He established the Office of City Construction Coordinator, appointing Park Commissioner Robert Moses to the post, worked to have the permanent home of the United Nations located in Manhattan, presided over the first billion-dollar New York City budget, created a traffic department and raised the subway fare from five cents to ten cents. In 1948, O'Dwyer received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." In 1948, he received the epithets "Whirling Willie" and "Flip-Flop Willie" from U.S. Representative Vito Marcantonio of the opposition American Labor Party while the latter was campaigning for Henry A. Wallace. Shortly after his re-election to the mayoralty in 1949, O'Dwyer was confronted with a police corruption scandal uncovered by the Kings County District Attorney, Miles McDonald. O'Dwyer resigned from office on August 31, 1950. Upon his resignation, he was given a ticker tape parade up Broadway's Canyon of Heroes in the borough of Manhattan. President Harry Truman appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. He returned to New York City in 1951 to answer questions concerning his association with organized crime figures and the accusations followed him for the rest of his life. He resigned as ambassador on December 6, 1952, but remained in Mexico until 1960. He helped organize the first Israel Day Parade, along with New York's Jewish community. Death O'Dwyer died in New York City on November 24, 1964, in Beth Israel Hospital, aged 74, from heart failure. His funeral mass was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral on November 27, and he was interred at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 2, Grave 889-A-RH. Family In 1916, O'Dwyer married Catherine Lenihan, whom he met while he was working as a bartender at the Vanderbilt Hotel and she was employed as one of the Vanderbilt's telephone switchboard operators. They had no children, and she was in ill health for many years before her death in 1946. Her funeral was originally planned for St. Joseph's Church in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan, where she and her husband were members. The large number of attendees resulted in a move to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the service was presided over by Cardinal Francis Spellman. On December 20, 1949, O'Dwyer married Elizabeth Sloan Simpson at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Stuart, Florida. They divorced in 1953, but remained close, and Simpson attended O'Dwyer's funeral in 1964.