David Dinkins

Dinkins was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Sarah "Sally" Lucy Dinkins, a domestic worker, and William Harvey Dinkins Jr., a barber and real estate agent.Dinkins, David N.; Knobler, Peter (2013). A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic. New York: PublicAffairs. {{ISBN|978-1-61039-301-0}}. His parents separated when he was six years old, after which he was raised by his father.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/20/nyregion/william-dinkins-mayor-s-father-and-real-estate-agent-dies-at-85.html | work=The New York Times | first=John T. | last=McQuiston | title=William Dinkins, Mayor's Father And Real Estate Agent, Dies at 85 | date=October 20, 1991 | access-date=February 7, 2017 | archive-date=November 24, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053221/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/20/nyregion/william-dinkins-mayor-s-father-and-real-estate-agent-dies-at-85.html | url-status=live}} Dinkins moved to Harlem as a child before returning to Trenton. He attended Trenton Central High School, where he graduated in 1945.{{cite news | url=https://www.trentonian.com/news/trenton-makes-heaven-takes-david-dinkins-dies-at-93/article_367da6f6-2ea7-11eb-b9b3-1f90de0fc628.amp.html | work=The Trentonian | first=Sulaiman | last=Abdur-Rahman | title=Legendary city native David Dinkins dies at 93 | date=November 24, 2020 | access-date=November 25, 2020}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}

Upon graduating, Dinkins attempted to enlist in the United States Marine Corps but was told that a racial quota had been filled. After traveling the Northeastern United States, he finally found a recruiting station that had not, in his words, "filled their quota for Negro Marines"; however, World War II was over before Dinkins finished boot camp.{{cite web |url=http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/218898-first-black-marines-awarded-congressional-gold-medal |title=First Black Marines Awarded Congressional Gold Medal |first=John |last=Hockenberry |author-link=John Hockenberry |date=June 27, 2012 |work=The Takeaway |access-date=July 29, 2015 |archive-date=November 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105224410/http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/218898-first-black-marines-awarded-congressional-gold-medal/ |url-status=live}} He served in the Marine Corps from July 1945 through August 1946, attaining the rank of private first class.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/28/nyregion/to-run-or-not-to-run-dinkins-s-struggle.html|title=To Run or Not to Run: Dinkins's Struggle|first=Michel|last=Marriott|newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 28, 1988|access-date=December 20, 2017|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053232/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/28/nyregion/to-run-or-not-to-run-dinkins-s-struggle.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.wlib.com/onair/DavidDinkins.aspx |title=David Dinkins Biography – 1190 WLIB – Your Praise & Inspiration Station |publisher=Wlib.com |access-date=September 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202185939/http://www.wlib.com/onair/DavidDinkins.aspx |archive-date=February 2, 2014}}Cheers, D. Michael. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n4_v45/ai_8325327 "Mayor of 'The Big Apple': 'nice guy' image helps David N. Dinkins in building multi-ethnic, multiracial coalition – New York City"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053221/http://findarticles.com/?noadc=1 |date=November 24, 2020}}, Ebony (magazine), February 1990. Accessed September 4, 2008. Dinkins was among the Montford Point Marines who received the Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

Dinkins graduated cum laude from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1950. He received his LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School in 1956.{{Cite web |url=http://search.marquiswhoswho.com/profile/100017951484 |title=Marquis Biographies Online |access-date=September 11, 2020 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053223/http://search.marquiswhoswho.com/logon |url-status=live}}

While maintaining a private law practice from 1956 to 1975, Dinkins rose through the Democratic Party organization in Harlem, beginning at the Carver Democratic Club under the aegis of J. Raymond Jones.[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/11/obituaries/j-raymond-jones-harlem-kingmaker-dies-at-91.html "J. Raymond Jones, Harlem Kingmaker, Dies at 91"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053222/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/11/obituaries/j-raymond-jones-harlem-kingmaker-dies-at-91.html |date=November 24, 2020}} Fraser, C. Gerald, The New York Times, June 11, 1991. He became part of an influential group of African American politicians that included Denny Farrell, Percy Sutton, Basil Paterson, and Charles Rangel; the latter three together with Dinkins were known as the "Gang of Four".Schapiro, Rich, [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/harlem-trailblazer-world-war-ii-tuskegee-airmen-percy-sutton-dies-article-1.435731 "Harlem 'trailblazer', former World War II Tuskegee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053257/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/harlem-trailblazer-world-war-ii-tuskegee-airmen-percy-sutton-dies-article-1.435731 |date=November 24, 2020}} Airmen [sic] Percy Sutton dies", New York Daily News, December 27, 2009. As an investor, Dinkins was one of fifty African American investors who helped Sutton found Inner City Broadcasting Corporation in 1971.{{Cite web|url=https://www.precinctreporter.com/2020/11/24/david-dinkins-new-yorks-first-and-only-black-mayor-dies-at-93/|title=David Dinkins, New York's First and Only Black Mayor, Dies at 93|access-date=November 25, 2020|archive-date=December 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228185633/https://www.precinctreporter.com/2020/11/24/david-dinkins-new-yorks-first-and-only-black-mayor-dies-at-93/|url-status=dead}}

