And i think that he felt a response ability because theres nobody, he felt a responsibility to say well, without a body, without dna evidence, can we really say for sure that this man is dead . To the phantom that escapes how many times managed to escape a month time as adolf eichmann. At the top of most wanted list have been ostracized presents at, but not a lewdly sure. That is through the case remains from his perspective to this day. The macquarie convinced he had yes. Everyone while u. S. Yourself, but its very clear from the evidence in the German Authorities they declared him dead as well. The book is called the eternal nazi. Nicholas kulish, souad mekhennet, thank you very much. [applause] please join us in the back force of wine and food and books to purchase and had nine. Thank you again for joining us. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] Richard Ravitch on detroits bankruptcy of former Lieutenant Governor of new york talks about his life as a Public Service and discusses what he did to turn around new yorks fiscal problems of the night 70s. This is about an hour and 15 minute. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon, everybody. But that to get started. Welcome to the aflcio. As you know, this disease. A booksignings and irrelevant offers so they get a chance to hear from nonand also a chance to talk with them. I am really excited today and it is really my pleasure to introduce my friend and a longtime friend of the Labor Movement, Richard Ravitch. He is here to discuss, so much to do. That title is definitely an understatement when it comes to his career. Dick his life in Public Service has been intertwined with the Labor Movement since the name teen 50s. Some of you here dont remember the 50s. I barely do i can tell you. But i think that its just because im old right now is starting to lose my memory. Im going to leave most of its ahead to tell you some stories. But i cant resist mentioning a couple of moments in dicks life to give you a sense of the type of life that this man has led. Dick has been involved in progressive politics since before most of us were on. In college, working for Adlai Stevens and right after the civil war [laughter] and during that campaign, he took Eleanor Roosevelt to lunch. That was a great day. Probably still remember that. In 63, dick helped organize new york tension to the great Archer Jonathan friedman. And of course form a friendship with the marches organizer bayard reston, here is the labor might come the Civil Rights Movement and the movement and that friendship last for the entire rest of his life. In 75, when new york city was on the verge of bankruptcy, dick convened a chinese takeout summit with two of the new york city great labor leaders. Victor god all shanker for the outlines of a Worker Pension Fund led rescue of the city was trying to. People like to forget it was a workers money that helped lead new york out of bankruptcy. We will let them forget. When the new york mayor, ed koch attack new york workers for not working hard enough committee was headed was head of the metropolitan transit authority. He went on tv to defend those workers. Quite frankly, koch never got over it and was still attacking them at the end of his life and that is really a case it be known by the quality of your enemies. Starting in the 80s, dick served as a key adviser on financial issues. He served on the board of the aflcio Housing Investment for decades, never taken a single penny in com station and he remains one of the key people that we at the aflcio count on for financial wisdom. Dick has been responsible in one way or another for the construction of hundreds of thousands of units of Affordable Housing in new york and across the country, including some of the first racially integrated housing built right here in the district of columbia. Of course, dick circus attendant governor of new york from 2009, 2010. I want to say this about dick. This really i think dick means the most to me. First of all, trained three is a highly, highly successful businessman. But he has been a ferocious advocate for the print to pull the people who have done well in our society must pay their fair share for the price of civilization. Even as we meet today, dick has been locked in a public battle with Governor Andrew Cuomo over whether it is a good idea to give or tax breaks and tax cuts to the rich. I ensure that kind of thing leads to some awkward moments on the social circuit. They here at the house of labor, quite frankly we couldnt be more proud of you, my friend, my brother. Dick ravitch. [applause] well, it is a thrill to be here. I thank you all for coming and rich, i thank you for inviting me. I have to begin by saying a couple of things. I begin my book with a quote from plato that says if youre not prepared to engage in politics, you deserve to be governed by inferior people. In many ways, this book aside and telling a lot of stories come to some of are fun, if i had a purpose and a motive, it listed lead that young people recognize the only way change anything in a democracy is by getting involved with politics. You dont govern at being above politics. No particular person intended to be covered by that. Number two, the change only comes about through the political process. And it is essential that politics not be treated as citizens so many world is a dirty word. Some of our most distinguished newspapers used the word politics and a persistently pejorative way and that creates a cultural atmosphere that discourages young people from getting the old. Anyway, that is a large reason why i wrote this. Now i want to go back and tell you a few things as friends do for one another exaggerates. It wasnt hundreds of thousands. It was about 40,000 units of Affordable Housing here in washington, primarily new york, puerto rico. That was