Hugh Leo Carey was an American attorney, the
51st Governor of
New York from 1975 to 1982, and a seven-term
United States Representative (1961–1974) died he was , 92..
(April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011)
Early life
Carey was born in
Brooklyn, New York. Carey joined the
U.S. Army as an enlisted man during World War II, served in Europe, and reached the rank of colonel. He received his
bachelor's degree in 1942 and law degree
in 1951 from
St. John's University and was admitted to the bar that same year.
Early political career
Running as a
Democrat, Carey was elected to the
United States House of Representatives in 1960, unseating Republican incumbent
Francis E. Dorn.
He served seven terms. He served on the House Ways and Means Committee
and led the effort to pass the first Federal Aid to Education program.
He was elected Governor of New York in 1974 and resigned his
Congressional seat on December 31, 1974. Carey was reelected in 1978,
serving two full terms as Governor. On January 1, 1983 he was succeeded
by his
lieutenant governor,
Mario Cuomo. Carey then returned to private law practice with the firm of
Harris Beach in New York City, where he resided until his death in August 2011. He was the first congressman from
Brooklyn to
oppose the Vietnam War.
Governorship
Carey was elected governor in
1974, unseating incumbent Republican
Malcolm Wilson, who had assumed the office after
Nelson Rockefeller resigned in December 1973. When President
Richard Nixon's presidency was destroyed by the
Watergate scandal
in 1974, it also impacted negatively on Republicans in general, making
them nationally unpopular. Carey became the state's first Democratic
Governor in 16 years. In 1974, Democrats also recaptured the New York
State Assembly.
Carey is best remembered for his successful handling of New York
City's economic crisis in the late 1970s. As Governor he was responsible
for building the
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center;
Battery Park City; the
South Street Seaport
and the economic development of the NYC boroughs outside Manhattan. He
also helped provide state funding for the construction of the
Carrier Dome at
Syracuse University.
He is also remembered for preventing conservative legislators from
reinstating the death penalty and preventing such legislators from
taking away state abortion laws.
Upon taking office, Carey cut taxes significantly, reduced corporate
taxes from 14 percent to 10 percent, capped personal income tax at nine
percent, and reduced capital gains taxes. His administration also
offered tax credits to encourage new investment.
[1]
Carey came into office with New York City close to bankruptcy. He
brought business and labor together to help save New York City from the
fiscal crisis that befell it in the 1970s. Carey managed to keep the
growth of state spending below the rate of inflation through his
frequent use of line-item vetoes and fights with the New York State
Legislature, which was at the time divided between a
Republican-controlled Senate and a Democratic-controlled Assembly.
[2]
Carey signed the Willowbrook Consent Decree, which ended the warehousing of the
mentally retarded and
developmentally disabled.
His vision and leadership led to the community placement of the
mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. He also made major
strides in community programs for the
mentally ill.
Carey's tenure in office was marked by a growing awareness of the
environmental consequences of New York's strong industrial base,
including the designation by the federal government of the
Love Canal disaster area. Carey made environmental issues a priority of his administration.
Along with Senators
Edward Kennedy and
Daniel Patrick Moynihan and
U.S. House Speaker Tip O'Neill, Carey led efforts to end the violence in
Northern Ireland and support peace in the region. The four Irish-American politicians called themselves "The Four Horsemen."
[3]
Carey considered running for President in 1976 and 1980. Carey's
first wife had died in 1974, and Carey later attributed his decision not
to seek the Democratic nomination for President in 1976 to her death.
Carey pardoned Cleveland "Jomo" Davis, one of the leaders of the
Attica prison uprising.
In
1978, he was challenged for re-election by State Assembly Minority Leader and former Assembly Speaker
Perry Duryea.
After a competitive, sometimes negative campaign, Carey was the first
Democrat re-elected in 40 years. Carey decided against seeking a third
term as governor in 1982.
In 1989, Carey announced that he was no longer pro-choice and
regretted his support for legalized abortion and public financing of
abortion as governor. In 1992, he joined other pro-life leaders in
signing the pro-life document "A New American Compact: Caring About
Women, Caring for the Unborn."
[4]
In April 2006 Carey endorsed State Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer as a candidate for Governor; Spitzer went on to win the election by a large margin. Carey endorsed U.S. Senator
Barack Obama, of
Illinois, for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008. He endorsed
Andrew Cuomo in the New York gubernatorial election of 2010.
Carey was a partner in the law firm of
Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey. Later in his life, he was
of counsel at the law firm of
Shea & Gould. He continued to practice law as a member of the
Harris Beach law firm and sat on the board of
Triarc Cos.,
[5] the
Nelson Peltz controlled holding company.
Family and death
In 1947, Carey married Helen Owen. They became the parents of
Alexandria, Christopher, Susan, Peter, Hugh, Jr., Michael, Donald,
Marianne, Nancy, Helen, Bryan,
Paul,
Kevin, and Thomas. His wife, Helen, died of breast cancer in 1974.
Peter and Hugh, Jr. died in an automobile accident in 1969. Paul, who
served as White House Special Assistant to President
Bill Clinton as well as 77th Commissioner of the
Securities and Exchange Commission, died of cancer in 2001.
In 1981, Carey married Evangeline Gouletas, a Chicago-based Greek-American real estate mogul.
[6]
This marriage proved controversial and a political liability. The
marriage generated controversy, since Gouletas had affirmed on the
marriage license that she had two ex-husbands, when she actually had
three. Gouletas also said that her first husband, with whom she had a
daughter, was dead, but he was still alive at the time. The marriage
also caused trouble for Carey with the Catholic Church, since he married
a thrice-divorced woman in a
Greek Orthodox Church. Carey and Gouletas-Carey divorced in 1989.
[7] Carey later described this marriage as "his greatest failure."
[8]
Carey died surrounded by his family on August 7, 2011, at his summer home in
Shelter Island, New York.
[9]
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