Ira Harris
Ira Harris was an American jurist and senator from New York. He was a friend of Abraham Lincoln. Harris grew up on a farm, graduated from Union College in 1824, he studied law in Albany and, in 1828, was admitted to the bar. He was a Whig/Anti-Rent member of the New York State Assembly in 1845 and 1846, he was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1846 and a member of the New York State Senate in 1847. He was a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1847 to 1859 and was, ex officio, a judge of the New York Court of Appeals in 1850 and 1858. In February 1861, Harris was elected a U. S. Senator from New York to succeed William H. Seward who did not seek re-election, but would be appointed U. S. Secretary of State by Abraham Lincoln. In the U. S. Senate, Harris served on the Committees on Foreign Relations, the Judiciary, the Select Joint Committee on the Southern States. Although he supported the administration in the main, he did not fear to express his opposition to all measures, however popular at the time, that did not appear to him either wise or just.
He visited Lincoln at the White House and grew a friendship with him. He was a good friend of his predecessor in the Senate, William H. Seward, his son William Hamilton Harris was a brevet lieutenant colonel in the Army Ordnance Department. His daughter Clara Harris and his stepson/future son-in-law Henry Rathbone were the Lincolns' guests at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, when the president was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth. Booth stabbed Rathbone in the arm. Clara and Henry were married in 1867, but were step siblings – Harris had remarried to Pauline Rathbone, Henry's mother. Judge Harris was, for more than twenty years, a professor of equity and practice in the Albany Law School and, during his senatorial term, delivered a course of lectures at the law school of Columbian University, Washington, D. C.. In the Senate, he served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction which drafted the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Harris was buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery with Clarissa.
His grandson, Henry Riggs Rathbone, was a congressman from Illinois. United States Congress. "Ira Harris". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.. Includes Guide to Research Collections; the New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough Court of Appeals judges Senator Ira Harris is a character in "Henry and Clara" an historical fiction by Thomas Mallon. In reality and fiction he is the father of Clara Harris Rathbone and peculiarly the stepfather and father-in-law to Henry Reed Rathbone. Attribution: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.. "article name needed". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. Mr. Lincoln and New York: Ira Harris Ira Harris at Find a Grave Biography at Buford Boys
Learned Hand
Billings Learned Hand was an American judge and judicial philosopher. He served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Hand has been quoted more by legal scholars and by the Supreme Court of the United States than any other lower-court judge. Born and raised in Albany, New York, Hand majored in philosophy at Harvard College and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. After a short career as a lawyer in Albany and New York City, he was appointed at the age of 37 as a Federal District Judge in Manhattan in 1909; the profession suited his detached and open-minded temperament, his decisions soon won him a reputation for craftsmanship and authority. Between 1909 and 1914, under the influence of Herbert Croly's social theories, Hand supported New Nationalism, he ran unsuccessfully as the Progressive Party's candidate for Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals in 1913, but withdrew from active politics shortly afterwards.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge promoted Hand to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which he went on to lead as the Senior Circuit Judge from 1939 until his semi-retirement in 1951. Scholars have recognized the Second Circuit under Hand as one of the finest appeals courts in the country's history. Friends and admirers lobbied for Hand's promotion to the Supreme Court, but circumstances and his political past conspired against his appointment. Hand possessed a gift for the English language, his writings are admired as legal literature, he rose to fame outside the legal profession in 1944 during World War II after giving a short address in Central Park that struck a popular chord in its appeal for tolerance. During a period when a hysterical fear of subversion divided the nation, Hand was viewed as a liberal defender of civil liberties. A collection of Hand's papers and addresses, published in 1952 as The Spirit of Liberty, sold well and won him new admirers. After he criticized the civil-rights activism of the 1950s Warren Court, Hand retained his popularity.
Hand is remembered as a pioneer of modern approaches to statutory interpretation. His decisions in specialist fields, such as patents, admiralty law, antitrust law, set lasting standards for craftsmanship and clarity. On constitutional matters, he was both a political progressive and an advocate of judicial restraint, he believed in the protection of free speech and in bold legislation to address social and economic problems. He argued, that the United States Constitution does not empower courts to overrule the legislation of elected bodies, except in extreme circumstances. Instead, he advocated the "combination of toleration and imagination that to me is the epitome of all good government". Billings Learned Hand was born on January 27, 1872, in Albany, New York, the second and last child of Samuel Hand and Lydia Hand, his mother's family traditionally used surnames as given names. The Hands were a prominent family with a tradition of activism in the Democratic Party. Hand grew up in comfortable circumstances.
