Giuliani: What Happened to America's Mayor? (2023): Season 1, Episode 2 - The Mayor - full transcript

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[Maury Povich]
The battle has begun,

former US Attorney,
Rudolph Giuliani,

launched his formal campaign
today to capture City Hall.

[man] We're running
against the man

who's potentially gonna be
the first Black mayor
of New York.

[reporter] Democrat
David Dinkins has defeated
Republican Rudolph Giuliani.

[Dan Barry] In City Hall
there was a space

in the bowels
of that ancient building

that came to be known
as The Lair.

That's where the cigars
would be smoked

and that's where Giuliani's
inner circle would watch
The Godfather



over, and over,[chuckles]
and over again.

Godfather.

Rudy's famously obsessed
with The Godfather.

Rudy Giuliani is a little bit
of everybody in that film.

[Frank Luntz] One night,
he had a showing
of The Godfather

and he sits behind me
and during the entire movie

he explains why the life
of politics is exactly
the life of the godfather.

And, of course,
in the one story

where Sonny complains
to the godfather

that they should be
selling drugs and you see
this battle within the family.

Rudy starts tapping me
on the shoulders saying
"Do you see? Do you see?

When you have a disagreement
you keep it in the family."

Don't ever take sides
with anyone against
the family again.

[Chris Smith] Rudy grows up
to become a prosecutor
of the mob,



and yet, he's fascinated
by this movie

who's main figures
are murderers and criminals.

Who, I guess,
on the simplest level

may appeal
to him as old school,
male wielders of power.

He's always wanted
complete control and power.

Maybe that's part
of what he identifies with
in the Corleone family,

though it didn't even so well
for those folks either.

[Luntz] If you think
Rudy Giuliani's about
being a politician,

you don't understand him.

He is a fascinating, engaging,
and sometimes
frustrating individual.

He was the most dimensional
person that I ever worked for.

With the single greatest highs
of my lifetime.

A few lows that disappoint
his allies and friends.

To understand Rudy,
you really understand that,
at the core,

he's an angry man
and always was.

And anger can be directed
in a positive way
or a negative way.

[Ken Frydman] Rudy always felt
like he was going to win,
so did I.

We knew that Rudy
had the appropriate skills
and experience

that he should be
elected Mayor of the city.

Between 1989,
when he lost, and 1993

he gave himself an education
in how to be a candidate
and how to be a mayor.

[Frydman] We had
a research team
make an vulnerability study,

sort of a roadmap
to defend him.

This is part six, seven,
eight, and nine
of that vulnerability study.

Overzealousness.

I also have the right
to give you my opinion

about what he's saying
which is the mental hire.

[Siegel]
Giuliani's a shameless
publicity-seeker.

Giuliani possession
an abundance arrogance
that makes him temperamentally

unfit to govern
New York City.

I'm confident that my office
can do anything, but that's
probably one of my weaknesses.

Many of the other parts
cover him being sexist,
anti-gay,

ethnic vulnerabilities,
as it's delicately put,
and there's many more.

I happen to have been
in the room

when the vulnerabilities study
was delivered to him.

He was visceral, his reaction.

I still remember
his glasses perched
on the tip of his nose

as he stared down at it,
and he didn't even look up,
[chuckling] and that was that.

Rudy Giuliani's somebody
who's talked a great deal
about the straight and narrow.

Um, and in his own
personal life

has not tended to be there.

Rudy, um...

needs, uh, nurturing.

Constant nurturing
from the women in his life.

I think Rudy's, um,
choice of women
shows an interesting

paradox in his character.

It must be said,
he really has always gone for

smart, accomplished,
relatively hard-driving women.

But...

they then have to make
their life all about Rudy.

I think in his personal life,
as in his professional life,

he is the king.

And if you
don't want to be a courtier

don't let the scepter hit you
on the way out.

[Luntz] Some voters wondered
whether he had a heart.

They believed
that he had conviction,

but they wondered
whether he had compassion.

So he re-tooled his image.
He was no longer
the US attorney,

he was a guy named Rudy
who came from Brooklyn.

He was humble,
and drank Diet Coke,
and ate pizza.

I also had to learn to,
uh, release more of myself.