Dinkins briefly represented the 78th District of the New York State Assembly in 1966. From 1972 to 1973, he was president of the New York City Board of Elections. In late 1973, he was poised to take office as New York City's first Black deputy mayor in the administration of Mayor-elect Abraham D. Beame; however, the appointment was not effectuated amid "difficulties that stemmed from [Dinkins's] failure to pay federal, state or city personal income taxes for four years."{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/29/archives/dinkins-pulls-out-as-aide-to-beame-failed-to-pay-tax-deputymayor.html | title=Dinkins Pulls Out as Aide to Beame; Failed to Pay Tax | newspaper=The New York Times | date=December 29, 1973 | last1=Schumach | first1=Murray }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/david-n-dinkins-the-first-black-mayor-of-new-york-city-dead-at-93/article_960f59c4-2ebc-11eb-b5a2-1baf28b3d93a.html|title=David N. Dinkins, the first Black mayor of New York City, dead at 93|last1=Boyd |first1=Herb |last2=Arinde |first2=Nayaba |website=St. Louis American|date=November 24, 2020 }} Instead, he served as city clerk (characterized by Robert D. McFadden as a "patronage appointee who kept marriage licenses and municipal records") from 1975 to 1985.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/nyregion/david-dinkins-dead.html|title=David N. Dinkins, New York's First Black Mayor, Dies at 93|first=Robert D.|last=McFadden|newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 24, 2020}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#dinkins |title=NYC 100 – NYC Mayors – The First 100 Years |publisher=Nyc.gov |access-date=September 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012003808/http://nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#dinkins |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |url-status=dead}} He was elected Manhattan borough president in 1985 on his third run for that office. On November 7, 1989, Dinkins was elected mayor of New York City, defeating three-term incumbent mayor Ed Koch and two others in the Democratic primary and Republican nominee Rudy Giuliani in the general election. During his campaign, Dinkins sought the blessing and endorsement of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.Ehrlich, M. Avrum, The Messiah of Brooklyn: Understanding Lubavitch Hasidim Past and Present (KTAV Publishing, January 2005), p. 109. {{ISBN|0-88125-836-9}}

Dinkins was elected in the wake of a corruption scandal that stemmed from the decline of longtime Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman and preeminent New York City political leader Meade Esposito's American Mafia-influenced patronage network, ultimately precipitating the suicide of Queens Borough President Donald Manes and a series of criminal convictions among the city's Democratic leadership. In March 1989, the New York City Board of Estimate (which served as the primary governing instrument of various patronage networks for decades, often superseding the mayoralty in influence) also was declared unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause by the Supreme Court of the United States; this prompted the empanelment of the New York City Charter Revision Commission, which abolished the Board of Estimate and assigned most of its responsibilities to an enlarged New York City Council via a successful referendum in November. Koch, the presumptive Democratic nominee, was politically damaged by his administration's ties to the Esposito network and his handling of racial issues, exemplified by his fealty to affluent interests in predominantly white areas of Manhattan. This enabled Dinkins to attenuate public perceptions of his previous patronage appointments and emerge as a formidable, reform-minded challenger to Koch.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_A1GDIGAyTQC&q=mayor+koch+scandal+mayoral+election+1989&pg=PA237 |title=New York City: A Short History |pages=237–238, paragraph 3 |first=George J. |last=Lankevich |year=2002 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814751862 |access-date=September 23, 2011 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053235/https://books.google.com/books?id=_A1GDIGAyTQC&q=mayor+koch+scandal+mayoral+election+1989&pg=PA237 |url-status=live}} Additionally, the fact that Dinkins was African American helped him to avoid criticism that he was ignoring the Black vote by campaigning to whites.Thompson, J. Phillip, [https://www.jstor.org/pss/420053 "David Dinkins' Victory in New York City: The Decline of the Democratic Party Organization and the Strengthening of Black Politics"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053323/https://www.jstor.org/stable/420053 |date=November 24, 2020}}, Political Science & Politics, June 1990. While a large turnout of African American voters was important to his election, Dinkins campaigned throughout the city. Dinkins's campaign manager was political consultant William Lynch Jr., who became one of his first deputy mayors.{{cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/political-consultant-william-lynch-jr-dies-72-article-1.1423018|work=New York Daily News|title=Political consultant William Lynch Jr. dies at 72|first=Celeste|last=Katz|access-date=November 23, 2020|date=August 9, 2013|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053259/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/political-consultant-william-lynch-jr-dies-72-article-1.1423018|url-status=live}}

