Ed Koch
Edward Irving Koch was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. A popular figure, Koch rode the New York City Subway and stood at street corners greeting passersby with the slogan "How'm I doin'?"
Koch was a lifelong Democrat who described himself as a "liberal with sanity". The author of an ambitious public housing renewal program in his later years as mayor, he began by cutting spending and taxes and cutting 7,000 employees from the city payroll. He was the city's second Jewish mayor after his predecessor Abraham Beame. He crossed party lines to endorse Rudy Giuliani for mayor of New York City in 1993, Al D'Amato for Senate in 1998, Michael Bloomberg for mayor of New York City in 2001, and George W. Bush for president in 2004.
Koch was first elected mayor of New York City in 1977 and was re-elected in 1981 with 75% of the vote. He was the first New York City mayor to win endorsement on both the Democratic and Republican party tickets. In 1985, Koch was elected to a third term with 78% of the vote. His third term was fraught with scandal regarding political associates and with racial tensions, including the killings of Michael Griffith and Yusuf Hawkins. In a close race, Koch lost the 1989 Democratic primary to his successor, David Dinkins.
Koch was a lifelong bachelor, had no children, and did not disclose his sexuality during his lifetime.
Early life
Koch was born in the Crotona Park East section of the Bronx in New York City, the son of Yetta and Louis Koch, Polish-Jewish immigrants from Kozliv and Uścieczko in Eastern Galicia, both located in Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine. He came from a family of Conservative Jews who resided in Newark, New Jersey, where his father worked at a theater. As a child, he worked as a hatcheck boy in a Newark dance hall. He graduated from South Side High School in Newark in 1941.World War II
In 1943, Koch was drafted into the United States Army. Koch did his basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, in 1943 before entering the Army Specialized Training Program. He then joined the 104th Infantry Division. On 27 August 1944, he departed New York City, landing in Cherbourg, France, on 7 September 1944. He earned a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two campaign stars, a World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge for service in the European Theater of Operations. After V-E Day, because he could speak German, Koch was sent to Bavaria to help remove Nazi public officials from their jobs and find non-Nazis to take their place. He was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant in 1946.Post-World War II
Koch returned to New York City to attend City College of New York, graduating in 1945, and New York University School of Law, receiving his law degree in 1948. Koch was a sole practitioner from 1949 to 1964, and a partner with Koch, Lankenau, Schwartz & Kovner from 1965 to 1968. A Democrat, he became active in New York City politics as a reformer and opponent of Carmine DeSapio and Tammany Hall. In 1962 Koch ran for office for the first time, unsuccessfully opposing incumbent William Passannante, a DeSapio ally, for the Democratic nomination for the State Assembly.In 1963, Koch defeated DeSapio for the position of Democratic Party leader for the district which included Greenwich Village, and Koch won again in a 1965 rematch. Koch served on the New York City Council from 1967 to 1969.
Career
Elections
1968
Koch ran for Congress in New York's 17th congressional district after Republican Theodore Roosevelt Kupferman retired. He defeated Republican Whitney Seymour Jr. and Conservative Richard J. Callahan, who partly split the conservative vote. He won 48.5% of the vote to Seymour's 45.6% and Callahan's 5.9%.1970
Koch was reelected with 62% of the vote, defeating Republican Peter J. Sprague and Conservative Callahan who finished with 32% and 6%, respectively.1972
In advance of the 1972 elections, Koch was redistricted into the 18th district. He defeated Republican Jane Pickens Langley and Socialist Workers nominee Rebecca Finch, 70%-29%-1%.1973
Koch briefly ran for mayor in 1973, but garnered little support and dropped out before the Democratic primary. Comptroller Abraham Beame won the election.1974
Koch won reelection to the 18th district against John Boogaerts Jr., Gilliam M. Drummond, and Katherine Sojourner.1976
Koch was again reelected, this time with 75.7% of the vote, defeating Sonia Landau, and James W. McConnell.1977
Koch announced his campaign for mayor of New York City against incumbent Beame. Koch and future governor Mario Cuomo finished first and second in the Democratic primary, eliminating Beame. In a runoff, Koch defeated Cuomo, 55%-45%. In the general election, Koch again defeated Cuomo, who ran on the Liberal Party ticket, 50% to 41%.Koch ran to the right of the other candidates on a "law and order" platform. According to historian Jonathan Mahler, the New York City blackout of July 1977 and the subsequent rioting helped catapult Koch and his message of restoring public safety to front-runner status.