The family had an "almost hereditary" attachment to the legal profession and has been described as "the most distinguished legal family in northern New York". Samuel Hand was an appellate lawyer, who had risen through the ranks of an Albany-based law firm in the 1860s and, by age 32, was the firm's leading lawyer. In 1878, he became the leader of the appellate bar and argued cases before the New York Court of Appeals in "greater number and importance than those argued by any other lawyer in New York during the same period". Samuel Hand was a intimidating figure to his son. Samuel Hand died from cancer when Learned was 14. Learned's mother thereafter promoted an idealized memory of her husband's professional success, intellectual abilities, parental perfection, placing considerable pressure on her son. Lydia Hand was an involved and protective mother, influenced by a Calvinist aunt as a child. Learned Hand came to understand the influences of his parents as formative. After his father's death, he looked to religion to help him cope, writing to his cousin Augustus Noble Hand: "If you could imagine one half the comfort my religion has given to me in this terrible loss, you would see that Christ never forsakes those who cling to him."
The depth of Hand's early religious convictions was in sharp contrast to his agnosticism. Hand was beset by anxieties and self-doubt including night terrors as a child, he admitted he was "very undecided, always have been—a insecure person fearful. After his father's death, he grew up surrounded by doting women—his mother, his aunt, his sister Lydia, eight years his elder. Hand struggled with his name during his childhood and adulthood, worried that "Billings" and "Learned" were not sufficiently masculine. While working as a lawyer in 1899, he ceased using the name "Billings"—calling it "pompous"—and took on the nickname "B". Hand spent two years at a small primary school before transferring at the age of seven to The Albany Academy, which he attended for the next 10 years, he never enjoyed the Academy's uninspired teaching or its narrow curriculum, which focused on Ancient Greek and Latin, with few courses in English, science, or modern languages. He considered himself an outsider enjoying recesses or the school's milit
Touro Law Center
Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center known as Touro Law Center, is an ABA accredited law school, it is located on New York, in the hamlet of Central Islip. The Law Center is part of Touro College and University System, a private, not-for-profit, coeducational institution based in New York City. Touro Law Center has 58 teaching adjunct faculty. Of the Touro graduates who took the New York bar for the first time in July 2018, 48.6% passed, vs. a statewide average of 83% for ABA-approved law schools. Touro Law Center is the only law school in New York. After beginning operations in Manhattan, the Law Center's first campus was established in the town of Huntington, located in northwestern Suffolk County. In 2007, the Law Center moved to its current campus in Central Islip; the Central Islip campus, consisting of a four-story, 180,000-square-foot building, is located within walking distance of both The Alfonse M. D’Amato United States Courthouse and the John P. Cohalan State Court Complex, in which the Suffolk County District and Family Courts and the New York State Supreme Court sit.
Students may enroll in either a program to earn a Juris Doctor degree or to earn a Master of Laws degree. Both full-time and part-time programs are available to students in the JD program. Touro Law Center is one of several law schools in New York State to offer a two-year accelerated JD program, in which accepted students fulfill their credit-requirements of study within 24 months, beginning with the summer of their first year, sit for a Bar Examination 26 months after they begin their law school studies. In addition, Touro Law Center offers an accelerated JD program, referred to as a "three-plus-three" program, with the University of Central Florida, an accelerated JD Program which allows graduates of foreign law schools to earn a J. D. degree in two years. Touro Law Center offers 4 concentrations for J. D. candidates, an L. L. M program for U. S. law school graduates and a Master of Laws in U. S. Legal Studies for foreign law graduates, joint J. D./M. B. A, J. D./M. P. A. and J. D./M. S. W. Programs with Touro College, State University of New York at Stony Brook, LIU-Post.
Touro Law Center maintains summer programs in Vietnam and Croatia. In 2011, when the Vietnam program was first offered, Touro Law Center was the first and only law school to offer such a program within the borders of Vietnam; the law school held summer abroad programs in India and China and in Israel. In September 2013, Touro Law Center became an invited member of the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Consortium, which consists of 31 ABA-accredited law schools that have demonstrated a commitment to innovation in legal education and offer a number of law school courses "that implement a student-centered approach to legal education". In 2013, PreLaw Magazine recognized Touro Law Center as one of six law school schools in the nation offering innovative clinical and experiential learning opportunities, highlighting the law school's ProBono Uncontested Divorce Project, a required part of the first year of study. Touro Law Center is a member of the Alliance for Experiential Learning in Law, an alliance that has 113 law school and legal service organization members, established in 2011 with the goal of integrating experience-based education into the traditional law school curriculum.