File:Keys to New York City 1991.jpg, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney; Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, and General Norman Schwarzkopf]]

Dinkins entered office in January 1990 pledging racial healing, and famously referred to New York City's demographic diversity as "not a melting pot, but a gorgeous mosaic".{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/02/nyregion/mayor-dinkins-dinkins-sworn-in-stresses-aid-to-youth.html |title=Mayor Dinkins; Dinkins Sworn In; Stresses Aid to Youth |access-date=August 13, 2010 |author=Purdum, Todd S. |author-link=Todd S. Purdum |date=January 2, 1990 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053254/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/02/nyregion/mayor-dinkins-dinkins-sworn-in-stresses-aid-to-youth.html |url-status=live}} The crime rate in New York City had risen alarmingly during the 1980s, and the rate of homicide in particular reached an all-time high of 2,245 cases during 1990, the first year of the Dinkins administration.The Power of the Mayor, Chris McNickle, p. 355 The rates of most crimes, including all categories of violent crime, then declined during the remainder of his four-year term. That ended a 30-year upward spiral and initiated a trend of falling rates that continued and accelerated beyond his term.Dinkins, David N.; Knobler, Peter (2013). A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic. New York: PublicAffairs. {{ISBN|978-1-61039-301-0}}. Riggio, Len, Foreword, p. xi.{{cite book |url=https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Essays/IST0000120EssaysN19_2009.pdf |title=Towards a Safer Society: The Knowledge Contribution of Statistical Information |editor1=Linda Laura Sabbadini |editor2=Maria Giuseppina Muratore |editor3=Giovanna Tagliacozzo |publication-date=2009 |publisher=Istituto Nazionale di Statistica |location=Rome |isbn=978-88-458-1640-6 |chapter=The Remarkable Drop in Crime in New York City |first=Patrick A. |last=Langan |author2=Matthew R. Durose |pages=131–174 |date=December 2003 |access-date=May 7, 2018 |quote=According to NYPD statistical analysis, crime in New York City took a downturn starting around 1990 that continued for many years, shattering all the city's old records for consecutive-year declines in crime rates. [See also Appendix: Tables 1–2.] |archive-date=May 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507085422/https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Essays/IST0000120EssaysN19_2009.pdf |url-status=live}} However, the high absolute levels, the peak early in his administration, and the only modest decline subsequently (homicide down 12% from 1990 to 1993)The Power of the Mayor, Chris McNickle, p. 356 resulted in Dinkins's suffering politically from the perception that crime remained out of control on his watch.{{cite web |url=http://www.gothamgazette.com/commentary/91.barrett.shtml |title=Giuliani's Legacy: Taking Credit For Things He Didn't Do |access-date=November 15, 2007 |author=Barrett, Wayne |author-link=Wayne Barrett |date=June 25, 2001 |work=Gotham Gazette |archive-date=October 18, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018131253/http://gothamgazette.com/commentary/91.barrett.shtml |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/nyregion/26dinkins.html |title=Another Look at the Dinkins Administration, and Not by Giuliani |date=October 25, 2009 |first=Michael |last=Powell |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 26, 2009 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053255/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/nyregion/26dinkins.html |url-status=live}} Dinkins in fact initiated a hiring program that expanded the police department nearly 25%. The New York Times reported, "He obtained the State Legislature's permission to dedicate a tax to hire thousands of police officers, and he fought to preserve a portion of that anticrime money to keep schools open into the evening, an award-winning initiative that kept tens of thousands of teenagers off the street."{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E1DE1E31F934A3575BC0A962958260 |title=As Police Force Adds to Ranks, Some Promises Still Unfulfilled |access-date=November 15, 2007 |first=Sam |last=Roberts |date=August 7, 1994 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053324/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/07/nyregion/as-police-force-adds-to-ranks-some-promises-still-unfulfilled.html |url-status=live}}

