# Rudolph Halley

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{{short description|American attorney and politician}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name        = Rudolph Halley
| image       = Rudolph Halley 1953 Edit.jpg
| caption     = Halley {{circa}} 1953
| office      = 3rd President of the [New York City Council](/source/New_York_City_Council)
| term_start  = November 14, 1951
| term_end    = December 31, 1953
| predecessor = Joseph T. Sharkey {{small|(acting)}}<br />[Vincent Impellitteri](/source/Vincent_Impellitteri)
| successor   = [Abe Stark](/source/Abe_Stark)
| birth_date  = June 19, 1913
| birth_place = [Harrison, New York](/source/Harrison%2C_New_York), U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1956|11|19|1913|06|19}}
| death_place = [New York City](/source/New_York_City), U.S.
| party       = [Democratic](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) (before 1951)<br>[Liberal](/source/Liberal_Party_of_New_York) (after 1951)
| education   = [Townsend Harris High School](/source/Townsend_Harris_High_School)
| alma_mater  = [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) (J.D.)
| other_party = [City Fusion](/source/City_Fusion_Party_in_New_York_City) (1951)<br>Independent Citizens (1951{{endash}}53)
}}
'''Rudolph Halley''' (June 19, 1913 – November 19, 1956) was an American [attorney](/source/Lawyer) and [politician](/source/politician) from [New York City](/source/New_York_City) who served as President of the [New York City Council](/source/New_York_City_Council) from 1951 to 1953.

==Early life and career==
Born in [Harrison, New York](/source/Harrison%2C_New_York) and raised in the [South Bronx](/source/South_Bronx), Halley graduated from [Townsend Harris High School](/source/Townsend_Harris_High_School) at age 14, and was forced to wait until age 16 to enroll at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University), from which he graduated with a ''[Juris Doctor](/source/Juris_Doctor)'' at age 20. After waiting until his twenty-first birthday to become eligible to pass the [bar examination](/source/bar_examination), he went into private practice. Fulton, Rowe & Hart LLP was formed in 1946 by Hugh Fulton, Rudolph Halley, and [Henry G. Walter, Jr.](/source/Henry_G._Walter_Jr.) Mr. Fulton was executive assistant to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1938 to 1941. Mr. Fulton and Mr. Halley were members of the 1941 U.S. Senate Special Truman Committee, created to investigate the national defense program (Mr. Fulton was its chief counsel), and the 1950 U.S. Senate Special Kefauver Committee, created to investigate crime in interstate commerce (Mr. Halley was its chief counsel). Mr. Halley was President of the New York City Council from 1951 until 1953, and in 1953 he ran for mayor of New York City, finishing in third place (Robert Wagner won the election). . During this time, he married and [divorce](/source/divorce)d twice. In 1941, he went to work for the U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, better known as the "[Truman Committee](/source/Truman_Committee)" for its chairman, then-Senator [Harry S. Truman](/source/Harry_S._Truman), which investigated fraud and waste in [defense contracting](/source/defense_contractor) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II).

In 1950, Halley was named Chief Counsel to the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce, better known as the [Kefauver Committee](/source/Kefauver_hearings), which was charged with investigating the influence of [organized crime](/source/organized_crime), particularly its involvement in [gambling](/source/gambling) and [political corruption](/source/political_corruption). In his role as Chief Counsel, Halley personally questioned every witness called to testify before the Committee. The Committee's hearings, which were televised nationally, made Halley a celebrity. On May 1, 1951, shortly after the Committee concluded its hearings in New York City, Halley announced his resignation. Over the course of the next several months, he translated his celebrity into work in [television](/source/television), narrating the [CBS](/source/CBS) crime drama ''[Gang Busters](/source/Gang_Busters)'' and hosting the documentary program ''[Crime Syndicated](/source/Crime_Syndicated)''. He also wrote a short-lived [column](/source/column_(newspaper)) for [Hearst Newspapers](/source/Hearst_Corporation).

