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1965 New York City mayoral election

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.

1965 New York City mayoral election
← 1961 November 2, 1965 1969 →
Turnout80.8% (registered voters)[1]
 
Candidate John Lindsay Abraham Beame William F. Buckley Jr.
Party Republican Democratic Conservative
Alliance Liberal Civil Service
Popular vote 1,149,106 1,046,699 341,226
Percentage 45.0% 41.0% 13.4%
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

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. This was the first time since 1941, and the last time until 1993, that Republicans won a mayoral election in New York City.

Background

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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

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Candidates

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Withdrew

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Declined

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Campaign

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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]

Results

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1965 New York City Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Abraham Beame 336,345 44.84%
Democratic Paul R. Screvane 271,381 36.18%
Democratic William Fitts Ryan 113,738 15.16%
Democratic Paul O'Dwyer 28,675 3.82%
Total votes 750,139 100.00%

Results by borough

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1965 Democratic primary
Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
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

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Candidates

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Declined

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Liberal nomination

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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.[8]

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.[9]

Conservative candidate

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Louis Menand writes that "possibly the main reason" why William F. Buckley Jr., heir, conservative activist and editor of the political magazine National Review, entered the 1965 race on the Conservative Party of New York State ticket was to split the Republican vote and defeat liberal John Lindsay (whom conservative Buckley reportedly "loathed").[10] Writing in the New York Times, Jennifer Burns describes Buckley as running for mayor "on a lark" but who captured the attention of journalists, one claiming Buckley was "more fun to listen to than most professional comedians".[11] Buckley failed to help defeat Lindsay but "famous" by the campaign.[11] He captured over 10% of the vote, much of it from angry outer-borough, white-skinned, blue-collar voters, foreshadowing the future conservative Republican coalition (Reagan coalition) that would replace liberals such as Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller who dominated the New York Republican party of the 1960s.[11][10]

General election

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Candidates

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Campaign

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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.[12]

The Liberals spent $300,000 during the campaign.[12]

Endorsements

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Beame endorsements

Federal officials

Lindsay endorsements

Notable individuals

Results

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The number of votes Lindsay received on the Liberal ballot line was greater than his margin of victory.[12]

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
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican John Lindsay %
Liberal John Lindsay 281,796 11.03%   2.32
Independent John Lindsay %
Total John Lindsay 1,149,106 44.99% N/A
Democratic Abraham Beame 983,109 38.49%   1.11
Civil Service Abraham Beame 63,590 2.49% N/A
Total Abraham Beame 1,046,699 40.98% N/A
Conservative William F. Buckley 341,226 13.36% N/A
United Taxpayers Vito Battista 11,104 0.43%   0.39
Socialist Workers Clifton DeBerry 3,977 0.16%   0.13
Socialist Labor Eric Haas 2,087 0.08%   0.06
Total votes 2,554,199 100.00%

Results by borough

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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.[13]

1965 General Election party Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond [Staten Is.] Total %
John V. Lindsay Republican - Liberal - Independent Citizens 291,326 181,072 308,398 331,162 37,148 1,149,106 45.0%
55.8% 39.5% 40.0% 47.1% 45.8%
Abraham Beame Democratic - Civil Service Fusion 193,230 213,980 365,360 250,662 23,467 1,046,699 41.0%
37.0% 46.6% 47.4% 35.6% 28.9%
William F. Buckley, Jr. Conservative 37,694 63,858 97,679 121,544 20,451 341,226 13.4%
7.2% 13.9% 12.7% 17.3% 25.2%
subtotal
 522,250 458,910 771,437 703,368 81,066 2,537,031 99.4%
others   17,168 0.6%
T O T A L
   2,554,199

References

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  1. ^ Cannato 2001, p. 69.
  2. ^ "New York City Mayoral Election 1965". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  3. ^ Cannato 2001, p. 22.
  4. ^ a b Cannato 2001, p. 21.
  5. ^ a b Cannato 2001, pp. 22–23.
  6. ^ a b "O'Connor Announces". The New York Times. June 24, 1965. p. 34.
  7. ^ a b Soyer 2021, p. 189.
  8. ^ a b Soyer 2021, p. 190.
  9. ^ Soyer 2021, p. 191.
  10. ^ a b Menand, Louis (June 2, 2025). "Books. Strong Opinions. A new biography of William F. Buckley Jr". The New Yorker.
  11. ^ a b c Burns, Jennifer (June 3, 2025). "The Man Who Turned Right-Wing Politics Into Entertainment". New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  12. ^ a b c d e Soyer 2021, p. 194.
  13. ^ 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

Works cited

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Further reading

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  • 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.
  • Viteritti, Joseph P., ed. (2014). Summer in the City: John Lindsay, New York, and the American Dream. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.

Primary sources

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