Dinkins's term was marked by a greater push toward accountability and oversight regarding police misconduct, which led to friction between Dinkins and the city's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA). In 1992, Dinkins proposed a bill to change the leadership of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the oversight body that examined complaints of police misconduct, from half-cop–half-civilian to all civilian and make it independent of the New York Police Department.{{cite magazine |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/the-forgotten-city-hall-riot.html |title=White Riot In 1992, thousands of furious, drunken cops descended on City Hall – the Queen's visit and changed New York history |author=Nahmias, Laura |magazine=The New Yorker |date=October 4, 2021 |access-date=January 21, 2022}} Following the Washington Heights Riot, fueled by the beating of Jose "Kiko" Garcia, an undocumented Dominican Republic immigrant, by a police officer, Dinkins attempted to defuse tensions by inviting Garcia's family to Gracie Mansion. This gesture outraged the city's PBA, who claimed Dinkins's actions showed favoritism toward Garcia and bias against the police.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/11/nyregion/washington-heights-case-washington-heights-dinkins-defends-actions-after.html |title=The Washington Heights Case; In Washington Heights, Dinkins Defends Actions After Shooting |author=Finder, Alan |work=The New York Times |date=September 11, 1992 |access-date=January 21, 2022}} To condemn Dinkins's position on policing, the city PBA organized a protest on September 16, 1992, which quickly turned violent when nearly 4,000 off-duty police officers blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and knocked over police barricades in an attempt to rush City Hall.{{Cite web|last=Oliver|first=Pamela|title=When the NYPD Rioted – Race, Politics, Justice|date=July 18, 2020 |url=https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/racepoliticsjustice/2020/07/18/when-the-nypd-rioted/|access-date=2021-01-15|language=en-US}} The nearly 300 uniformed on-duty officers did little to control the riot.{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/12/nypd_killings_new_york_city_s_largest_police_union_thinks_it_s_under_attack.html|title=Déjà Blue|last=Voorhees|first=Josh|date=2014-12-22|newspaper=Slate|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|access-date=2016-11-29}}{{Cite news|last=Manegold|first=Catherine S.|date=1992-09-27|title=Rally Puts Police Under New Scrutiny|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/27/nyregion/rally-puts-police-under-new-scrutiny.html|access-date=2020-06-09|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/17/nyregion/officers-rally-and-dinkins-is-their-target.html|title=Officers Rally And Dinkins Is Their Target|last=Mckinley|first=James C. Jr.|date=1992-09-17|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-11-29}} Despite the riot and objections from the PBA, the CCRB was reorganized and made independent from the police department in July 1993.{{Cite web|title=Shielded from Justice: New York: Civilian Complaint Review Board|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/police/uspo1015.htm|access-date=2021-01-15|website=www.hrw.org}}

Dinkins was rebuffed in his attempt to end the licensing of locksmiths.Rebuffed by NYC City Council via a technicality {{Cite news | newspaper=New York Post | title=Dave gives some business license to skip license | quote=the Council's Consumer Affairs Committee failed to muster a quorum | author=David Seifman | date=July 3, 1992 | page=8}}New York City and Miami have their own licensing laws. {{cite web | url=https://reedbrotherssecurity.com/states-with-locksmith-laws | title=States with Locksmith Laws | date=February 7, 2018}}

During his final days in office, Dinkins made last-minute negotiations with the sanitation workers, presumably to preserve the public status of garbage removal. Giuliani, who had defeated Dinkins in the 1993 mayoral race, blamed Dinkins for a "cheap political trick" when Dinkins planned the resignation of Victor Gotbaum, Dinkins's appointee on the board of education, thus guaranteeing Gotbaum's replacement six months in office.Siegel, Fred, The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York, and the Genius of American Life (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2005), p. 90. Dinkins also signed a last-minute 99-year lease with the USTA National Tennis Center. By negotiating a fee for New York City based on the event's gross income, the Dinkins administration made a deal with the US Open that brings more economic benefit to the City of New York each year than the New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Knicks, and New York Rangers combined. The city's revenue-producing events Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, and Broadway on Broadway were all created under Dinkins.{{cite magazine|magazine=New York Lifestyles Magazine|title=David Dinkins! New York Now and Then|url=https://newyorklifestylesmagazine.com/archives/01_16/articles/dinkins.html|last=Nesoff|first=Bob|access-date=November 24, 2020|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124231124/https://newyorklifestylesmagazine.com/archives/01_16/articles/dinkins.html|url-status=live}}

