The Candidate & the Clamor

"I, for one, cannot stand by while the decline and fall of New York continues headlong," said Manhattan's Republican Representative John V. Lindsay, and, so saying, announced his candidacy for mayor against Democrat Robert Wagner.

The reaction was extraordinary. For the rest of the week, New York City newspapers filled whole pages with accounts of Lindsay's activities. Editorialists and columnists extolled his virtues. Lindsay's candidacy, said the New York Times, "means that for the first time in years, the minority party is presenting a candidate who offers a real choice to the voter, who will fight a real contest, and who has a real chance to win." The Post's Doris Fleeson called Lindsay "a great thoroughbred with breeding and heart." All 13 of Lindsay's fellow G.O.P. Congressmen from New York issued a statement telling of the city's vital need for "the bold and vigorous and understanding leadership that a John Lindsay can give." Cried Republican State Chairman Carl Spad: "John Lindsay is the right candidate in the right election in the right year." And Republican Senator Jack Javits seemed almost beside himself. Terming Lindsay's candidacy "potentially very important to the G.O.P. nationally," Javits added: "If we make good in New York, it should have a fantastic effect on the country and contribute great strength to the progressive Republican cause everywhere."

The Man Who Has Everything. Who was all the shouting about? John Vliet (his mother's surname) Lindsay is certainly a most attractive politician. He is young--43. He is tall (6 ft. 3 in.) and handsome, with a pleasant smile and a rapid tongue. He comes from a proper Manhattan family--his father was an investment banker--and he went to the right schools: St. Paul's,Yale, and Yale Law. As a Navy lieutenant, he came out of World War II with five battle stars. He has a showcase family, including wife Mary, three daughters and a five-year-old son. He is a certified liberal with the distinct advantage--especially in New York City--of having refused to support Barry Goldwater for President.

And he is a remarkable vote getter. Since 1959, he has represented Manhattan's so-called "silk stocking" district; it includes Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Sutton Place, but it also embraces the seamier realms of Green wich Village and the East Side. In his first election he won by only 7,800 votes. He has vastly increased that margin every time since, and in 1964 he had an 81,000-vote plurality.

To New York City Republicans, generally a sorry lot, Lindsay looked like the man who had everything. But the G.O.P. had an awful time getting Lindsay to run for mayor. Last March he announced that he would not be a candidate, giving as his reason the fact that congressional business would prevent him from waging an all-out campaign.

What made him change his mind? He was undoubtedly beginning to feel a bit frustrated in the House: he has nowhere near the seniority to exercise committee power, and his liberalism has kept him out of his own party's top councils. Moreover, he was under steady, heavy pressure, particularly from his close ally Jack Javits, who sees in Lindsay the last, best chance to prevent Bobby Kennedy from seizing complete control of New York politics. Finally, Lindsay unquestionably is a man of conscience, and his conscience was hurting him. As he explained after declaring his candidacy: "I was born and have lived in New York City all my life. I enter this fight because conscience and duty compel me and because I believe that with proper leadership our city can once again be restored as the Empire City of the world. Cities are for people and for living, and yet under its present tired administration, New York City has become a place that is no longer for people or for living."

The Cliche. Democrat Bob Wagner's regime may be tired, but it is not about to roll over and play dead. At 55, running for his fourth four-year term, the mayor looks older, wearier and pouchier than ever--but he is recognized as a real master in the art of political survival. On the day that Lindsay announced his candidacy, Wagner found himself in the position of announcing a record city budget of $3.87 billion, involving $255 million of what Wagner lamely described as "borrow now, repay later" financing. That was embarrassing, but Wagner has come back strong from much worse embarrassments. No one would claim that Wagner has been a great mayor, but New York has had a lot worse ones, and Wagner at least has a reputation for honesty, a commodity not always in surplus supply among the city's politicians. And then, New York City just happens to have some 2,378,000 registered Democrats (plus about 63,000 Liberal Party members who can usually be counted on to vote Democratic) as against 698,000 registered Republicans (plus 31,000 Conservative Party members who cannot be counted on for anything).

Finally, there is the fact that Lindsay, at least in his opening-week speeches, seemed to base his campaign almost exclusively on what an awful place New York City is. This could be dangerous. To be sure, the city's streets have plenty of potholes--but they are also lined by some of the world's most magnificent buildings. There are large and desperate pockets of poverty, but New York remains far and away the world's wealthiest city. Lindsay is strongly Manhattan-oriented, but the city has four other boroughs, and what applies to Manhattan does not necessarily apply to The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn or Staten Island. Residents of a green and pleasant Staten Island community might almost have been hearing about a foreign country last week when Congressman Lindsay told them of a city where "streets are dirty and unsafe . . . crime and brutality are rampant . . . and the vicious cycle of slum-living continues."

Thus, in his opening effort, Lindsay seemed to be falling for that old and not necessarily true cliche about how New York-is-a-nice-place-to-visit-but-I-wouldn't-want-to-live-there. Fact is, more than 8,000,000 people do live there, and most are proud of it.

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