The former mayor wasn\u2019t well. Mayor John V. Lindsay had cut a dashing figure during his tenure, but after he left office in 1973, his health declined precipitously, while his law career faltered. Help arrived from an unlikely source.<\/p>\n
Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former prosecutor who led New York in the 1990s with a tough-on-everything approach that had rebuked Mr. Lindsay\u2019s liberalism, was now the mayor. He would ensure that Mr. Lindsay could receive municipal health insurance coverage in the final years of his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us were grateful for Rudy\u2019s kindness,\u201d said Steven L. Isenberg, who served as chief of staff to Mr. Lindsay. \u201cThe need was real.\u201d<\/p>\n
The episode is resonant today as Mr. Giuliani\u2019s own health deteriorates, leading him to seek medical care<\/a> covered by the World Trade Center Health Program for people affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n Mr. Giuliani was in the final months of his mayoralty when the attacks happened. He was a frequent presence at ground zero, the site of the fallen World Trade Center towers, where the air was rife with toxic dust and smoke that have been linked to respiratory problems.<\/p>\n After Mr. Giuliani was hospitalized with pneumonia this month, his spokesman said that Mr. Giuliani had been diagnosed with restrictive airway disease, and that the condition stemmed from the attacks.<\/p>\n About 30 years earlier, Mr. Giuliani had helped Mr. Lindsay.<\/p>\n Mr. Lindsay was mayor from 1966 through 1973. In his post-City Hall years, he was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease as well as heart problems.<\/a> In 1994, Mr. Lindsay was hospitalized<\/a> after becoming faint while waiting for a train at Grand Central Terminal.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had some bad luck,\u201d said Vincent J. Cannato, author of \u201cThe Ungovernable City<\/a>,\u201d a political biography of Mr. Lindsay.<\/p>\n Though Mr. Lindsay\u2019s health struggles were well known, his dire financial situation was not, Randy M. Mastro<\/a>, a top adviser to Mr. Giuliani, said. Having learned of Mr. Lindsay\u2019s plight, Mr. Giuliani committed to helping him. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like Rudy Giuliani and John Lindsay had any kind of special personal relationship,\u201d Mr. Mastro said. In fact, Mr. Lindsay had endorsed David N. Dinkins, Mr. Giuliani\u2019s rival in the 1989 and 1993 mayoral elections.<\/p>\n But for a moment, political differences paled before weightier concerns. Mr. Mastro said that Mr. Giuliani had urged his advisers to find a path to help Mr. Lindsay because of his public service. \u201cI was very proud of him for doing it,\u201d said Mr. Mastro, who had to figure out just how to help Mr. Lindsay.<\/p>\n The answer was to bring him back to government, if only in ceremonial fashion. In 1995, Mr. Giuliani appointed Mr. Lindsay as president<\/a> of the Sister City program and as special counsel to the New York City Commission for the United Nations, Consular Corps and International Business. The first position was unsalaried, while the second paid $25,000 per year.<\/p>\n The appointments would allow Mr. Lindsay to enroll in the same health care plan as active city employees \u2014 benefits that he would have received in retirement if his city service had been longer than eight years.<\/p>\n When Mr. Lindsay became a municipal employee again, he could select from a number of health care plans covered by the city. <\/p>\n Other city leaders endorsed Mr. Giuliani\u2019s move, according to a May 1996 article<\/a> in The New York Times. \u201cI don\u2019t think the people of our city really want to see a former mayor with the absence of resources in the kind of circumstances in which one can find oneself,\u201d Mr. Dinkins, who was mayor from 1990 through 1993, said at the time.<\/p>\n New Yorkers may have been surprised to learn that a Yale graduate who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and City Hall would need such help. \u201cTwo of his law firms went under, so he did not make as much money as one might have thought,\u201d Dr. Cannato said. Despite Mr. Lindsay\u2019s background, Dr. Cannato said, \u201chis family money was pretty thin.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Lindsay died<\/a> in 2000 at age 79 of complications from pneumonia and Parkinson\u2019s disease. Mr. Giuliani went on to be hailed as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Mayor\u201d after the Sept. 11 attacks and was an early front-runner<\/a> for the Republican nomination in the 2008 presidential election before his campaign collapsed.<\/a><\/p>\n Later, Mr. Giuliani alienated many New Yorkers with his energetic support of Donald J. Trump and his quest to overturn the 2020 election. Mr. Giuliani now faces money troubles<\/a> of his own.<\/p>\n