Dinkins's term was marked by polarizing events such as the Family Red Apple boycott, a boycott of a Korean-owned grocery in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and the 1991 Crown Heights riot. When Lemrick Nelson was acquitted of murdering Yankel Rosenbaum during the Crown Heights riots, Dinkins said, "I have no doubt that in this case the criminal-justice system has operated fairly and openly."{{cite news|last=Taylor|first=John|title=The Politics of Grievance: Dinkins, the Blacks, and the Jews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-QCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18|access-date=January 21, 2014|newspaper=New York Magazine|date=December 7, 1992|archive-date=June 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195622/http://books.google.com/books?id=o-QCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18|url-status=live}} Later he wrote in his memoirs, "I continue to fail to understand that verdict."

In 1991, when "Iraqi Scud missiles were falling" in Israel{{Cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 9, 1993 |page=B3

|author=Clyde Haberman

|title=Dinkins Leaves Israel}} and the Mayor's press secretary said "security would be tight and gas masks would be provided for the contingent",{{cite web

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/26/nyregion/dinkins-to-lead-contingent-in-trip-to-israel.html

|title=Dinkins to Lead Contingent in Trip to Israel

|website=The New York Times

|author=Felicia R. Lee

|date=January 26, 1991

|access-date=August 1, 2018

|archive-date=November 24, 2020

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053255/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/26/nyregion/dinkins-to-lead-contingent-in-trip-to-israel.html

|url-status=live

}} Mayor Dinkins visited Israel as a sign of support.{{cite web|author=Jonathan Ferziger|date=February 4, 1991|title=Dinkins visits Shamir, Patriots, Ethiopians|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/02/04/Dinkins-visits-Shamir-Patriots-Ethiopians/6223665643600|website=UPI.com|access-date=August 1, 2018|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053306/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/02/04/Dinkins-visits-Shamir-Patriots-Ethiopians/6223665643600/?ur3=1|url-status=live}}

The Dinkins administration was adversely affected by a declining economy, which led to lower tax revenue and budget shortfalls.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/nyregion/26dinkins.html |title=Another Look at the Dinkins Administration, and Not by Giuliani |work=The New York Times |date=October 5, 2009 |author1=Powell, Michael |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053255/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/nyregion/26dinkins.html |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |url-status=live}} Nevertheless, Dinkins's mayoralty was marked by a number of significant achievements. New York City's crime rate, including the murder rate, declined in Dinkins's final years in office; Dinkins persuaded the state legislature to dedicate certain tax revenue for crime control (including an increase in the size of the New York Police Department along with after-school programs for teenagers), and he hired Raymond W. Kelly as police commissioner. Times Square was cleaned up during Dinkins's term, and he persuaded The Walt Disney Company to rehabilitate the old New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street. The city negotiated a 99-year lease of city park space to the United States Tennis Association to create the USTA National Tennis Center (which Mayor Michael Bloomberg later called "the only good athletic sports stadium deal, not just in New York, but in the country"). Dinkins continued an initiative begun by Ed Koch to rehabilitate dilapidated housing in northern Harlem, the South Bronx, and Brooklyn; overall more housing was rehabilitated in Dinkins's one term than in Giuliani's two. With the support of Governor Mario Cuomo, the city invested in supportive housing for mentally ill homeless people and achieved a decrease in the size of the city's homeless shelter population to its lowest point in two decades.