In Fall 2006, the Law Center began a pilot program that required all first year students to observe courtroom practice in both the federal Alfonse M. D’Amato United States Courthouse and the John P. Cohalan State Court Complex. In 2009, the Center for Court Innovation issued a report on its three-year study of the pilot program; as of 2011, the program is a graduation requirement in which all first year students must participate, upper – level students have the option of continuing the curriculum through coursework and court externships, clerkships, or pro bono projects. Touro Law Center's clinical program consists of legal clinics that specialize in the areas of: Bankruptcy & Mortgage Foreclosure Criminal Law Disaster Relief Elder Law Family Law Immigration Law Small Business and Not-for-Profit Law Veterans' and Servicemembers' RightsTouro Law Center hosts the following Institutes and Centers: Aging and Longevity Law Institute Center for Innovation in Business, Law & Technology Institute of Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Jewish Law Institute TLC Heart International Justice Center for Post-Graduate DevelopmentThe International Justice Center for Post–Graduate Development serves as a national clearinghouse for the law-school based incubator movement.
Led by Fred Rooney, the Center launched Touro’s Community Justice Center in 2013, housing eight-ten start-up law firms owned by Touro alumni. The William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Public Advocacy Center, established in 2007, has 14 offices and houses on-campus non-profit legal service providers such as the Nassau/Suffolk Law Services Committee, Inc. New York Civil Liberties Union, the Empire Justice Center. Thomas Maligno has served as the Executive Director of the Public Advocacy Center. Touro Law Center was establis
Albany Medical College
Albany Medical College is a medical school located in Albany, New York, United States. It was founded in 1839 by Alden March and James H. Armsby and is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation; the college is part of the Albany Medical Center. Along with Albany College of Pharmacy, Albany Law School, the Dudley Observatory, the Graduate College of Union University, Union College, it is one of the constituent entities of Union University; the college, alongside the Albany Medical Center, established a radio station that took on the call letters WAMC in 1958. Over its 170-year history, Albany Medical College has attracted and produced many leaders in medicine and research. Among its present and past faculty and alumni count two Nobel Prize winners, two Lasker Award winners, two MacArthur Fellowship recipients, one Gairdner Foundation International Award winner, former Surgeon General of the United States Army, former Surgeon General of the United States Air Force, several presidents and CEOs of major academic hospitals, as well as an early president and co-founder of the American Medical Association.
AMC is attributed as the site where David S. Sheridan perfected the modern-day disposable catheter, among other major discoveries and innovations. Among AMC alumni accomplishments include the discovery of the hormone leptin, the invention of computed tomography, the discovery of oral rehydration therapy. There are multiple courses of study at the College, with tracks that end in an MD degree, as well as a Graduate Studies program with the following departments: Center for Physician Assistant Studies, where the students earn an MS in Physician Assistant Studies Center for Nurse Anesthesia, where the students earn an MS in Nurse Anesthesiology Alden March Bioethics Institute, where students earn an MS in Bioethics Center for Cardiovascular Sciences, where students can earn an MS and PhD in that field Center for Cell Biology and Cancer Research, where students can earn an MS and PhD in that field Center for Immunology and Microbial Disease, where students can earn an MS and PhD in that field Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience, where students can earn an MS and PhD in that fieldAMC sponsors medical residency programs in anesthesiology.
Fellowships are available in cardiology, gastroenterology, hematopathology, neonatology and critical care medicine, rheumatology and interventional radiology, vascular surgery. In addition to the traditional medical school application process, AMC reserves up to 50 places in its first-year class for participants in combined-degree programs. Students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Union College and Siena College complete certain undergraduate requirements prior to matriculation at Albany Medical College finish their undergraduate degrees at AMC while concurrently earning their MDs. Programs range from a total of seven to eight years; the AMC Physician Assistant Program was established in 1972, in collaboration with Hudson Valley Community College. Its graduates received from HVCC the A. A. S. in Physician Assistant Studies, a certificate of completion from AMC. Since 2005, the program has granted a Master of Science in PA studies; the program's rigorous curriculum consists of a variety of courses in basic and medical science within four didactic terms and an additional twelve months of medical rotations.
