Get to Know Rudy Giuliani

Nov. 15, 2007— -- Rudolph W. Giuliani grew up a typical Brooklyn boy, whose character was forged by the old-school values his parents' instilled in him. Over the course of his career, he has prosecuted criminals and led New York City through its worst crisis. Now the man whom some have called "America's Mayor" is hoping to become America's president.

ABC's Charles Gibson spoke with Giuliani as part of the "Who Is" series, which features one interview every week with a presidential candidate from now until December, with the focus on their private lives.

Born in 1944 to Harold and Helen Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani spent his early years in a middle-class family in Brooklyn. His mother, who'd grown up in Brooklyn herself, had wanted to be a teacher, but when she graduated from high school the financial devastation of the Great Depression forced her to go to work. She got a job as a bookkeeper.

"All her life, she had this frustration of not having become what she wanted to be. So she spent her time teaching me. Gave me a tremendous fascination with learning. I don't think there have been many days in my life when I haven't been reading a book," Giuliani said.

His father, who was from Manhattan, was a boxer, and Giuliani said his personality served as a balance to his mother's doting.

"My dad was a very strong person," Giuliani said.

His father "probably was worried that my mother would dote on me too much. His job, he felt, was to toughen me up. You know, teach me to box, take care of myself," Giuliani said.

"My mother required my father to live in Brooklyn, and he never really appreciated that, because he was living with her family. So he made me a Yankee fan. Kind of secretly. Almost as revenge to my mother's family, because they were all Dodger fans. And I would get harassed constantly as a Yankee fan. And maybe some of my individuality sort of developed with 'well, I'm going to be different. I'm going to be a Yankee fan,'" Giuliani said.