OPINION: America’s New York State of Mind
New York, long the center of media, fashion and finance, is used to being a political afterthought. We are generally ignored during presidential elections and our government officials rarely obtain national power.
It wasn’t always this way. In fact, the city was the nation’s first capital, with George Washington being sworn in on the steps of Federal Hall.
Our political profile faded significantly after World War II, with Franklin Roosevelt’s victory in1944 being the last time a New Yorker was elected president. Gov. Thomas Dewey won the Republican nomination four years later, but since then no Empire State politician has come close to the White House.