{{Main|1993 New York City mayoral election}}

In 1993, Dinkins lost to Republican Rudy Giuliani in a rematch of the 1989 election. Dinkins earned 48.3 percent of the vote, down from 51 percent in 1989.{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE4DF153EF930A35752C1A965958260 | work=The New York Times | first=Todd S. | last=Purdum | title=Giuliani ousts Dinkins by a thin margin ... | date=November 3, 1993 | access-date=February 7, 2017 | archive-date=November 24, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053302/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/03/nyregion/1993-elections-mayor-giuliani-ousts-dinkins-thin-margin-whitman-upset-winner.html | url-status=live}} One factor in his loss was his perceived indifference to the plight of the Jewish community during the Crown Heights riot.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=StQXz-ClGuUC |access-date=October 20, 2007 |last=Shapiro |first=Edward S. |year=2006 |title=Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot |location=Waltham, Massachusetts |publisher=Brandeis University Press, University Press of New England |isbn=1-58465-561-5 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053302/https://books.google.com/books?id=StQXz-ClGuUC |url-status=live}} Another was a strong turnout for Giuliani in Staten Island; a referendum on Staten Island's secession from New York was placed on the ballot that year by Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

File:David Dinkins 2014.jpg

From 1994 until his death, Dinkins was a professor of professional practice at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.{{cite web |url=https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/david-dinkins |title=SIPA: Faculty David N. Dinkins |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=October 16, 2020 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053310/https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/david-dinkins |url-status=live}}

Dinkins was a member of the board of directors of the United States Tennis Association.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2020/11/david-dinkins-was-new-york-city-mayor-and-tennis-superfan/91928/|title=David Dinkins was a New York City mayor, and a tennis superfan|website=Tennis.com}} He served on the boards of the New York City Global Partners, the Children's Health Fund, the Association to Benefit Children, and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Dinkins was also on the advisory board of Independent News & Media and the Black Leadership Forum, was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and served as chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.{{cite web|title=David N. Dinkins, Director at Large|url=http://www.usta.com/About-USTA/Organization/Board-of-Directors/Bio/DavidNDinkins_Director_at_Large/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720032950/http://www.usta.com/About-USTA/Organization/Board-of-Directors/Bio/DavidNDinkins_Director_at_Large/|archive-date=July 20, 2010|access-date=September 1, 2017|publisher=United States Tennis Association}}

Dinkins's radio program Dialogue with Dinkins aired on WLIB radio in New York City from 1994 to 2014.{{cite web|url=http://wlib.com/pages/143245.php |title=Praise Team: On-Air Schedule|publisher=WLIB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701102942/http://wlib.com/pages/143245.php|date=January 6, 2009|archive-date=July 1, 2007}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/decades-david-dinkins-signing-radio-station-wlib-article-1.1744770 |title=After two decades, David Dinkins signing off at radio station WLIB |date=April 4, 2014 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |author=Hinckley, David |work=New York Daily News |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053321/https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/decades-david-dinkins-signing-radio-station-wlib-article-1.1744770 |url-status=live}} His memoirs, A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic, written with Peter Knobler, were published in 2013.[http://www.trentonian.com/general-news/20130921/trentonian-david-dinkins-tells-all-in-a-mayors-life "Trentonian David Dinkins tells all in A Mayor's Life"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053352/https://www.trentonian.com/news/trentonian-david-dinkins-tells-all-in-a-mayors-life/article_f93eb2ea-5f3d-5cf9-9dac-41310e2683e2.html |date=November 24, 2020}} Trenton (NJ) Trentonian, September 21, 2013.[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/books/review/if-mayors-ruled-the-world-and-a-mayors-life.html "Their Honors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053323/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/books/review/if-mayors-ruled-the-world-and-a-mayors-life.html |date=November 24, 2020}} Roberts, Sam, The New York Times, Sunday Book Review, November 22, 2013.