Uh, I was a pretty private
person, even though
I was the US Attorney,

only a certain segment
of your life is covered.

You have to learn how to

- show some emotion
and release it to people...
- [reporter] Be real?

...and let 'em know
how much you care.

It worked.
And it softened his image,
he's a family man.

Donna Hanover
was Rudolph Giuliani's
second wife.

We met when I was
Associate Attorney General

and she was anchoring
the news in Miami.

[Durkin] Donna had
a major role in that campaign.

The message tonight
is a lot of thinking women

have decided
to vote for Giuliani

and we want other
concerned women
to think about it too.

She was very, very media savvy
in her own right.

[Donna] This is the kind
of man I want to be the father
of my children,

and Rudy is such a great dad.

I wish all those people
who think he's so tough
could see him with children.

- That's the real Rudy.
- [announcer] Rudy Giuliani
for Mayor.

New York in the early '90s
really was coming apart
at the seams.

[reporter] It is easy
to bash New York,

a city where you don't
have to be in jail to see
the world through bars.

A city where crime
is never far from your mind.

If somebody doesn't stand up
for this city then there isn't
gonna be much of a city left.

Rudy with his law
and order attitude really had
an amazing opportunity.

The attitude
was that the city
was ungovernable,

but that's only because
it wasn't governed.

- [reporter] Is New York City
governable?
- Sure.

Is New York City manageable?
Or is there so many problems

that even the best mayor
in the world

couldn't do a good job
with New York City?

Absolutely.
It's absolutely governable.
It's not ungovernable.

The reason we say it
is because we're frustrated,
maybe somewhat cynical.

[Carter] The stakes were high
because New York

is overwhelmingly Democratic.

To be elected
to city wide office
in New York as a Republican,

it takes a very
special candidate.

[Rev Al Sharpton]
When he announced
that he was running again

I said "Well, we better fasten
our seat belt"

because he's gonna run
on a race strategy.

We can't lose our sense
of outrage at crime.

We can't lose our sense
of anger

at the way in which our city
is declining.

Uh, everybody understood
what he meant.

There was "we," you know,
non-Black New York

have to put "them"
in their place.

We have to defeat them.

He used it throughout
as the basic line
of his campaign.

And, boy, does that sound
like Trump talking about
the Democratic party today.

Giuliani lost
by a narrow margin
in 1989.

And we knew the race
was once again going to be
a very tight race.

And the city was divided,
very much like our nation
is divided today,

and it was divided
along racial lines as well.

Basically, Giuliani
ran on a platform
of Dinkins is incompetent.

Everybody in this city
knows that David Dinkins

is incapable
of making a decision.

[Carter] He can't
get the job done,

and New York needs
a law and order mayor.

This election
is not about race.

It's about crime, drugs,
schools, jobs, healthcare.

Endorsements from the city's
four major daily newspapers
are split at 2-2,

and most polls have this race
at a dead heat.

[Donna] Who's gonna make
things better for families
in New York City?

[crowd] Rudy!

Who ya gonna
vote for on Tuesday?

[crowd] Rudy!

That night, by 10:15 - 10:30
the numbers are coming in.

Our final polling
had Rudy winning by 2%.

And in the end he won by 2.9%.

New Yorkers have voted
to unseat their city's
first Black mayor

and replace him
with a white Republican.

[crow chanting]
Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!
Rudy! Rudy!

[man] It's Mayor Giuliani,
the mayor of New York City.

I'm standing before you

as the next mayor
of New York City.

[crowd cheering]

Rudy loved being mayor.
It was the perfect job,
perfect job for him.

He loved running things,
managing things.

Mayor of New York, they say,
is the second hardest job
in American politics.

The New York City Press Corps,
I mean, that is like
a glaring spotlight.

The way it is when you sit
in the Oval Office

and you have the entire
National and International
Press Corps.

I mean, it's only
second to that.

He came in and there was
a huge budget deficit,
which was over $2 billion.

Our budget is painful,
but necessary medicine.

Hundreds of millions
of dollars less to the MTA
for subways and transit.

Health and hospitals, cut.
Everything is slashed.

He lived up
to his campaign promises

of trying to reduce
the welfare rolls.

Food stamp use...

slashed.