The Alden March Bioethics Institute is a multi-institutional bioethics research organization based at the Albany Medical College in New York. 26 faculty originate first-rate scholarship with the support of more than $3 million in federal and foundation grants. The Institute until housed The American Journal of Bioethics and bioethics.net. Its faculty direct a number of graduate programs including those offering the M. S. and Doctor of Professional Studies in Bioethics. The Institute is named in honor of a 19th-century physician. In 1899, famous physician and proclaimed "Father of Modern Medicine" Sir William Osler charged the graduating students of the Albany Medical College to "care more for the individual patient than for the special features of the disease" during a famous address; this quote has since been paraphrased as, "Care for the patient, not the disease." JD, the main character from Scrubs, is based on Dr. Jonathan Doris, MD class of 1998, a long time friend of Bill Lawrence; as the only level-1 trauma center and academic medical center for the 25 county region between New York and Montreal, AMC attendings and students are the first to see unique pathology arising from the area population of over two million.
The center treats patients from Western New England, Southern Quebec, Upstate New York. Jacob M. Appel, bioethicist, is a graduate of AMC's Alden March Bioethics Institute. Sir James W. Black, Visiting Professor, a Scottish doctor and pharmacologist who invented Propranolol, synthesized Cimetidine and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988 for these discoveries. Kenneth Blackfan, well-known pediatric hematologist and mentor of Louis K. Diamond and Sidney Farber, proclaimed "father" of modern-day chemotherapy. Diamond-Blackfan Syndrome is named after him. Children's Hospital Boston is located on Blackfan Street, w
Weather Underground
The Weather Underground Organization known as the Weather Underground, was a radical left-wing domestic terror group active in the late 1960s and 1970s, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Called Weatherman, the group became known colloquially as the Weathermen. Weatherman organized in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their supporters, their political goal, stated in print after 1974, was to create a revolutionary party to overthrow U. S. imperialism. With revolutionary positions characterized by black power and opposition to the Vietnam War, the group conducted a campaign of bombings through the mid-1970s and took part in actions such as the jailbreak of Timothy Leary in 1970; the "Days of Rage", their first public demonstration on October 8, 1969, was a riot in Chicago timed to coincide with the trial of the Chicago Seven. In 1970 the group issued a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government, under the name "Weather Underground Organization".
The bombing campaign targeted government buildings, along with several banks. The group stated that the United States government had been exploiting other nations by waging war as a means of solidifying America as a greater nation; some attacks were preceded by evacuation warnings, along with threats identifying the particular matter that the attack was intended to protest. Three members of the group were killed in the accidental Greenwich Village townhouse explosion but no civilians were killed in any of the terrorist attacks. For the bombing of the United States Capitol on March 1, 1971, they issued a communiqué saying that it was "in protest of the U. S. invasion of Laos". For the bombing of the Pentagon on May 19, 1972, they stated that it was "in retaliation for the U. S. bombing raid in Hanoi". For the January 29, 1975 bombing of the United States Department of State building, they stated that it was "in response to the escalation in Vietnam"; the Weathermen grew out of the Revolutionary Youth Movement faction of SDS.
It took its name from Bob Dylan's lyric, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows", from the song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" was the title of a position paper that they distributed at an SDS convention in Chicago on June 18, 1969. This founding document called for a "white fighting force" to be allied with the "Black Liberation Movement" and other radical movements to achieve "the destruction of U. S. imperialism and achieve a classless world: world communism". The Weathermen began to disintegrate after the United States reached a peace accord in Vietnam in 1973, after which the New Left declined in influence. By 1977, the organization was defunct; the Weathermen emerged from the campus-based opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War and from the civil rights movement of the 1960s. One of the factors that contributed to the radicalization of SDS members was the Economic Research and Action Project that the SDS undertook in Northern urban neighborhoods from 1963 to 1968.
This project was aimed at creating an interracial movement of the poor that would mobilize for full and fair employment or guaranteed annual income and political rights for poverty class Americans. Their goal was to create a more democratic society "which guarantees political freedom and physical security, abundant education, incentives for wide cultural variety". While the initial phase of the SDS involved campus organizing, phase two involved community organizing; these experiences led some SDS members to conclude that deep social change would not happen through community organizing and electoral politics, that more radical and disruptive tactics were needed. In the late 1960s, United States military action in Southeast Asia escalated in Vietnam. In the U. S. the anti-war sentiment was pronounced during the 1968 U. S. presidential election The origins of the Weathermen can be traced to the collapse and fragmentation of the Students for a Democratic Society following a split between office holders of SDS, or "National Office", their supporters and the Progressive Labor Party.
