Rudy Giuliani

Out Of The Running — AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announces he is leaving the presidential race and endorsing Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a news conference before a Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008.

America's Mayor

When two planes flew into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, Rudy Giuliani, who was nearing the end of his last term as mayor of New York City (and seemed to have outworn his welcome even with his political allies), was transformed into ... America's Mayor. Flanked by Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Hillary Clinton on Sept. 12, the mayor tried to "communicate a message of calm and hope." The public responded.

Presidential Bid

Rudolph Giuliani, 63, was a former federal prosecutor, lawyer, mayor, No. 1 Yankee fan, opera buff, Senate campaign drop-out, combative New Yorker, before Sept. 11. Afterwards, he became a symbol, a lecturer, an author, the head of a lucrative consulting business and of a law firm -- and, starting in February 2007, a declared candidate for president of the United States. It had been an unusual journey.

Brooklyn-Born

Rudolph Giuliani was born May 28, 1944, in Brooklyn, and raised on Long Island, though he commuted back to attend Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. He is pictured on the weight-lifting team in 1960. His father Harold, a bartender, had served time in Sing-Sing prison for robbery and assault. Giuliani said he did not know this until reporters unearthed it. He's said his father kept him honest.

Democrat And Doctor, Priest

Giuliani's yearbook from his parochial school, left, shows the journey he took -- he had planned to become a doctor (later a priest), and was an enthusiastic Democrat. At Manhattan College, right, where he was the president of his fraternity, Phi Rho Pi, he majored in political science. He went on to New York University School of Law and became a Republican.

Prosecutor

For some 15 years -- under the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations -- Giuliani was a federal prosecutor. He was serving as the associate attorney general (No. 3 at the Department of Justice) when this picture was taken in 1982. Giuliani first got public attention as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan from 1983 to 1989, with several high-profile mob and white-collar cases among his more than 4,000 convictions.

Mayor

In a city where Democrats outnumbered Republicans five to one, Giuliani was nevertheless able to win the mayoralty in 1993 on his second attempt. Accompanied by his wife and two children, he was sworn in by good friend and former colleague Mike Mukasey, who 14 years later was confirmed as U.S. attorney general.

Crime Fighter, Part II

In the eight years in which he was mayor, overall crime fell by 57 percent, and New York City, long seen as dangerous, was designated by FBI statistics as the safest large city in the U.S. Giuliani also boasts of cutting the welfare rolls by 60 percent, and of reducing taxes. But by his second term, his abrasive manner had antagonized many constituents.

"Giuliani Time"

Critics protested the mayor's racial insensitivity after such incidents as the torture in a Brooklyn police station of Abner Louima, and the deaths of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant shot 41 times by police, and of Patrick Dorismond, also unarmed. Giuliani released Dorismond's sealed juvenile record and said he "was no altar boy" (though actually he had been). The mayor refused even to meet black leaders.

Senate Candidate

In 2000, Giuliani declared himself a candidate for the United States Senate, planning to run against Hillary Clinton. Here they are both at St. Patrick's Cathedral attending the funeral for John Cardinal O'Connor on May 8, 2000.

Senate Drop-Out: Disease, Divorce

Just a little later in 2000, the mayor underwent a startling -- and very public -- series of reversals. He announced he had prostate cancer, that he was dropping out of the U.S. Senate race, and that he was separating from his second wife, having connected with Judith Nathan, a nurse. His wife of 16 years, Donna Hanover Giuliani (pictured), found out about the separation through his televised announcement.

State Of The City

In his last State of the City address in February 2001, Giuliani enumerated the ways he had revived the city, including "the creation of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management" preparing for "possible terrorist acts ..." He chose as a backdrop for his presentation a photograph of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Seven months later, they were destroyed.

Attack

The day after the attack, Giuliani surveyed the damage at the site, top left, and, top right, comforted Anita Deblase, whose son, James Deblase, 44, worked in the building, and was missing. "He's at the bottom of the rubble," she said. Over the next couple of weeks, the mayor attended a memorial mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, held press conferences, toured ground zero with many visitors, here Henry Kissinger.

America's Mourner

Giuliani was seen as chief mourner and chief comforter. Here he bows in prayer before a press conference a week after the attack. "My father had always told me to remain calm in a crisis," he wrote later. "I did my best to let out the sadness and anger within me during brief moments, in private."

Reaction To Rudy

Giuliani's performance in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks was heralded at home, across the country, and around the world. New Yorkers were grateful; others treated him as the embodiment of New York. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth (the Queen gave Bernard Kerik a similar honor); presented with the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award by Nancy Reagan; asked to address the United Nations; hailed as a "Tower of Strength."

2004 Republican Convention

He founded Giuliani Partners, which advises governments and companies. At the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, he ridiculed John Kerry, and supported George W. Bush -- e.g. "In any plan to destroy global terrorism, Saddam Hussein needed to be removed." His speech focused exclusively on the fight against terrorism.

Leadership Vs. Curse

Giuliani's pitch for the presidency is his "Leadership" -- the title of his 2002 book. But no New York City mayor has ever gone on to become president of the United States. Indeed, more have been indicted than won higher office. Former Mayor Ed Koch ran unsuccessfully for governor. (Koch, incidentally, wrote a book entitled "Giuliani, Nasty Man"). Giuliani has been distancing himself from NYC in several ways.

Gun Control Position?

Giuliani interrupted his speech to the NRA in September to take a cell phone call from his wife. No wonder. As mayor, Giuliani had dismissed the NRA as "extremists," pushed for a ban on assault weapons, and filed a lawsuit against the nation's gun manufacturing industry, saying it "profits from the suffering of innocent people." He now says he supports the right of "every law-abiding American ... to keep and bear arms."

Gender Confusion?

Giuliani appeared in drag at the Inner Circle show in 2000, a fundraising event by City Hall reporters. At the Republican debate in Orlando on Oct. 21, 2007, he made a joke at New Yorkers' expense. Explaining his position on marriage, he said: "I did 210 weddings when I was mayor of New York City ... They were all men and women. I hope. You got to give me a little slack here. It was New York City, you know."

Social Issue Makeover

Though the former mayor still has a reputation for being liberal on social issues (or at least the most liberal in the Republican field), conservative evangelical leader Pat Robertson endorsed him on Nov. 7, 2007, based on the assurance that Giuliani would appoint justices similar to Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito.