Dinkins graduated cum laude with a mathematics degree in 1950. He went on to obtain his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1956 and practiced law for a few years before entering politics.
Dinkins became a member of the New York State Assembly in 1965 and later served as president of the New York City Board of Elections from 1972 to 1973. His genius coupled with his amiable personality made him popular with his colleagues. He soon became the Manhattan borough president in 1985 before setting his sights on City Hall in 1989.
The genteel and stately Dinkins contrasted starkly with his predecessor, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, as well as his successor, Rudy Guiliani, who were both famous for being combative and abrasive city leaders.
During his inaugural address in 1989, where Dinkins narrowly defeated Guiliani, he vowed to heal racial divisions and create jobs in the Big Apple. He called New York City a “gorgeous mosaic of race and religious faith, of national origin and sexual orientation, of individuals whose families arrived yesterday and generations ago, coming through Ellis Island or Kennedy Airport or on buses bound for the Port Authority.”
Current Mayor Bill de Blasio says Dinkins recently has been receiving the overdue credit he always deserved for reducing crime and healing racial divisions. De Blasio named the Manhattan Municipal Building after Dinkins in 2015, The Times reports.
Others also sang Dinkins’ praises, including Guiliani who ruthlessly bashed Dinkins in the early 1990s as being soft on crime in order to successfully avenge his loss to Dinkins.
I extend my deepest condolences to the family of Mayor David Dinkins, and to the many New Yorkers who loved and supported him.
He gave a great deal of his life in service to our great City.
That service is respected and honored by all.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) November 24, 2020
“The example Mayor David Dinkins set for all of us shines brighter than the most powerful lighthouse imaginable,” said New York State Attorney General Letitia James, according to the Times. James followed in Dinkins’ footsteps and also made history when she became the first Black woman elected to statewide office in New York.
“I was honored to have him hold the Bible at my inaugurations because I, and others, stand on his shoulders,” James said.
