Preceded by Leo P. Carlin Political party Democratic Party Education Fordham University Succeeded by Joseph Minish Role Politician Battles and wars World War II | Preceded by Frank Sundstrom Name Hugh Addonizio Awards Silver Star Succeeded by Kenneth A. Gibson Alma mater Fordham University Party Democratic Party | |
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Born January 31, 1914
Newark, New Jersey ( 1914-01-31 ) Died February 2, 1981, Red Bank, New Jersey, United States | ||
Service/branch United States Army | ||
Hugh Joseph Addonizio (January 31, 1914 in Newark, New Jersey – February 2, 1981 in Red Bank, New Jersey) was an Italian-American Democratic Party politician, who was the 33rd Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, from 1962 to 1970, and a U.S. Congressman for 13 years before that.
Biography
He graduated from Fordham University in New York City in 1939 and went to work for A&C Clothing Company in Newark where he became vice president in 1946.
During World War II he had served in the United States Army earning the Silver Star. He served in North Africa, Italy and France. Among the first Americans drafted in 1940 a year before Pearl Harbor, he rose from the rank of private and was discharged with the rank of captain and named to the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame at Fort Benning.
In 1948, Addonizio ran for and won a seat in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat, representing New Jersey's 11th congressional district. He resigned his seat on June 30, 1962, to run for mayor of Newark. He ran on a reform platform, defeating what he characterized as the corrupt political machine of Leo P. Carlin, who had been mayor since 1953.
Addonizio served as mayor from 1962 until 1970 when he lost his reelection bid. A state investigation into his administration on the heels of the 1967 Newark riots, which occurred during his tenure, led to the discovery that Addonizio and other city officials were taking kickbacks from city contractors. In December 1969, Addonizio and nine present or former officials of the municipal administration in Newark were indicted by a Federal grand jury; five other persons were also indicted. In July 1970, the former mayor, and four other defendants, were found guilty by a federal jury on 64 counts each, one of conspiracy and 63 of extortion. In September 1970, Addonizio was sentenced to ten years in federal prison and fined $25,000 by U.S. District Court Judge George Herbert Barlow for his role in a plot that involved the extortion of $1.5 million in kickbacks, a crime that the judge said "tore at the very heart of our civilized society and our form of representative government".
Addonizio was interred in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover.