Abraham Beame

Abraham Beame
104th Mayor of New York City[1]
In office January 1, 1974 – December 31, 1977
Preceded by	John V. Lindsay
Succeeded by	Ed Koch
36th and 38th New York City Comptroller
In office January 1, 1970 – December 31, 1973
Preceded by	Mario Procaccino
Succeeded by	Harrison J. Goldin
In office January 1, 1962 – December 31, 1965
Preceded by	Lawrence E. Gerosa
Succeeded by	Mario Procaccino
Personal details
Born	Abraham David Birnbaum March 20, 1906 London, United Kingdom
Died	February 10, 2001 (aged 94) New York, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Mary Ingerman
Profession	Accountant
Religion	Jewish

Abraham David "Abe" Beame (March 20, 1906 – February 10, 2001)^[2] was Mayor of New York City from 1974 to 1978 as a Democrat.^[3] As mayor, he presided over the city during its fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, during which the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy.

Early life

Beame was born Abraham David Birnbaum in London.^[4] His parents were Esther (née Goldfarb) and Philip Birnbaum, Jewish immigrants from Poland who fled Warsaw.^[5][6] Beame and his family left England when he was three months old.^[5] He was raised on New York City's Lower East Side.

He was a student at P.S. 160, the High School of Commerce, and City College of New York,^[4] where he graduated from its Baruch School with honors in 1928^[5] with a degree in business.^[6]

Career

Career before politics

While still a student at City College of New York, he co-founded an accounting firm, Beame & Greidinger.^[5] After graduation, he also taught accounting from 1929 to 1946 at Richmond Hill High School in Queens,^[6] and eventually accounting and commercial law at Rutgers University during 1944 and 1945.

He was appointed New York City's Director of the Budget,^[5] serving from 1952 to 1961.

Early political career

Beame was a "clubhouse" or machine politician, a product of the Brooklyn wing of the regular Democratic organization (that borough's equivalent of Manhattan's Tammany Hall) as opposed to the "reform" Democrats who entered New York City politics in the 1950s. He was a Democrat and was elected to two terms as city comptroller in 1961 and 1969.

In 1965 he was the Democratic nominee for Mayor, but was defeated by the Republican candidate, John V. Lindsay.^[7]

As Mayor of New York City

Beame defeated State Senator John Marchi in the 1973 mayoral election, becoming the 104th Mayor of New York City.^[4] He faced the worst fiscal crisis in the city's history and spent the bulk of his term attempting to ward off bankruptcy.

He slashed the city workforce, froze salaries, and reconfigured the budget, which proved unsatisfactory until reinforced by actions from newly created state-sponsored entities and the granting of federal funds. However, "he was credited with distributing the City's dwindling resources equitably".^[3] He served during the 1977 blackout crisis. When he left office in 1977, the city budget had changed from a $1.5 billion deficit^[5] to a surplus of $200 million.^[4]

After a chaotic four years as mayor, he ran for a second term in 1977, and finished third in the Democratic primary, behind U.S. Representative Ed Koch and New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo. Beame outpolled former Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Congressman Herman Badillo and Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton in the 1977 primary. Beame was succeeded by Ed Koch, who won the general mayoral election on November 6, 1977.^[5]

Beame was the first mayor of New York City who was a practicing Jew.^[6] Fiorello La Guardia, who was mayor from 1934 to 1945, was halachically Jewish because his mother was born Jewish, but raised as an Episcopalian and practiced that religion all his life.

Personal life

Abraham Beame was 5 ft 2 in (160 cm) tall.^[8]

He was married to his childhood sweetheart, Mary (née Ingerman),^[5] for 67 years.^[4] They raised two sons, Edmond and Bernard (Buddy),^[2][5] and resided in Brooklyn: first in Crown Heights and later near Prospect Park.^[4]

Beame died on February 10, 2001--just two months after the death of his predecessor, Lindsay-- at the age of 94 after open-heart surgery at New York University Medical Center.^[2]

See also

• Timeline of New York City, 1970s

References

1. "The Green Book: Mayors of the City of New York" on the official NYC website
2. McFadden, Robert D. (February 11, 2001). "Abraham Beame Is Dead at 94; Mayor During 70's Fiscal Crisis". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved March 18, 2010. Abraham D. Beame, an accountant and clubhouse Democrat who climbed the gray ranks of municipal bookkeeping and confounded oddsmakers to become mayor of New York in the mid-1970s, only to spend his term struggling with the worst fiscal calamity in the city's history, died yesterday at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 94.
3. "Parks Remembers Mayor Beame". Daily Plant. New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. XVI (3304). February 16, 2001. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
4. Giuliani, Rudolph W. "Remarks at the Funeral Service for Mayor Abraham Beame". nyc.gov.
5. Marks, Jason. "12 Who Made It Big: Abraham D. Beame '28". History of Baruch College. Baruch College, City University of New York. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
6. "New York City's first Jewish mayor". Richmond Hill Historical Society. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
7. Witkin, RIchard (November 3, 1965). "Lindsay Beats Beame In A Close Race; O'Connor and Procaccino Both Win; State Senate Is G.O.P.; Hughes Victor - Seesaw Contest - Vote Is Tightest Here in Quarter Century - 13% for Buckley". New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
8. Sewell, Chan (December 4, 2006). "The Mayor's Tall Tales". The New York Times.

External links

• La Guardia and Wagner Archives/Abraham D. Beame Collection
• La Guardia and Wagner Archives
• Oral history at Columbia University
• Abraham Beame at Find a Grave