Oral history interview with Robert Ferdinand Wagner, 1979

Biographical Note

Politician, mayor

Scope and Contents

New York, N.Y. childhood; family background, influence of father's political career; education; New York Assemblyman, 1937-41; campaigns, New Deal political climate, health and housing reform efforts; World War II Army and Air Force experiences; law practice; reform efforts, 1946-49, City Tax Commission; Commissioner of Housing and Building, City Planning Commission; campaign, presidency, borough of Manhattan, 1949-53; mayor, New York, N.Y., 1954-65; 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

Subjects

• Democratic Party (U.S.)
• Edwin, Ed, interviewer.
• Interviews.
• Mayors--Interviews.
• New York (N.Y.)--Politics and government--1898-1951.
• New York (N.Y.)--Politics and government--1951-
• New York (State)--Politics and government--1950-
• Oral histories.
• Politicians--Interviews.
• Presidents--United States--Election--1964.
• Presidents--United States--Election--1972.
• Wagner, Robert F. (Robert Ferdinand), 1910-1991--Interviews.