Gotham Gazette

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Money for Rebuilding


From the beginning, 9/11 has been a story about money. Terrorists attacked the Twin Towers because they symbolized finance and power. People from around the world responded to the attack by donating money to charities. The city lost huge amounts of income and revenue and is still struggling as a result. And, as authorities draw closer to deciding on a final design for Ground Zero, some wonder where the money will come from to build whichever plan is chosen. Money remains a much more central question than television and newspaper reports may suggest.

Funding the grand plan for the World Trade Center site is just one of many money troubles left over from 9/11. Politicians fight over the rebuilding funds. Relatives of victims say that the federal funds for compensating the families are being distributed unfairly. And lower Manhattan businesses and residents complain that they are not getting the financial help they need.

After September 11, the federal government set aside $5 billion for victim´s families and agreed to spend over $21 billion to help New York recover. But the attacks´ ultimate costs to the city, in areas like jobs and tourism, will be some five times greater than that – as high as $95 billion, according to city Comptroller William C. Thompson, leaving people with competing plans and needs scrambling for the funds.

How are the city and state going to untangle the confusing mess of 9/11 funds and make sure there is money to pay the most important bills and to build a worthy project where the World Trade Center once stood?

Grand Plans and Empty Coffers

If not exactly a consensus, there is clear movement toward the selection of a design for the World Trade Center site. Rebuilding officials gathered in closed-door meetings last week to discuss the designs for Ground Zero, and announced on February 4 that they had decided on two finalists, Studio Daniel Libeskind and the THINK team.

Libeskind's design exposes the Twin Towers´ original foundations and leaves the hole at Ground Zero for a memorial. The plan has been trumpeted on the New York Times editorial page and in the New York Observer, while the civic group R.Dot, endorsed the Berlin-based Libeskind as the "best man to help rebuild New York's spirit and skyline."

The World Cultural Center plan by the THINK team, with its open steel latticework towers, has also gotten its share of praise. Times critic Herbert Muschamp has said the design is his favorite and called it a "a work of genius, a towering affirmation of humanism in modern times." THINK architect Rafael Viñoly has said that this plan requires a great investment -- as much as $1 billion -- in public spaces, because the towers would not be filled with offices, but with a museum, an amphitheater and other cultural spaces.

But some wonder whether there will be enough money to build either of these plans, and if they make economic sense. World Trade Center lease holder Larry Silverstein could bring billions in insurance money to the rebuilding effort, from $2.4 billion to $3.55 billion to $7.1 billion, depending on how federal judges interpret his insurance agreements, particularly whether they agree with Silverstein that the attack was two separate events. But Silverstein has said that the designs do not fit his requirements, and that he wants to have more of a say in the design for a master plan.

Some have suggested that the Port Authority or the city buy out Silverstein´s lease, but as the New York Times wrote the day after the new plans were released, no developer would necessarily be obligated to build any of the designs. "The demand for office space, which is remarkably weak today, and the nature of the corporations, businesses and institutions that will move into any buildings on the site will have just as great an influence on what the buildings will look like and when they are built" as the architects´ ideas, wrote Charles Bagli.

Bob Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, has said that it will take a decade to fill the 17 million square feet of vacant or available office space that already exists downtown. Yaro advocates spending the next ten years building and improving transportation and public spaces in Lower Manhattan, instead of constructing more office towers.

Funding has been secured for one part of the rebuilding puzzle: $4.55 billion in aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the federal Department of Transportation has been aside to remake lower Manhattan´s transportation system. Washington has agreed to spend some of that money on rebuilding the World Trade Center PATH station. The federal government will also fund a total renovation of the Broadway Nassau subway station near Ground Zero, as well as the new underground concourse that each of the architecture teams included in their designs. Whether the aid will be extended to Mayor Michael Bloomberg´s idea for a direct rail link between downtown and Kennedy Airport is still unresolved.

But Washington won´t release any of the money for transportation projects until there is a transportation plan, one of reasons that officials have been pushing for a quick decision on a master plan for the World Trade Center site. Some also say that businesses will be more likely to invest downtown after they have a better idea the site´s future. "Once everyone is committed to a plan, it´s going to spur even more economic activity than construction itself," Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff told Newsday.

Political Wrangles

"When there is a big pot of money, everybody gets creative," Bloomberg has said about the federal rebuilding funds. And, although the money will not cover all of New York´s losses, there is undoubtedly a lot of it.

