Albany is the state capital of New York and the seat of Albany County. Roughly 135 miles (220 km) north of the City of New York, Albany developed on the west bank of the Hudson River, about 10 miles (16 km) south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. The population of the City of Albany was 97,856 according to the 2010 census, making it the seventh largest city in the state. Albany has close ties with the nearby cities of Troy, across the river; Schenectady to the west on the Mohawk River, and Saratoga Springs to the north, forming a region called the Capital District. This is comprised mostly of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The area's 2010 population was 870,716, the 4th-largest MSA in New York and the 58th largest in the country.
Albany in Joe Steele[]
During the 1932 Democratic Convention in Chicago, New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt, one of the convention's front runners, remained in Albany and away from the convention as dictated by custom. After two days of voting, the convention came down to a neck and neck competition between Roosevelt and Representative Joe Steele of California. Roosevelt did hold a press conference in Albany during the first round of votes, where he extolled the virtues of his New Deal over Steele's Four Year Plan. He further took a verbal swing at Steele by suggesting that Steele, the child of immigrants, didn't understand the American people.[1]
On the second night of voting, a fire (secretly directed by Vince Scriabin under Steele's orders) swept through the Executive Mansion in Albany, killing Roosevelt (who could not get out of the building in time due to his polio), his wife Eleanor and several members of the mansion staff.[2]
New York Post reporter Mike Sullivan covered the press conference, the fire and Roosevelt's funeral.[3] He wasn't very impressed with Albany, having lived in New York City his whole life.
References[]
- ↑ Joe Steele, pgs. 12-15.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 20-21.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 28-31.
| |||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
