Early and middle career While maintaining a private law practice from 1956 to 1975, Dinkins rose through the Democratic Party organization in Harlem, beginning at the Carver Democratic Club under the aegis of
J. Raymond Jones. He became part of an influential group of African American politicians that included
Denny Farrell,
Percy Sutton,
Basil Paterson, and
Charles Rangel; the latter three together with Dinkins were known as the "
Gang of Four". Dinkins was one of fifty African American investors who helped Sutton found
Inner City Broadcasting Corporation in 1971. Dinkins briefly represented the 78th District of the
New York State Assembly in
1966. From 1972 to 1973, he was president of the
New York City Board of Elections. In late 1973, he was poised to take office as New York City's first Black
deputy mayor in the administration of Mayor-elect
Abraham D. Beame; however, the appointment was not effectuated amid "difficulties that stemmed from [Dinkins's] failure to pay federal, state or city personal income taxes for four years." Instead, he served as city clerk (characterized by
Robert D. McFadden as a "patronage appointee who kept marriage licenses and municipal records") from 1975 to 1985. He was elected
Manhattan borough president in 1985 on his third run for that office.
On November 7, 1989, Dinkins was elected mayor of New York City. In the Democratic primary, he defeated three-term incumbent mayor
Ed Koch and two others, and then defeated Republican nominee
Rudy Giuliani in the general election. During his campaign, Dinkins sought the blessing and endorsement of Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the
Lubavitcher Rebbe. Dinkins was elected in the wake of a corruption scandal that stemmed from the decline of longtime Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman and preeminent New York City political leader
Meade Esposito's
American Mafia-influenced patronage network. This scandal ultimately precipitated the suicide of Queens Borough President
Donald Manes and a series of criminal convictions among the city's Democratic leadership. In March 1989, the
Supreme Court of the United States declared the
New York City Board of Estimate (which served as the primary governing instrument of various patronage networks for decades, often superseding the mayoralty in influence) was unconstitutional under the
Fourteenth Amendment's
Equal Protection Clause. This legal ruling prompted the empanelment of the
New York City Charter Revision Commission, which abolished the Board of Estimate. The Revision Commission assigned most of the Board's responsibilities to an enlarged
New York City Council, which was endorsed by a referendum in November. Koch, the presumptive Democratic nominee, was politically damaged by his administration's ties to the Esposito network and his handling of racial issues, exemplified by his fealty to affluent interests in predominantly white areas of Manhattan. This enabled Dinkins to attenuate public perceptions of his previous patronage appointments and emerge as a formidable, reform-minded challenger to Koch. Additionally, the fact that Dinkins was African American helped him to avoid criticism that he was ignoring the Black vote by campaigning to whites. While a large turnout of African American voters was important to his election, Dinkins campaigned throughout the city.
Mayoralty Crime , Secretary of Defense
Dick Cheney; Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Colin Powell, and General
Norman Schwarzkopf Dinkins entered office in January 1990 pledging racial healing, and famously referred to New York City's demographic diversity as "
not a melting pot, but a gorgeous mosaic". The crime rate in New York City had risen alarmingly during the 1980s, and the rate of homicide in particular reached an all-time high of 2,245 cases during 1990, the first year of the Dinkins administration. The rates of most crimes, including all categories of violent crime, then declined during the remainder of his four-year term. That ended a 30-year upward spiral and initiated a trend of falling rates that continued and accelerated beyond his term. However, the high absolute levels, the peak early in his administration, and the only modest decline subsequently (
homicide down 12% from 1990 to 1993) resulted in Dinkins's suffering politically from the perception that crime remained out of control on his watch. Dinkins in fact initiated a hiring program that expanded the police department nearly 25%.
The New York Times reported, "He obtained the State Legislature's permission to dedicate a tax to hire thousands of police officers, and he fought to preserve a portion of that anticrime money to keep schools open into the evening, an award-winning initiative that kept tens of thousands of teenagers off the street." Dinkins's term was marked by a greater push toward accountability and oversight regarding police misconduct, which led to friction between Dinkins and the city's
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA). In 1992, Dinkins proposed a bill to change the leadership of the
Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the oversight body that examined complaints of police misconduct, from half-cop–half-civilian to all civilian and make it independent of the New York Police Department. Following the
Washington Heights Riot, fueled by the beating of Jose "Kiko" Garcia, an undocumented
Dominican immigrant, by a police officer, Dinkins attempted to defuse tensions by inviting Garcia's family to
Gracie Mansion. This gesture outraged the city's PBA, who claimed Dinkins's actions showed favoritism toward Garcia and bias against the police. To condemn Dinkins's position on policing, the city PBA organized a
protest on September 16, 1992. Nearly 4,000 off-duty police officers blocked traffic on the
Brooklyn Bridge. The protesters knocked over police barricades and attempted to rush
City Hall while the nearly 300 uniformed on-duty officers did little to control the riot. Despite the riot and public objections from the PBA, the CCRB was reorganized and made independent from the police department in July 1993.
Dealmaking Dinkins was rebuffed in his attempt to end the
licensing of locksmiths. During his final days in office, Dinkins made last-minute negotiations with the sanitation workers, presumably to preserve the public status of garbage removal. Giuliani, who had defeated Dinkins in the 1993 mayoral race, blamed Dinkins for a "cheap political trick" when Dinkins planned the resignation of
Victor Gotbaum, Dinkins's appointee on the board of education, thus guaranteeing Gotbaum's replacement six months in office. Dinkins also signed a last-minute 99-year lease with the
USTA National Tennis Center. By negotiating a fee for New York City based on the event's gross income, the Dinkins administration made a deal with the
US Open that brings more economic benefit to the City of New York each year than the
New York Yankees,
New York Mets,
New York Knicks, and
New York Rangers combined.
Other longterm matters Dinkins's term was marked by polarizing events such as the
Family Red Apple boycott, a boycott of a Korean-owned grocery in
Flatbush, Brooklyn, and the
1991 Crown Heights riot. When
Lemrick Nelson was acquitted of murdering
Yankel Rosenbaum during the
Crown Heights riots, Dinkins said, "I have no doubt that in this case the criminal-justice system has operated fairly and openly." Later he wrote in his memoirs, "I continue to fail to understand that verdict." Mayor Dinkins visited Israel as a sign of support. The Dinkins administration was adversely affected by a declining economy, which led to lower tax revenue and budget shortfalls. Nevertheless, Dinkins's mayoralty was marked by a number of significant achievements. Factors in his loss were his perceived indifference to the plight of the Jewish community during the Crown Heights riot, a strong turnout for Giuliani in
Staten Island (a referendum on
Staten Island's secession from New York was placed on the ballot that year by Democratic Governor
Mario Cuomo and the
New York State Legislature), ==Later career==