==New York City Council==
In the summer of 1951, Halley announced his candidacy for President of the [New York City Council](/source/New_York_City_Council), a position that would later be replaced by that of [New York City Public Advocate](/source/New_York_City_Public_Advocate), in a [special election](/source/by-election) held to replace [Vincent R. Impellitteri](/source/Vincent_R._Impellitteri), who had ascended to the [mayor](/source/mayor_of_New_York_City)'s office after the resignation of [William O'Dwyer](/source/William_O'Dwyer). He ran on an anti-corruption, anti-crime, anti-[Tammany Hall](/source/Tammany_Hall) platform and promised to "teach the [political boss](/source/political_boss)es a lesson." Although a lifelong [Democrat](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)), he did not seek the party's nomination, instead running as the nominee of the [Liberal Party](/source/Liberal_Party_of_New_York). He also appeared on the ballot as the nominee of the [Fusion Party](/source/Fusion_Party) and the [Independent Citizens Party](/source/Independent_Citizens_Party_(New_York)). On [Election Day](/source/General_election), Halley unexpectedly triumphed, tallying 657,871 votes (39%).

[[File:Rudolph Halley Takes Office 1951.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Halley is sworn in as President of the City Council by Justice [Matthew M. Levy](/source/Matthew_M._Levy), 1951]]

As President of the City Council, Halley was best known for feuding with both Mayor Impellitteri and Governor [Thomas E. Dewey](/source/Thomas_E._Dewey) over state funding for the City, which was necessary to balance the municipal budget. While Dewey demanded increases in [property tax](/source/property_tax)es and the [subway](/source/Rapid_transit) [fare](/source/fare) in return for state aid, Halley favored leaving both taxes and fares alone and instead cutting government waste. Impellitterri opposed both plans. Things turned ugly when Halley accused Dewey of "ruthlessly playing politics" with the budget, and Dewey publicly called Halley "as stupid and ignorant as he is shallow and venomous."

==Candidacy for Mayor==
{{further|1953 New York City mayoral election}}
In 1953, Halley declined to run for re-election and instead declared his candidacy for Mayor of New York. Running once again on the Liberal and Independent Citizens lines, [he ran third](/source/New_York_City_mayoral_elections) with 467,104 votes (21%), behind Democratic [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan) [Borough President](/source/Borough_President) [Robert F. Wagner, Jr.](/source/Robert_F._Wagner%2C_Jr.) and [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) attorney [Harold Riegelman](/source/Harold_Riegelman). (Halley beat Riegelman for second place in [the Bronx](/source/the_Bronx) and nearly did so in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn).)

==Post-politics==
After the election, Halley retired from politics, becoming a name partner in the [law firm](/source/law_firm) of Fulton, Walter & Halley, headquartered at [Rockefeller Center](/source/Rockefeller_Center). Although there was speculation that he might run for [Attorney General of New York](/source/Attorney_General_of_New_York) in 1954, he never sought office again.

On November 19, 1956, Halley died in Manhattan at age 43, attributed to both [pneumonia](/source/pneumonia) and [pancreatitis](/source/pancreatitis). He was survived by his wife and four children (Marian, Henry, Peter, and Michael).

==External links==
*Gill, Brendan, The Talk of the Town, "[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1954/02/27/1954_02_27_026_TNY_CARDS_000243527 Romantic]," ''[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)'', February 27, 1954
*Moritz, Owen, "[http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1999/06/24/1999-06-24_rudolph_halley_streak_of_lig.html Rudolph Halley: Streak of Light]," ''[New York Daily News](/source/New_York_Daily_News)'', June 24, 1999
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE6D6133AF93AA25752C1A9609C8B63 Paid notice], ''[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)'', November 19, 2006

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halley, Rudolph}}
Category:1913 births
Category:1956 deaths
Category:Columbia Law School alumni
Category:New York (state) lawyers
Category:Townsend Harris High School alumni
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
Category:Deaths from pancreatitis
Category:People from Harrison, New York
Category:20th-century American lawyers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rudolph Halley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Halley) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Halley?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.