my business and i was enjoying it very much that i started my career here in 10 when i first got out of law School Writing of the secretaries up on the hill and that a congressman from california who gave me a job. It was great experience. Then i got married and decided i had to make a few bucks increase in Economic Security and maybe come back in public life when i have a little more independent, look into this business and it turned out fabulous lee. Having grown up in a family that worshiped roosevelt, i got involved in the Civil Rights Movement came out to watch and 1063 in that, as rich said, a very good friend in her home by life changed in many ways. First of all, new york is that the ost headquarters on park avenue south. That is how i met a close friend of mine for the remainder of his life. That is how i met Lane Kirkland who asked me several years later to become chairman of the aflcio housing and s. Mitra. Lane and his wife became very good friends as well and were wonderful people. I became exposed to the world of flavor of leadership came to realize that so many of the things they cared about in this country and in this work were dependent upon the effect that mess with which labour leadership was able to function in our democracy. Im going to to tell you some stories. First of all, about a month or two after the civil rights march in 63 i got a call from my address and asking me if i would have lunch with a philip randolph. And of course i was thrilled with the idea and we had lunch and he told me that mr. Randolph told me that you are in the business that a lot of the Building Trades in new york are fully segregated in with guts to break the barrier and create jobs in the way to do this is not by rabble rousing, but by training kids to take the apprenticeship tests. So we set up some thing called equipment and training program, the first across the picket line and some of you may know he was at the end for a while to cross the picket line in ark after the School Desegregation decision. Alexis herman worked there, subsequently secretary of labor. We so have i. Conventions down in new orleans. All i can tell you is 1 00 in the morning when we all feel no pain and lexis is pretty good on the dance floor. I have great memories, not. Shanker got in. The capcom from chicago. As a matter of fact, in 69, they had after the Famous School strike in new york, they had to very contentious, nasty jurisdictional battle as see who was to represent the power professionals and the Public School system. In 6 cents of organizers and made it a much as he could get it a racial issue. Ill shut her son on a word to go onto a professional union or something else. Ill shocker when that election hands down, which is very interesting. But it did not result in a friendship train the two. They were the most powerful labor leaders in new york. And by sheer serendipity i became friends with thick as well. We play tennis together every week. I dont know whether any of you have heard that thick and unfortunately he is not well so its not that good anymore. A wonderful, warm human being. I just visited his son who is head of the pbgc and his son josh has a big sign in his office, which is a quote from his father that says we are all should, but we are better than anyone else. Forget the language, but it had a big kick out of that. So in 1975 rolled around, it was very, very difficult to deal with the fact the city has solved deficit for the previous eight years by fireweed money. Someone had close to 9 billion richer he shortterm debt and in no way whatsoever paid it back except by retiring. The big suet of course profited from this process enormously reached the point where they were unwilling to continue because of their potential liability under the provisions of the security law. I happen to be with governor kerry on may 2nd. Ill never forget this day as long as i live. A second come in 1870 when the head of citibank, morgan bank and chase bank told the governor they would no longer underwrite the notes and bonds of the city of new york. And i called the city budget or the state budget your, wanted to know what the cash position of the city was, what the payroll was, what the maturing debt schedule was. I tell a lot of this in the boat. It was an extraordinary time. The most urgent need was to convert all the shortterm maturing debt into longterm debt. That is slightly created by some of remember as the municipal assistance corporation. Its purpose was to sully convert the shirt term debt to longterm debt. But that didnt take care of the fact the city was operating a deficit and we couldnt afford to do that anymore. So it became a question of negotiating with everyone. Obviously, the usual groups, business groups and conservative newspapers throughout the entire burden of this deficit out to be borne by the employees of the city. Fortunately, governor kerry did not share that view and he was gutsy enough to make that abundantly clear. And without boring you with all the details there ensued over six months. A series of agreement, which concluded the unions agreeing to have wage freezes, to laos, which they have limited ability to prevent that were done as part of a plan in which the banks agreed to lend money in order to keep the city going. And the unions had not stepped up to the plate. One of two things wouldve happened. Either the city wouldve been forced to file a Bankruptcy Law and thats probably what wouldve happened. I just came back from todays industry last week. That wouldve been a a disaster for new york city. They then did months more negotiations with the unions, what do they, with the federal government, the state of new york stepped up and picked up the cost of the court system in new york city, picked up the cost of the city university. It raised taxes. The upstate republicans believe