Rudy...

does have the instincts
of a wartime general.

He needs an adversary,
he needs a fight.

[H. Carl McCall] When Rudy
was elected I hoped

that would be the beginning
of a productive relationship
between us.

I was the State Controller.

Chief Fiscal Officer
of the state

and also the Chief Auditor
of the state.

One of my responsibilities
as State Controller

was to audit
all these separate agencies
throughout the state.

And Rudy refused.
He said that I could not audit
city agencies.

I had to go to court
to sue him

to allow me to perform
my constitutional responsibilities.

We went to court and a judge
came back with a very strong
ruling in our favor.

Rudy didn't stop, he went
to the Appellate Division.

A four-judge panel
heard our case

and unanimously
agreed with us.

[chuckling] He didn't
stop there.

He then went
to the highest court
in the state,

and again, we got
a unanimous decision
from seven justices.

He didn't want people to know
what he was doing

and whether what he was doing
was effective.

He simply wanted
to go about his business

and do what he wanted
without any accountability.

It's interesting
now historically to look
at his pattern, you know.

When you think about
the police riot and his
participation in that riot.

You think about
the January 6th riot

and the fact that he
went to court,
without evidence,

to promote the big lie

that the president was elected
and the election was stolen.

That was as flimsy
as dealing with me.

[Ken Frydman] Perception
being reality, was that
there's a new sheriff in town.

And the murder rate was 2,000,
that was an easy thing
to focus on.

And that was his strength,
you know, crime fighting.

Tonight, Mayor Giuliani
wants to revamp the community
policing program.

[reporter] Where are the cops?

That's the question,
among others, Mayor Giuliani

vowed to find
an answer to today.

He empowered the police.
The police had felt
unempowered under Dinkins.

He comes this guy
who says "Do your job

and I'll deal
with the consequences
and I got your back."

I liked to introduce the new
Police Commissioner

- of New York City,
Bill Bratton.
- [applauding]

[clears throat]

Early on in my career
I came to understand
that what impacted

on everybody
was quality of life crime.

[Giuliani] We deal with some
of the things that used
to be considered small things

- so they don't become bigger.
- [reporter] Like?

Well, like, um,
squeeze operators,

and excessive noise,
and aggressive panhandling.

A lot of these crimes
were described
as victimless crimes.

What was not recognized
was the victim was the city.

[reporter] In the past
two years New York
hired 5,000 new officers

and put many of them
on the street.

Quality of life is key
and public safety
is essential.

If you get those things
right as a city,
1,000 things can go right.

[Bratton] Every Friday
we would meet for at least
an hour.

His whole life had been
in the criminal justice world.

He loved
those Friday meetings.

At this time crime statistics
came annually.

Which really is
it's sort of remarkable,
doesn't really help.

And Bratton says let's get
daily crime statistics
on what's going on.

[Bratton] What is it like
on the 104 side?

What kind of a week
have you been having?

Sixteen property arrests
so far, last month.

If you look at the robberies,
the majority occuring
in sector John.

We would bring police captains
to meetings every week

to hold them accountable
for crime going up,
going down.

[Bratton] For the record,
on that 733 recent case

fire scene was never notified,

we're hoping
that gets corrected.

[reporter] New York City
has logged its biggest drop
in violent crime

in nearly a quarter century.

Overall, crime rates
have dropped almost 16%.

It worked,
it brought the murder rate
down to 600.

It was quite a decrease
from 2,000.

[reporter] Under Mayor
Rudy Giuliani, New York,
once the crime capital,

is now the safety
large city in America,
according to the FBI.

Even the most cynical
New Yorkers credit Giuliani

with vastly improving
their quality of life.

This is a remarkable
moment of transformation
for the city.

These are the years
of the Yankees
and Derek Jeter.

These are the first years
of Chelsea,

these are the first years
of Brooklyn happening

so the art scene begins
to expand in these ways.

Um, this is the New York
of Sex and the City.

There was a sense
among New Yorkers,

and among people
around the world,

that the city was a different,
and more vibrant, and bigger,
and better place

than it had been
for a very long time.

Mayor Giuliani has been,
in my view, the best mayor
we've had for public safety.

Giuliani happens to be
an excellent mayor.

