Abraham David Beame (né Birnbaum; March 20, 1906 – February 10, 2001)[2] was an American accountant, investor, and Democratic Party politician who was the 104th mayor of New York City, from 1974 to 1977.

"[2] Beame was a "clubhouse" or machine politician, a product of the Brooklyn wing of the patronage-oriented "regular" Democratic organization, the borough's equivalent of Manhattan's Tammany Hall and the locus of New York patronage politics following the ascent of Meade Esposito, as opposed to the policy-oriented "reform" Democrats who entered New York City politics, most effectively in Manhattan and the Bronx in the 1950s.

[7] Before being elected to two nonconsecutive terms as city comptroller in 1961 and 1969, he was a longstanding member of Crown Heights's influential Madison Democratic Club and served as political boss Irwin Steingut's personal accountant.

Members of the Madison Club, including attorney/fundraiser Abraham "Bunny" Lindenbaum and Steingut's son, Stanley, frequently liaised with real estate developer Fred Trump.

[10] Beame won the 1973 Democratic mayoral primary with 34% of the vote, ahead of Herman Badillo (29%), Mario Biaggi (24%), and Albert H. Blumenthal (16%).

[13][a] Beame entered office facing the worst fiscal crisis in the city's history and spent most of his term attempting to ward off bankruptcy.

Soon after being sworn in as mayor, Beame slashed the city workforce, froze salaries, and reconfigured the budget, which proved unsatisfactory until reinforced by actions from newly created state-sponsored entities and the granting of federal funds.

[5] A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Beame as the 14th-worst American big-city mayor to serve between 1820 and 1993.

[4] They raised two sons, Edmond and Bernard (Buddy),[2][5] and lived in Brooklyn, first in Crown Heights and later in a "modest" apartment on Plaza Street West in Park Slope.