New York City´s federal aid package is being distributed by several different agencies. In a September 2002 report, the White House´s Office of Management and Budget described(pdf) how $20.8 billion of the aid will be distributed: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in charge of giving out $8.8 billion, much of which has already been spent or allocated for projects like the cleanup at Ground Zero, Project Liberty crisis counseling and rebuilding lower Manhattan transportation. The federal Department of Transportation has $2.3 billion to distribute. The Empire State Development Corporation and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation are spending $3.7 billion on small business loans and development grants. Another $1 billion will come from other federal agencies for things like job training and reimbursement for hospitals. The package also includes at least $5 billion in tax-free bonds to encourage developers and investors to build in New York City, aid that has gone largely untouched in the city´s current economic climate.

Such money would be coveted in any time, but particularly when the state and city face serious fiscal difficulties. So, for example, Mayor Michael Bloomberg – saying that he needs a new emergency bunker and help paying extra police and fire department costs – has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give him about $690 million that was already promised to other projects.

The federal agency has set aside $800 million for the Port Authority, but Bloomberg suggested that the Port Authority receive just half of that. The mayor also thinks that nearly a third can be shaved from the Federal Emergency Management Agency´s budget to rebuild Fiterman Hall, a Borough of Manhattan Community College building near Ground Zero, and that the Project Liberty counseling project can spare $55 million, since it has had a lower use than expected.

Bloomberg included $1.3 billion in federal funds in the budget for his $10.6 billion vision for lower Manhattan, but he will need to vie with other agencies and even other states to secure the federal money. The mayor had counted on $100 million from the Department of Transportation to be used exclusively for New York City ferry projects. Instead, the department recently pledged $43.4 million of that for New Jersey´s ferry plans.

Meanwhile, in his budget released last week, Governor George Pataki pulled what the Daily News called a "budgetary sleight of hand," and included federal 9/11 disaster funds as part of the total the state is giving to New York City. Critics chided Pataki for taking credit for money that the federal government had already promised the city.

As politicians squabble, funding for a health program for rescue workers is uncertain. President George W. Bush initially included $90 million for the program in his major aid package for the city, but then Democrats shifted the program into a different spending plan. Bush rejected that spending plan outright last August, and the health program didn´t get the funding. Since then, Senator Hillary Clinton and other New York representatives have been lobbying the president and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the health program.

9/11 Scams
In order to reap some of the charity and federal disaster relief money after September 11 2001, people invented brothers, husbands, wives -- one man even posed as his brother in order to report himself killed. A San Diego man collected more than $136,000 from disaster relief agencies after falsely claiming that his wife had died in the attacks. By the time he was indicted, he had gambled away all of the money.

Cassaundrea Montgomery, from Missouri, described her made-up brother Joseph – including his preferred cigarette, Marlboro Light 100s -- in applications for aid from the Red Cross, the September 11th fund, Safe Horizon and the Robin Hood Relief Fund. She said he had gone to the World Trade Center for a job interview on 9/11. Now awaiting a federal court trial, she managed to collect $63,817 before she was caught.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has prosecuted nearly 500 cases of 9/11 fraud, and expects to see several hundred more.

A worker at the city morgue took coffins that charities had donated to 9/11 victims, sold them to funeral homes and pocketed the money. An elderly millionaire who had already begun renovations on her lower Manhattan apartment tried to get federal rebuilding funds and charity money to cover $500,000 in home improvements.

Companies even took advantage of a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that reimbursed people for air filters or vacuums to clean 9/11 dust from their apartments. The companies advertised products as "FEMA approved" and raised prices so that they could keep an extra chunk of the federal rebate as profit.

Unfair Compensation?

On January 25, the families of seven 9/11 victims who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald in the trade center sued Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of the federal fund to compensate victims´ families. They are upset about the way Feinberg has treated family members and say that he is unfairly and illegally calculating families´ awards.

Families who agree not to sue the airlines involved n the September 11 attacks are eligible for federal compensation based on a formula The formula tabulates the amounts of the award using a victim´s age, income and number of dependents. But the lawsuit says that Feinberg is not giving enough to families of victims who were not married and puts a cap on the amount--around $6 million—that any family can receive even if, under the formula, the award should much higher.

