Rudy Giuliani Biography Quotes 18 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Rudolph William Giuliani was born on May 28, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, to Harold Giuliani and Helen D Avanzo, and raised in a working-class, Italian American, Roman Catholic household. He attended parochial schools, graduated from Manhattan College in 1965, and earned his law degree from New York University School of Law in 1968. Early on he identified as a Democrat, later became an independent, and by 1980 had joined the Republican Party, a shift that mirrored his growing focus on law-and-order politics and a prosecutorial approach to governance.

Early Legal Career
After clerking for Judge Lloyd F. MacMahon in the Southern District of New York, Giuliani joined the U.S. Attorney s Office and then served in the Department of Justice in Washington, including as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the mid-1970s. In 1981, during the Reagan administration, he returned to DOJ as Associate Attorney General, overseeing key litigating divisions and federal law enforcement components. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a role that gave him one of the most prominent prosecutorial platforms in the country.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
From 1983 to 1989, Giuliani built a national profile by aggressively pursuing organized crime, public corruption, and high-profile white-collar cases. His office used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to target the so-called Commission of New York s Five Families, winning landmark convictions of figures including Carmine Persico and Anthony Fat Tony Salerno. His prosecutors also brought insider-trading cases that reverberated through Wall Street, including matters involving financier Ivan Boesky and, later, junk-bond figure Michael Milken. Admirers praised his results and courtroom presence; critics objected to tactics such as perp walks, arguing they risked prejudicing defendants. The visibility he achieved made elective office a logical next step.

Mayoral Campaigns and First Term
Giuliani ran for mayor of New York City in 1989, narrowly losing to David Dinkins, and then defeated Dinkins in a rematch in 1993. Taking office in 1994, he made crime reduction and quality-of-life enforcement central priorities. Working with Police Commissioner William J. Bratton and NYPD leadership, the city rolled out CompStat, a data-driven system that tracked crime and held precinct commanders accountable. Major felony crime fell sharply during his tenure, part of a national decline but especially pronounced in New York. He also pressed welfare-to-work initiatives and sought to revitalize commercial districts. Civil libertarians and community leaders, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, criticized aggressive policing tactics and stop-and-frisk practices, arguing they disproportionately affected Black and Latino New Yorkers and strained police-community relations.

Second Term and September 11, 2001
Reelected in 1997 over Ruth Messinger, Giuliani continued policing and quality-of-life initiatives under commissioners Howard Safir and later Bernard Kerik. In 2000 he announced a prostate cancer diagnosis and suspended a U.S. Senate bid against Hillary Rodham Clinton. His mayoralty became globally defined by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the hours and weeks after the World Trade Center s destruction, he appeared frequently with Governor George Pataki, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and Office of Emergency Management director Richard Sheirer, providing updates and urging resolve. President George W. Bush visited the city and worked with local leaders as rescue and recovery efforts unfolded. Giuliani s calm public briefings and visible presence earned him the moniker America s Mayor; Time named him Person of the Year for 2001, and he later received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His leadership also drew scrutiny over the placement of the city s emergency command center at 7 World Trade Center and interagency radio communications that proved problematic for first responders.

Post-Mayoral Business and Public Profile
Leaving office in 2001, succeeded by Michael Bloomberg, Giuliani founded Giuliani Partners, a security and management consulting firm, and later joined the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. He wrote the bestseller Leadership, distilling his crisis management and municipal experience. He maintained a national profile as a commentator on security, policing, and public administration, while some clients and affiliations drew criticism for potential conflicts of interest.

2008 Presidential Campaign
Giuliani sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, emphasizing executive experience and counterterrorism credentials. A strategy that focused on later primaries, especially Florida, faltered as rivals gained momentum. After lagging in delegates and votes, he withdrew and endorsed Senator John McCain. The campaign underscored both the enduring power of his 9/11 image and the difficulty of translating it into a broad primary coalition.

Advisor and Attorney to Donald Trump
Giuliani became a prominent ally of Donald J. Trump, serving as a surrogate in the 2016 campaign and, starting in 2018, as the president s personal attorney. He was central to efforts pressing Ukraine-related allegations about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, engaging with Ukrainian figures as well as associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Those activities became part of the first impeachment of President Trump, as Congress examined pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations. In 2020 and 2021, Giuliani led postelection litigation and public claims challenging results in multiple states, appearing alongside Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis at widely covered press conferences, including one at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia. Courts repeatedly rejected the suits, and his public statements became the focus of bar discipline proceedings.

Legal Challenges and Later Years
Giuliani s law license was suspended in New York in 2021, with a similar suspension in the District of Columbia, based on findings that he made false statements related to the 2020 election; disciplinary proceedings continued thereafter. He faced defamation suits from voting-technology companies, including Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. In 2023, a federal jury in Washington, D.C., awarded $148 million to Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss after finding Giuliani liable for defamation; he later sought bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. Also in 2023, he was indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, alongside Donald Trump and others, on racketeering and related charges tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election; he pleaded not guilty, and the case proceeded in court. Separately, a federal investigation into whether he violated foreign lobbying laws in connection with Ukraine concluded without charges. He has also confronted civil claims from a former employee, which he has denied. Through these developments, he remained a frequent media presence and a polarizing figure in American politics.

Personal Life
Giuliani has been married three times: to Regina Peruggi (marriage later annulled), to Donna Hanover, and to Judith Nathan. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. A practicing Catholic for much of his life, he has at various times spoken about faith, public duty, and personal resilience, including during his prostate cancer treatment in 2000. Friends and close political aides over the years have included Peter Powers and Joseph Lhota at City Hall, and long-time law enforcement colleagues such as William Bratton and Bernard Kerik.

Legacy
Giuliani s legacy is one of stark contrasts. As mayor, he presided over a dramatic drop in crime and projected a tough managerial style that reshaped New York City s governance; he was celebrated worldwide for his handling of an epochal crisis after September 11. At the same time, his policing approach drew sustained criticism over civil rights and community relations. In later years, his advocacy for Donald Trump, his role in the Ukraine controversy, postelection claims, and the wave of lawsuits and disciplinary actions transformed his public image from America s Mayor to a deeply contested political and legal actor. The people around him at key moments David Dinkins as rival, Bratton and Kerik as commissioners, George Pataki and George W. Bush as partners in crisis, and Donald Trump as client and ally reflect the arc of a career that has run through the highest levels of law enforcement, municipal leadership, and national politics.

Our collection contains 18 quotes who is written by Rudy, under the main topics: Leadership - Overcoming Obstacles - Freedom - Faith - Resilience.