Herman Badillo Papers, 1966–1970

Herman Badillo was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, in August 1929, the son of Francisco Badillo and Carmen (Rivera) Badillo. A tuberculosis epidemic claimed the lives of both of his parents and Badillo moved to New York City with his aunt at the age of eleven. In 1951, he earned a B.A. degree from City College of New York, and in 1954 he received an LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School. The following year he was admitted to the bar and then practiced law in New York City. He worked as an accountant while he was in law school and became a C.P.A. in 1956. In 1961, he married Irma Deutsch. In 1962, Mayor Robert Wagner appointed him Commissioner of the Department of Relocation, a post he held until 1965, when he was elected Bronx Borough President, remaining in this office until 1970. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York in 1969. He tried again in 1973, but finished in second place.

In 1970, Badillo was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 21st District in the South Bronx. He was the first Congressman born in Puerto Rico to represent a district in the continental United States. He was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses. During his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives he gained a seat on the Committee on Education and Labor, where he worked on legislation on behalf of his district, where at the time 48% of the people spoke English as a second language. Through his efforts, job training for unemployed non-English-speaking citizens was included in the Comprehensive Manpower Act of 1973. He supported numerous legislative initiatives to establish community development programs, and he labored to expand educational opportunities by proposing tax credits for educational expenses, as well as provisions aimed at encouraging disadvantaged youth to pursue careers in the health professions. Badillo also supported legislation intended to fight various forms of discrimination, including employment discrimination on the basis of age and marital status. In addition, he supported energy conservation programs and incentive programs to promote the commercial application of solar energy and renewable resources.

Badillo resigned his congressional seat in 1977 to become Deputy Mayor of New York City, a post he held until September 1979. After tendering his resignation as Deputy Mayor, Badillo resumed the practice of law in New York City. He also served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the State of New York Mortgage Agency, 1984–1986, and ran for the office of city Comptroller (1986) and, successively, Mayor and Comptroller in 1993.

In spite of the good Badillo was able to do in the various offices he held, it is important to note that some of the policies he supported, particularly ones geared toward the creation of “free enterprise zones” in The Bronx, were in fact at times utterly detrimental to the people who lived in the poorest areas of the borough. This is documented, for instance, in the Mel Rosenthal papers.

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