Feinberg, who has the unenviable task of assigning a dollar amount to people´s suffering, has made few friends. He earlier aroused fury when a New Yorker profile reported that he said "Staten Island, that´s a Third World country," during a drive to the island for a meeting with victims´ families. Feinberg´s remarks prompted Staten Island Representative Vito Fossella to call for his resignation.

Help for Businesses and Residents

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, used to dealing with tornadoes and floods, has struggled with spending the nearly $9 billion it is in charge of distributing to help New York City recover from September 11. Many of the agency´s programs, now coming to a close, were fraught with glitches, criticisms and calls for extensions. Last November, the agency missed payments on the Albany post office box where New Yorkers had been told to send aid applications. The box closed, and hundreds of applications were stamped "return to sender." The Urban Justice Center analyzed the agency´s awards and found that people from less affluent areas like the Lower East Side and Chinatown applied in fewer numbers and got less help than Tribeca residents.

On January 31, the agency stopped taking applications for one of its most contentious programs, which was set up to help people struggling to pay their home mortgage and rent after September 11. The Federal Emergency Management Agency did not begin publishing brochures for the program in languages other than English until last June, when it relaxed some of the program´s eligibility requirements. Right up until last week´s deadline, advocates for immigrants, local politicians and others called for an extension, saying that not enough people who needed help knew about the program.

The agency´s federal recovery officer, Brad Gair, has said that he is confident the agency reached the people who really needed help. However, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency´s Inspector General´s office did its own review of how well the agency did its job, it concluded that it should have been more flexible and fair when distributing aid after 9/11. The review, released in January, also said that the agency should have worked harder to understand the indirect economic effects of the attacks.

But the Federal Emergency Management Agency is not the only office under fire. Residents and businesses have also criticized the state and city agencies that administer 9/11 programs, saying that people entitled to rebuilding funds cannot always get them because of circumstances beyond their control. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is giving out $281 million in federal funds to tenants near Ground Zero, but people who live in buildings with outstanding fire or building code violations can´t get grants until their landlords make repairs. Meanwhile, 9/11 scam artists have managed to bilk charities and government agencies alike (see box).

The World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program, which stopped taking applications from small businesses at the end of last year, will give out at least $492 billion, $11 million more than the fund actually has in its coffers. The agency in charge of the program, the Empire State Development Corporation, has said it may need to reallocate money from other 9/11 programs to make sure that every qualifying business gets its grant.

But even though the program will give more than it planned, many small businesses say the individual grants are small change compared to actual losses. As of last November, half of the grants given out were for less than $13,000.

While such programs have helped some people and businesses that suffered losses from the attack, their importance will fade in the months ahead, as many cease operation and government and business begin to rebuild downtown. For that to succeed – and for any of the proposed designs to appear on the skyline – business deals and the overall economy could prove more important than any government aid package. Whoever funds the redevelopment projects, assuming anyone does, the story will continue to be about money.

Artists' Visas


"Arts and culture is something that carries with it a patina of goodness and purity, but it can be misused, and it's our job to see if somebody is trying to do that."

So said Stuart Patt, Consular Affairs Bureau, U.S. State Department

New Yorkers tend to take the international arts scene for granted, hardly considering the legal and administrative hurdles that need to be surmounted in order to bring an Iranian film director or a Brazilian dance troupe to our city. Lately, however, producers have had to deal with more headaches than usual to secure visas for visiting foreign artists. The process has become slower and more complicated, which has had a chilling effect on cultural exchange at a time when it is desperately needed.

For foreign artists to work in the U.S., they must apply for s visa. To be approved, they must demonstrate "extraordinary ability in the arts" as evidenced by awards, critical reviews, or professional affiliations. They might also be approved if they are planning to take part in reciprocal exchanges, or if they can be considered "culturally unique," like Balinese puppeteers.

Premium Processing

In response to complaints that the Immigration and Naturalization Service is understaffed and unresponsive -- torn between its mission of enforcing immigration laws and providing services to legal immigrants -- the agency instituted the premium processing service in June 2001. For $1,000, the service guarantees an initial response within 15 days.

The result, however, is ironic. Speedy processing for the few has slowed processing for the rest. According to Heather Watts, director of government affairs at the American Symphony Orchestra League, while normal processing used to take 45 to 60 days, it now takes on average four months, far too long to accommodate many performance schedules. To cope, many orchestras apply as early as allowed by law, six months, and then, if they don't receive an answer and become nervous, pay the premium processing fee. Like most nonprofits, orchestras cannot really afford the added expense, but, according to Watts, "it's the uncertainty that is most frustrating."

