American Cicero: Mario Cuomo and the Defense of American Liberalism

Was three-term New York governor Mario Cuomo one of the most consequential figures in recent American politics? Readers inclined to answer that question in the negative are unlikely to have their minds changed by this slim and eccentric biography that will get attention mainly for the spectacular claim made in its epilogue, in which Ambar (Malcolm X at Oxford Union) provides a new answer as to why Cuomo never ran for the presidency. Ambar writes that he interviewed the politician’s cousin Maddalena during a trip to Italy in 2012 and that she disclosed that Cuomo “was told by the Mafia—in both America and Italy—that he would end up like John Kennedy” if he sought the White House. Even though Maddalena also claimed, erroneously, that Cuomo was not born in the U.S., Ambar gives her unsupported allegation some weight. Apart from this sensationalism, Ambar seeks to buttress his firm belief that his subject was “the most significant liberal politician to challenge Reaganism in the past 30 years.” But it’s left unclear how successful Cuomo’s challenges were, or what his track record as governor actually amounted to. By giving so much attention to Cuomo’s much-lauded speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, Ambar only reinforces the perception that the governor was more talk than action. (Nov.)