Page "William O'Dwyer" Paragraph 3

In 1945, O ' Dwyer received the nomination of the Tammany Hall Democrats and easily won the mayoral election.

At his inauguration, O ' Dwyer celebrated to the song, " It's a Great Day for the Irish ," and addressed the 700 people gathered in Council Chambers at City Hall: " It is our high purpose to devote our whole time, our whole energy to do good work ..." He established the Office of City Construction Coordinator, appointing Robert Moses to the post, worked to have the permanent home of the United Nations located in Manhattan, presided over the first billion-dollar New York City budget, created a traffic department and raised the subway fare from five cents to ten cents.

In 1948, O ' Dwyer received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award " in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York.