In the event of illness or another unforeseen event, a nonprofit can file to expedite the visa process without the $1,000 fee, but they must be able to demonstrate that failure to expedite would result in serious financial harm.

Most arts groups have difficulty proving that a single incident will cause undue harm; the administrative and financial repercussions of the delays tend, rather, to have a cumulative effect. Many applicants also complain that the expedite requests are treated inconsistently by different consulates. Some artists' unions have begun to bargain for lower processing fees for their members, a troubling trend for independent and non-union artists.

Heather Watts and other members of the American Arts Alliance, a consortium of nonprofits arts service organizations, are lobbying Congress to reduce the maximum period of certain categories of visas to 30 days and to standardize the implementation of the expedite rule. However, the concerns of the arts community must compete with larger battles over immigration reform and the Homeland Security Act, which is still deadlocked in the Senate.

Security

The terrorist attacks put the INS on the defensive and further complicated visa processing. After a review of its procedures, the State Department announced this August that increased scrutiny, supplemental applications, extensive background checks, and other measures will slow visa processing in many cases. Applicants from countries considered by the department to be sponsors of terrorism, such as Cuba, will face longer waits -- as in September, when Chucho ValdĂšs and 21 other Cuban musicians missed the Latin Grammy Awards because their visas were not approved in time. A well-known Iranian film director, Abbas Kiarostami, was unable to attend the premiere of his film at the New York Film Festival.

The INS is not targeting artists; there have been similar incidents involving scientists and business executives. But the extra time and costs of visa application are having ripple effects in the small and cash-strapped arts community.

A Difficult Exchange

When the theater director Roberta Levitow became involved in the Three Continents Workshop last summer, which brought together artists from Poland, East Africa, and the U.S., she had "an inkling" that the visa process might be hard. But, she said, she couldn't have anticipated how difficult it would be. Deborah Asiimwe, a Ugandan playwright who was invited to attend the workshop, was denied a visa from the U.S. consulate in Kampala three times. She came to the consulate armed with an invitation from the hosting organization in the U.S.; later she brought a contract from John Hopkins University, which had hired her to write radio plays for its AIDS awareness campaign, and a letter from the National Theater of Uganda, where she was scheduled to direct one of her own plays later in the fall. These documents were intended to show that Asiimwe was financially secure and grounded in Uganda. Long-time INS regulations dictate that, if an individual cannot demonstrate sufficient family, financial, or professional ties to their home country, a visa application must be denied. Asiimwe was approved, on a fourth attempt, after Levitow convinced her senator to call the State Department and threatened to file a grievance against a consular official who had proven particularly intractable.

Levitow points out that the INS regulations, while perhaps grounded in the realities of developing-world immigration, discriminate against artists, who tend to be young, unmarried, and freelance. In order to get a visa for the workshop, Mrisho Mpoto, a member of a Swahili-language company from Tanzania, moved his intended wedding up a few years and made sure to document it. Even so, he was made to sing and dance in front of consular officials to prove he was a performer. Levitow also notes that the workshop's Polish participants, who like the Africans were young and relatively poor, were offered 10-year visas from the U.S. consulate in Warsaw. It's hard not to conclude that Islamic influences in Uganda and Tanzania, memories of bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, fear of AIDS, and plain-old racism played a role in the experiences of Assiimwe and Mpoto.

One-Way Street?

To add another wrinkle to the visa story, many American artists feel that cultural exchanges tend to be one-sided, so that while international artists of all stripes are hired to perform in this country, far fewer American artists find work abroad. American directors resent, for example, when a production they originate travels to the U.K. but the British producer declines to hire them to direct it. Broadway producers, by contrast, seem to favor British directors. The Actors' Equity Association maintains an exchange program with British Equity to regulate the alien-to-U.S. actor ratios in productions.

If there is an imbalance in cultural exchange, it's too bad; artists are some of our best ambassadors. Apart from the "culturally unique" products emanating from Hollywood, it might help to send some of our talented artists abroad to break down the current climate of misunderstanding, resentment, and fear.

 

Gotham at War


Long before September 11th, the threat of terrorist acts kept New Yorkers in a panic and local authorities in a state of alert -- though not alert enough.

