Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani defended Christopher Columbus and the celebration of Columbus Day, telling Newsmax the holiday remains an important tribute to courage, discovery, and the Italian-American spirit.
Appearing Monday on “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE,” Giuliani said efforts to defame Columbus ignore the historical context of his voyages and the transformative impact they had on world history.
“The Columbus Day parade is enormously important to us,” Giuliani said. “It’s completely ridiculous to defame Columbus on things that he did or didn’t do wrong — things we’re not even sure of — that were quite a bit routine, if not wrong but accepted, in that day and age.”
Giuliani added that history must be viewed with perspective, noting that both European explorers and native populations faced a violent and uncertain era.
“The natives who were here weren’t exactly the most peaceful group of people that ever lived,” he said. “So it was a terrible confrontation. Doesn’t make it right; it makes it part of history. The evil is not all on one side; it rarely is.”
The former mayor praised Columbus as a visionary whose courage changed the course of human history.
“He wasn’t the discoverer of America — he was the man who made sure we found out about America,” Giuliani said. “Maybe it would have been a tree falling in the forest and nobody heard it if it wasn’t for this courageous, courageous man who put his life at risk numerous times to go across the ocean.”
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