The man's great.

Look what he's done
for Brooklyn, look what he's
done for New York.

This is becoming an enormous
national success story.

Giuliani obviously
revels in it, you know.

Credit for beginning
to turn around the city,

but it was never
enough credit.

Giuliani wanted all spotlight
focused on him.

The city of New York became
the safest big city
in America.

As time goes by the kind of
obsession with metrics
becomes a problem.

Mayor Giuliani said
"I want those numbers lower.
I want them lower and lower."

[reporter] The strong drop
in crime feed the accusation

that his police force
was too aggressive.

The streets are safer,
but the cost was
having a police department

that started to act
as an occupying army.

For Rudy,
what quality of life meant
was quality of white life.

Some of the things
that I've done have helped,
not only the entire city,

but the Black community
more than my predecessors.

Crime is at the lowest level
that it's been at in 35 years.

Everybody benefits from that,
including the Black community.

I'm going to put
total occupation mentality

in the Black
and brown communities.

[reporter] The reports
of police misconduct
are on the rise.

He came from behind me
and he put his gun
to the back of my head

and told me
to get on my effing knees,
I complied,

and he just started
whacking me with his gun.

[Peter Noel] We want
to get rid of these people,

so that when you are
walking the street, ma'am,

you don't have to clutch
your pearls.

[Paul Schwartzman]
He went to catholic schools,

there were no Black people.

He went to college,
there were no Black people.

And then he becomes mayor
and when he came into office

he had no relationship
with the Black community.

I look at the vast changes

that've occurred
in the African American community

in New York City,
I'm proud of that.

He makes a big show
of never meeting
with Black political leaders.

He would kind of rub it
in their faces.

I used to joke
that the thing about Giuliani
is either you love him

or he hates you.

I think he had
an aggressive stance towards
anyone [chuckles] who

questioned anything he did.

Question?

Everyday Giuliani
would have a press conference.

To his credit, he was always
having press conferences.

The relationship between Rudy
and the press, from the start,
is pretty negative.

- [reporter] Will the office
of The First Lady be listed?
- [scoffs]

[chuckling] Come on, good try.
Come on, guys.

Giuliani had
a very nasty attitude
toward reporters.

You asked that question
"Is he too young?" This is
deja vu all over again.

The thing you have to remember
about Rudy is he always felt

that he was the smartest guy
in the room.

He actually enjoyed
press conferences where he
could parry with reporters.

Because he could show
how smart he was. [chuckles]

[reporter] Why?
Why are now you decided--

Nope, I'm not gonna
discuss the case.

In many ways, tactically,
Rudy was Donald Trump

before Donald Trump
was Donald Trump.

[reporter] You said
that she set up her own--

Yeah, I've answered
enough questions about it.

You know, get to the point
where it gets ridiculous.

He discovered and perfected

the political art
of maintaining really hostel
relationships with the press.

And enjoying
hostel relationships
[chuckles] with the press.

Then you can all spin it
5,000 different ways.

Giuliani is really
Trump-like, I think,

in his willingness
to believe that all publicity
is good publicity.

I think both of them
they're kind of, um,

[chuckling] kinda peaked
in a certain era.

Trump at one point
tells his Campaign Manager
every story is a good story

about you as long
as they don't accuse you
of being a pedophile.

And it seems
that Rudy Giuliani has
the same view of publicity.

[Dan Barry] He would always
have this entourage

that was, like,
a security detail
around him.

In that inner circle
there were people
that go way back

in his life to high school,

and so that would include
Peter Powers.

[Charlie Perkins]
Peter was one
of the few people

who could
take Rudy aside

and say "No,
that's a bad idea.
You ought to do this."

He got Rudy focused
and got him away

from the distractions
that often occurred.

So part of that godfather
mindset was loyalty.

Rudy enormously valued
loyalty to him,

and so getting rid of people
was pretty natural.

[William Bratton]
We're getting extraordinarily
positive press.

This is a mayor
who for re-election purposes,

as well as whatever
his post-New York Mayoral
goals might have been

it was incredibly
important to him that he
get the credit for it.

And that's where we began
to butt heads.

After a while
Bratton was getting

too much credit.

Our budget
kept getting strangled,
we couldn't but cars.

