1965 New York City mayoral election

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1965 New York City mayoral election
Flag of New York City.svg
  1961 November 2, 1965 1969  
Turnout80.8% (registered voters) [1]
  VP Agnew and Mayor Lindsay (cropped to Lindsay).jpg A Beame - 1965 (cropped).jpg William F. Buckley Jr 1969 (cropped).jpg
Candidate John Lindsay Abraham Beame William F. Buckley Jr.
Party Republican Democratic Conservative
Alliance Liberal Civil Service -
Popular vote1,149,1061,046,699341,226
Percentage45.0%41.0%13.4%

NYCmayoralelectionresultsbyborough1965.svg
Results by Borough
  Beame—40–50%
  Lindsay—50–60%
  Lindsay—40–50%

Mayor before election

Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
Democratic

Elected Mayor

John Lindsay
Republican

The 1965 New York City mayoral election occurred on Tuesday, November 2, 1965, with Republican Congressman John Lindsay winning a close plurality victory over the Democratic candidate, New York City Comptroller Abraham Beame.

Contents

Lindsay received 44.99% of the vote to Beame's 40.98%, a victory margin of 4.01%. [2] Finishing in a distant third was the candidate of the recently formed Conservative Party, conservative author and commentator William F. Buckley Jr., who received 13.36% of the vote. Lindsay and Beame received the Liberal and Civil Service ballot line respectively. Lindsay won a decisive majority in Manhattan, while winning comfortable plurality victories in Queens and Staten Island. Beame won pluralities in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Background

In 1961, mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. was re-elected to a third consecutive term. Wagner was generally popular in the city and had a reputation for integrity as an opponent of Tammany Hall. [3]

Nevertheless, popular Republican Congressman John Lindsay from the Upper East Side began to explore a run for mayor. In 1963, he told the New York Herald Tribune editorial board he would consider a campaign for mayor, adding, "Washington, compared to New York City, is a very shallow place. It's got politics, endless white marble, and some very good museums. Beyond that it has very little." [4] Lindsay won a landslide re-election in 1964 despite his party's own defeat at the national and state level. In a January 1965 speech to the Executives Club of Chicago titled, "The Republican Challenge," Lindsay outlined his belief that Republicans needed to "recapture the center" and could not ignore American cities "where 70 percent of the vote is found. How can Republicans as the best pragmatists of all ignore this area?" [4]

Lindsay's efforts were aided by media attention on the issue of urban neglect, led by Jock Whitney, owner of the Herald Tribune and one of Lindsay's top campaign funders. As early as 1963, Whitney and publisher Walter Thayer had sought to use the paper to support a reform candidate for mayor. [5] Though other pieces on declining quality of life in the city were published by Look and Richard J. Whalen, the Herald Tribune led with a multi-part, pessimistic series on New York City drug use, pollution, welfare, healthcare, one-party rule, capital and white flight, crime, and bureaucratic inefficiencies. Lindsay later admitted the editorial series provided a raison d'etre for his campaign, and when Wagner ultimately chose not to run for an expected fourth term, the Herald Tribune staff claimed credit. [5]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

1965 Democratic primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Abraham D. Beame 53,38666,064128,14682,6016,148336,345
Paul R. Screvane 66,44454,26079,48563,6807,512271,381
William F. Ryan 48,74416,63224,58822,5701,204113,738
Paul O'Dwyer 6,7715,9768,3326,89569728,675
750,139

General election

Candidates

Results

1965 General ElectionpartyManhattanThe BronxBrooklynQueensRichmond[Staten Is.]Total%
John V. Lindsay Republican - Liberal - Independent Citizens291,326181,072308,398331,16237,1481,149,10645.0%
55.8%39.5%40.0%47.1%45.8%
Abraham Beame Democratic - Civil Service Fusion193,230213,980365,360250,66223,4671,046,69941.0%
37.0%46.6%47.4%35.6%28.9%
William F. Buckley, Jr. Conservative 37,69463,85897,679121,54420,451341,22613.4%
7.2%13.9%12.7%17.3%25.2%
subtotal
522,250458,910771,437703,36881,0662,537,03199.4%
others 17,1680.6%
T O T A L
 2,554,199

Almost a quarter of Lindsay's vote (281,796) was on the Liberal Party line, while 63,590 of Beame's votes were on the Civil Service Fusion line. John Lindsay, a Republican Congressman from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, carried Manhattan, Queens, and traditionally Republican Staten Island (Richmond), while Abe Beame, the City Comptroller, carried The Bronx and his home borough of Brooklyn, both of which he had also won in the Democratic primary. However, while Beame had also carried Queens in the primary, he lost it to Lindsay in the general election. [6] (Five years later, Bill Buckley's brother James L. Buckley won the 1970 New York state election for U.S. Senator on the Conservative Party line against divided opposition.) The Other vote was 11,104- Vito Battista - United Taxpayer Party; 3,977- Clifton DeBerry - Socialist Workers; 2,087 - Eric Haas - Socialist Labor

Aftermath

Linsday was sworn into office in January 1966, replacing outgoing Democratic Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. While Lindsay won the mayoralty four years later, he lost the Republican nomination to John J. Marchi. As a result, this was the last mayoral election that a Republican won until Rudy Giuliani's victory in 1993.

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References

  1. Cannato 2001, p. 69.
  2. "New York City Mayoral Election 1965". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  3. Cannato 2001, p. 22.
  4. 1 2 Cannato 2001, p. 21.
  5. 1 2 Cannato 2001, pp. 22–23.
  6. Page 41 of the 1966 World Almanac & Book of Facts and page 69 of Cannato's The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York

Further reading

Primary sources