In November, 1864, a dozen agents of the Confederacy infiltrated the city and, using a "combustible liquid" prepared by a chemist in a secret laboratory off Washington Square, they set fire to major hotels, public buildings and ships in lower Manhattan.

Damage was not as severe as the plotters had hoped for, because the material they set aflame did not ignite as easily as they had expected. But this was neither the first nor the last attempt at sabotage during the Civil War, according to Gotham At War: New York City, 1860 - 1865 (213pp. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc., $17.95), by Edward K. Spann, just published. There were reports of an attempt at germ warfare and rumors of an effort to poison the water supply, as well as speculation that a huge waterfront fire that destroyed some 30 vessels along the Hudson River below 14th Street was arson.

At a time when America is again at war, a war that may escalate, historians and curators are looking back at New York City during wartimes past. Although there have been surprisingly few books written on New York City at war over the years (see list), there are three new books out now about the city during the Civil War and Revolutionary War, and an exhibition recently opened downtown comparing New York City's renaissance after the revolution with the city's recovery after 9/11. A fourth book, though first published in 1927, and devoting only two chapters to wartime New York, is likely to get by far the most attention: The Gangs of New York, by Herbert Asbury, has been made into a movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, scheduled to be in the movie houses in December.

Although no army of enemy soldiers have been on Gotham's shores since 1783, when the last British redcoats left Manhattan, New York City has been heavily involved with all American wars. "New York has always been a symbol for its enemies." said Barnet Schecter, author of the new Revolutionary War book The Battle for New York (454 pp. New York: Walker & Company, $30.00).

REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Civil unrest and rioting swept New York City at the start of the American Revolution, as New Yorkers struggled to choose sides; rebel or royalist. "We are all in Confusion in the City.... What will be the end of this, God knows," a New Yorker wrote in 1770 to a friend in London. Richard Ketchum's new book Divided Loyalties (447pp. New York: A John Macrae Book/Henry Holt & Company, $30.00) tells the story of how the revolution began in New York City, and how religious and business ties helped decide where New Yorkers' allegiances fell. In 1775, tensions were so high that local patriot committees spied on their neighbors, and even tarred and feathered supposed British informers.

The most actual combat in New York City history took place in 1776, when the British defeated troops in Brooklyn and captured Manhattan. "Before September 11, 2001, the last time New York was attacked by an outside force was on September 15, 1776," said Schecter, whose new book The Battle for New York picks up the story of the Revolutionary War in New York City just after the point that Divided Loyalties closes.

Schecter spoke after a reading at the Revolutionary War-era Fraunces Travern, where a current museum exhibition, called "New York Battles Back" celebrates New York City's recovery after the revolution and draws parallels to recovery efforts after 9/11. The city rebuilt after suffering great damage and devastation during the Revolutionary War, said Fraunces Tavern Museum executive director Andrew Batten. "In 1776, large portions of the city burned to the ground. The Fraunces Tavern itself was hit, when at least one cannonball from a British ship went through the roof," said Batten.

In The Battle for New York, Schecter argues that the British lost crucial battle time wrapped up in New York City's whirling social life and devoted too many needed troops to protecting Gotham. "The British had a fondness for New York City, and were, in a sense, captured and captivated by the city," he said.

On September 15, the British first invaded Manhattan at Kips Bay, which was an actual bay before it was filled in and became a neighborhood in the East 30s. (Schecter's book is filled with similar details, which connect battle scenes to present streetscapes. A New York City Revolutionary War walking tour is online at www.thebattlefornewyork.com.) After landing, British commander General William Howe and his staff did not immediately send the first division of troops after the Americans. Instead, they visited the Murray family of Murray Hill--prominent loyalists--for refreshments while waiting for the second division to arrive.

The British stayed for several hours, drinking Madeira, eating cakes and chatting with the Murray daughters, leaving General George Washington and the American army just enough time to retreat uptown. A (highly unproven) legend has grown that Mary Murray was a patriot in disguise, and delayed the British on purpose.

Less than a week after the British invasion, a fire started in lower Manhattan that spread up the city's west side. A quarter of the city burned down, including Trinity Church, the tallest building at the time.

Both the British and the Americans blamed each other for setting fire to New York City. However, in The Battle for New York, Schecter writes that the fire most likely happened of natural causes. Its impact on the city's psychological well-being was tremendous. "The fire introduced an element of paranoia and contributed to a siege mentality that made British commanders fiercely protective of the city," writes Schecter. The British occupation lasted seven years, during which 11,000 American prisoners aboard jail boats in the harbor starved to death. "People were living under a military regime," Schecter said, "in charred ruins and tents."