In early 1996

TIME magazine
wanted to do a feature story.

They approached me about doing
the photograph for it.

When the cover comes out
and it's Bratton
all by himself,

Giuliani loses his mind.

And at one
of the press conferences
at police headquarters

one of the reporters
held up the cover

of the magazine to the mayor,
"Mr. Mayor, what'd you
think of this?"

And the mayor
looked at it and says

"Nice trench coat."

[Giuliani]
Commissioner Bratton
has an announcement to make.

The mayor's worst fears
were coming true,
in the sense that

attention was being
shifted from him

to us at the police department
and to me in particular

as the head
of that police department.

I just met with the mayor,
Mayor Giuliani, this morning

and have given to him
my letter of resignation

as the Police Commissioner
for the city of New York.

The rumors about Rudy
and Cristyne began
to bubble up fairly early on.

Cristyne Lategano at that time
was a relatively inexperienced
Republican operative

and in fairly short-order
became the Communications Director.

She became such a gatekeeper
toward all things Rudy.

Everything had to go
through her which was

a very big problem
within the administration

and within
Rudy's inner circle.

Nobody could figure it out,

expect to assume they had more
than a professional relationship.

The whispering campaign began.

It's untrue, and unfair,
and, as I said before,
um, vicious.

[Ken Frydman] Ultimately
Peter Powers

who was Rudy's
closest confidant gave him
an ultimatum,

he chose Cristyne.

Peter left City Hall.
Many view that as the biggest
mistake Rudy made.

Rudy no longer
had a moderating voice
to keep him on track.

[Tish Durkin] If one's
approach to life is loyalty
over competence every time,

a few decades go by
and it's not the best recipe
for mental health.

Meanwhile, Donna
started to disappear during
his re-election campaign.

It became clear that she's
really not appearing
anywhere with him.

[man] Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

[Dominic Carter]
For his re-election date,

Donna Hanover
wasn't really in his corner,

she wouldn't reveal
who she voted for.

In the first term
Rudy burns through a lot of,
uh, friends and allies.

[reporter] In New York City,
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

easily won re-election
to his second term.

- We did it! We turned
this city around.
- [crowd cheering]

In the second term,
Giuliani is increasingly
a lone ranger in his politics

and in his personal life.

When Rudy comes in
for a second term

which he treats
as sort of a victory lap,
overwhelming win,

but he immediately
begins to see the White House
off in the distance.

Ironically, he maybe
have accomplished too much
in the first four years,

he probably
should have paced himself
a little more.

He starts off
his second term by saying
we're gonna end jaywalking,

in a city where jaywalking
has been, and continues to be,
an artform.

And, you know,
New Yorkers boradly responded
like "What?"

[reporter] At first,

people laughed
when he launched
a politeness campaign...

Everybody has to be civil.

[reporter] ...but the laugher
turned to protest

when Giuliani
put up pedestrian barricades,

ticketed jaywalkers,
and tried to restrict
street artists.

Like, the first time
he was Mayor Rudy,
now he's King Giuliani.

He just doesn't have it in him
to ever admit he's wrong,
that's the problem here.

Rudy was an innate, uh, bully.

Someone who wakes up
every morning looking to pick
a fight he can win.

The people
he begins to go after
are really defenseless,

and that is really acute
in terms of policing.

[Chris Smith]
The police department
had been

very much turned loose
by Giuliani,

and being turned loose
turned into abuse.

These cops, you know,
felt that they were given

the authority to do anything
that they wanted.

They terrorized
African American communities.

Rudy Giuliani says, "Look,
they're doing a good job.

They're bringing crime down,
and that's what we want.

It's working."

But it wasn't. It was working
against the very people

who you claim to want to help.

We saw this
as an invading force.

They were brutal.

It was, um, a disaster
waiting to happen.

[newscaster] The death
of Amadou Diallo

is the latest in a series
of recent incidents

that has New York City's
Police Department
in the hotseat.

[Craig Wolff] The officers see
this young Black man

standing in front
of his doorway,

and he fits
a description, apparently,

of a, a suspect
in another case.

They get out of the car.
He begins to turn.

Amadou Diallo is reaching
for his wallet.

That's mistaken,
uh, for a gun.