Although he never attempted a political comeback, Dinkins remained somewhat active in politics after his mayorship, and his endorsements of various candidates, including Mark Green in the 2001 mayoral race, were well-publicized. He supported Democrats Fernando Ferrer in the 2005 New York mayoral election, Bill Thompson in 2009, and Bill de Blasio in 2013.[http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/thompson-picks-pair-key-endorsements-article-1.1362268 "William Thompson picks up a pair of key endorsements"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053305/https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/thompson-picks-pair-key-endorsements-article-1.1362268 |date=November 24, 2020}} Fermino, Jennifer, Daily News (New York), June 3, 2013.[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/nyregion/the-ghosts-of-mayors-past.html "The Ghosts of Mayors Past"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053408/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/nyregion/the-ghosts-of-mayors-past.html |date=November 24, 2020}} Roberts, Sam, The New York Times, September 29, 2013. During the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, Dinkins endorsed and actively campaigned for Wesley Clark.[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-01-21-dinkins-clark_x.htm "David Dinkins supports Wesley Clark, to join him in N.H."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053306/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-01-21-dinkins-clark_x.htm |date=November 24, 2020}}, USA Today, Associated Press, January 21, 2004. In the campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Dinkins served as an elected delegate from New York for Hillary Clinton.{{cite web |url=http://www.gazette.net/stories/10012010/polinew192830_32533.php |title=Reporters Notebook: New Yorkers make their mark on Maryland politics |work=The Gazette |location=Gaithersburg, MD |date=October 1, 2010 |access-date=September 23, 2011 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924040533/http://www.gazette.net/stories/10012010/polinew192830_32533.php |url-status=live}} During the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, Dinkins endorsed former Mayor Michael Bloomberg for president on February 25, 2020, just before a Democratic debate.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-david-dinkins-endorses-mike-bloomberg-president-20200226-lvzsmivq2nhovf22g3ri6nkghi-story.html|title=Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins endorses Mike Bloomberg for President|last=Wilkinson|first=Joseph|website=nydailynews.com|date=February 25, 2020 |access-date=February 26, 2020|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053307/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-david-dinkins-endorses-mike-bloomberg-president-20200226-lvzsmivq2nhovf22g3ri6nkghi-story.html|url-status=live}}

Dinkins sat on the board of directors and in 2013 was on the Honorary Founders Board of The Jazz Foundation of America.[http://www.jazzfoundation.org/about-jazz-foundation-america/board-committees/honorary-founders-board/hon-david-dinkins "Hon. David Dinkins"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303191255/http://jazzfoundation.org/about-jazz-foundation-america/board-committees/honorary-founders-board/hon-david-dinkins |date=March 3, 2015}}, JazzFoundation.org. Retrieved January 27, 2013.McMullan, Patrick, May 10, 2009. [http://www.patrickmcmullan.com/site/event_detail.aspx?eid=25724 "The Jazz Foundation of America's 'A great night in Harlem' benefit" (photo archive)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053318/https://www.patrickmcmullan.com/site/event_detail.aspx?eid=25724 |date=November 24, 2020}} patrickmcmullan.com, May 29, 2008. Event at the Apollo Theater, NYC. Accessed: May 10, 2009. He worked with that organization to save the homes and lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians, including musicians who survived Hurricane Katrina. He served on the boards of the Children's Health Fund (CHF), the Association to Benefit Children, and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF). Dinkins was also chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. He was a champion of college access, serving on the Posse Foundation National Board of Directors until his death in 2020.[https://www.possefoundation.org/news-and-events/longtime-board-member-former-nyc-mayor-david-dinkins-reflects-on-path-to-education-posse "Longtime Board Member, Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins Reflects on Path to Education, Posse"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053349/https://www.possefoundation.org/news-and-events/longtime-board-member-former-nyc-mayor-david-dinkins-reflects-on-path-to-education-posse |date=November 24, 2020}}, possefoundation.org. Retrieved April 19, 2019.

The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan was named after the former mayor in 2015 by mayor Bill de Blasio.{{cite web |last1=Hajela |first1=Deepti |title=David Dinkins, first Black mayor of New York City, dies at 93 |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7480734/david-dinkins-new-york-mayor-obit/ |website=Global News |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=3 November 2022 |date=24 November 2020}}

File:US Open Tennis 2010 1st Round 053 (4944140400).jpg game in 2010.]]

Dinkins married Joyce Burrows, the daughter of Harlem political eminence Daniel L. Burrows, in August 1953.{{cite news |title=Joyce Burrows and David Dinkins are wed in double ring ceremony |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/40478147/ |access-date=October 13, 2020 |work=The New York Age |date=September 5, 1953 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053308/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/40478147/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=Marriott |first1=Michel |title=Joyce Dinkins, a Quiet Lady Who Is No Longer a Private Person |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/01/nyregion/joyce-dinkins-a-quiet-lady-who-is-no-longer-a-private-person.html |access-date=October 14, 2020 |work=New York Times |date=January 1, 1990 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053403/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/01/nyregion/joyce-dinkins-a-quiet-lady-who-is-no-longer-a-private-person.html |url-status=live}} They had two children, David Jr. and Donna. When Dinkins became mayor of New York City, Joyce retired from her position at the State Department of Taxation and Finance. The couple were members of the Church of the Intercession in New York City. Joyce died on October 11, 2020, at the age of 89.{{Cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/joyce-dinkins-wife-of-nyc-s-first-black-mayor-dies/ar-BB19XndQ |title=Joyce Dinkins, wife of NYC's first Black mayor, dies |website=MSN |access-date=October 13, 2020 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124053311/https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/joyce-dinkins-wife-of-nyc-s-first-black-mayor-dies/ar-BB19XndQ |url-status=live}}

