The New York City mayoral election of 1953 occurred on Tuesday, November 3, 1953, with the Democratic candidate, Manhattan Borough President Robert F. Wagner, Jr. winning a decisive plurality in a three-way race.
| This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (June 2014) |
Quick Facts Candidate, Party ...
1953 New York City mayoral election|
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 Results by Borough
Wagner—50–60%
Wagner—40–50%
Riegelman—40–50% |
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Wagner defeated the Republican nominee, lawyer and Postmaster of New York City, Harold Riegelman, as well as the Liberal Party nominee, New York City Council President Rudolph Halley.
Halley additionally ran on the Independent Citizens ballot line.
Wagner enjoyed the support of the powerful Tammany Hall political machine, easily securing him a victory.
Wagner received 46.33% of the vote to Riegelman's 29.97%, a Democratic victory margin of 16.36%. Halley finished in third with 21.16%.[1]
Wagner won comfortable pluralities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, and won a majority in Staten Island. Riegelman won a razor-thin plurality in Queens.
Wagner would be sworn into the first of his three terms in January 1954, replacing outgoing independent Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri.
Liberal
Rudolph Halley's election as president of the New York City Council as the Liberal candidate in 1951, led to Adolf A. Berle stating that the party could "take over the administration of the City of New York". The Liberals wanted to form a coalition with the Republicans rather than the Democrats and David Dubinsky met with Young Republicans to discuss a possible coalition. Ralph Bunche, Jacob Javits, Newbold Morris, and Nelson Rockefeller were considered as possible candidates.
Javits was the favorite candidate of the party leadership and Berle told him that he could get the New York Herald Tribune and New York Post to endorse him. Javits wanted to run, but did not want to break from Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey gave Javits permission to run. Maurice Calman, a former Socialist councilor, and Charles Rubinstein, an American Labor Party city council candidate, opposed nominating Javits and believed that Halley could win as an independent candidate. Berle attempted to read the names of five possible mayoral candidates at the party's annual dinner, but could not get past the first name, Halley's, due to "prolonged applause and cheers".
Liberal leadership soured on Javits and Berle stated that Javits was "trying to be both" a Republican and independent. Berle also wrote in his diary that "the Republicans are not popular on the street". The Liberals attempted to negotiate with the Republicans, but they rejected endorsing Halley and were unsure if they would nominate Javits. Halley was given the Liberal nomination on July 13, 1953.
Halley's campaign was weakened by facing Wagner, rather than Impellitteri. Ben Davidson stated that "Halley against Impellitteri was one thing. Halley against Wanger was another thing". One Liberal club in Brooklyn endorsed Wagner.
Halley had the best performance for a Liberal in New York City's mayoral election at that point.
Vito Marcantonio claimed that the ALP's poor performance in the mayoral election resulted in them failing to receive over 50,000, enough to maintain ballot access, in the 1954 gubernatorial election. He claimed that communists sabotaged the mayoral campaign by implying that they approved voting for Halley.
| 1953 |
party |
Manhattan |
The Bronx |
Brooklyn |
Queens |
Richmond [Staten Is.] |
Total |
% |
| Robert F. Wagner, Jr. | Democratic | 236,960 | 206,771 | 339,970 | 207,918 | 31,007 | 1,022,626 | 46.3% |
| 47.9% | 46.2% | 46.6% | 40.6% | 51.8% |
| Harold Riegelman | Republican | 147,876 | 97,224 | 183,968 | 208,829 | 23,694 | 661,591 | 30.0% |
| 29.9% | 21.7% | 25.2% | 40.8% | 39.6% |
| Rudolph Halley | Liberal | 76,884 | 112,825 | 162,275 | 73,192 | 3,514 | 428,690 | 19.4% |
| Independent | 7,648 | 9,853 | 13,264 | 7,356 | 295 | 38,416 | 1.7% |
| Total | 84,532 | 122,678 | 175,539 | 80,548 | 3,809 | 467,106 | 21.1% |
| 17.1% | 27.4% | 24.1% | 15.7% | 6.4% |
| Clifford T. McAvoy | American Labor Party | 14,904 | 13,290 | 17,337 | 7,182 | 332 | 53,045 | 2.4% |
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Total vote was 2,207,516
Other vote was David L. Weiss-Socialist Workers-2,054 (0.1%);Nathan Karp-Industrial Government-916; Scattered-180.
"Industrial Government" is a ballot title sometimes used, to avoid confusion or to meet election laws, by the Socialist Labor Party. The Liberal Party of New York won over five times as many votes as the American Labor Party in Manhattan, and eight-to-ten times as many in the other boroughs. The ALP lost its ballot status after the 1954 Governor's race, and voted to dissolve itself in 1956.