[Wolff] To me,
what's the most important was
what those men were thinking

as they turned the corner
onto Wheeler Avenue

before they ever saw Amadou.

They were thinking,
"We own the night."

They fire 41 bullets.

Amadou is struck 19 times.

It angers me. It upsets me.

I think he thinks
shame is something that
a private individual feels.

It's not what Giuliani feels.

I think Trump's like that.

I feel terrible about it,
and I've apologized for it.

Take one.

The night
when Amadou was killed...

...I was across the ocean
in Guinea.

That night...

...my daughter woke me up
around 2:00 a.m.

This cousin called
from New York,

and I said to him...

[sighs]

"Is Amadou okay?"

He said, "Why you ask?"

I said, "It's not even
daybreak in New York."

I said, "Something is wrong.
Is my child sick?

Is Amadou sick?"

He kept silent.

So I said, "Amadou,
did Amadou die?"

And he said, "Yes."

Amadou loved everything
about the USA.

He always dreamed
about coming to the US.

[speaking foreign language]
...in my native tongue
is "the explorer,"

someone who goes
away from their families

to go and discover new things.

People that they left
back home,

their loved ones,

their brothers,
their sisters...

...will expect
magnificent return.

But Amadou returned
as a silent body...

...with his story untold.

And... [sighs]

I could have given
anything, anything,

for Amadou not to be the one.

But yet, he was the chosen one
to be an agent for change.

- [man] What do we want?
- [crowd] Justice!

- [man] When do we want it?
- [crowd] Now!

- [man] What do we want?
- [crowd] Justice!

- [man] When do we want it?
- [crowd] Now!

I remember
how frightened I was,

and that what happened
to that young man, Diallo,

could have happened to me.

A terrible tragedy and
an important investigation,

but to blame
an entire police department,

which I believe is the best
in the country,

and I think most professionals
do, would be very unfair.

- [Katie Couric] All right.
- It's really a form
of prejudice when you do that.

We did a focus group.

We had Giuliani voters
and supporters in the room,

and they were highly critical
of what Rudy had said

and what he had done

in the days and weeks
after the shooting.

And he was furious.

He starts yelling at me
and pointing to me,

telling me that this was
a waste of his time,

that it taught him nothing,
that these people
are misinformed.

"They don't understand.
This is what's wrong
with the press."

And then he stopped and says,

"I just need you
to understand,

I've seen cops
accused mistakenly.

I've seen
cops' careers destroyed.

But these cops risk
their life every day,

and someone needs
to understand them, too."

Rudy Giuliani basically
asked the city to shut up
and go away.

His whole political strategy
was us against them.

And the city exploded.

[chanting] Arrest
the four cops!

Arrest the four cops!

[Dan Barry] It enrages
the Black leaders of the city.

Now Giuliani is rocked
on his heels

because he has no relationship
with any of them.

This is outright slaughter.

If he was facing
a firing squad,

he would not have been
shot at 41 times.

[man] Stop the murder!

[Peter Noel] Sharpton
was an albatross
around Giuliani's neck,

and the bird,
Giuliani couldn't shake him.

It becomes part of this litany
in which people can talk about

the utterly abusive policing
under Giuliani.

[Rev. Al Sharpton]
Hundreds were going to jail,

nonviolently laying out
in front of One Police Plaza.

The demonstrations
continued day after day.

The arrests continued
day after day.

There was very little
coming from the mayor.

- People think it's a systemic
problem within the NYPD.
- Yeah, actually...

Actually, it isn't, uh...

Violence by police officers
has gone down by about 50%
over the last 5 years.

[Kadiatou Diallo]
The last time
Amadou called me,

he said... [sighs]

"I'm happy.

I have saved enough money.

I saved $9,000,

and I'm ready
to go to college.

Mom, I'm going to college."

That was his last words to me.

We were denied justice.

My son was denied his dream.

But he's inspired...

...hundreds and hundreds
of people.

[Wolff] It cannot
be overstated

how the killing
of Amadou Diallo

became such a rallying point,

a kind of symbol, immediately,
for so much of the city.

Those 41 bullets became
such a bright sign

of how things were
off the rails...

...in terms
of the relationship

between the NYPD
and the community it served.

