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Fiorello La Guardia
(11 Dec 1882 - 20 Sep 1947)
American politician and lawyer who was a three-term Mayor of New York City (1933-45). He had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives during and after WW I.
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Science Quotes by Fiorello La Guardia (5 quotes)
Fiorello La Guardia
detail from a photo taken reading from a paper to the radio audience of WNYC (23 Mar 1940) (source)
detail from a photo taken reading from a paper to the radio audience of WNYC (23 Mar 1940) (source)
I am sorry that the distinguished leader of the Republican Party in the House states that he is not versed in botany and publicly admits that he does not know anything of these terms or what it is all about; but, Mr. Chairman, it is indeed a sad day for the people of this country when we must close the doors of the laboratories doing research work for the people of the United States.
— Fiorello La Guardia
Speaking (28 Dec 1932) as a member of the 72nd Congress, early in the Great Depression, in opposition to an attempt to eliminate a small amount from the agricultural appropriation bill. As quoted in 'Mayor-Elect La Guardia on Research', Science (1933), New Series, 78, No. 2031, 511.
Science knows no politics. Are we in this frenzy of [the Depression] economy, brought about by those who control the wealth of this country, seeking to put a barrier on science and research for the paltry sum of $39,113 out of an appropriation of $100,000,000?
— Fiorello La Guardia
Speaking (28 Dec 1932) as a member of the 72nd Congress, early in the Great Depression, in opposition to an attempt to eliminate a small amount from the agricultural appropriation bill. As quoted in 'Mayor-Elect La Guardia on Research', Science (1933), New Series, 78, No. 2031, 510-511. Also in A. Hunter Dupree, under subtitle 'Impact of the Great Depression' in Science in the Federal Government: A History of Policies and Activities to 1940, 344.
Statistics are like alienists—they will testify for either side.
— Fiorello La Guardia
In 'The Banking Investigation', Liberty Magazine (13 May 1933). As cited in Elyse Sommer (ed.), Similes Dictionary (2013), 220. [Alienism is an obsolete term for psychiatry, the study and treatment of mental illnesses, and is seen for a physician who evaluates the competence of defendants to stand trial. —Webmaster]
The gentleman [Mr. Taber] from New York says [agricultural research] is all foolish. Yes; it was foolish when Burbank was experimenting with wild cactus. It was foolish when the Wright boys went down to Kitty Hawk and had a contraption there that they were going to fly like birds. It was foolish when Robert Fulton tried to put a boiler into a sail boat and steam it up the Hudson. It was foolish when one of my ancestors thought the world was round and discovered this country so that the gentleman from New York could become a Congressman. (Laughter.) ... Do not seek to stop progress; do not seek to put the hand of politics on these scientific men who are doing a great work. As the gentleman from Texas points out, it is not the discharge of these particular employees that is at stake, it is all the work of investigation, of research, of experimentation that has been going on for years that will be stopped and lost.
— Fiorello La Guardia
Speaking (28 Dec 1932) as a member of the 72nd Congress, early in the Great Depression, in opposition to an attempt to eliminate a small amount from the agricultural appropriation bill. As quoted in 'Mayor-Elect La Guardia on Research', Science (1933), New Series, 78, No. 2031, 511.
The most humble research scientist in the Department of Agriculture is at this time contributing more to this country than the most useful member of Congress.
— Fiorello La Guardia
Speaking (29 Dec 1932) as a member of the 72nd Congress, early in the Great Depression, in opposition to curtailing the agricultural appropriation. As quoted in 'Mayor-Elect La Guardia on Research', Science (1933), New Series, 78, No. 2031, 511. Also in A. Hunter Dupree, under subtitle 'Impact of the Great Depression' in Science in the Federal Government: A History of Policies and Activities to 1940, 344.
See also:
- Support for Scientific Research - Fiorello La Guardia quotes from his speech as a Congressman (1932)
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
