Nick Nick captured in sketch by George Rebh for Neal Pierce's June, 1977 column,
"America's Most Poweful City Councilman."
Out of the Hartford wards comes a politician with skills that may equal those of . . . John Bailey. But Nick Carbone . . . differs from the old master in one vital respect -- rather than prizing power for its own sake, he believes in its single-minded use to improve the lot of the underprivileged people of his city. From court suits to statewide urban lobbying coalitions to economic revival steps for the inner city, Carbone is using his political skill with remarkable success -- and setting a model for urban politicians across the country.
----- Neal R. Pierce, 1977
Our people can't really be part of the democratic process unless they're treated with respect, unless they have income, unless they have a job.
-- Nick Carbone to Neal Pierce
Memorial Program Invocation
Father Frascadore
A Letter from Senator Chris Dodd Stories of Nick
Great God of Love
Read by Peter Kelly Peter Kelly, Fran Matthews,
Robert Killian Jr, Dick Suisman,
Nicky Carbone, Joe Marfuggi,
Lisa Martin, Lew Brown,
Nancy Mulroy, Sid Holbrook, Liz Brown, Edith Pollock Karsky,
Senator Richard Blumenthal The Georgetown Chimes
A Son’s Remembrance On My Father Final Thoughts
Mike Carbone Carl V. Carbone Nick Carbone
Nick with all 12 of his east coast grandchildren.
Great God of Love Lyrics Words & Music by Don Colleton
Great God of love, God of our brothers God of our dawn, God of our night Remember now those you have called To dwell in your eternal light You are my shepherd, You are my want You are my meadow, staff, and rod Goodness and kindness shall follow me And I shall dwell with you, my God Great God of love, God of our labors God of our rest, God of our song Bring us one day to comrades gone Where men of faith and love belong
Drawing by Luca Carbone-Danmeier of Nick with his west coast grandchildren and their parents in San Francisco. It was sent with this message for their grandfather: "Thank you for making a wonderful life with us, love your SF tribe."
Nick and Barbara attend a White House State Dinner, July 26, 1977. The photo ran in the Hartford Courant with this text:
L-R, George Levine, Dr. Allyn Martin, and Nick (yes, in a tie), from a photo in the 1969-1970 City Manager Report. All were appointed to the City Council in 1969. With the election of Dick Suisman and Billy DiBella to the Council in 1971, Hartford, under Nick’s leadership, became perhaps the most progressively governed city in the nation.
Fit to be Tied?
Hartford City Councilman Nicholas R. Carbone, the city's foremost critic of cravats, arrives with his wife Barbara Carbone at a black-tie dinner in Washington sporting a . . . tie? Not really, insisted Carbone, who swore off neckware four years ago. "They strangle me," he explained of his decision to shed ties in favor of turtlenecks and open shirts. Before leaving for a state dinner to honor Italian Premier Giulio Andreotti at the White House Tuesday, Carbone promised the blackspot at his throat would not be a bona fide tie.
The September 1976 cover of Connecticu Magazine featured, going clockwise from the top, Judge Jon Newman, Aetna’s John Filer, Justin Ostro, at the time chief negotiator for District 91 of the International Association of Machinists, Nick, and Dick Suisman, who was Hartford City Council Majority Leader at the time.
Nick, in addition to being instrumental in helping President Carter win the Connecticut Democratic Primary on May 11, 1976, as well as organizing big city mayors across the country to back Carter in their states’ primaries instead of backing Sccoop Jackson, as most democratic governers were doing, also served on Carter’s National Commissions on Neighborhoods, testified before the U.S. House and U.S. Senate on urban issues, and attended an urban policy summit at Camp David. He admired President Carter’s life-long commitment to the causes he believed in, a trait Nick shared. And so we know that this letter, written by President Carter as he undergoes his own battle with cancer, means as much to Nick as it does to all of us.
