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Mario CuomoAmerican politician, 52nd Governor of New York
Country:
 USA |
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Baseball and College
- Legal Career and Ethnic Prejudice
- Political Rise
- Three Terms as Governor
- Liberal Stances
- Family and Legacy
Early Life and Education
Mario Matthew Cuomo was born on June 15, 1932, in the Briarwood neighborhood of Queens, New York City, to Italian immigrant parents. His father, Andrea Cuomo, hailed from Nocera Inferiore, Campania, while his mother, Immaculata, was from Tramonti. The family owned a grocery store in South Jamaica, Queens.
Baseball and College
As a baseball player, Cuomo signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1952, receiving a $2,000 bonus as an outfielder. This money helped him purchase an engagement ring for his future wife, Matilda. After a serious on-field injury and a six-day hospital stay, Cuomo abandoned baseball and returned to St. John's University, where he earned a bachelor's degree with honors in 1953. He continued his education at St. John's Law School, graduating in 1956.
Legal Career and Ethnic Prejudice
Cuomo served as a clerk for Judge Adrian P. Burke of the New York Court of Appeals and sought a position with a law firm. Despite strong recommendations, he faced ethnic prejudice and was rejected over 50 times. Eventually, he was hired by a small Brooklyn firm. In addition to his legal practice, Cuomo taught as an adjunct professor at St. John's University School of Law.
Political Rise
Cuomo gained prominence in New York City in the late 1960s after representing the "Corona Fighting 69," a group of homeowners facing displacement by the city's plans for a new school. In 1972, he was appointed by John Lindsay to investigate and mediate a public housing dispute in the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills, an experience he recounted in his book "Forest Hills Diary."
When Governor Hugh Carey declined to seek re-election in 1982, Cuomo ran for the office. He won the Democratic primary and faced Republican Lewis Lehrman in the general election, defeating him by a margin of 50.91% to 47.48%.
Three Terms as Governor
Cuomo won a landslide re-election victory in 1986, capturing 64.3% of the vote against Republican Andrew P. O'Rourke's 31.77%. In his third term, Cuomo defeated Republican Pierre Andrew Rinfret with 53.17% of the vote and Conservative Party candidate Herbert London with 20.40%.
As governor, Cuomo led the First New York Conference on Families in 1988. His policy initiatives, which established over 100 programs now known as "Individual and Family Support," have been replicated across the United States. He was also the first governor to endorse an "ecological approach" to family life.
Liberal Stances
Cuomo was known for his liberal political views, particularly his staunch opposition to the death penalty. Despite New York City's high crime rate in the 1980s and early 1990s, he vetoed several bills that would have reinstated capital punishment. The death penalty was eventually restored by George Pataki, who defeated Cuomo in the 1994 election. However, it was struck down as unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals in 2004.
A Catholic, Cuomo opposed abortion but believed that the state should not prohibit women from terminating pregnancies. In a 1984 speech at the University of Notre Dame, he stated, "What is ideally the right thing to do is not always the only thing that may be possible to do... There are various political approaches to the issue of abortion, short of the absolutist, unyielding, single-minded insistence that there can be only one answer." This position led Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor to consider him excommunicated.
Cuomo also spoke out against the "unfair stereotype of Italian Americans" as being inherently linked to the Mafia. FBI Special Agent Joseph Pistone, who had infiltrated the Bonanno and Colombo crime families, later criticized the New York governor in his book "Unfinished Business."
Family and Legacy
Cuomo was married to Matilda Raffa Cuomo, a graduate of St. John's University Teacher's College, from 1954 until his death. They had five children: Andrew, Maria, Margaret, Madeline, and Christopher.
The couple's eldest son, politician Andrew Cuomo, married writer Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, on June 9, 1990. They divorced in 2005 while Andrew served as Attorney General of New York. Andrew was elected the 56th Governor of New York on November 2, 2010, took office on January 1, 2011, and was re-elected and sworn in on January 1, 2015.
Cuomo suffered from heart problems and was hospitalized for treatment in November 2014. Despite assurances that he was "in good spirits," he passed away from heart failure on January 1, 2015, at his home in Manhattan, New York City, just hours after his son was sworn into office.
After retiring from sports, Cuomo remained an avid baseball enthusiast, attending games or watching them on C-SPAN. In 1994, he made several appearances in Ken Burns's documentary television series "Baseball," sharing his personal memories of his baseball career before entering politics.