The war's end brought Gotham a change of fortune. General Washington made a triumphant entry into New York City after winning the war, and the city, its population booming, was rebuilt to become the new nation's first capital. "The city never returned to its prewar status, but it immediately jumped ahead," said Batten of the Fraunces Tavern Museum. "New Yorkers take adversity and run with it."

WAR OF 1812

After U.S. Congress declared war on Great Britain in June of 1812, and British ships arrived at Sandy Hook with the threat to invade, New Yorkers widely volunteered to defend their city. "Women organized in Brooklyn Heights to dig trenches and the Council of Defense recruited artisans, free blacks, and students to build barricades," writes Arnold Markoe in the Encyclopedia of New York City. Their preparations, however heroic, were never tested, as the city itself was not attacked.

CIVIL WAR

If the only actual battles in New York during the Civil War were riots and acts of sabotage, the city had a great influence on the war, and the war, a great effect on the city.

Few New Yorkers welcomed the conflict. In fact, the city was a center of anti-war sentiment. "The most dangerous foes of the Republic are in New York City," said Frederick Law Olmstead, the chief architect of Central Park and ardently pro-Union. Businessmen feared that a break with the South, their lucrative trading partner, would cripple the city's economy. And many New Yorkers, says Edward Spann in Gotham At War, were resentful of the rich citizens' ability to opt out of the draft, and were also anti-abolitionist and outright racist -- wary that the war would free the slaves, who would then take away their jobs. The infamous Draft Riots of 1863 -- which, in a startling inversion of current events, were said to have been instigated by resentful firefighters -- resulted in the death of more than 100 New Yorkers, many of them black.

Several books have been written about the draft riots alone, and there are two chapters about it in The Gangs of New York, by Herbert Asbury. He writes that the riots began, "as a protest against the Conscription Act which had been passed by Congress in March, but that phase of the struggle was soon forgotten, and thereafter the riots were an insurrection of the criminal element against the established order. The disturbances were the natural end of the ruinous road along which the city had traveled during the preceding fifteen years, and the logical result of the governmental corruption which had permitted Manhattan Island to become the Mecca of criminals from all parts of the United States and the slums of Europe."

Despite the fear and anger, the war proved to be a great boon to the city's population and to its economy; New York, wrote New Yorker George Templeton Strong, had become the "grand commercial money-making center of the universe," the city having won a central role in the new economy. This was due in part to massive government purchases of goods manufactured in New York, especially of clothing -- not always to the benefit of the nation. It is in New York City during the Civil War that the term "shoddy" got its modern meaning. At the time, shoddy simply meant ground-up rags. But the New York clothing manufacturers who were contracted to make army uniforms used shoddy, and the uniforms fell apart. That company is still in business, Brooks Brothers. Much of the prosperity focused on the wealthy elite, while many New Yorkers, especially women, were increasingly impoverished. Two years before the draft riots, some soldiers' wives rioted on the Lower East Side. "One woman warned that she would get her husband to desert from his unit," she said, "rather than see her family starve."

The story of New York during the Civil War is clearly not all uplift. But neither is it thoroughly downbeat. The city's bankers lent the Union government most of the money it needed to conduct the war. New York was at the forefront of medical advances to treat the war-wounded, witnessed a rise of organized labor to combat the increasing exploitation of workers, and a rise of organized charity to meet the needs of the unfortunate.

SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

New York City was home to the planning and propaganda that led up to the Spanish American War. Cuban leader Jose Marti, exiled in Manhattan, built the momentum for an uprising against Spain among Cuban cigar worker communities in New York. In 1895, Marti rolled the order for a revolt into a cigar, and sent it to be smuggled into Havana. Prominent New Yorkers like William Randolph Hearst and John Jacob Astor supported the Cuban rebellion, urging President McKinley to declare war against Spain in 1897. "Within weeks, the war was over, both Cuba and Puerto Rico taken," write Mike Wallace and Edwin Burrows in Gotham: A History of the City up to 1898. "New Yorkers went wild over America's emergence as an imperial power."

WORLD WAR I

During World War I, anti-German paranoia spread to New York City's cultural and educational institutions. City public schools stopped offering German-language classes and German works were banned from the Metropolitan Opera's repertoire. The U.S. Department of Justice carried out "slacker raids," rounding up draft evaders in New York City during the spring of 1918.

