Seymour Lachman and Robert Polner’s The Man Who Saved New York (2010) tells the story of New York City’s near financial meltdown in 1975, and how newly-elected New York Governor (the “man” of the title) and his aides were able to avert what could have precipitated a national fiscal crisis.
This is a very interesting read, despite the authors’ (at times) hagiographic treatment of Hugh Carey. Unfortunately, the lessons of the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis seemed to have been forgotten fairly quickly after the crisis passed. This back-story of this dark period of the state’s history should be better understood in Albany, making this book “required reading” for anyone who deals with state and local budgeting in New York.
My favorite tidbit relates to then-President Ford’s chief of staff (and former Illinois congressman) Donald Rumsfeld, who told Chicago Mayor Richard Daly to oppose any federal effort to bail out New York City because “when New York City collapses, Chicago may become the financial center of the U.S.”
Read more from the publisher (SUNY Press) and the New York Times.