City of Ambition: FDR, La Guardia and the Making of Modern New York, Mason - C

                                           This book tells the story of the phenomenal physical effect on the City of the Depression partnership of FDR and 'the Little Flower.'  La Guardia was elected as the Fusion candidate for mayor in 1933, just as the New Deal was starting to gain traction.  The Empire State was still the largest in the country and the City was home to 5% of the nation's population and GDP. Spending on infrastructure through the PWA was a centerpiece of the New Deal and led to construction of innumerable parks, hospitals, pools, public housing, libraries, schools, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, the Belt Pkwy, the Henry Hudson Pkwy, the expansion of the IND subway system, and La Guardia Airport.  However, WW2 changed the dynamics of Washington's relationship with the country. No longer were the states and cities the partners of the new Deal;  now it was industry and the military that appropriately received all the attention and money. When La Guardia defied his party and campaigned hard for FDR in 1940, he had been promised the War Dept.  Upon giving further reflection to La Guardia'a ability to attract so much attention, FDR forgot his assurance of a cabinet-level position.  Disappointed, overwrought and overworked, the 'Little Flower' did not shine in his 3rd term.  Roosevelt continued to talk about La Guardia being appointed a general but never really pushed the matter forward.  La Guardia died in the fall of 1947, less than two years after leaving office.   I love NYC and had high hopes for this book, but it got bogged down (at least for me) a bit much in hard-core policy and political science, rather than on the majestic construction of the era.