1965 New York City mayoral election

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]

U.S. Senator Jacob Javits, who was considered for the mayoral nomination in previous elections, declined to run.^[6]

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.^[7]

• 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

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.^[7]

Alex Rose considered having the party nominate Lindsay even before Wagner's withdraw. 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.^[6]

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.^[8]

• Abraham Beame, New York City Comptroller (Democratic–Civil Service Fusion)
• William F. Buckley Jr., author and columnist (Conservative)
• John Lindsay, U.S. Representative from the Upper East Side (Republican–Liberal–Independent Citizens)

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.^[9]

The Liberals spent $300,000 during the campaign.^[9]

The number of votes Lindsay received on the Liberal ballot line was greater than his margin of victory.^[9]

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.^[10] (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

• Soyer, Daniel (2021). Left in the Center: The Liberal Party of New York and the Rise and Fall of American Social Democracy. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501759888. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctv1hw3x50.2.

• Bridges, Linda; Coyne, John R. Jr. (2007). Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement.
• Cannato, Vincent J. (2001). The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York. Basic Books. pp. 19–74. ISBN 978-0-7867-4993-5. (excerpt)
• Carter, Barbara (1967). The Road to City Hall: How John V. Lindsay Became Mayor.
• Taffet, Jeffrey F. (2013). "The Snubs and the 'Sukkah': John Lindsay and Jewish Voters in New York City". American Jewish History. 97 (4): 413–438.
• Viteritti, Joseph P., ed. (2014). Summer in the City: John Lindsay, New York, and the American Dream. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.

• Buckley, William F. Jr. (1966). The Unmaking of a Mayor.