Dinkins was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi ("the Boule"), the oldest collegiate and first professional Greek-letter fraternities, respectively, established for African Americans. He was raised as a Master Mason in King David Lodge No. 15, F. & A. M., PHA, located in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1952.{{Cite web|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/11/david-dinkins-new-yorks-only-black-mayor-has-died-at-93.html|title=David Dinkins, New York's First and Only Black Mayor, Has Died at 93|first=Matt|last=Stieb|date=November 24, 2020|website=Intelligencer}}

In 1994, Dinkins was part of an Episcopal Church delegation to Haiti.{{cite news|url=https://episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSphoto_display.pl?pr_number=94117&photo_index=0|title=piscopal Church Delegation to Haiti Finds Desperate Struggle to Cope|first=Anita|last=Lemonis|publisher=Episcopal News Service|date=June 15, 1994|access-date=November 24, 2020|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124231152/https://episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSphoto_display.pl?pr_number=94117&photo_index=0|url-status=live}}

Dinkins was hospitalized in New York on October 31, 2013, for treatment of pneumonia.{{cite news|title=Dinkins hospitalized|url=http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23841785/dinkins-hospitalized|publisher=WNYW|location=New York|date=October 31, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101162407/http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23841785/dinkins-hospitalized|archive-date=November 1, 2013}} He was hospitalized again for pneumonia on February 19, 2016.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nyc-mayor-dinkins-hospitalized-pneumonia-37068200|title=Former NYC Mayor Dinkins Hospitalized for Pneumonia|publisher=ABC News.com|access-date=February 20, 2016|archive-date=February 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220165115/http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nyc-mayor-dinkins-hospitalized-pneumonia-37068200|url-status=live}}

Dinkins starred as himself on April 13, 2018, in "Risk Management", the 19th episode of the 8th season of the CBS police procedural drama Blue Bloods.{{cite web|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20180322cbs01/|title=Listings-Blue Bloods|date=April 13, 2018|website=The Futon Critic|access-date=March 31, 2018}}

On November 23, 2020, Dinkins died from unspecified natural causes at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, about a month after his wife's death. He was 93.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/nyregion/david-dinkins-dead.html|title = David N. Dinkins, New York's First Black Mayor, Dies at 93|work = The New York Times|date = November 24, 2020|access-date = November 24, 2020|last = McFadden|first = Robert D.|author-link = Robert D. McFadden|archive-date = November 24, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201124231143/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/nyregion/david-dinkins-dead.html|url-status = live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/former-new-york-city-mayor-david-dinkins-dies-at-93/2742619/|agency=NBC 4 New York|title=Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins Dies at 93|date=November 23, 2020|access-date=November 23, 2020|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124113714/https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/former-new-york-city-mayor-david-dinkins-dies-at-93/2742619/|url-status=live}}

• {{Cite book |last1=Dinkins |first1=David N. |first2=Peter |last2=Knobler |year=2013 |title=A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic |url=https://archive.org/details/mayorslifegovern0000dink |location=New York |publisher=PublicAffairs Books |isbn=9781610393010 |oclc=826322884 |url-access=registration}}

{{Portal|Biography|Politics|New York City|New York (state)}}

• List of mayors of New York City
• Timeline of New York City, 1980s–1990s

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=McNickle |first=Chris |year=2012 |title=The Power of the Mayor: David Dinkins, 1990–1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpsuDwAAQBAJ |location=New Brunswick, NJ |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=9781412849593 |oclc=930793065}}
• Paterson, David (2020). Black, Blind, & in Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity. New York.
• Rangel, Charles B.; Wynter, Leon (2007). And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since: From the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress. New York: St. Martin's Press.
• John C. Walker (1989). The Harlem Fox: J. Raymond Jones at Tammany 1920–1970, New York: State University New York Press.

{{Commons category}}

• [http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead//nnc-rb/ldpd_6058659/summary Finding Aid for the David N. Dinkins Papers housed at Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library]
• {{C-SPAN|3029}}
• {{Find a Grave|218956860|David Dinkins}}

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