New Yorkers feared an attack in the city itself after ammunition stores in Black Tom, New Jersey exploded in 1916, probably because they were set alight by German saboteurs. The explosion broke windows in Brooklyn and shell cases hit the Statue of Liberty. However, German forces never targeted the city.

WORLD WAR II

The onset of the Second World War brought new fears to Gotham. "With the outbreak of war, a terror of a kind not felt since the British invasion of 1776 gripped New York, widely presumed to be the number one target for transatlantic German bomb runs," write Ric Burns and James Sanders in New York: an Illustrated History. The fear never materialized, because the Germans weren't able to create a bomber capable of making the round trip.

The war returned prosperity to a New York City downtrodden by the depression years. "In an odd way, what happened during the Second World War was that the city returned to an 18th century mode. Not since the British colonial era had the city been a supply base," said historian Mike Wallace who was astonished to find that there is no book yet written about New York City during World War II. He is researching the era for a companion volume to Gotham: A History of the City up to 1898, the history of the city Wallace spent 20 years writing with Edwin Burrows.

The war's effect on the city replayed what went on during the Civil War, only to a much greater degree. Over three million soldiers and 63 million tons of supplies were shipped through New York during the war. New defense contracts at the New York Navy Yard and business in medicine, electronics and other industries helped end city unemployment for many. But not for all. African Americans were excluded from working in the weapons industry until 1941, and a Harlem riot began in 1943 after a white police officer shot a black soldier during an argument.

During World War II, the city became synonymous with the two r's: rest and recreation. "The whorehouses were happy, the entertainment industry was happy, sailors were flooding the bars and night clubs and the rest of it," said Wallace. "This is a time when the b-boppers are inventing an analogous new kind of music uptown...ballet, film, and the Broadway theater goes to the ceiling."

It is at this time as well, said Wallace, that President Franklin Roosevelt transferred many of New York's New Deal labor and social programs onto a national level. "Also, the deals were cut to bring the United Nations here, making this place the de facto capital of the world," he said.

VIETNAM

Anti-war protests were common in the Vietnam-era New York City, and many influential demonstrations took place here. In 1967, Martin Luther King and 125,000 anti-war demonstrators marched from Central Park to the United Nations. Poet Allen Ginsberg was arrested for blocking the entrance to the Whitehall Street building where New Yorkers reported for the draft. In April 1968, the anti-war group Students for a Democratic Society occupied five Columbia University buildings.

The Vietnam War's drain on the national budget led to inflation, and after the war's end in 1975 many New York City businesses verged on bankruptcy.

IRAQ

What will it mean for New York City if the U.S. goes to war with Iraq? Many New Yorkers are already fighting to keep paranoia in check, while the press stokes fears about possible retaliatory attacks. "Among American cities, none is as tempting a target as New York," wrote the New York Observer in October. "Those who say that Saddam Hussein would never be able to unleash smallpox in Times Square, or deliver a crude nuclear weapon into New York harbor, would surely also have dismissed the possibility--as we all did--of men armed with box-cutters flying airliners into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, killing thousands of U.S. civilians."

Not everyone is panicking about the same thing. A recent article in Crain's New York about tourism and the brewing international conflict went so far as to say that it is very poorly timed. "A war that begins in the next few months would be particularly damaging for New York's tourism industry. From late September to just before Christmas, [hotel] rooms are typically full of conference attendees, shoppers and people in the city to enjoy the fall season." The article cited in all seriousness a recent report by PFK Consulting, which predicted that a lengthy war with Iraq would cause hotel industry revenues to fall by 4.6 percent.

Market analyst Jude Wanniski said that the prospect of war is already making havoc on Wall Street. She tells investors that their biggest risk is "the possibility that President Bush will pull the trigger on Iraq." A war with Iraq could drive oil prices through the roof, deepening the current recession into a full scale depression, said Wallace. "The consequences [for New York City] could be homelessness, unemployment and food lines."

Some disagree with such a gloomy forecast. New York City has a tradition of continuing on with its business, oblivious of national or global struggles, said Kenneth Jackson, president of the New York Historical Society. "During the Civil War, many commentators said that you couldn't tell there was a war going on. During World War I, there were blackouts, and more people in uniform, and many more ships, convoys lined up in East River, but on the streets, the city remained the same."

