Biography
He graduated from Fordham University in New York City in 1939 and went to work for A&C Clothing Company in Newark where he became vice president in 1946.
During World War II he had served in the United States Army earning the Silver Star. He served in North Africa, Italy and France. Among the first Americans drafted in 1940 a year before Pearl Harbor, he rose from the rank of private and was discharged with the rank of captain and named to the Fort Benning Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame.
In 1948, Addonizio ran for and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat, representing New Jersey's 11th congressional district. He resigned his seat on June 30, 1962, to run for mayor of Newark. He ran on a reform platform, defeating what he characterized as the corrupt political machine of Leo P. Carlin, who had been mayor since 1953.
Addonizio served as mayor from 1962 until 1970 when he lost his reelection bid. A state investigation into his administration on the heels of the 1967 riots, which occurred during his tenure, led to the discovery that Addonizio and other city officials were taking kickbacks from city contractors. Addonizio was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey and convicted of corruption after leaving office.
Much of the corruption became public when he was convicted, along with five others working in or through his administration, of "literally delivering the city into the hands of organized crime," according to former U.S. District Judge Herbert J. Stern.
His two immediate successors as Mayor were also eventually convicted of corruption-related crimes.
Addonizio was interred in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover.
Read more about this topic: Hugh Joseph Addonizio
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“The best part of a writer’s biography is not the record of his adventures but the story of his style.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)