During the factional struggle National Office leaders such as Bernardine Dohrn and Mike Klonsky began announcing their emerging perspectives, Klonsky published a document titled "Toward a Revolutionary Youth Movement". RYM promoted the philosophy that young workers possessed the potential to be a revolutionary force to overthrow capitalism, if not by themselves by transmitting radical ideas to the working class. Klonsky's document reflected the philosophy of the National Office and was adopted as official SDS doctrine. During the summer of 1969, the National Office began to split. A group led by Klonsky became known as RYM II, the other side, RYM I, was led by Dohrn and endorsed more aggressive tactics such as direct action, as some members felt that years of nonviolent resistance had done little or nothing to stop the Vietnam War; the Weathermen sympathized with the radical Black Panther Party. The police killing of Panther Fred Hampton prompted the Weatherman to issue a declaration of war upon the United States government.
We petitioned, we demonstrated, we sat in. I was willing to get hit over the head, I did. To me, it was a question of what had to be done to stop the much greater violence, going on. At an SDS convention in Chicago on June 18, 1969, the National Office attempted to persuade unaffiliated delegates not to endorse a takeover of SDS by Progressive Labor who had packed the convention with their supporters. At the beginning of the convention, two position
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as three of the earliest such organizations were established there. After 175 years as a traditional all-male institution, Union College began enrolling women in 1970. Regarded as among the Little Ivies, the college offers a liberal arts curriculum across some 21 academic departments, as well as opportunities for interdepartmental majors and self-designed organizing theme majors. In common with most liberal arts colleges, Union offers a wide array of courses in arts, sciences and foreign languages, but, in common with only a few other liberal arts colleges, Union offers ABET-accredited undergraduate degrees in computer engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering. 25% of students major in the social sciences.
By the time they graduate, about 60% of Union students will have engaged in some form of international study or study abroad. Chartered in 1795, Union is the first non-denominational institution of higher education in the United States, second college established in the State of New York. During the sweeping span of 1636-1769 only nine institutions of higher education managed to set permanent roots in Colonial America. All had been founded in association with Anglo religious denominations devoted to the perpetuation of traditional forms of religious culture. Just Columbia University, birthed as King's College in 1754, had preceded Union in New York. Twenty-five years impetus for another school grew. Certain that General John Burgoyne's defeat at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 would mean a new nation, nearly 1,000 citizens of northern New York began the first popular demand for higher education in America; as a democratic tide rose and began to overtake the people old ways, in particular the old purposes and structure of higher education, were being pushed aside.
Schenectady, a city founded and dominated by the Dutch of some 4,000 residents, was after Albany and New York City the third largest in the state. The Dutch Reformed Church, progressive-thinking in comparison to the new nation's dominant Anglo denominations, began to show an interest in establishing an academy or college under its control there. In 1778, the Schenectady Dutch Reformed Church invited the Rev. Dirck Romeyn of New Jersey to visit. Returning home, he authored a plan in 1782 for such an institution, was summoned two years to come help found it; the Schenectady Academy was established in 1785 as the city's first organized school. It flourished, reaching an enrollment of about 100 within a year. By at least 1792 it offered a full four-year college course, as well as one of elementary and practical subjects taught to girls. Attempts to charter the Academy as a college with the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1786, 1792, 1793 were rejected on the grounds the school was not yet either academically nor financially qualified.
The following year the school reapplied, as "Union College", a name chosen to reflect the spirit of the thirteen religious sects which had gathered to foster it, which together resolved the school should be free of any specific religious affiliation. The result was the first non-denominational institution of higher education in the United States, awarded its charter on February 25, 1795 – still celebrated by the College as "Founders' Day"; the College's charter provided for the design of an official seal to be used on diplomas and other official business documents and correspondence. The Trustees were authorized to select the "devices and inscription" to be engraved on the seal. A committee of four Trustees was appointed to look into the matter, a seal was approved in November 1796; the original seal and its press have been lost, but it is known that it was nearly identical to the seal in use today. The Union College seal combines modern elements in balanced proportions; the head of the Roman goddess Minerva appears in the center of an oval with an outside star pattern surrounding the whole.
