is when you walk around the city, you see the physical impact he had. He's the guy who unified our subway system. The reason why the whole system works together is because he made that happen. The other two airports that exist, LaGuardia airport in Queens and JFK, exist because of him and a lot of the public housing stock that was first built as well. Those are the two reasons why I would say.

Alison Stewart: What's the connection between LaGuardia and our centennial year?

Luke Green: We are celebrating our 100th anniversary this year, and people might not know that WNYC was owned by the city for most of its history, and that meant that the mayor often would just speak right to New Yorkers listening. LaGuardia was a huge innovator of that. He was one of the early politicians to use the radio to his advantage. As we're celebrating WNYC's history, Mayor LaGuardia is a huge part of that, and so we figured, what better way to merge the two together than look back at his history told through our archives?

Alison Stewart: After listening to so much LaGuardia tape, so much, Luke.

Luke Green: So much.

Alison Stewart: What struck you about his speaking style?

Luke Green: Yes, I listened to maybe 40 hours in our archive. I would just say, you listen to his voice and you hear just his absolute devotion to his job. He really just loved being mayor of New York. This is a guy who was a congressman in Washington, but he gave that up to be mayor of New York City because he was so passionate about working for hard working people in this city. You also just hear his voice, and it's just the most strange-sounding accent. We talk about this in the special that you'll hear tomorrow. You can't place the accent at all.

You're like, "How does this guy get this voice?" It's very, I think it's just something that you can't help but listen to, and some politicians have that way of grabbing people with their voice.

Alison Stewart: Well, let's listen to a little bit of LaGuardia.

Fiorello LaGuardia: Well, I'm very happy to say that apparently I'm going to continue to talk to you on WNYC for some time. I like this station and I like to talk and keep you informed. As I said, I've always done that, and I always continue to do so one way or another. I'll always find a way to keep you informed. I want to thank all who wrote such encouraging letters, and it was encouraging, and I appreciate it so much. Even a mayor can be human. Packed once in a while doesn't hurt at all.

Alison Stewart: What would one hear during LaGuardia's show?

Luke Green: Yes, well, he had this show called Talk to the People, and essentially, as you just heard there, he would just talk to New Yorkers as if they were in the same room together. He would deliver the latest war news, the fluctuation of grocery prices, anything regarding city affairs, and he also have some fun. There's one story where he was the narrator of a Christmas pageant broadcast, so you'd hear all kinds of things in the Talk to People broadcasts.

Alison Stewart: The special is called Patience and Fortitude: A History of Mayor La Guardia on WNYC. Those happen to be the names of the lions.

Luke Green: Yes, they do. If you've passed the main branch of the New York Public Library, you know that those two lions are named Patience and Fortitude and Mayor LaGuardia named the lions after the Great Depression or during the Great Depression. He wanted people to have patience and fortitude to get through this hard time.

Alison Stewart: Are we going to listen to this montage of him talking?

Luke Green: Yes, sure. Let's do it. It's very fun.

Fiorello LaGuardia: Patience and fortitude. That's something we will all need in order to win this war. All right, now that brings us up to snow. I dread snow. I don't know, I just dread snow. I pray every night to please keep snow away. Well, I always tell you what we're short of and how scared some food is. Well, here's something that we have plenty of. Now, don't let your mouth water only potatoes. Oh, we have just a lot of potatoes. If you want to go on a potato spree, now is the time to do it. Well, the order on fish finally came through. Amen. I wait for that.

Alison Stewart: Why should we care about LaGuardia today?

Luke Green: Well, because he just had such an impact on our city everywhere you go. Also the issues that he stood up for at the time, especially immigration, we're dealing with as a city and a country today. His issues matter, and you'll hear that tomorrow.

Alison Stewart: Tomorrow at noon. Luke Green did a lot of hard work on this. Thanks, Luke.

Luke Green: Thank you.

Alison Stewart: We're going to go out on Mayor LaGuardia. Let's do it.

[MUSIC]

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.