Citizen Koch: An Autobiography

by Edward I. Koch, Daniel Paisner

The former mayor of New York City describes his rise from the depths of the Depression, his World War II experiences, and his tenure as mayor, and offers candid insights into politics, the problems facing New York, and personalities he has known. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Genres: Biography

281 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

Edward Irving "Ed" Koch was an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. He also became known as a "judge" on the television judge show The People's Court from 1997 to 1999.

Reviews

[Nicholas During · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ed Koch had a very interesting life, though maybe not quite as interesting as he thought it was. He's from a poor Jewish immigrant family, that wasn't well off in Eastern Europe, and were lucky to make it out alive at all. He never forgets this, but not unlike some others from a similar background, it doesn't necessarily make him more empathetic. He rises up in the world of Greenwich Village Democratic politics. And I think this is actually the most interesting part of his story. He is the reformer trying to buck the established machine in the area, run be Carmine de Sapeo, and eventually by dint of hard work, smarts, charisma, and a rapidly evolving neighborhood, he wins. Imagining Koch running about the 60s Village in its heyday of revivalist folk songs and hippies is a very funny image, but Koch is inherently a social liberal, and his acceptance of gay rights, drumming in Washington Sq Park, etc. obviously help him reach the newer Village community. Of course it should be unsurprising what happens to the reformer once he wins: Koch quickly loses his reformer mentality and starts the typical strategy of getting his name in the news as much as possible, taking credit for any success, and blaming others for any failures, and most of the book is dedicated to this goal. On Cuomo and the famous "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo" campaign attack in the early 70s Koch firmly blames Cuomo for it, even if Cuomo didn't know about the slogan and it was a rogue campaigner, he's the head of the campaign and therefore needs to accept responsibility. After the famed ticket parking scandal in Koch's third term where his appointees admit to being corrupt, now Koch didn't know about it and so how can he be blamed. Boringly hypocritical and surprising that he doesn't notice.

There really isn't much here of NYC life at the time, in fact Koch seems to take for granted that the city does better under him, and there isn't much about the awful times in NYC's poorest and blackest neighborhoods during the "Crack Wars" and throughout the 70s and 80s. And the more international aspect of Koch's career, he was a very prominent liberal Congressman for 3 or so terms, all descend into name recalling and famous friend anecdotes.

The most jarring aspects of the book are racism and Zionism. The racism is pretty minor, and Koch does have some good points about NYC's black leadership, and community in general, mainly that the leadership was corrupt, inherited, and not interested in much other than blaming other people for their failures. And no doubt it is true that the black community needed (or needs) to step up itself to improve its position, and the position of its members. But they shouldn't look for much support from Koch, who with the ironic theory of a man from a poor background (and nearly wiped out in the Holocaust), can't understand why anyone just doesn't work their way to the top. He believes that the US is essentially equal, but I think misses that although Jews suffered indescribable horrors in Europe, being Jewish in America is still being white. He thinks that everyone is looked at the same. I don't think its true. Which again is the strange motive for his zealous Zionism. I haven't heard an American who backs Israel more than Koch. He basically admits that he has split loyalties between the US and Israel. For an American politician that's pretty amazing. Of course all the Arab resisters are anti-Semetic (and anyone who doesn't embrace Israel), and though Koch runs around the world as a Congressman damning dictator governments, including the ones the US supported during the Cold War, he doesn't seem to think much about the suffering Palestinians. His personality may have been big and fitted a certain New York style. But it's also inflated by a fair amount of hot air. And though I still think Koch was probably a good major, cutting the city deficit down can have been no easy task, the comparisons are all so weak, corrupt, and egotistical that it isn't really saying very much. And, somehow, they only seem to be get more arrogant since.

[Frank Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning, Koch says this book will not be about his mayoralty, at least the more formal parts. For those interested in Koch largely because of his time as New York City mayor, which would be most everybody, that is a bit of a disappointment. Yet Koch points out he already published two books at least partway through his mayoralty on his political career, and that period was covered widely in the press, so there is little more to say. This then is the look at the "private" Koch: his growing up as the son of sometimes penurious Jewish immigrants who flitted between Queens and Newark, his time in army training (he learned about the non-Jewish world and anti-Semitism from his time in Spartanburg, South Carolina), his time fighting in Germany (he helped calm a man whose foot was blown off by a mine and he saw another man's head blown off). In adulthood he goes through the NYU law and starts a small practice, but he mentions almost nothing about the cases, other than a do-gooder one protecting students who were singing in Washington Square Park against a new regulation by Mayor Wagner, and so forth.

It was clear however that politics was his only true love. He recounts in detail his part in the Village Independent Democrats taking on the then powerful Carmine De Sapio Tammany Hall machine in Democratic party elections, and then winning a city council race, and then several terms in Congress. In these places, he was generally a classic reformist liberal, focused on cultural issues like what he calls SAD (Sodomy, Adultery, and Divorce laws) and fighting the Vietnam War. His first big break was when he came out against his own party to support the liberal Republican John Lindsay for the mayoralty (a decision he later regretted because he hated Lindsay so much) which garnered him wide press that led to his city councilship. His second was when he supported the effort of Italians in Queens to oppose a public housing project. The latter effort in 1971 was when he began his "liberal with sanity" phase and when he came into contact with Mario Cuomo, who was also trying to form a compromise between the Italian groups and publich housers, but whom in many ways Koch would despise for his whole life. Koch would barely beat Cuomo in the 1977 mayor's race.

For his actual time as Mayor, this mainly recounts Koch's relations with foreign dignitaries, where for everyone from the Pope to Spanish Minister Felipe Gonzalez he was always pressuring them to support or recognize Israel. The only real surprise is that he notes he was close to suicide during the Parking Violations Bureau scandal that sabotaged his third term and led to the suicide of the Queens Democratic leader and several indicments from then US Attorney Rudy Giuliani, even if Koch notes that Giuliani did make an effort to publicly clear Koch, for which he was grateful.

This book gives one a sense of Koch, but as a public man now fading from memory, it would have helped to have more context of his greatest moments in public office. I did come away from the book liking the guy though, as many did at the time.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very entertaining read, full of Koch's trademark indiscretions, score-settling and New York political gossip. I spent half my time looking up people on wikipedia, and it was a veritable who's who of the NY political scene through the 70s and 80s. This is not the book to read for a detailed overview of Koch's time as mayor (that period gets only 2 chapters in the book) but more an overview of how he got there and what he did in the years immediately after.

On the downside, Koch's ego is sometimes overwhelming, and his cantankerous approach to racial politics has aged like milk - he was wrong then about the importance of systemic racism and it's everyday implications, and he's a lot more wrong now. His centrist mish-mash politics and his almost unrecognisable tendency to support Republicans over fellow Democrats is a reminder of times past (and often an indication of his poor judgement - not sure how history will judge the political records of Al d'Amato, Rudi Gulianni and others). The book is unsophisticated and often indulgent, and while the score settling can be entertaining, the overall impression is of a deeply difficult man who spent too much time bearing grudges and not enough time thinking about the long term effects of his actions on the politics of the city and the country.

The issue of his sexuality, while addressed in the book in a round about way, seems like a missed opportunity knowing now as we do that he lived his life as a gay man, albeit a single one for most of his political life. A personal biography, written after the end of his political career, seems like the perfect opportunity to put on the record that which we now know from friends and contemporaries.

[Maureen Sepulveda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging read by NYC’s iconic 3 time mayor. Koch is unfiltered and insightful. NYC politics and US politics sorely misses his candor, leadership and experience!

[Tom M · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5