Editing Abraham Beame (section)

==Mayor of New York City==
[[File:Secretary of H.U.D. Patricia Harris, Jimmy Carter and New York Mayor Abraham Beame tour the South Bronx. - NARA - 176392.jpg|thumb|right|Beame tours the [[South Bronx]] with President [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development|H.U.D. Secretary]] [[Patricia Roberts Harris]] in 1977]]

Beame won the [[New York City mayoral elections#1973|1973 Democratic mayoral primary]] with 34% of the vote, ahead of [[Herman Badillo]] (29%), [[Mario Biaggi]] (24%), and [[Albert H. Blumenthal]] (16%).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/24/archives/biaggi-still-holds-the-key-primary.html|title=Primary Biaggi Still Holds The Key|date=June 24, 1973|work=The New York Times}}</ref> He defeated State Senator [[John J. Marchi]], Blumenthal, and Biaggi in the [[1973 New York City mayoral election|1973 mayoral election]], becoming the 104th mayor of New York City.<ref name=remarks /><ref>{{cite web|title=New York City Mayoral Election 1973|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=79305|access-date=April 16, 2014|publisher=Our Campaigns}}</ref> Beame is usually considered the city's first Jewish mayor.<ref name="rhill2">{{cite web|title=New York City's first Jewish mayor|url=http://www.richmondhillhistory.org/abeame.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010803145113/http://richmondhillhistory.org/abeame.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 3, 2001|access-date=March 23, 2016|website=Richmond Hill Historical Society}}</ref>{{efn|Some consider [[Fiorello LaGuardia]] to be New York City's first Jewish mayor. LaGuardia practiced [[Episcopalianism]], but his mother was a non-practicing Jew, making him Jewish according to [[rabbinic Judaism]].<ref name="r086">{{cite web | title='The Great Mayor' | website=The New York Times | date=2003-06-29 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/books/chapters/the-great-mayor.html | access-date=2024-10-13}}</ref><ref name="u474">{{cite web | last=Green | first=David B. | title=1973: A Jewish Mayor for New York City | website=Haaretz.com | date=2012-11-06 | url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2012-11-06/ty-article/1973-new-york-gets-a-jewish-mayor/0000017f-e959-d639-af7f-e9df47260000 | access-date=2024-10-13}}</ref>}}

===Fiscal crisis of 1975===
{{Main|1975 New York City fiscal crisis}}
Beame entered office facing the [[1975 New York City fiscal crisis|worst fiscal crisis]] in the city's history and spent most of his term attempting to ward off bankruptcy. Soon after being sworn in as mayor, Beame slashed the city workforce, froze salaries, and reconfigured the budget, which proved unsatisfactory until reinforced by actions from newly created state-sponsored entities and the granting of federal funds.

In October 1975, the city of New York was in debt of $453 million. Beame made a statement on October 17 that the city had insufficient cash on hand to meet its debt obligations for that day. He added that New York City citizens needed to take immediate steps to protect the city's essential life support systems and to preserve their well-being. President [[Gerald Ford]] at first turned down New York's request for a loan, inspiring the legendary ''[[New York Daily News|Daily News]]'' headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead", but Ford later approved federal support for New York.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Nussbaum|first=Jeff|date=October 16, 2015|title=The Night New York Saved Itself From Bankruptcy|magazine=The New Yorker|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-night-new-york-saved-itself-from-bankruptcy|access-date=December 7, 2020}}</ref>
===Blackout of 1977===
{{Main|New York City blackout of 1977}}
On the evening of July 13, 1977, a [[New York City blackout of 1977|massive power failure]] hit the city. With temperatures in the mid-nineties Fahrenheit and the humidity high, New Yorkers sweltered. By the time power was restored at 10:39&nbsp;p.m. the next night, the city had been without power for 25 hours. Beame set up a Blackout Action Center at the New York City Police Department headquarters. The blackout resulted in raw sewage washing up on beaches and spoiled food in hundreds or thousands of restaurants around the city.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Imperato|first=Pascal|date=August 1, 2016|title=Public Health Concerns Associated with the New York City Blackout of 1977|journal=Journal of Community Health|volume=41|issue=4|pages=707–716|doi=10.1007/s10900-016-0206-6|pmid=27220853|s2cid=8004028}}</ref>

After a chaotic four years as mayor, Beame ran for a second term in 1977, and finished third in the Democratic [[Partisan primary|primary]], behind Representative [[Ed Koch]] and [[New York Secretary of State]] [[Mario Cuomo]], and ahead of former Representative [[Bella Abzug]], Representative [[Herman Badillo]] and Manhattan Borough President [[Percy Sutton]]. He was succeeded by Koch, who won the [[1977 New York City mayoral election|general election on November 8, 1977]].<ref name="baruch" />

When Beame left office on January 1, 1978, the city budget had a surplus of $200 million.<ref name=remarks /> There was a $1.5 billion deficit when Beame took office.<ref name="baruch" />

A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts by Melvin G. Holli of the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] ranked Beame as the 14th-worst American big-city mayor to serve between 1820 and 1993.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Holli | first = Melvin G. | title = The American Mayor | publisher = PSU Press | year = 1999 | location = University Park | url = https://archive.org/details/americanmayorbes0000holl | isbn = 0-271-01876-3 }}</ref>

===Later career===
Beame worked in investment advising after leaving office.<ref name = NYTobit/>