Oral history interview with Robert F. Wagner [electronic resource], 1992

Biographical Note

Former city official.

Scope and Contents

Background: childhood, recollections of father, Robert F. Wagner; B.A., Harvard University, 1965; studies in England; M.P.A., Princeton University; 1977 race for Manhattan Borough President on Liberal/Republic ticket; chairman, City Planning Commission, 1977-79: planning priorites: allocation of grants, rebuilding existing city infrastructure vs. new construction, role of community boards and activist groups in defining Westway project; building of Jacob Javits Convention Center, Battery Park City; redevelopment of Times Square; deputy mayor, 1979-84: 1980 transit workers' strike, Edward I. Koch's [Koch] relationship with African American leaders: Polo Grounds Clinic, Sydenham Hospital; chairman of board of Health and Hospitals Corporation [HHC]; reflections on HHC presidents, management of hospital revenues; resignation from position of deputy mayor in 1984; president of Board of Education, 1986-90: board priorities, crisis over school health clinics prescribing contraceptives, renegotiation of teachers' contracts, coordination of state and city initiatives, corruption of educational system; recollections of Koch: first meeting with, personal and political syle as compared to father, relationship with John Cardinal O'Connor, assessment of administration, 1982 race for Democratic Gubernatorial Primary.

Subjects

• Interviews.
• Koch, Ed, 1924-2013.
• New York (N.Y.). Mayor.
• Oral histories.
• Politicians--Interviews.
• Soffer, Jonathan, interviewer.
• Wagner, Robert F. (Robert Ferdinand), 1944-1993--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 1994.