PERSON OF THE YEAR 2001

Rudy Giuliani served as the Mayor of New York City from 01/01/1994 through 12/31/2001. While he was often a controversial figure, he gained attribution for “strong leadership” in the wake of the September 11 attacks, which garnered him admiration in New York, and elsewhere.

The defining episode in Giuliani’s career was his management of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. He was widely praised for his strong leadership and close involvement with the rescue and recovery efforts. He coordinated the response of various city departments while organizing the support of state and federal authorities for the World Trade Center site, for city-wide anti-terrorist measures, and for restoration of destroyed infrastructure. He made frequent appearances on radio and television to communicate critical information to the public authoritatively: for example, to indicate that tunnels would be closed as a precautionary measure, and that there was no reason to believe that the dispersion of chemical or biological weaponry into the air were a factor in the attack. He balanced the need to make hundreds of decisions directly and immediately, to delegate hundreds of others, and to visit the injured and console the families of the dead. He was tireless.

Giuliani in his public statements mirrored the emotions of New Yorkers at the time: shock, sadness, anger, resolution to rebuild, and the desire for justice to be done to those responsible. “Tomorrow New York is going to be here,” he said. “And we’re going to rebuild, and we’re going to be stronger than we were before…I want the people of New York to be an example to the rest of the country, and the rest of the world, that terrorism can’t stop us.”

Recently there have been suggestions that he may run for president in 2008. Even though he is a Republican, I would consider supporting him for president in 2008 due to his more liberal views on many social items which are dear to my heart.