1981
Koch won both the Democratic and Republican nominations and appeared on the ballot with both of their lines. He faced opposition only from third parties. He won 74.6% of the vote, with Unity candidate Frank Barbaro netting next-best 13.3%. John A. Esposito and Mary T. Codd also ran. Koch swept all five boroughs by landslide margins, breaking 60% of the vote in Manhattan and 70% in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.1982
After incumbent Hugh Carey announced he would not run for reelection, Koch announced his candidacy for governor of New York. Cuomo, who had been elected lieutenant governor, also ran. Koch received the party's endorsement with 61% of the convention vote, but Cuomo won the Democratic primary. The New York Times called Cuomo's victory a "stunning upset" that relied on "an unusual coalition of liberal Democrats, labor, minorities and upstaters". Koch ran strongly in Jewish communities, while Cuomo won black, liberal, and Italian communities by a similar margin. A key to Cuomo's victory was his strong showing in New York City itself; though Koch won the city and its four suburban counties as expected, Cuomo kept the margin close and won half of the city's Assembly districts. That, combined with large victories in nearly every upstate county, allowed Cuomo to win. Koch endorsed Cuomo immediately, declaring "what's important to all of us is that we keep a Democrat in Albany." During the campaign, posters cropped up which mocked Koch's sexuality which written "Vote Cuomo not the Homo" circulated. Many say the deciding factor in Koch's loss was an interview with Playboy magazine in which he critiqued the lifestyle of suburbia. Koch's remarks are thought to have alienated many voters from outside New York City. Cuomo was elected governor over Republican Lewis Lehrman, and served three terms.1985
Koch was reelected to a third term in a landslide. He defeated Carol Bellamy and Dian McGrath, 78%-10%-9%, respectively, and was sworn into his third and final term in January 1986. As of 2021, this is the most recent mayoral election in which a Democrat carried Staten Island. During the campaign, Koch visited the Lubavitcher Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, seeking his blessing and endorsement.1989
Koch ran for an unprecedented fourth term in 1989. No mayor had ever won a fourth term, though Fiorello La Guardia and Robert Wagner also served three terms, and Wagner attempted to run for a fourth in 1969. Koch lost the Democratic primary to Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins, who finished with 547,901 votes to Koch's 456,313. Dinkins was helped in part by large margins in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, while Koch carried Staten Island and Queens. Dinkins defeated Rudy Giuliani in the general election by a narrow margin, with Giuliani carrying both counties Koch won in the primary. Giuliani won a rematch against Dinkins in 1993.U.S. congressional tenure
Koch was the Democratic U.S. Representative from New York's 17th congressional district from January 3, 1969, until January 3, 1973, when, after a redistricting, he represented New York's 18th congressional district until December 31, 1977, when he resigned to become Mayor of New York City.Koch said he began his political career as "just a plain liberal", with positions including opposing the Vietnam War and marching in the South for civil rights. In April 1973, Koch coined the term "Watergate Seven" when, in response to U.S. Senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr.'s indicating that one of the men in Watergate scandal had been ordered in the spring of 1972 to keep certain senators and representatives under surveillance, he posted a sign on his office door reading, "These premises were surveilled by the Watergate Seven. Watch yourself". At about the same time, Koch began his rightward shift toward being a "liberal with sanity" after reviewing the 1973 controversy around then-New York City Mayor John Lindsay's attempt to place a 3,000-person housing project in a middle-class community in Forest Hills, Queens. Koch met with residents of the community, most of whom were against the proposal. He was convinced by their arguments, and spoke out against the plan, shocking some of his liberal allies.
Koch was active in advocating for a greater U.S. role in advancing human rights within the context of fighting Communism. He had particular influence in the foreign aid budget, as he sat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. In 1976, Koch proposed that the U.S. cut off military aid and supplies to the military dictatorship of Uruguay. In mid-July 1976, the CIA learned that two high-level Uruguayan intelligence officers had discussed a possible assassination attempt on Koch by Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, the Chilean secret police under dictator Augusto Pinochet. The CIA did not regard these threats as credible until after the September 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C., by DINA agents coordinated by Operation Condor. After that, Director of Central Intelligence George H. W. Bush informed Koch of the threat. Koch subsequently asked both the CIA and the FBI for protection, but none was extended.