"Most of the time in New York," Jackson observes, "you wouldn't know there was a war on."


Books About New York City During Wartime

You can sort the list by clicking on the categories at the top of the list.

Title Author Release Date Publisher Subject

American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles Thomas Keneally 2002 Doubleday and Company Civil War
An often "spellbinding" biography of Dan Sickles, a notorious New York politician and Civil War general who was acquitted of murdering his wife's lover.

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Banished Children of Eve: A Novel of Civil War New York Peter Quinn 1995 Viking Penguin Civil War
A novel focusing on the experiences Irish immigrants in Civil War-era New York.
 
Battle of Brooklyn 1776 John J. Gallagher   Perseus Publishing Revolutionary War
Despite a British victory, this first major battle of the Revolutionary War symbolized the spirit of independence that eventually lead the United States to win the war.
 
Behind the Lines Isabelle Holland 1994 Scholastic Trade Civil War
A "moving historical novel" for young adults about class and race differences that is set against the New York City draft riots.
 
Chaining the Hudson: The Fight for the River in the American Revolution Lincoln Diamant 1994 Citadel Press Revolutionary War
Tells the story of the struggle for command of the Hudson River during the Revolutionary War and the story of the chain stretched across the Hudson River at Bear Mountain.
 
Divided Loyalties: How the American Revolution Came to New York Richard M. Ketchum 2002 Henry Holt and Company, Inc. Revolutionary War
Describes how the Revolution's arrival in New York City tore apart the community. Ketchum explains why New Yorkers with similar life experiences--even members of the same family--chose different sides when the war erupted. Ketchum "weaves a complex but forceful narrative web from many diaries and memoirs."

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Duty, Honor, Privilege: New York City's Silk Stocking Regiment and the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line Stephen L. Harris 2002 Brasseys, Inc. World War I
 
 
Elmira: Death Camp of the North Michael Horigan 2002 Stackpole Books Civil War
History of the Elmira, New York prison camp, which had the highest death rate of prison camps in the North
 
Father Knickerbocker Rebels: New York City During the Revolution T. J. Wertenbaker 1948 C. Scribner's Sons Revolutionary War
 
 
Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York (Early American Studies) Judith L. Van Buskirk 2002 University of Pennsylvania Press Revolutionary War
Van Buskirk examines loyalists and rebels in New York, showing how personal concerns -- among British and American soldiers, free blacks, slaves, and businessmen -- often triumphed over political ideology.
 
Gotham at War: New York City, 1860-1865 (The American Crisis Series, No. 9) Edward K. Spann 2002 Scholarly Resources Civil War
A history of the complex role New York City played in the Civil War.
 
History of New York During the Revolutionary War Thomas Jones 1879 New York Historical Society Revolutionary War
 
 
New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War Iver Bernstein 1994 Oxford University Press Civil War
A "Rashomon-like investigation" of the 1863 New York City Draft Riots.
 
New York City During the War for Independence Theodore Barck Jr. 1931 Columbia University Press Revolutionary War
 
 
New York in the American Revolution Wilbur Cortez Abbott 1973 Haskell House Publishing Revolutionary War
A picturesque account of New York in the time of the Revolutionary War.
 
Paradise Alley: A Novel Kevin Baker 2002 HarperCollins Civil War
A historical novel set during the Draft Riots of 1863, widely regarded as the worst episode of civic unrest in New York's history.

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Redcoats and Petticoats Katherine Kirkpatrick and Ronald Himler 1999 Holiday House, Inc. Revolutionary War
"Basing the book on true incidents and real people of the Revolutionary War, Kirkpatrick re-creates the actions of Patriot spies begun by Robert Townsend and assisted by strong-willed, cool-headed Nancy Strong in the little town of Setauket, New York," wrote Kirkus Reviews.
 
Reluctant Revolutionaries: New York City and the Road to Independence, 1767-1776 Joseph S. Tiedemann 1997 Cornell University Press Revolutionary War
In a study of New York City between 1763 and 1776, Tiedemann explains how residents labored to build a consensus under difficult circumstances. He pays close attention to the dynamics of British colonial rule and its impact on New York.
 
Second Founding: New York City and the Reconstruction of American Democracy David Quigley 2003 Hill and Wang Civil War
David Quigley argues that New York City's politics and politicians lay at the heart of the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.
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