Louis DeSalvio
Encyclopedia
Louis F. DeSalvio served in the New York State Assembly
for over 38 continuous years, longer than all but one other member in the history of that body. From 1941 to 1979, he represented districts that included the southern end of Manhattan
(including the Lower East Side
), Liberty Island
, Ellis Island
, Governors Island
, and (after 1972) the eastern edge of Staten Island
. From 1975 to 1978, he served as the Assembly’s speaker pro tempore. In that capacity, he often presided over the body.
, the son of district leader John DeSalvio, who also boxed under the name “the Legendary Jimmy Kelly.” He attended the City’s public schools and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School
. He married the former Elvira Mongillo, with whom he had two children, John and Maria. He was employed as a deputy collector for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
. In 1939 DeSalvio lost a race for an at-large seat to represent Manhattan on the New York City Council
.
, 377 U.S. 533 (1964), he briefly represented the 66th District while chairing a legislative committee responsible for developing a final map. The map proposed by his own committee separated his home address from most of his district, leading him to declare that the new plan would ruin his chances unless he moved. DeSalvio moved later that year, then was elected to three terms representing the 60th District.
Redistricting in 1972 combined most of the old 60th district with part of Staten Island to form the new 62nd District. Those changes caused Democratic and Republican-Conservative strategists to doubt DeSalvio's chances of re-election. Nevertheless, he won re-election in the new 62nd District that year and three more times, from 1972 to 1978.
His closest race was for renomination in 1970, when he won a three-way primary with 80 more votes than his nearest challenger, Republican Hyman Dechter. While he consistently ran as a Democrat, he received the endorsement of the State’s Conservative Party at least once (in 1974). DeSalvio resigned six days into his final term, on January 9, 1979, to take a job with the State Insurance Fund.
On January 10, 2009, New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried
, who had been elected in 1970 to a term beginning in January 1971, broke DeSalvio's record for continuous service. Gottfried continues to serve.
. In 1949, he teamed with State Senator Elmer Quinn to draft a bill, known as the DeSalvio-Quinn Bill, to convey Castle Clinton
(at the southern end of Manhattan) to the federal government, in order to frustrate Moses plans to demolish it. President Harry Truman had designated Castle Clinton as a national monument in 1946, but that designation could not actually protect the property until it was owned by the federal government. Both houses of the state legislature passed the DeSalvio-Quinn Bill and in April 1949 Governor Thomas Dewey
signed it, thus securing the protection of the site.
In the 1960s, DeSalvio became instrumental in defeating construction of the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway
. Moses was the Expressway’s chief proponent. DeSalvio made a famous speech at a hearing before the New York City Board of Estimate
in which he characterized Moses as a “'stubborn old man” and the proposed expressway as “a mad visionary's dream.” Paradoxically, DeSalvio introduced bills in 1962 and 1963 to purchase Ellis Island from the federal government and use it as the site of a new state university campus and as a hospital and research center for narcotics addicts. Neither bill became law.
In 1966, DeSalvio criticized the State’s plan to construct the World Trade Center
, complaining that the twin towers would be unnecessary, except perhaps for use by NASA
as part of a slingshot to launch astronauts toward the moon.
Sports Illustrated
mocked him in 1963 for proposing what it described as a “weird suggestion,” that state-operated horse tracks allow betting not only on races at that track, but also races at other tracks shown live on closed-circuit television. This “weird suggestion” became an important part of New York’s off-track betting
system.
in the Little Italy
section of lower Manhattan. He was also a of close friend Carmine DeSapio
, leader of Tammany Hall
in the 1940s who became New York Secretary of State before suffering electoral defeats and, in 1969, a federal criminal conviction for conspiracy to bribe a state water official.
After his retirement from public life, Louis F. DeSalvio Corner in Mid-Lower Manhattan, was named for him.
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
for over 38 continuous years, longer than all but one other member in the history of that body. From 1941 to 1979, he represented districts that included the southern end of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
(including the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
), Liberty Island
Liberty Island
Liberty Island is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. Though so called since the turn of the century, the name did not become official until 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250, President Franklin D...
, Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
, Governors Island
Governors Island
Governors Island is a island in Upper New York Bay, approximately one-half mile from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn by Buttermilk Channel. It is legally part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
, and (after 1972) the eastern edge of Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
. From 1975 to 1978, he served as the Assembly’s speaker pro tempore. In that capacity, he often presided over the body.
Personal background
DeSalvio was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the son of district leader John DeSalvio, who also boxed under the name “the Legendary Jimmy Kelly.” He attended the City’s public schools and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...
. He married the former Elvira Mongillo, with whom he had two children, John and Maria. He was employed as a deputy collector for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
. In 1939 DeSalvio lost a race for an at-large seat to represent Manhattan on the New York City Council
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The Council serves as a check against the mayor in a "strong" mayor-council government model. The council monitors performance of city agencies and...
.