it or not were willing to support additional tax revenue to help solve the problem because everybody recognized the great city of new york should not go into bankruptcy. Most importantly, everybody recognized in order to resolve a problem of this kind, everybody is to put something on the table. Ultimately in order to get the federal government to descend a screw to be necessary by the time the fall came around, reenacted a law that declared a moratorium on the pavement of volunteers to the city does in the big things went along with it. And supported the legislation. And that is what ultimately persuaded president ford and the white house that they had to do some thing. If new york had gone, the banks of the unions had all gone to the outer limit to avoid decrypts the, if there is one additional thing the federal government had to do in order to make sure that happen was that throughout the two were finally came through literally one month after the president had made it clear he was not going to provide any money whatsoever to the city like new york which produced the famous headline can afford to new york dropped dead, which the white house took great umbrage at and which governor kerry years later said to me was probably a little bit unfair, but it did help. One of the most exciting moment of this was enough trooper before the Ford Administration was help. The governor knowing i had worked on the hill and i knew henry royce, then chairman of the Banking Committee and the house in a new powersharing man who is staff during on the Senate Finance committee, which had been chaired by paul douglas im sorry, the Banking Committee. Not the finance committee. The Banking Committee. I have been appointed by president johnson to some called the National Commission of urban problems in 1966 and the great senator lost his senate seat. Job to make him chairman of the commission. Anyway, to make a long story short, i came down to washington on october 162 briefed this staff of the two Banking Committees about the situation in new york city. When i got back to the airport, i called the governor to check in and give them a report and he said he had just gotten a call from al shanker. The teachers retirement system had committed at the Union Pension funds as rich referred to earlier i met al shanker had decided he could not purchase the mac bonds and take the risk and the retirees would subsequently go into bankruptcy. If he didnt buy the bonds there is, if iran were the numbers, 150 million note maturity occurred the next day and therefore if he did by 150 or his Retirement Fund didnt buy 150 million mac bonds there would be no cash and the city wouldve been forced to file bankruptcy on that day. So i was very, very depressed. Our Members Meeting my wife is fancy dinner we had scheduled to go to and i couldnt take seeking the city was going to be tipsy. I couldnt too bad at 10 00 governor kerry called me since i now shot. Energy changes mind. Theres a police car waiting to tears. So i didnt know where al west at 10 00 at night all the time, the pirate arrested days so i got al. There were a cell phone for most days can associate up without at 11 00 at night and he was extremely well read, thoughtful person and we do want to talk about history and whether an individual could make a difference and he talked about his conflicts he had between the teachers and the retirees and how difficult it was for him and he recognized he would put the current crop of teachers in more severe difficulty if he did make the contribution. If he did make a contribution, he could be sued for somebody by a retiree from having failed to meet his fiduciary response abilities. So we talked about this until 5 00 in the morning and he then said to me, dick, ive got to check with a few people. But it should get a little rest and ill call you first thing. Went home, got into bed, couldnt quite believe i was in the middle of all of this. I was exhausted because to say i never heard from shanker. At 9 00 i turn on the Television Set in the interest me. They say we interrupt the broadcast to tell you new york city is going to go bankrupt today. So i got dressed, but in a cab and went on to governor kerrys office and flap my way through the press in two minutes later the secretary comes in says mr. Shanker is calling. So i picked up the phone and said i want to meet with you in the governor, no one else. I said where are you, al . He said im at gracie mansion. My apartment happened to be medically between the Governors Office and so i said why dont we meet in ip apartment. So we locked down to avoid the press. Unmarked police car and one of my apartment and a few minutes later alibis. 10 were still set at the central labor new york in the head of local three of the ibew, clearly the most powerful union leader in new york at the time and a very tough guy. Nice guys, but very, very staff. To make a long story short there is then four hours of discussion everybody had voters showing up and they were very interesting questions. I boosted the subsequently filed bankruptcy with the holder of a backbone better than the prior issue general obligation of the city. I dont want to get into the details of this way to explain this in the book. It is a very, very relevant question around the country because the question as to whether or not the holder of an acute municipal obligation come out differently are they going to be treated from one that is secured as part of the discussion, which some of you may be often. Involved in. Ow 1980, i had just become chairman of the mta, and the union was demanding a very substantial increase in pay. The mta had no money, and as i learned, was severely underfunded at every level, no adequate Capital Funding either. But i had a, for whatever set of reasons not unrelated to my friendship with the people in the