Hugh L. Carey was serving his seventh term in the United States House of Representatives when he was elected governor. His ability to build coalitions across political lines was fundamental to his success in restoring the financial integrity of New York City and the state during the financial crisis of the late 1970s. His reforms included cutting government spending, creating unprecedented oversight panels, and introducing balanced budgets. He oversaw the laying of the foundation for the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the construction of Battery Park City and the South Street Seaport. It was Governor Carey who launched the “I Love New York” campaign, but for more details about the Brooklynese who ran New York, visit brooklyn-yes.com.
The beginning of his political career
Hugh L. Carey was born on April 11, 1919, in Brooklyn, New York. After joining the National Guard, Carey actively participated in World War II. He was so active that he rose to the rank of colonel. After the war, the young man earned a degree from St. John’s University Law School, passed the bar exam in 1951, and began private practice.
In 1960, he was elected to Congress as a Democrat. This marked the beginning of his political career. Kerry took the place of a man who had been elected four times in a district that was to become a Republican stronghold in Brooklyn. He himself, with his liberal views and support from the Irish working class, was re-elected six times, each time with an increasingly comfortable margin.
Appointed to the House Committee on Education and Labor, he was considered the main inspiration behind the famous Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Carey also took a keen interest in legislation benefiting people with mental illness and disabilities. In fact, he championed these laws throughout his entire public career. After moving to the Ways and Means Committee in 1971, Carey became a strong advocate for the redistribution of federal revenues and, albeit unsuccessfully, for greater tax breaks for parents of children attending parochial schools.
Position on the Vietnam War
Regarding America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, which began in 1955, Carey initially approved of the conflict. But in the mid-1960s, he became increasingly critical of the United States’ military presence in the war. With this position in mind, in 1969 he ran for president of the New York City Council, finishing second in the Democratic Party primary in a close race.
But in 1974, he was elected governor with an overwhelming majority, the third-largest majority in the state’s history at the time. He was re-elected in 1978. The first of the many crises he had to diffuse was the decision in the Willowbrook Developmental Center case on Staten Island, which forced the state to undertake a complete and rapid reorientation of the nature, scope, and funding of care for people with developmental disabilities or mental illness.
In the spring of 1975, another financial crisis hit New York City. Carey took the lead in engaging the business community, organized labor, state and city administrations, state legislatures, and even the federal government in a comprehensive but often fragile rescue and rehabilitation program. Here, his ability to bring everyone together, to build diverse coalitions for radical and often controversial measures, and to garner bipartisan support for structural and fiscal reforms, came in handy.
In the end, it worked, securing economic recovery. In addition, it was Governor Carey who played a key role in resolving the Love Canal chemical dumping crisis that emerged in western New York in 1978. He launched the “I Love New York” program and created the Northeast Governors Conference.
Carey married Helen Owen Toohey on February 27, 1947, and they had 14 children. Helen Carey died in March 1974 on the eve of her husband’s election campaign for governor. So in 1983, Hugh Carey returned to the practice of law.
The Battle for New York
But the main achievement is considered to be the rescue of New York during the next financial crisis. As governor in the 1970s, Hugh L. Carey took control of the state’s struggling finances. Several state agencies, municipalities, and school districts were on the verge of bankruptcy. New York was in a terrible state, with debts of $5 billion and no way to borrow money.
Mr. Carey maneuvered through a series of difficult decisions that ultimately resulted in higher taxes, cuts to public services, and shrinking state and city budgets, but he managed to keep the city and state afloat. Had he not succeeded, New York would have defaulted, leading to possible disruptions in financial markets and the banking system across the country.
Hugh L. Carey, who was considered to be brilliant, persistent, belligerent, and unpredictable, had never held a leadership position before becoming governor. Early in his tenure, he kept New York City running by transferring a $400 million state loan to the city.
In May 1975, he and New York City Mayor Abraham Beam traveled to the White House to meet with President Gerald R. Ford, Mr. Carey’s former congressional colleague. They were joined by Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, who had sponsored many ambitious construction projects during his 15 years as governor of New York that were coming due.
Carey and Beam asked for a $1 billion federal loan. But Ford turned them down. Against the backdrop of strikes that left garbage in the streets and fires unattended, 20,000 workers were laid off in New York City. Seeing no other way out but financial collapse, Mr. Carey took unprecedented measures to manage the city’s treasury and reduce its growing deficit. He appointed investment banker Felix G. Rohatyn as his top aide. Carey led the Emergency Financial Control Board, which took away much of the mayor’s authority over the city’s budget.
Financial victory
He called for higher public transportation fares, increased taxes, and delays in repaying the city’s debt. City colleges that offered free education were transferred to the state. As a result, a few months later, Hugh L. Carey’s efforts finally prompted the Ford administration to abandon its steadfastness and approve a $2.3 billion loan package. And in early 1976, several leading banks began selling new government bonds worth $600 million, ensuring New York’s financial stability.
Thus, Hugh L. Carey is credited with saving New York City from bankruptcy, and this is not just talk. It was his persistence that prevented the financial collapse of the city, and then the state of New York. Cary died on August 7 at his home in Shelter Island, New York. He was 92 years old. The cause of death was not reported, but he had undergone heart surgery a year earlier.
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