Elections
First elected to the New York State Assembly in November 1940 to represent New York City’s 2nd District, he represented that district for 13 two-year terms. After redistricting was forced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s “one man, one vote” decision in Reynolds v. SimsReynolds v. Sims
Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 was a United States Supreme Court case that ruled that state legislature districts had to be roughly equal in population.-Facts:...
, 377 U.S. 533 (1964), he briefly represented the 66th District while chairing a legislative committee responsible for developing a final map. The map proposed by his own committee separated his home address from most of his district, leading him to declare that the new plan would ruin his chances unless he moved. DeSalvio moved later that year, then was elected to three terms representing the 60th District.
Redistricting in 1972 combined most of the old 60th district with part of Staten Island to form the new 62nd District. Those changes caused Democratic and Republican-Conservative strategists to doubt DeSalvio's chances of re-election. Nevertheless, he won re-election in the new 62nd District that year and three more times, from 1972 to 1978.
His closest race was for renomination in 1970, when he won a three-way primary with 80 more votes than his nearest challenger, Republican Hyman Dechter. While he consistently ran as a Democrat, he received the endorsement of the State’s Conservative Party at least once (in 1974). DeSalvio resigned six days into his final term, on January 9, 1979, to take a job with the State Insurance Fund.
On January 10, 2009, New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried
Richard Gottfried
Richard N. Gottfried is a U.S. Democratic Party politician from Manhattan representing the 75th District in the New York State Assembly for over forty years, making him the longest-serving member of that body.-Early life and career:...
, who had been elected in 1970 to a term beginning in January 1971, broke DeSalvio's record for continuous service. Gottfried continues to serve.
Issues
DeSalvio was instrumental in two preservation battles with New York redevelopment czar Robert MosesRobert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
. In 1949, he teamed with State Senator Elmer Quinn to draft a bill, known as the DeSalvio-Quinn Bill, to convey Castle Clinton
Castle Clinton
Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton, once known as Castle Garden, is a circular sandstone fort now located in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, New York City, in the United States. It is perhaps best remembered as America's first immigration station , where more than 8 million...
(at the southern end of Manhattan) to the federal government, in order to frustrate Moses plans to demolish it. President Harry Truman had designated Castle Clinton as a national monument in 1946, but that designation could not actually protect the property until it was owned by the federal government. Both houses of the state legislature passed the DeSalvio-Quinn Bill and in April 1949 Governor Thomas Dewey
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey was the 47th Governor of New York . In 1944 and 1948, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost both times. He led the liberal faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft...
signed it, thus securing the protection of the site.
In the 1960s, DeSalvio became instrumental in defeating construction of the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway
Lower Manhattan Expressway
The Lower Manhattan Expressway was a controversial plan for an expressway through lower Manhattan originally conceived by Robert Moses in 1941, but delayed until the early 1960s...
. Moses was the Expressway’s chief proponent. DeSalvio made a famous speech at a hearing before the New York City Board of Estimate
New York City Board of Estimate
The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City, responsible for budget and land-use decisions. Under the charter of the newly amalgamated City of Greater New York the Board of Estimate and Apportionment was composed of eight ex officio members: the Mayor of New York...
in which he characterized Moses as a “'stubborn old man” and the proposed expressway as “a mad visionary's dream.” Paradoxically, DeSalvio introduced bills in 1962 and 1963 to purchase Ellis Island from the federal government and use it as the site of a new state university campus and as a hospital and research center for narcotics addicts. Neither bill became law.
In 1966, DeSalvio criticized the State’s plan to construct the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, complaining that the twin towers would be unnecessary, except perhaps for use by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
as part of a slingshot to launch astronauts toward the moon.
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
mocked him in 1963 for proposing what it described as a “weird suggestion,” that state-operated horse tracks allow betting not only on races at that track, but also races at other tracks shown live on closed-circuit television. This “weird suggestion” became an important part of New York’s off-track betting
Off-track betting
Off-track betting refers to sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track.-US history:...
system.
Honors and associations
DeSalvio was the permanent grand marshal of the Feast of San GennaroFeast of San Gennaro
The Feast of San Gennaro, originally a one-day religious commemoration, began in September 1926 when newly arrived immigrants from Naples congregated along Mulberry Street in the Little Italy section of New York City, to continue the tradition they had followed in Italy to celebrate San Gennaro as...
in the Little Italy
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
section of lower Manhattan. He was also a of close friend Carmine DeSapio
Carmine DeSapio
Carmine Gerard DeSapio was an American politician from New York City. He was the last head of the Tammany Hall political machine to be able to dominate municipal politics.-Life:...
, leader of Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
in the 1940s who became New York Secretary of State before suffering electoral defeats and, in 1969, a federal criminal conviction for conspiracy to bribe a state water official.
After his retirement from public life, Louis F. DeSalvio Corner in Mid-Lower Manhattan, was named for him.