Herman Badillo (seen on the left) was the first Puerto Rican elected to U.S. Congress in 1970 when he won a seat in the House of Representatives from the district that contained parts of the South Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. He was successful in gaining support not only from his Puerto Rican consituents, but from blacks and whites as well due to his position as a reform Democrat, a faction of the Democrats that considered middle-class objectives its priority. (Baver, 46-49) Previously, he had served as the Bronx borough president from 1966-1969 and attempted to run for New York City mayor during the 1960s and 1970s.One of the key aspects of his policy was his continued involvement with the island of Puerto Rico. Shortly after his election, he flew to San Juan where he pledged "to help Puerto Rico get its full share of federal funds." The support went both ways, since Badillo was greatly aided by support from Puerto Rico's Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon in his 1976 campaign for re-election to the House. (Baver, 49, 51) This showed the key role that the island still played in mainland life for many Puerto Ricans. In a surprise move, he stepped down from his seat in 1978 in order to move into a prominent role on the mayoral staff of New York City Mayor David Koch as Deputy Mayor for Management. Badillo supported fellow Puerto Rican, Robert Garcia, who was in the New York State Senate, to take his seat and Garcia subsequently won the special election. Support from Badillo became a critical thing for young Puerto Ricans hoping to make a name for themselves in the political arena. But after Badillo resigned after a transfer to Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning, not everyone was disappointed, because his "dominance among Puerto Rican officials has hindered the development of a larger, broader leadership." (Baver, 53)
Developing a broader leadership had been a problem plaguing the Puerto Rican community even before Badillo became its representative. Machine politics were prevalent in most New York Puerto Rican communities despite the fact that machines as a whole were on the decline. This discrepancy was due to the need for federal aid money and the dependency on local organizations for that money in Puerto Rican communities. This led to these organizations being looked to for assistance instead of the government and, not surprisingly, led to an incredible amount of corruption. They also did little to improve the communities because "machine politics maintain a typically poor, ill-informed electorate." (Baver, 47-48) If people became informed and/or no longer poor, machines would quickly be seen as counterproductive to the needs of the people and thus they were most concerned with maintaining the status quo and keeping their own localized power.
One of the legacies of Herman Badillo's political efforts was his fight against the corruption in local Puerto Rican organizations that controlled money and used it for their own purposes instead of its intended uses within the community. Another legacy was his connection with the Democratic Party leading to a huge majority of future Puerto Rican politicians in the United States aligning themselves with it. This was a significant change because the Democrats originally ignored the Puerto Ricans for decades after they arrived in the United States, and seemingly becoming the party of white immigrants only. Puerto Ricans, were viewed as "a threat to the city's white population" despite the fact they were American citizens. (Baver, 44-45, 53)
Works Cited:
Baver, Sherrie. "Puerto Rican Politics in New York City: The Post-World War II Period." In Puerto Rican Politics in Urban America, ed. James Jennings and Monte Rivera, 43-55. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984.
"Herman Badillo." Photograph. (n.d.) From Office of the Historian. http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/congress/badillo.html (Accessed December 13, 2009).
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