Capital New York

Dolan at the conclave, and the triumph of 'Americanism'

Today, in Europe, the relationship between church and state is much closer to the American model that it is to the Europe of Leo’s youth in the early 19th Century. Americanism, in that sense, is triumphant. More

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By Terry Golway

A shooting Ed Koch never got over

As New York bids farewell to Ed Koch, there will be more re-telling of old stories about this colorful, cantankerous, hilarious, and combative figure from a time that seems so very distant and yet was only yesterday, for some of us, anyway. More

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By Terry Golway

The case of St. Dorothy says more about the sad state of political discourse than it does about Catholic 'strategy'

For the record, conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan publicly disagreed with President George W. Bush on capital punishment and the invasion of Iraq. Nobody thought this was particularly noteworthy. But advocating for Dorothy Day? What's that all about? More

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By Terry Golway

The great mirthologist: Why Hugh Carey was one of the best governors ever

Hugh Carey had a word for a certain style of politics. He called it “mirthology.” He applied it to one of his political heroes, Al Smith, the great New York governor in the 1920s who was quick with a disarming, humorous story or a witty comeback to a political attack. More

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By Terry Golway

A Lindsay moment for Bloomberg, but not a Lindsay legacy

In the aftermath of the great post-Christmas blizzard of 2010, the media introduced John V. Lindsay to a generation of New Yorkers with no memory of the great snow debacle of 1969. Lindsay, who presided over New York from 1965 to 1973 and who died in 2000, found himself hip-deep in trouble when Queens residents were snowed in for days and the mayor himself got stuck several times while surveying what appeared to be the wreckage of his political career. (He was up for re-election later that year.) More

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By Terry Golway

A Cuomo dynasty, not a Cuomo sequel

Andrew Cuomo is about to become the first child of a New York governor to win election as the state’s chief executive.

Dynastic politics may be as un-republican as royal weddings and crown jewels, but as the old electoral concept of name recognition morphs into the more insidious notion of “branding,” New Yorkers seem less offended by familial succession than they were years ago. More

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By Terry Golway

New York Historical: Michael Bloomberg, temporary savior of the arts

As the city’s chief executive and its leading patron of the arts, Michael Bloomberg is a 21st Century version of Lorenzo de Medici, the Florentine prince who helped finance his city’s Renaissance half a millennium ago. Lorenzo the Magnificent, as he was known to his close friends, used his private fortune and his public office to foster the arts and nurture the talents of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. (Something to think about: Were it not for Lorenzo’s patronage policies, da Vinci might have died an obscure man, and Dan Brown might well be just another semi-employed freelancer today.) More

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By Terry Golway