Mario Cuomo funeral brings progressives together

Cuomo's son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, and others gather to mourn the loss of a liberal icon.

|
Seth Wenig/AP
Former United States President Bill Clinton arrives for Mario Cuomo's funeral at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. Cuomo, 82, died in his Manhattan home on Jan I, 2015, hours after his son New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was inaugurated for a second term.

Former Gov. Mario Cuomo's legacy as a liberal champion and powerful orator was remembered at his funeral Tuesday by one who knew him best — Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his son.

"At his core, he was a philosopher. He was a poet. He was an advocate. He was a crusader. Mario Cuomo was the keynote speaker for our better angels," the younger Cuomo said in a eulogy that spanned his father's background as the son of immigrants, his biggest speeches and his basketball prowess.

The former three-term governor — who flirted with but never made a presidential run and turned down an opportunity to be nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court — died Thursday, hours after his son was inaugurated for a second term.

Dignitaries including Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mayor Bill de Blasio gathered to mourn the 82-year-old Democratic Party icon and to honor his legacy.

Dozens of police officers stood at attention in front of St. Ignatius Loyola Church, and a pipe and drum corps played solemnly as Cuomo's casket was carried inside. Pallbearers included Cuomo's younger son, CNN newscaster Chris Cuomo.

On Monday, hundreds waited in a line that stretched more than a block at Cuomo's wake. Vice President Joe Biden, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and actor Alan Alda were among those who paid tribute.

As governor from 1983 to 1994, Cuomo was recognized for his eloquence and for powerful appeals for social justice that blended liberal ideals with his life experience as the son of an Italian immigrant grocer.

He was known for his deliberations over running for president, which earned him the nickname "Hamlet on the Hudson." He came close to running in 1988 and 1992 but decided against it.

Why? "Because he didn't want to" and loved being governor, Andrew Cuomo said in a heartfelt speech that mixed political legacy, personal memories of his "Pops" and calls to move the state forward in his father's footsteps.

Cuomo was most remembered for a speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, where he focused on an America divided between haves and have-nots and scolded Republican President Ronald Reagan for not working to close that gap.

Cuomo "had a natural connection with the outsider looking in," Andrew Cuomo said. "He was always the son of an immigrant. He was always the outsider. And that was his edge."

As governor, the elder Cuomo cut taxes and trimmed the state workforce, Andrew Cuomo noted.

"My father called himself a progressive pragmatist. ... His goals were progressive, but his means were pragmatic," he said.

Andrew Cuomo recalled his father's drive, which he said was on full display on the basketball court. "It was his liberation," Cuomo recalled. "He was competitive by nature. You opposed him at your own peril."

The younger Cuomo shares much of his father's competitiveness and is known as a guarded, calculating leader. Tuesday's eulogy provided a much more personal glimpse of a man mourning his father.

"There were moments when there wasn't a dry eye in the church," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel.

Cuomo said he regrets not leaving Washington, where he was then an assistant secretary of housing and urban development, to help on his father's unsuccessful bid for a fourth term in 1994. Winning that office for himself in 2010 was a victory he cherished more for his father's sake than his own, Andrew Cuomo said.

Mario Cuomo joined his son on the stage at the party celebrating his re-election last fall, but he was too ill to attend his inaugural the day he died. Andrew Cuomo ended the eulogy by vowing to follow his father's example.

"We know what we have to do, and we will do it: We will make this state a better state, and we will do it together," he said. "On that, you have my word as your son."

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Mario Cuomo funeral brings progressives together
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2015/0106/Mario-Cuomo-funeral-brings-progressives-together
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe