1965 New York City mayoral election

none January 2025 September 2023 1965 New York City mayoral election New York City presidential no 1961 New York City mayoral election 1961 1969 New York City mayoral election 1969 November 2, 1965 File:John Lindsay 1968.jpg 150x150px John Lindsay Republican Party (United States) Liberal Party of New York 1,149,106 45.0% A beame in 1974.jpg Abraham Beame Democratic Party (United States) Civil Service 1,046,699 41.0% Buckley in 1968.jpg William F. Buckley Jr. Conservative Party of New York State 341,226 13.4% NYCmayoralelectionresultsbyborough1965.svg 250px Results by BoroughLindsay: #FFB2B2 40–50% #E27F7F 50–60%Beame: #A5B0FF 40–50% 2,652,45180.82% (4.66 pp) Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Democratic Party (United States) John Lindsay Republican Party (United States) 3,281,689 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. Lindsay received 44.99% of the vote to Beame's 40.98%, a victory margin of 4.01%.New York City Mayoral Election 1965 http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=79103 Our Campaigns 25 April 2014 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, but whose unexpectedly strong support made the race "one of the most memorable ... in New York history." 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. This was the first time since 1941, and the last time until 1993, that Republicans won a mayoral election in New York City. 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.Cannato 2001 22 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."Cannato 2001 21 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?"Cannato 2001 21 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.Cannato 2001 22–23 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.Cannato 2001 22–23 Democratic primary Candidates Abraham Beame, New York City Comptroller Paul O'Dwyer, member of the City Council from Manhattan at-large Paul R. Screvane, President of the New York City Council William Fitts Ryan, U.S. Representative from the Upper West Side Withdrew Frank D. O'Connor, Queens County District AttorneyO'Connor Announces https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/06/24/106995332.html The New York Times June 24, 1965 34 subscription (ran for Council President) Declined Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Robert F. Wagner Jr., incumbent mayor since 1954 (declined June 10) Campaign On June 10, 1965, mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. announced that he would not run for reelection. Paul R. Screvane, the president of the city council, was favored by Wagner.Soyer 2021 189 Results 1965 New York City Democratic primary Abraham Beame Democratic Party (US) 336,345 44.84% Paul R. Screvane Democratic Party (US) 271,381 36.18% William Fitts Ryan Democratic Party (US) 113,738 15.16% Paul O'Dwyer Democratic Party (US) 28,675 3.82% 750,139 100.00% Results by borough 1965 Democratic primary 99ccff Abraham D. Beame 53,386 66,064 128,146 82,601 6,148 336,345 Paul R. Screvane 66,444 54,260 79,485 63,680 7,512 271,381 William F. Ryan 48,744 16,632 24,588 22,570 1,204 113,738 Paul O'Dwyer 6,771 5,976 8,332 6,895 697 28,675 750,139 Republican primary Candidates John Lindsay, U.S. Representative from the Upper East Side of Manhattan Declined Jacob Javits, U.S. Senator since 1957Soyer 2021 190 Liberal nomination The Liberals viewed Screvane as uninspiring, Beame was a member of a Brooklyn political machine, Frank D. O'Connor was a conservative ally, and O'Dwyer was the brother of the party's old political enemy William O'Dwyer. Members of the party liked Ryan, but viewed him as unlikely to win the Democratic nomination.Soyer 2021 189 Alex Rose considered having the party nominate Lindsay even before Wagner's withdrawal. Rose met with Robert Price and Price said that Rose agreed to support Lindsay in exchange for one-third of the mayoral appointments, money for the Liberal campaign, and a citywide Liberal candidate. Lindsay accepted the demand, but was upset with how unethical Price was.Soyer 2021 190 Luigi Antonini opposed giving the party's nomination to a Republican, stating that it would hurt the Democrats nationally and split progressives. The convention voted 800 to 50 to endorse Lindsay. Timothy Costello, the chair of the Liberal Party, and Milton Mollen received the Liberal and Republican nominations for city council president and comptroller.Soyer 2021 191 Conservative candidate The campaign of William F. Buckley Jr. -- heir, conservative activist, syndicated columnist, and editor of the political magazine National Review -- has been called "a bizarre but memorable chapter of the city’s political history".Chan Sewell City Room. Remembering Buckley's 1965 Run for Mayor https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/remembering-buckleys-1965-run-for-mayor/ 1 August 2025 New York Times 27 February 2008 Buckley has been described as entered the 1965 race on the Conservative Party of New York State ticket "on a lark" (historian Jennifer Burns);Burns Jennifer The Man Who Turned Right-Wing Politics Into Entertainment https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/books/review/buckley-sam-tanenhaus.html 9 June 2025 New York Times 3 June 2025 to split the Republican vote and defeat (liberal) John Lindsay, whom Buckley reportedly "loathed" (Louis Menand);Menand Louis Books. Strong Opinions. A new biography of William F. Buckley Jr. The New Yorker 2 June 2025 or more generally to undermine the liberal leadership of the New York