[newscaster]
In the New York Times
CBS poll,

47% of New Yorkers say
the mayor's policies

have led to an increase
in police brutality.

[Paul Schwartzman] Rudy is
not a man who says
he does wrong.

As far as Rudy's concerned,

he just keeps on going.

Rudy was an opportunist,

but Rudy's ambition
was always there.

His need to prove himself
was very great.

Rudy saw the end
of the mayoralty
in the future.

He saw it coming,

and he didn't like it.

He had to figure out,
"What's the next gig?"

The governor's seat
was taken by Pataki.

Um, so the only thing
available to him

if he wants to move up

is the United States Senate.

So much to talk about,
so little time.

So, are you gonna
run for Senate?

I'm giving it
careful consideration,

and I'm raising as much money
as I can [chuckles]

so that I'd be ready to do it
if I make the decision to.

It was all the better for him,
I think he thought,

that his, uh, likely opponent
would be Hillary Clinton.

The answer is yes.

- I intend to run.
- [audience cheers]

The opportunity to run
against Hillary Clinton,

he knew it would be
a worldwide campaign,

and the Senate would be
a stepping stone

to possibly the presidency.

The important thing
about the 2000 Senate race
to understand today

is that that was the moment

when Giuliani really embraced
the national Republican Party

and the national right wing.

You essentially have
the quintessential
more Democratic approach,

which is government
solutions to problems,

and what I've done
as mayor of New York City

is the quintessential
Republican solution.

- [reporter 1] And do you think
it will be argued...
- Private, private...

Private solutions to problems.

She can learn about New York,
but her heart isn't
in New York.

Rudy's gonna win.

- [reporter 2] Really?
- Yeah.

Getting Rudy to leave the city

was an operation
roughly like going
to the moon.

It required days and days
and weeks and weeks

of begging,
pleading, screaming,

jumping up and down,
setting your hair on fire.

There was a secret reason
for that

which we learned in the course
of this campaign, [chuckles]

which was that he had
yet another new girlfriend.

[Judy Bachrach] At the time,
he was married
to Donna Hanover.

They had two kids.

[Rick Wilson] We elided
over the problem.

But you couldn't elide
over the problem

when he was going out
to dinner with her in public

and baiting the news media
in New York to cover her.

And then soon thereafter,
not too much soon,

you know,
he got prostate cancer.

Good morning.

I, uh, was diagnosed yesterday

with a, uh,
with prostate cancer.

That news rocked him.

This may have been
the first time

he was confronted directly
with his own mortality.

The biopsy revealed
that several of the samples...

...um, had indications
of cancer.

This was in the midst
of his Senate race,

and there was
a lot of speculation

about what effect
the diagnosis would have.

[newscaster] His wife
Donna Hanover,

rarely seen with the mayor,

issues a statement
saying, quote,

"I will be
very supportive of him

in dealing with the choices
he has to make."

[John Avlon] I remember it was
very physically debilitating.

He would get these
enormous hot flashes,

and he was very vulnerable
in public.

[Thomas Dyja] What comes
out of that is for a while,
at least,

a kinder, gentler Rudy,

or at least the image
of a kinder, gentler Rudy.

He started talking about
what things mean in life
and love.

He started hugging people.

Was he a changed man?

Did he become more vulnerable
after his diagnosis?

Maybe for a week or so.

[chuckles] I don't recall
much more than that.

[Rudy Giuliani] It's probably
been apparent that
Donna and I, uh,

lead independent
and separate lives.

[Barry] This is how
Donna Hanover learned
that her marriage was over,

through a press conference.

[Nancy Collins] When
he broke up with Donna,

I think it really showed
his vicious side.

He had always made a big deal
about being a great father,

and yet, here he was,

you know, walking away
from his kids,

leaving Donna
for somebody else.

It's, uh, been
a very painful road,

and I'm hopeful
that we'll be able
to formalize that

in an agreement that, uh,
protects our children.

[Collins] There was
a big understanding

that his story really wasn't
the story he was living.

And it really besmirched
his reputation.

Out of respect for the mayor
and his family,

I have nothing to say
about that.

[Schwartzman] He was sleeping
on his friend's couch.

It was like New York
on steroids.

