Born December 11, 1882

New York, New York

Died September 20, 1947

Bronx, New York

New York City mayor, national director of Civilian Defense

"Rejoice, be happy, make merry, but please do not use any sound-making device, any siren or horn that would resemble the [civilian defense] alarm in your community."
Fiorello La Guardia. © Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

A highly successful three-term mayor of New York City from 1933 to 1945, Fiorello La Guardia was director of the nation's civilian defense programs at the beginning of World War II (1939–45) and provided leadership to the nation's largest city throughout the war. He brought organization and rapid growth to such programs as air raid warning systems, scrap metal drives, and Victory gardens. Under his direction more than eight thousand community civil defense organizations, consisting of more than five million volunteers, were loosely linked into a national network within only weeks after...