Andrew Ryan, staff writer for the Boston Globe, covered former Boston Mayor Tom Menino‘s visit to Roosevelt House this past week, at the launch of his nation-wide book tour for “Mayor for a New America.”  Menino was introduced by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab, and interviewed by Professor Owen Gutfreund, Roosevelt House Faculty Associate and Professor in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning.  In the article, Ryan writes:

‘Having the kickoff at Roosevelt House somehow seemed appropriate, underscoring Menino’s connection to the long arc of progressive politics in America. The Neo-Georgian townhouse, sitting blocks away from Central Park, was one of the places where Roosevelt found a renewed sense of purpose after being paralyzed by polio.

The house later served as the launching pad for the political career of America’s longest-serving president. In the same upper room where Roosevelt laid the foundation of the New Deal, Menino sat near a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking East 65th Street.

“Putting your memoirs together is very difficult,” Menino said over the din of cocktail chatter. “It wasn’t ever about me. It was about the city of Boston.”

Former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg greeted Menino with the warmth of an old friend. In introductory remarks at the book party, Bloomberg described Menino as “one of the most successful mayors to ever run a city in the United States.” History, he said, will include Menino in the same breath as transcendent big city mayors the likes of New York’s Fiorello LaGuardia and Chicago’s Richard Daley.

“He really was the mayors’ mayor,” Bloomberg said of Menino. “When you get to heaven, my attitude is don’t stop and ask, just walk right in. You have earned this.'”

Read the whole article online at the Boston Globe.

For more images and video from the program, click here.