Around the central figure are the French words "Sous les lois de Minerve nous devenons tous frères et sœurs". The motto ended with the French word "frères", but in 2015 the College modified the motto to add the French words "et sœurs". On a banner just above the central figure are the words "St: of N: York" and on a similar banner below the central figure appear the words: "Union College 1795"; the precise origins of the motto and the choice of Minerva as the fundamental element of the College seal are obscure, but two things are certain: like most colleges of the time, Union was rooted in the classical tradition, unlike most colleges, Union chose a modern language rather than Latin for its motto. The resulting tone of the entire seal is thus aware, but distinctly modern in outlook, it is not at all surprising that the original trustees should have chosen Minerva as their herald and representative. Minerva began her mythological career as patroness of the arts and crafts. By the time she was well established as a Roman goddess, the scope of her interests and patronage had broadened
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 56th governor of New York since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position his late father, Mario Cuomo, held for three terms. Born in New York City, Cuomo is a graduate of Fordham University and Albany Law School of Union University, New York, he began his career working as the campaign manager for his father as an assistant district attorney in New York City before entering private law practice. He founded Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged and was appointed chair of the New York City Homeless Commission, a position he held from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, Cuomo joined the Clinton Administration as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the U. S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In 2006, Cuomo was elected Attorney General of New York, he won the election as Governor of New York in 2010 and has been reelected twice after winning primaries against liberal challengers Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon.
During his first term, Cuomo oversaw the passage of a same-sex marriage law, gun control legislation, a property tax cap, signed medical marijuana legislation. In his second term, Cuomo pushed for an increase in New York's minimum wage. Cuomo was born in the Queens borough of New York City, the elder son born to lawyer and governor of New York, Mario Cuomo and Matilda, his parents were both of Italian descent. His younger brother, Chris Cuomo, is a CNN journalist, he graduated from St. Gerard Majella's School in 1971 and Archbishop Molloy High School in 1975, he received a B. A. from Fordham University in 1979, a J. D. from Albany Law School in 1982. During his father's 1982 campaign for Governor, Cuomo was campaign manager, joined the Governor's staff as one of his father's policy advisors and sometime-Albany roommate, earning $1 a year. From 1984 to 1985, Cuomo was a New York assistant district attorney, worked at the law firm of Blutrich, Falcone & Miller, he founded Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged in 1986 and left his law firm to run HELP full-time in 1988.
From 1990 to 1993, during the administration of New York City mayor, David Dinkins, Cuomo was chair of the New York City Homeless Commission, charged with developing policies to address the homeless issue in the city and developing more housing options. Andrew Cuomo was appointed to the Department of Housing and Urban Development as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development in 1993, a member of President Bill Clinton's administration. After the departure of Secretary Henry Cisneros at the end of Clinton's first term under the cloud of an FBI investigation, Cuomo was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to succeed him as Secretary of HUD. Cuomo served as Secretary from January 1997 until the Clinton administration ended in 2001. In 2000, Cuomo led HUD efforts to negotiate an agreement with the United States' largest handgun manufacturer, Smith & Wesson, that required Smith & Wesson to change the design and marketing of guns to make them safer and to help keep them out of the hands of children and criminals.
Budgets enacted during his term contained initiatives to increase the supply of affordable housing and home ownership, to create jobs and economic development. These included new rental assistance subsidies, reforms to integrate public housing, higher limits on mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, a crackdown on housing discrimination, expanded programs to help homeless people get housing and jobs, creation of new Empowerment Zones. During Cuomo's tenure as HUD Secretary, he called for an increase in home ownership, he pushed government-sponsored lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy more home loans issued to poor homeowners, in an attempt to end discrimination against minorities. Some believe. Edward J. Pinto, former chief credit officer at Fannie Mae, said "they should have known the risks were large. Cuomo was pushing mortgage bankers to make loans and saying you have to offer a loan to everybody." But others disagree with the assessment. Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said Cuomo "was a contributor in terms of him being a cheerleader, but I don't think we can pin too much blame on him."According to libertarian author and critic James Bovard, Cuomo was obsessed with changing HUD's image, as Cuomo declared, "The PR is the important thing I do...
Eighty percent of the battle is communications." He championed a new program called Community Builders, created without appropriation by Congress, for 800 new HUD employees with computers to be paid as much as $100,000. In a June 16, 1999, Cuomo declared that one purpose of the program was to fight against HUD's abolition. In August 1999, Community Builders distributed a letter to community groups to fight against proposed tax cuts. One HUD official declared that Community Builders were seen as "Democratic ward heelers who act as a pipeline between Democratic city officials, party leaders, the administration and the Democratic National Committee." In 1998, Clinton-appointed HUD Inspector General Susan Gaffney testified to a Senate committee that she was the victim of "'escalating' attacks on her office by Cuomo and'his key aides,' including cooked-up charges of racism, insubordination and gen
