'Daredevil: Born Again' And The History Of New York City
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In Episode 2 of Daredevil: Born Again, Wilson Fisk starts a conversation with Sheila Rivera, his campaign strategist, about his desk. Fisk wonders absently if the desk belonged to a legendary New York politician, mentioning that his father had respect for the man, before the discussion shifts. That politician’s name comes up again at the end of the season when Fisk notes to Sheila that his desk indeed belonged to the man they spoke of earlier. That figure is Fiorello La Guardia (also spelled LaGuardia), and today we’ll explore who this man was, and why this show might take the time it has to highlight him in relation to the man who currently heads New York City in the MCU.
Fiorello Before Being Mayor
Fiorello was unique as a politician, given that he didn’t come from a dynasty like the Roosevelts or great wealth like others. He was instead an embodiment of the growing diversity of America, with an Italian father and Jewish mother. He struggled in his early life, eventually finding a job working as an interpreter on Ellis Island. He saw many terrible cases of poverty, disease, and hardship among the incoming migrants during his time working at Ellis, with families separated, having nothing but the clothes on their backs as they reached New York City, and the city lacking the resources to properly help these newcomers. He studied law by night and built his legal practice by taking on the cases of immigrants who were barred from entry into the USA. Already, his experiences and convictions were taking shape at this early time.
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Image Source: Wikipedia
La Guardia served in the Air Force during WW1 and by the 1920s, was a Republican congressman fighting for the rights of immigrants. American politics were deeply racist and xenophobic during this time, using pseudoscience and bigotry to bar many different groups from entry into the United States. As a congressman for East Harlem, La Guardia repeatedly disagreed and fought against attempts to restrict immigration, even an attempt to force all immigrants to register with the American government in an attempt to cut down on illegal immigration. In his city and state, he also encountered the power of Tammany Hall.
Tammany Hall was a New York political machine run by the Democratic Party for decades by the time La Guardia came onto the scene. Using voter fraud alongside other methods, Tammany remained significant thanks to a strong immigrant base that backed their policies and ideas. Much of this base was made up of the Irish, but times changed, and the growth of Italian and Jewish immigration meant Tammany Hall’s power began to wane. Men like La Guardia stood up against the group’s rigging of elections, especially as they established closer, overt bonds with the organized criminal element, but that was a battle La Guardia would wage as the mayor of New York City.
Fiorello As Mayor
Image Source: Wikipedia
Fiorello La Guardia had run for mayor in 1929, but lost to the incumbent James “Jimmy” Walker. The Great Depression changed things, though, and in 1933, La Guardia was sworn into office, abandoning his previous Republican loyalty for a broad coalition of voters across both parties. He took to the job with great vigor and found an ally in Franklin D. Roosevelt, recently elected President and a New Yorker himself. La Guardia supported many elements of FDR’s New Deal and remained close to the President throughout his terms in office. During that time, La Guardia worked to change New York City to fit the ideals of the New Deal, triggering a construction boom accompanied by social programs designed to benefit those in need. But he also targeted organized crime.
Prohibition had helped many criminal organizations gain a great deal of power in America and had seen their influence spread as a result. Now allied with Tammany Hall, their reach into the sphere of politics was a major problem, and the corruption in New York City was becoming a key issue. To confront this situation, La Guardia attacked the mob’s avenues of revenue, like the slot machines set up across the city, and ordered the police to crack down on the mob’s leaders like Lucky Luciano. He also used his new political power to cripple the influence of Tammany Hall with help from FDR and the men La Guardia had appointed to various key positions across the city’s government. While Tammany Hall wouldn’t fully cease operation until the 1960s, La Guardia still dealt the corrupt elements of the city a critical blow during his time in office and remains one of the most widely beloved mayors of New York City to this day.
Fisk And Fiorello
Image Source: IMDb
Given all of this history, Fiorello La Guardia being invoked by Wilson Fisk makes a dark kind of sense. The man was responsible for revitalizing New York City at a desperate time in its history, which is the same course of action Fisk wants to take. However, Fisk is essentially a dark mirror to La Guardia, a man who had his struggles in life but ascended to become successful and reject the corruption of his city. Fisk, instead, is born from crime and corruption, and made New York City worse before he made it better, his way with the creation of his personal task force, which serves his every whim. He’s performed a coup and has thoroughly corrupted the mayor’s office as a result. The spirit of Tammany is back in the halls of power. There’s also the possibility that Wilson Fisk finds satisfaction in “undoing” La Guardia’s work by his own actions, tarnishing the respect held for the man by Wilson’s long-dead father.
However, the story of La Guardia should also be a warning to Fisk. That man didn’t do his work alone. He surrounded himself with a team who could get things done, and had support from big players in the city and the state, like FDR. He brought together a diverse coalition of voters to succeed during his first election campaign, and Daredevil has also started building his own team of allies. It is sure to grow over the coming weeks and months based on the montage at the end of Season 1’s finale episode, and it is very likely that just as quickly as Tammany gets back into the halls of power, it will be thrown out again by the people.
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Source(s): Daredevil: Born Again, YouTube [1], [2], [3], Capital of the World: A Portrait of New York in the Roaring Twenties, City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York, New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America, FDR, Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom
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