It was fantastic.

It was like a big soap opera.

[newscaster 1] The tabloids
here are going wild.

It's now even
splashed on the cover
of People magazine.

[newscaster 2] The mayor
and a divorced woman

he describes as
"a very good friend,"
Judith Nathan.

Yeah, the Clinton people
probably had visions
over this thing.

They were so ready for that.

This was gonna
turn into, you know,
a huge political shitshow,

and we knew it.

[Dyja] He starts to show up
with this woman

in the stands
at Yankee Stadium,

eating at their favorite
eateries and, you know,
cigar rooms.

[newscaster] It's all
about businesswoman
Judith Nathan,

who's walked with him
in city parades

and helped nurse his treatment
for prostate cancer.

Somebody spotted
the two of them at a bar

across the street
from Elaine's.

It started getting around town
pretty fast.

And then, while Judith Nathan
was still kind of a rumor,

he took her out walking
up and down, I think
it was Second Avenue.

It seems to me, and it seemed
to everyone in New York

that what Rudy Giuliani was
doing in the early days
of his courtship

was flaunting Judith Nathan.

You know, if he was
cheating on his wife,

I guess I don't feel
too sorry for him.

It's not good ethically.

When he is a married man,
he should not do that.

[Barry] No one enjoyed that
in New York, no.

It was considered offensive.

The city was ready to move on,

was ready to turn the page

from the Giuliani years.

[David Chalian] Giuliani was
just starting to wear

on the public of New York,

and I think part
of the decline

was this blowback
from communities
across the city

about these aggressive
policing tactics.

[Harry Siegel] There was
something very sad
and operatic about it.

You know,
as the bartender says, uh,

"You don't have to go home,
but you can't stay here."

The story of Rudy Giuliani
is the story of rise and fall.

He has this
totally broken city

in terms of rampant crime.

He comes in,
and he turns it around.

He cleans up the city.

Fast-forward to a mayor
who was nearing the end
of his second term

and seemed to sort of almost
have overstayed his welcome

with the people of New York
at that point.

[Michael Tomasky]
He and his cronies went
to one of his places.

You know, they were all
very happy and upbeat

and felt like
he was gonna run.

They were talking
about something,

and Rudy just kind of looked
down and wistfully said,

"Yeah. You know, politics
is just so rough these days."

I've decided that what
I should do is to put
my health first.

And that I should,
uh, devote...

Uh...

Should devote
the focus and attention
that I, that I should

to running, uh,
to being able to figure out
the best treatment

and not running for office.

Definitely better
than, you know,

"I've left my second wife

and I'm having
my midlife crisis,

and this just isn't
the moment."

Even if that's
what you're doing,

that's almost never
the right thing to say.

When you feel your mortality
and your humanity,

you realize that, uh,
that the core of you is

first of all, uh, being able
to take care of your health

and make sure that you, uh,
that you're in good health.

He didn't want
to be a senator.

He wanted to be
mayor and President
of the United States.

I think that it gave him
the excuse he finally needed
not to do it.

[Avlon] I think he said
something to the effect of,

um, you know,

"I hope this is happening
for a reason,

but sometimes we don't know
the reasons."

I also believe
that, uh, you know,

things happen in life, uh...

...for reasons that
sometimes you only
figure out afterwards.

[Avlon] And of course,
for many people,

it seemed that being mayor
during 9/11 was the reason.

That was his finest hour,
and he was the right man
at the right time.

[Giuliani] To those
who say that our city
will never be the same,

I say you are right.

It will be better.

[audience applauding]

[sirens approaching]

[newscaster] This just in
to our newsroom.

A plane has crashed
into the World Trade Center.

[reporter] We don't know if
it was a commercial aircraft.

We don't know
if it was a private aircraft.

We have no idea.

In midst of chaos,
he was stability.

He stepped forward
to be a leader not just
here in New York City,

but, uh, for the rest
of the country.

[Giuliani] There are
a lot of things that
I don't know how to do,

but I know how
to run emergencies

because I've done
so many of them.

And I said to myself,
"This is what I know
how to do."

He's the man of the hour,
America's mayor.

- [crowd cheering]
- Ladies and gentlemen,
Rudy Giuliani!