The Little Flower

The Little Flower is the affectionate nickname for Fiorello La Guardia, New York’s Republican mayor. In the wake of Walter Winchell’s assassination, the name accompanies a sudden elevation: Franklin D. Roosevelt endorses La Guardia as a national-unity candidate to oppose Charles A. Lindbergh’s bid for a second term in 1944.

The Nickname and Its Bearer

The nickname is described as one used affectionately by La Guardia’s devoted constituents. Its bearer is presented as a roly-poly politician standing five feet two inches tall, a compact public figure whose familiar sobriquet sits alongside the account’s description of him as cunning, contemptuous, short-tempered, and bullheaded. The phrase thus identifies La Guardia through local affection even as the narrative introduces him on the national political stage.

A Political Succession

La Guardia’s designation as Walter Winchell’s successor comes at Winchell’s funeral. After the mayor’s denunciation of the forces behind the assassination, Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking from the pulpit of Temple Emanu-El, pledges support for La Guardia as a national-unity candidate against Charles A. Lindbergh’s pursuit of a second term in 1944. The nickname marks the contrast between La Guardia’s warmly familiar standing with his constituents and the weight of the role he is assigned in the political crisis.