Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Reminiscences of Robert Ferdinand Wagner, 1979.
Creator: | Wagner, Robert F. 1910-1991 | Project: | Individual interviews oral history collection. (see all project interviews) | Phys. Desc. : | Transcript 1,263 pages Sound recording 32 reels | Location: | Columbia Center for Oral History | Full CLIO record >> |
Biographical NotePolitician, mayor
Scope and ContentsNew York, N.Y. childhood; family background, influence of father's political career; education; New York Assemblyman, 1937-1941; campaigns, New Deal political climate, health and housing reform efforts; World War II Army and Air Force experiences; law practice; reform efforts, 1946-1949, City Tax Commission; Commissioner of Housing and Building, City Planning Commission; campaign, presidency, borough of Manhattan, 1949-1953; mayor, New York, N.Y., 1954-1965; pension, career, salary plans for city workers; Board of Education and school building difficulties; fiscal problems and policies; creation of City Administrator's Office; revamping city tax structure; relationship of state politics and legislation to New York, N.Y. affairs; Mitchell-Lama projects; rent control issues; establishment of Housing and Redevelopment Authority; transit, hospital, newspaper strikes and labor negotiations; creation of Department of Labor; 1965 New York, N.Y. mayoralty campaign; impressions of union leaders and politicians, including Alfred E. Smith, Thomas E. Dewey, Paul O'Dwyer, Mike Quill, Abraham Beame, John Lindsay, Robert Moses, Carmine DeSapio; presidential campaigns of 1964 and 1972; Harlem riots of 1968; impressions of many leaders: New York politicians, including J. Raymond Jones, Adam Clayton Powell, Hugh Carey, Edward Koch, Bella Abzug; national leaders, including Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter, Nelson Rockefeller, Edmund Muskie, George McGovern; and international figures including Pope John Paul II and Generalísimo Francisco Franco
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