September 16, 1992: Thousands of off-duty police officers crowd in front of New York’s City Hall to protest against Mayor David Dinkins.
The cops were there to oppose a bill that would have removed the police from the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board, an oversight body that handled allegations of police misconduct, and, crucially, would have made it independent of the Police Department itself. Faced with the prospect of potentially greater civilian accountability, New York City police officers took their anger to the streets.
"The cops held up several of the most crude drawings of Dinkins, black, performing perverted sex acts," Jimmy Breslin, the great New York newspaper columnist then working for Newsday, who was present at the riot, wrote. "'Now you got a n****r right inside City Hall,' one officer reportedly said," Breslin continued. "'How do you like that? A n****r mayor.'" Other officers chanted slogans like "Dinkins gotta go!" and "The mayor's on crack!"
"The mayor doesn’t know why the morale of the New York City Police Department is so low," he said, jabbing his finger in the air. "He blames it on me, he blames it on you. The reason the morale of the Police Department of the City of New York is so low is one reason and one reason alone: David Dinkins!"
Giuliani had risen to fame in the mid-1980s, as a U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, prosecuting criminals both low-class, like the Mafia, and high-class, like Wall Street insider traders. He ran for Mayor in 1989, and it was close: Dinkins, then the Borough President of Manhattan, won 50.4 percent of the vote, while Giuliani won 47.8. Dinkins' margin of victory was 47,080, and he became the City's 1st black Mayor.
Crime, rising in New York ever since World War II, peaked in 1990, then started to go down. But events such as the Crown Heights riot of 1991, and the New York media's twisting of events to favor their conservative owners, made Dinkins look like he didn't care about white people. In 1993, Giuliani won a rematch, getting 49.2 percent of the vote, Dinkins 46.4. Giuliani won by 53,367 votes, becoming the City's 1st Republican Mayor elected since John Lindsay in 1965, and its 1st Italian Mayor since Fiorello La Guardia was last elected in 1941.
What made the difference? Giuliani gained 28,000 votes in Brooklyn, 26,000 in Staten Island, 21,000 in Manhattan, 17,000 in Queens, and 8,000 in The Bronx. So it was a Republican get-out-the-vote effort in Staten Island, the whitest, most conservative Borough; but it was also fear of white liberals in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In particular, Jewish votes in both of those Boroughs shifted. Giuliani particularly pandered to Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, led by State Senator Dov Hikind, officially a Democrat, but a very conservative man.
Giuliani never acknowledged or condemned the racism of the 1992 police riot. And his Administration, from January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2001, would have some notorious examples of police brutality. After leaving office, without having to face the voters again, he drifted even further to the right, eventually providing legal counsel for Donald Trump, causing him, as of September 16, 2022, to need legal counsel of his own.
UPDATE: As Jamelle Bouie put it in a column for the August 18, 2023 edition of The New York Times, "The line from 'America's mayor' to indicted co-conspirator is a straight one. The answer to What happened to Rudy Giuliani? is Nothing happened. He is the same man he’s always been."
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September 16, 1992 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 9-6 at Yankee Stadium. Don Mattingly went 3-for-5, but Sterling Hitchcock was knocked out of the box in the 3rd inning. and Curt Young barely finished the 5th.
* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-4 at Shea Stadium.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds went 2-for-5.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bob Zupcic grounded into a fielder's choice to get the winning run home in the bottom of the 15th inning. Wade Boggs did not play. Paul Molitor went 3-for-7 with an RBI, but Robin Yount went 0-for-5 with 2 walks.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-0 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Mike Mussina pitched a 4-hit shutout. Cal Ripken went 3-for-4.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-3 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers, 4-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-9 at Wrigley Field in Chicaog.
* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
* And the California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Luis Sojo singled home the winning run in the top of the 13th inning. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4 with a walk, and was hit with a pitch.
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