Rudolph Giuliani Interview (page: 2 / 8) Former Mayor of New York City	Print Interview

You entered the U.S. Attorney's office and became a prosecutor shortly after law school. Was that a clear direction you planned to follow while you were in law school?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Rudolph Giuliani: Being a prosecutor, or being an assistant U.S. Attorney, was not a clear direction in law school. It didn't emerge until probably about halfway through law school, when I had a particular professor, Irving Younger, who was an evidence teacher, who had spent a very enjoyable part of his career in the United States Attorney's office. So therefore, his lectures were infected with all these stories of when he was a prosecutor and an assistant U.S. Attorney. And I became friendly with him, and he was my advisor, and that, I think, is the first thing that put in my mind the idea that it would be very, very interesting to be a prosecutor. Because as a young person, it almost seemed kind of harsh. Being a prosecutor sounds like you're going to create difficulties for people. But the reality is that by listening to him and talking to him, I came to the idea that this is when we should really help people. I mean, the reality is that you are dealing with people that do harm to other people, and deterring them from doing it, stopping them from doing it, trying to create more respect for law. I think he's the first one that really, sort of made that turn in my thinking.

[ Key to Success ] Vision

You clerked for a judge after law school. Did he have an influence on you?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Rudolph Giuliani: Judge McMahon was my first real supervisor, boss. My permanent job was as a law clerk to United States Judge Lloyd F. McMahon, and he had a very big influence on me, a dramatic influence. He was a very, very good lawyer. He was a very good teacher, and he enjoyed taking his time teaching his law clerks. And in addition to being a judge, he enjoyed sitting down with his law clerks and giving them almost a seminar on how to be a trial lawyer, and his lessons -- "Four hours of preparation for every one hour in court; anticipate everything that's going to happen" -- the thing that you mentioned earlier, the idea that being a lawyer is wonderful because you can learn everything. He had a library of books that ranged from astronomy to chemistry to biology, because at one time or another as a trial lawyer, he had to learn all those things for the cases that he was involved in. So he helped me develop both as a lawyer and ultimately -- as I point out in my book -- as a leader.

[ Key to Success ] Preparation

What about your father? We've read that he was an influence on your moral education.

Rudolph Giuliani: My father was a very strong influence on me because he was always giving me lessons about how to deal with the difficulties of life. I guess he had a real sense that you've got to prepare your children -- not only for the good things that are going to happen in life -- but the bad and difficult things, because nobody gets through life without difficult things happening. We all have to know how to handle crisis.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. My father used to say to me, "Whenever you get into a jam, whenever you get into a crisis or an emergency, and everybody around you is getting very excited," he said, "You become the calmest person in the room and you'll be able to figure your way out of it, force yourself to be calmer than you feel."

He would give me lots of lessons like that. I think it's from him that I really developed the idea that you've got to find something to do in life that you enjoy, that if you don't find a way to do something as work that is fulfilling and enjoyable, then your life is going to be really sad. So that's what I focused on when I was in college. What will I be good at?

He himself had had some tough times, and even a brush with the law, didn't he?

Rudolph Giuliani: Right. He had a lot of difficulties in his life, which he overcame. I think his mission in life was to make sure that I didn't have those same difficulties. He made sure that I was physically secure, had a good education, had a good set of moral principles. He would spend a lot of time talking about that. In retrospect, knowing more about his life, I can understand why he did that. Sometimes he may have overemphasized it, but now I think I realize why.

What do you suppose led him to make some of those mistakes that he made?

Rudolph Giuliani: Oh, I don't really know. You don't get to know your parents as children or as young people, so you get to know them much later in life. Now I can see why he overemphasized doing what was right, being honest, never taking anything from anyone, being sure you tell the truth, and if you have done anything that you think is wrong, correct it. It was like a whole series of lessons that were emphasized over and over again.

Did he actually do time in jail?

Rudolph Giuliani: He did, yes. I found that out recently.

Rudolph Giuliani Interview, Page: 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8