Republican party (such as Jacob Javits and Nelson Rockefeller) and bring the party in line with the more conservative national "mainstream" of Republican opinion (Sam Tanenhaus).Tanenhaus Sam The Buckley Effect https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/magazine/the-buckley-effect.html 31 July 2025 New York Times Magazine 2 October 2005 Buckley took little time off from his other pursuits to campaign for mayor and was initially criticized by some for not being serious enough. However, in the four televised campaign debates he came across as a civil and witty change-of-pace from the two cliché and attack-driven veteran politicians (Lindsay and Beame),Tanenhaus Sam The Buckley Effect https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/magazine/the-buckley-effect.html 31 July 2025 New York Times Magazine 2 October 2005Burns Jennifer The Man Who Turned Right-Wing Politics Into Entertainment https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/books/review/buckley-sam-tanenhaus.html 9 June 2025 New York Times 3 June 2025 and "more fun to listen to than most professional comedians". At the same time he appealed to angry outer-borough, white-skinned, blue-collar, non-WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) voters known as "white ethnics", with calls for law and order and attacks on liberal policies such as welfare spending. As the campaign went on, Buckley was shown polling as high as 20% and appeared to be diverting votes from the Democrat Beame, rather than liberal Lindsay. In the end he captured over 13% of the vote, helping Lindsay win, making himself "famous", and foreshadowing the conservative Reagan coalition that would cleanse the Republican party of liberals like Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller. General election Candidates Vito Battista, perennial candidate (United Taxpayers) Abraham Beame, New York City Comptroller (Democratic and Civil Service) William F. Buckley Jr., author and columnist (Conservative) Clifton DeBerry, activist and candidate for President of the United States in 1964 (Socialist Workers) Eric Haas, perennial candidate (Socialist Labor) John Lindsay, U.S. Representative from the Upper East Side (Republican, Liberal and Independent) Campaign The Liberals pressured President Lyndon B. Johnson to not become involved in the election and David Dubinsky wrote to him about how the American Labor Party endorsed both Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt and Republican Fiorello La Guardia. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy campaigned for Beame, but Johnson only gave him a late endorsement.Soyer 2021 194 The Liberals spent $300,000 during the campaign.Soyer 2021 194 Endorsements Beame endorsements Federal officials Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United StatesSoyer 2021 194 Lindsay endorsements Notable individuals Ed Koch, Greenwich Village Democratic leaderSoyer 2021 194 Results The number of votes Lindsay received on the Liberal ballot line was greater than his margin of victory.Soyer 2021 194 Almost a quarter of Lindsay's vote (281,796) was on the Liberal Party ticket, while 63,590 of Beame's votes were on the Civil Service ticket. 1969 New York City mayoral election John Lindsay Republican Party (US) % John Lindsay Liberal Party of New York 281,796 11.03% 2.32 John Lindsay Independent politician % John Lindsay Total 1,149,106 44.99% N/A Abraham Beame Democratic Party (US) 983,109 38.49% 1.11 Abraham Beame Civil Service 63,590 2.49% N/A Abraham Beame Total 1,046,699 40.98% N/A William F. Buckley Conservative Party of New York 341,226 13.36% N/A Vito Battista United Taxpayers 11,104 0.43% 0.39 Clifton DeBerry Socialist Workers Party (US) 3,977 0.16% 0.13 Eric Haas Socialist Labor Party (US) 2,087 0.08% 0.06 2,554,199 100.00% Results by borough Lindsay carried Manhattan, Queens, and traditionally Republican Staten Island, while Beame 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.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 1965 General ElectionpartyManhattanThe BronxBrooklynQueens Richmond [Staten Is.]Total%John V. LindsayRepublican - Liberal - Independent Citizens291,326181,072308,398331,16237,1481,149,10645.0%55.8%39.5%40.0%47.1%45.8%Abraham BeameDemocratic - 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.Conservative37,69463,85897,679121,54420,451341,22613.4% 7.2%13.9%12.7%17.3%25.2%subtotal522,250458,910771,437703,36881,0662,537,03199.4%others  17,1680.6%T O T A L 2,554,199 References 30em Works cited Soyer Daniel Left in the Center: The Liberal Party of New York and the Rise and Fall of American Social Democracy https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv1hw3x50.2 Cornell University Press 2021 10.7591/j.ctv1hw3x50.2 9781501759888 Further reading Bridges Linda Coyne John R. Jr. Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement 2007 Cannato Vincent J. The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York 2001 19–74 Basic Books 978-0-7867-4993-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=Upv5ezVPBOMC (excerpt) Carter Barbara The Road to City Hall: How John V. Lindsay Became Mayor 1967 Viteritti Joseph P. Summer in the City: John Lindsay, New York, and the American Dream Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 2014 Primary sources Buckley William F. Jr. The Unmaking of a Mayor 1966 William F. Buckley Jr. collapsed Mayoral election, 1965 1965 New York City mayoral Category:1965 United States mayoral elections Category:November 1965 in the United States